Automatic Language Growth (ALG) Thai

[DonTheJeweler]

Here is a link to some good Thai language video resources on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/algworld/videos.

 

They seem to have a school in Bangkok, which specialises in a different way of learning. From what I gather, they have students go to class for about a year without ever speaking the language. The first part of the course is spent learning the language from visual and audio perspective. Apparently, this leads to greater fluency and accent. Not sure how successful it is, but you would need to live in Bangkok to spend a few years at the school to find out.

 

They have video recordings of classes they deliver at different levels. The teachers seem excellent and you can follow a lot of the class without really knowing all the spoken vocabulary. Here is a link to their level 1 class video:

 

 

I like to watch these videos every so often, as my Thai improves. They help to gauge where you are at and how well you are improving.

 

Hope it can be useful to others.

[GoforIT]

They seem to have a school in Bangkok, which specialises in a different way of learning. From what I gather, they have students go to class for about a year without ever speaking the language.

 

The time without speaking is 600 to 1000 hours, depending on how fast your brain can sort it out. If you go 6 hours a day, you can start to speak after 4 month.

 

The first part of the course is spent learning the language from visual and audio perspective. Apparently, this leads to greater fluency and accent. Not sure how successful it is, but you would need to live in Bangkok to spend a few years at the school to find out.

 

If you went every weekday for a few hours, you can be finish in one year. A guy that went to AUA has made a blog about his time there. It is really nice to read:

 

http://daninbangkok.blogspot.de/2006_08_01_archive.html

 

They have video recordings of classes they deliver at different levels. The teachers seem excellent and you can follow a lot of the class without really knowing all the spoken vocabulary. Here is a link to their level 1 class video:

 

I like to watch these videos every so often, as my Thai improves. They help to gauge where you are at and how well you are improving.

 

I really like the videos and many real life lessons are even better than the videos. At least someone that went there told me so.

I was last november for the first time in LOS and startet to learn thai shortly before this. After i stumbled over this school and the theory behind it, i stoped learning with translations.

AUA thinks that you make a mistake to learn with translations, because you build your second language on your first language and get unwanted language transfer from it. Also that you can remember vocabulary better if you figure out the meaning of a word for your self than from translations. And i believe them. The words that i learned from translations feel much different from the words that i learned from guessing the meaning of a word out of the AUA-Videos.

 

But many people hate the method from AUA, because they think that translations are needed and you are stupid not to use them. Many people have problems with guessing and not knowing what a word means and hate that they can not ask questions at AUA. So if you run around and tell others from AUA, be prepared that many think that the learning style at AUA is stupid and you are an Idiot to like it.

 

Hope it can be useful to others.

 

It can be, but most will think it is stupid. I love them and my next vacation is planed at AUA. Only from watching the movies i went from nearly no understandig of AT1 to a good grasp of what she talk at the AT5-10 videos. I would give good money to have 100 hours from AT3-4 and AT5-10 Videos each.

 

Best wishes.

[DonTheJeweler]

The theory behind it does seem sound. We all spend the early part of our lives only listening to a language and from then on learning only in that language, without any translation to a second language.

 

I think the limitation is access to this type of learning without living in Thailand. It's possible to immerse yourself in music, movies etc., but this is no substitute.

 

As an adult, it's probably impossible, for most people, to become completely fluent in another language. My plan is to learn as much as I can so that I can chat with the locals and function in most scenarios where I may need to speak Thai, outside tourist locations. It's always two steps forward and one step back for me. Slow, steady progress, while keeping it fun and interesting.

[GoforIT]

The theory behind it does seem sound. We all spend the early part of our lives only listening to a language and from then on learning only in that language, without any translation to a second language.

 

Yes, but many adults hate the idea not to use adult technics in language learning. They are used to learn like in school with learning vocabulary, homework and speaking as soon as possible. Not to speak for a few month and only guessing without translations sounds silly for them.

I really like it. And its work. I learned already alot only from watching the videos over and over again.

 

I think the limitation is access to this type of learning without living in Thailand.

 

Yes, this really sucks. For People that only come for a few weeks per year, it is impossible to use this school.

 

My plan is to learn as much as I can so that I can chat with the locals and function in most scenarios where I may need to speak Thai, outside tourist locations. It's always two steps forward and one step back for me. Slow, steady progress, while keeping it fun and interesting.

 

I have the same goal. I want to be able to stay outside of the tourist locations.

[adebisi]

Shame there are not longer paid for videos available for this learning method - I would also pay good money for this system.

 

I take it doing other forms of learning thai while on this system would ruin it?

 

Shame they don'd have a School in Pattaya

Edited September 2, 2012 by adebisi

[Xylanic]

I enjoyed this. This is excellent when you have a good basic grasp of Thai.

[TheLostShark]

Does anyone know if this is available in Pattaya?

[slick67]

There's an AUA branch in Pattaya, but they use the same methods as all the other language schools.

 

The method you see in the vid is only taught in Bangkok.

 

I agree following these classes would be a great (and cheap!) way to improve your listening skills. Not really convinced though on how effective it is teaching you the other aspects of a language.

 

I already learned it a different way so I guess I'm fucked and all my hopes of ever becoming fluent are ruined Ah well, maybe in the next life....

[Scott Kevin]

I went to the Pattaya branch at Central and asked about classes. I told them that I've lived here for 6 years and studied off and on the whole time and am at ntermediate level. She said that their method is different and all new students have to start at the beginning and refused to change her mind. Stupid policy.

[GoforIT]

I went to the Pattaya branch at Central and asked about classes. I told them that I've lived here for 6 years and studied off and on the whole time and am at ntermediate level. She said that their method is different and all new students have to start at the beginning and refused to change her mind. Stupid policy.

 

But this it not the AUA and the AUA-Method we talked about. And yes, this is a stupid policy. In Bangkok-AUA, you can jump in in every level you want.

[stevenchan]

The theory behind it does seem sound. We all spend the early part of our lives only listening to a language and from then on learning only in that language, without any translation to a second language.

[Scott Kevin]

The theory behind it does seem sound. We all spend the early part of our lives only listening to a language and from then on learning only in that language, without any translation to a second language.

 

But now we already know at least one language so that method isn't appropriate unless we somehow forget all we know about our mother tongue and start over at the beginning, right?

 

The part about babies just listening for the first few years doesn't make sense to me either. ALG people use this as an example and say that you should only listen for the first year or whatever and if you start speaking right away then you will fossilize bad pronunciation, grammar, etc. I'm not an expert on child development but babies seem to talk/babble as soon as they are able to and then are corrected by parents and teachers as well as self correcting though listening and reading grammatically correct material.

[vermut12]

This method is only good if you have a lot of time on hand.

 

You can start speaking way way faster using the regular methods. Pronunciation and grammar can be improved.

 

The main reason why people go on for years with bad grammar and pronunciation is because they lack inner motivation to improve them. They reach the stage when they understand everybody and everybody understands them so many people stop there and do not improve anymore.

 

Are there any people who have finished this course and could prove its superiority?