Learning Thai

[Flashermac]

I spoke fairly fluent Thai before I met my Mrs. But come to think of it, she has always avoided teaching me Kham Muang (northern Thai, her first language). I speak much more Lao than I do Kham Muang!

[samak]

no wonder, Flash! talking with the chicks in bangkok bars is like a ride to Lao or Kamen....only one in hundred is from phak nuea, and then mostly from kamphaengphet, pitsanulok or petchabun where they do not speak the kham muang....

[Flashermac]

Oddly enough, the Isaan gals only took over in the bars in the early '80s. Before that, most BGs and MP gals were real northerners -- Phayao, Chiang Rai, Nan, Lampang etc. My favourite MP gal for a long time was from Lampang.

 

I lived in Phitsanulok, and although it is considered northern it is actually only the north of the old Ayutthaya kingdom. Go much beyond that and you are in Lanna -- the former Chiang Mai kingdom. I had plenty of students from the real north, but there is only one district in Uttaradit Province (to the north of P'lok) that is Kham Muang speaking.

[Flashermac]

This is a nice little site, put up by a private school south of Bangkok:

 

 

 

http://www.sriwittayapaknam.ac.th/thailanguage/index.html]http://www.sriwittayapaknam.ac.th/thailanguage/index.html]http://www.sriwittayapaknam.ac.th/thailanguage/index.html

 

http://www.sriwittayapaknam.ac.th/homepage.html]http://www.sriwittayapaknam.ac.th/homepage.html]http://www.sriwittayapaknam.ac.th/homepage.html

[Guest]

You meant to write,

 

http://www.sriwittayapaknam.ac.th/thailanguage/index.html

[dddave]

I've found "LEARNING THAI (A Unique and Practical Approach)" by Nitaya Kanchanawan & Matthew Eynon, available in most Bangkok bookstores, to be an especially helpful text when working with a GF as a teacher. Along with alphabet and prounciation guides, it presents a number of dialogs in a format that first gives a sentence in Thai script, so your helper will know what it says, then it transliterates it into phonetic Thai, so you can practice the pronunciation together. The sentance is then written in english, but using Thai context: this is really helpful in beginning to understand Thai sentence structure and word selection. Finally, the sentence is presented in ordinary english.

 

If your friend is literate in thai, this book makes learning together easier and less frustrating than her just trying to teach you Thai unassisted. My GF also finds that this book helps her with her English more than many of her assigned textbooks.

 

My copy was B350 at ASIABOOKS.

 

David