A long shot but.......anyone know......Anyone o

[poolieblue]

I live in the North East of England and want to learn Thai. Anyone know of anywhere I can go preferably Teeside area but would travel further one night per week. i know its a long shot but maybe there is somewhere

[LaaMok]

Find the local temple or call the nearest thai restaurant. U will get results from both.

[DonTheJeweler]

Check this site out: http://www.thai-style.co.uk/thai-language/teacher-locations-uk.

 

They have many teachers based around the UK. Depending on the course, you pay a fee to the school for the materials (think about £80 for speaking and another, optional, £80 for reading/writing). They send you the materials in the post and they email the contact details for a tutor. Lessons are £12 per hour.

 

Alternatively, do what LaaMok said and get in contact with temples or Thai restaurants. The Thai people I have met in the UK are very open to share their language and culture.

 

Good luck!

[Pen-fifteen]

Not living in the UK, I can't advise you of anywhere to learn the Thai language, but I can give you a few pointers; what to look for and what to avoid.

 

Assuming that you would like to speak proper Pasa Thai, you should look for a proper Thai speaker/teacher. If you learn Thai from a bargirl, you will speak Thai like a bargirl, and when you speak bargirl Thai in the company of non-bar Thai people, the source of your Thai will be obvious to them. Of course, if you only want to speak to bargirls, you wouldn't be worried about that.

 

I also assume that you don't want to learn Isaan-Lao thinking it is Thai; that is a trap for the unwary. The first language of many Thais IS Isaan-Lao. Again, you want a TEACHER who will teach you Thai that is not adulterated with Isaan-Lao, or worse still, the Khmer language. Because of this, the average Thai that you might meet in the street is not necessarily a good source of language instruction.

 

Because of the differences between the English and Thai pronunciation, you need a native-Thai speaking teacher if possible. A native English-speaker who has lived in Thailand for many years can be very good, but will rarely be as good a teacher of the Thai language as a native Thai-speaker. The reverse of this is true too; how many Thais do you know who can speak English without a thick accent??

 

I know a farang male who has a Thai wife; she learns a lot of her English from him. The problem is that he is a particularly profane individual, and his profanity is reflected in her English. At one time, she needed a gynocological examination, so she went into the doctor's examination room and told him that she needed him to "check out [her] cunt". She simply didn't know what level of English the husband was using and he couldn't work out the fact that he was teaching her to use low-level English.

 

Lastly, when one speaks Thai, one [sort of] "sings" the speech with the tones. If you get to that stage, you are doing well. Good luck!

 

PenXV

[Rapid Language Learning]

Do it online!

 

Step 1. Go to www.learnthaionline.com and learn to read first. This is the most important step. You will learn so much more quickly (and accurately) if you can read.

 

The "Rapid" method works by associating rude, bizarre, obscene images and stories with the shapes of the letters, so you get to remember the alphabet instantly. Then you practice reading (mostly) useful words to develop a "sight" vocabulary that will then make it easier for you to learn Thai through reading books (and street signs and menus when you happen to be in Thailand). You will benefit from the "living dictionary" that surrounds you in Thailand.

 

The main difficulty you will have is that people from the north-east use different vowel sounds than those found in Thai. If you can already speak Italian or German then you'll have no trouble. Otherwise, you must listen very very carefully to the audio and repeat what you hear exactly.

 

For instance, one of the vowels in Thai is shaped like a puppy on its back wanting its tummy rubbed.

 

This is the sound "u" as in "puppy" / "tummy" / "rub". But Northerners and Scouses don't have this sound in English. You tend to say something more like "poopy" and "toomy" and "roob". In Thai, this vowel is exactly like the Italian vowel "a" in pizza. You have to open your mouth very wide like at the dentist! I can help with these little details in a skype session or if you later join one of my workshops (or online webinars).

 

So, start by signing up to the free Starter Course, which consists of 15 mini lessons sent daily. You'll also get limited access to the self-study Read Thai online course to try out the method. I'm hoping that you'll then sign up (and pay) for the full course - which costs £65 (3,100 baht).

 

2. Once you can read (albeit without understanding anything), your progress from now on will be very rapid. The strategy I recommend is the lazy-man's less-is-more approach. Learn to speak and understand Thai by following the first-year university course Everyday Thai for Beginners. It's only in Thai script - don't ever take a course that relies on Romanized phonetics, you will end up with a mangled way of speaking Thai that will be almost impossible to get rid of in the future.

 

This is where a Thai teacher becomes necessary. If you don't know anyone local then work online with someone from Thailand using skype. I can help put you in touch with someone if you don't know anyone yourself.

 

The important thing is not to do too much. You kind of have to direct your teacher. Study one chapter a week (there are 27 chapters, so that's about 7 months). This is my recommended strategy:

1. Read through the chapter on your own (day 1) and then spend an hour with your Thai teacher understanding what's going on in the chapter and checking your pronunciation.
    
   
2. Spend about 15 minutes a day memorising the vocabulary using the Anki flashcard system (days 2-5). This is one of the most important techniques for learning a language. I've devised a set of flashcards for the 1,200-word vocabulary in Everyday Thai so that you have an internal dictionary of most of the basic everyday words you will need when speaking and understanding Thai on the street.
    
   
3. Spend another hour with your teacher practicing conversation using only the words and concepts covered in this and all preceding chapters you have studied (day 5). Direct your teacher to limit the conversation to the vocabulary set that you've already covered. There is no need to overload yourself with new words and concepts at this stage.
    
   
4. Continue with your "Anki" vocabulary studies (day 6-7).
    
   
5. Repeat the entire process with the next chapter.
   

The Everyday Thai material is a little dry, but it's extremely effective. It'll give you a really strong foundation, requiring almost no effort, to be able to communicate easily and accurately in Thai.

 

3. Now that you've got the basics, you might want to work on becoming fluent. It's not difficult, nor is it arduous - if you follow the "Rapid" approach again. Less is more. Do a little every day. Most of the real learning happens subconsciously, so it's more effective if you don't rush it. Your brain "grows" into the learning a bit like a muscle, or a grapevine, grows. You need to train it gradually but continuously.

 

I recommend reading books that use a conversational style of writing. This is vital. The Rapid Method is designed for speaking and understanding, it's not really about becoming a bookworm. Reading just happens to be the most effective way to develop your verbal communication skills.

 

Follow the same strategy as above: study a chapter with a Thai teacher to understand what's going on and check your pronunciation, memorize the vocabulary using Anki and - this is new - listen to the text being read out loud over and over again on a daily basis.

 

You can produce your own material, but it's time-consuming. I've already developed material for an Intermediate Fluency course based on a novel called Sydney Remember. It's about a Thai girl who goes to live with her cousin in Sydney, find work, learn English, make friends, etc. Kind of what our life is like as a "farang" in Thailand. It's written in a wonderful straight-forward colloquial style. By the time you finish reading (and listening to) this book, you'll be able to speak fairly fluently with your Thai friends.

 

It'll take a year - studying 2 hours per week with a teacher and around 20 minutes a day with Anki and your listening drills. It may seem like a long time, but it's a very relaxed way of learning that will become part of your daily routine (I suggest making a special coffee-and-cake time every day so that it becomes a daily treat!)

 

The next level is to become fluent in business and commercial matters. I've chosen a movie called Top Secret and the accompanying biography Top Story about Thailand's youngest billionaire. Not only is it quite inspirational, it's a funny story - about how this rebellious teenager discovers that he can make a ton of money by playing computer games (he sells virtual weapons to other players who are too lazy or impatient to "win" them for themselves), and then he subsequently drops out of school and tries to establish his own businesses - all of which fail in some way. But he perseveres and eventually he lands a contract with the CP group (who run the 7-11 chain of stores) to supply fried seaweed snacks.

 

The language used is also quite colloquial and conversational, but deals with commercial and financial issues, such as costs, profits, losses, loans, interest and supply chains. If you ever want to be involved in some kind of commercial activity in Thailand then it's a huge advantage to be able to communicate with Thais on this level.

 

But that's a few years away. Start by learning to read and let me know how it goes - either on this forum or by contacting me directly.

 

Enjoy!

Edited November 21, 2012 by Rapid Language Learning

[greo]

I live in the North East of England and want to learn Thai. Anyone know of anywhere I can go preferably Teeside area but would travel further one night per week. i know its a long shot but maybe there is somewhere

The Thai Embassy in Hull does language lessons. Maybe if this is too far, they might have a list of people who can help!

[anotherbadboy]

Not living in the UK, I can't advise you of anywhere to learn the Thai language, but I can give you a few pointers; what to look for and what to avoid.

 

Assuming that you would like to speak proper Pasa Thai, you should look for a proper Thai speaker/teacher. If you learn Thai from a bargirl, you will speak Thai like a bargirl, and when you speak bargirl Thai in the company of non-bar Thai people, the source of your Thai will be obvious to them. Of course, if you only want to speak to bargirls, you wouldn't be worried about that.

 

I also assume that you don't want to learn Isaan-Lao thinking it is Thai; that is a trap for the unwary. The first language of many Thais IS Isaan-Lao. Again, you want a TEACHER who will teach you Thai that is not adulterated with Isaan-Lao, or worse still, the Khmer language. Because of this, the average Thai that you might meet in the street is not necessarily a good source of language instruction.

 

Because of the differences between the English and Thai pronunciation, you need a native-Thai speaking teacher if possible. A native English-speaker who has lived in Thailand for many years can be very good, but will rarely be as good a teacher of the Thai language as a native Thai-speaker. The reverse of this is true too; how many Thais do you know who can speak English without a thick accent??

 

I know a farang male who has a Thai wife; she learns a lot of her English from him. The problem is that he is a particularly profane individual, and his profanity is reflected in her English. At one time, she needed a gynocological examination, so she went into the doctor's examination room and told him that she needed him to "check out [her] cunt". She simply didn't know what level of English the husband was using and he couldn't work out the fact that he was teaching her to use low-level English.

 

Lastly, when one speaks Thai, one [sort of] "sings" the speech with the tones. If you get to that stage, you are doing well. Good luck!

 

PenXV

 

+1 that's valuable guidance.