chelseafan Posted March 20, 2005 Report Share Posted March 20, 2005 Whats the best way of learning Thai (other than staying in LOS) My G/F won't teach me as she doesn't like Farangs speaking it, but I really want to learn it. I have pimsleur which is OK. Are there any other options ? Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khunsanuk Posted March 20, 2005 Report Share Posted March 20, 2005 Hi, I think this is a personal preference. Many people say you need to start with learning the script; others (like me) just dive in and start talking. I would say the best way is to use it a LOT. I speak Thai every single day (which not living in Thailand obviously would be a bit harder for you) and once you have a bit of a base it is fairly easy to learn more. Sanuk! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted March 20, 2005 Report Share Posted March 20, 2005 To learn any language, you have to use it OFTEN. It is a waste of time to do 4 or 6 hours a week, as you do in university language classes. That is nowhere near enough to remember anything. But since you are in London, there should be plenty of language schools ... or better yet Thai students willing to make some extra money teaching a Farang conversational Thai. Chat up a waiter or waitress in a Thai restaurant (waitresses preferred!) and see if they are willing or know someone who is. Try to arrange for at least three days a week. You can use tapes, books etc. Still, you need a live teacher to get past a few basic expressions. When I came as a Peace Corps volunteer, we studied 6 hours a day, 6 days a week at the beginning. Plus we were in Thailand and had to use the language to get around, feed ourselves etc. One of my group had studied Thai for a year at university in the States. He told us that by our second week in Thailand, we knew as much as he did. That is what it takes -- saturation with the language, the more the better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pescator Posted March 20, 2005 Report Share Posted March 20, 2005 Hi Chelseafan, Matthew Courage Learning Thai CD ROM Vol. I & II Rosetta Stone also on a CD Linguaphone Course, comes with books and CD I have all of these except from the Matthew Courage CD Vol II, but I definitely benefitted the most from the Linguaphone Course, which comes highly recommend by most. A few online resources: http://www.seasite.niu.edu/Thai/maanii1/maaniireaders.htm http://www.learningthai.com/index.html On line Dic. English Thai vocab quizzes Free Dic. for download My G/F won't teach me as she doesn't like Farangs speaking it I have heard that one before, I hope I shall run into her one day, I shall speak nothing but thai to her :: Lucky thing is that you apparently have no objections to thais speaking english or the both of you would probably have serious communication issues Jokes aside, too bad though, that she doesn`t wanna teach you. All she had to do was speak thai to you on a steady basis and you would quickly build vocabúlary, common idioms. IMHO there is nothing like the immersion method when learning thai. Cheers Hua Nguu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ABCinBK Posted March 31, 2005 Report Share Posted March 31, 2005 I'm trying to get the original Linguaphone coarse everyone keeps talking about. Stickman's website talks about this older Linguaphone Thai coarse, as does a 2004 article on Mangosauce.com. It is the 40 lesson coarse with a booklet for the first 12 lessons. I am told this coarse takes you to full proficeiency, and that it sold for $200-225 British Pounds. Is this the one you have? Would you cosider parting with it or selling the coarse? The current Linguaphone Thai coarse on their website is much expensive at $350+ British Pounds, plus I am suspecting it is actually going to only teach you to a lower level of knowledge. Am I wrong? Here's my post below asking about this in the language section. ABC ===================================== Does anyone have a copy of the original linguaphone coarse that both Stickman and MangoSauce talks about? http://www.mangosauce.com/archives/000141.html http://www.stickmanbangkok.com/living.html#Language It is the coarse that comes with a booklet for the first 12 lessons and has 40 lessons on cassette. I am told the coarse runs for about $200.00 but this price may be dated. When I go to the linguaphone website, they now seem to be only hawking two coarses for Thai. One is a basic coarse for travellers which is chape at about 29 pounds. The other coarse is a larger beginner to intermiate coarse for about 350 pounds. Neither coarse seems to match the old Linguaphone coarse, which I'm hoping to locate from someone who bought it back in 2004, when it appears Linguaphone revamped their Thai coarse lineup. ABC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ABCinBK Posted March 31, 2005 Report Share Posted March 31, 2005 Flashermac, Do you know anyone with a copy of the original linguaphone coarse that both Stickman and MangoSauce talks about? http://www.mangosauce.com/archives/000141.html http://www.stickmanbangkok.com/living.html#Language It is the coarse that comes with a booklet for the first 12 lessons and has 40 lessons on cassette. I am told the coarse runs for about $200.00 but this price may be dated. When I go to the linguaphone website, they now seem to be only hawking two coarses for Thai. One is a basic coarse for travellers which is chape at about 29 pounds. The other coarse is a larger beginner to intermiate coarse for about 350 pounds. Neither coarse seems to match the old Linguaphone coarse, which I'm hoping to locate from someone who bought it back in 2004, when it appears Linguaphone revamped their Thai coarse lineup. ABC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted March 31, 2005 Report Share Posted March 31, 2005 Never seen it in Thailand. One language set the I've always like is called "Speak Thai in Seven Days". Now there's no way you will cover it all in 7 days. It's actually more like 7 lessons. Very practical though and covers just about all likely conversational situations. Uses both male and female Thai voices, which is a good idea. I saw it once at a university book store for 400 baht. Decided to get it just to have and went back, but it was gone. Seems they'd only bought one copy and didn't plan to reorder! TIT I'd say the "Speak Thai in Seven Days" book and tapes can get you up to about where a new Peace Corps volunteer should be at the end of his 9 weeks training in country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pescator Posted March 31, 2005 Report Share Posted March 31, 2005 ABCinBK said:I'm trying to get the original Linguaphone coarse everyone keeps talking about. Stickman's website talks about this older Linguaphone Thai coarse, as does a 2004 article on Mangosauce.com. It is the 40 lesson coarse with a booklet for the first 12 lessons. I am told this coarse takes you to full proficeiency, and that it sold for $200-225 British Pounds. Is this the one you have? Would you cosider parting with it or selling the coarse? Hi ABCinBK This is the one I have. Got it in `93 from the local library and copied it....at work :: I wouldn`t say it takes one to full proficiency but it will allow you to built a substantial vocab. covering a wide array of situations. During each of the 40 lessons some 20 new words are introduced so that makes a total of some 800 words and idioms. Lots of explanatory and cultural notes along the way. Quite invaluable. I see that on stickman`s site it says: "To do the whole course properly with enough opportunity to absorb it and practice it would take the best part of a year." I disagree. I did it in a month and so could probably everyone else with the right degree of self-motivation. Spent 2-3 hours every evening studying and I guess I was highly motivated, because at the end of that month I was leaving for LOS on a 6 month backpacking trip and to meet the missus. Dragged the poor girl all over Thailand during these 6 months. :: (didn`t learn the script during this month though, I gave it a miss at the time in favour of quickly building a decent vocab.) I wouldn`t mind parting with it but a friend of mine is presently going through the course and I am not sure if he is "highly motivated" and will complete the course within a month Besides it is a xeroxed copy. Why don`t you try your local library? Even though they don`t have it there they may be able to get it from the main library. Worth a try. Good luck Cheers Hua Nguu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thai3 Posted March 31, 2005 Report Share Posted March 31, 2005 As far as I know it has not been updated since 93 apart from the packaging. I bought one second hand last year off thailand-uk for 60 quid but could not get one with it so sold it for about the same on mangosauce, often seen on ebay-peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torneyboy Posted April 1, 2005 Report Share Posted April 1, 2005 chelseafan said:Whats the best way of learning Thai (other than staying in LOS) My G/F won't teach me as she doesn't like Farangs speaking it, but I really want to learn it. I have pimsleur which is OK. Are there any other options ? Cheers I read this and think of myself!!...Ha ha i think of what my wife said....... My wife..(not when i was at a thai school however)...will not help very much..not for your reason...she doesn't want me to be able to talk to thai gals!!!! I still learn from here sisters...hard work..you have many good tips from posts here btw...good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.