Motivational Video

[herds]

http://www.youtube.com/user/Gwindarr

 

Sometimes I feel like i'm not getting anywhere when i'm just giving myself a hard time so when I saw these videos it was a nice motivational boost to know that it is possible to be 'fluent' or at least very clear. His explanations are very good as well, I now understand the use of 'เฉย ๆ/cheury' properly.

 

He's been living in thailand for 5-6 years and speaks thai really well, i'm sure there are minor errors but I understand him very clearly. He is actually a lynguist and learns a few other asian languages which he talks about on his blog, which is very useful for some thai stuff as he really cuts out a lot of the chaff that you "don't" need to say.

[luv.you.long.time]

Yes indeed, Im always impressed when I hear farang speaking in great use of tones and diction. He is obviously quite a clever lad.

[Ajay75]

Nice vid's and good central accent on this guy. He looks quite embarrassed and modest about speaking in front of the camera but he's very good.

 

I think after that amount of time learning Thai you should aim to be at this level as things will become second nature when saying things.

 

One of my teachers best students from New Zealand lost his hearing a few years ago so she has to have lessons face to face. He can only lip read and can speak like this and has been learning the same amount of time from scratch. I found that pretty amazing and very humbling for me.

 

I just am trying to be patient and relaxed and just practice and learn at my own pace and not worry about what other people are doing or their knowledge levels. I used to do this and it just made things worse from my perspective.

[herds]

I've actually had a little chat with him and for the last few weeks I have started using his method of learning, it's called SRS using free software. I've found this so effective, before i'd learn a load of stuff and just forget it but using this method things are sticky without having to constantly go "adjective > verb + present tense continous.. blah blah"

 

If anyone is interested i'll do a little write up about it and how to get started.

[Tico]

Thank you heaps for posting this. I'm currently dabbling in Thai. The ruthless repetition he preaches speaks volumes to me.

 

I'm also happy to see a farang speaking rhythmically and without too much effort. It gives me hope.

[aitch]

Herds,

 

definately interested. enjoyed the link

[cerebo]

I would definately be interested in the SRS method too. Looking forward to the write-up

[Dr.Winston]

Only just seen this thread. I didn't listen to them all but his Thai is great for 5 or 6 years. I'm not so sure about hers though, she seems to have a bit of a whiney inflection to her voice.

[herds]

That's his thai mrs from chiang mai, haha. I suppose that explains it, when I was there it was a real reality check listening to different accents ฝังไม่ทันๆ

[herds]

You may have already used srs if you've used pimsleur, it's basically learning words and phrases buy repetition, sorta like 'picking up a language' on steroids. Words and phrases get drilled into your head so that after a while as much as a glance at the English sentence will make you say the sentence in thai instantly. You still need to practice with a teacher or revise grammer etc but I think it's a great supplementary way of retaining info.

 

The software for it is basically like having a pack of cards spread across a big table with the english word on one side and the thai word on the other and you, choose a card at random and try to remember the thai translation, again and again, however it has the benefits you'd expect from computer software:

 

* allowing you to grade yourself, give yourself 'easy' if you got to the word straight away and the word will be added to the bottom of the pile, 'medium' and it will be added to the middle or 'hard' where it will be placed nearer the top so you'll see the card about 30 seconds later.

* Effortless to use, I leave the program running in the taskbar at all times and if I have a spare 5 minutes waiting for the kettle or something I can practice a few phrases.

* Record your voice saying each phrase or add audio clips from online with pictures etc (very useful if you are thinking about learning the thai alphabet).

 

I'd recommend only adding words/phrases that you think are useful to learn or that you think you will likely use in conversation. Also if i'm ever learning thai or out and about and get into a situation where I want to use a phrase i'll write it down and then later find a good translation and then add it to my SRS.

 

The SRS thing is pretty easy to get started with, download an srs program, I use anki.

 

http://ichi2.net/anki/shots.html

 

With anki you can also sync your lists of words to an online database and share them with others or login to the website to study online if you're away from your computer that anki is installed on, if anyone is interested or gets that far I share my list which is now 255 words and phrases with the ID: bed8211fe6df2fb6. My list consists of about 90 essential phrases amoung other stuff that I want to 'stick', though I don't really bother with pronouns too much (pom, tee, krab) so remember them if you like using them when speaking.

 

I hope guys get good results like i've been having.

Edited March 17, 2009 by herds

[herds]

Updated my anki card set the other day, got about 300 words/phrases now. There doesn't seem to be many thai sets on anki, in fact couldn't find one shared one so this might be useful to some:

 

go to:

Edit / Deck Properties / Sources

 

e2427d21596d6fa6

[herds]

 

เก่งมากเลย

 

"yeah, learnt to read and write thai in half a day" what a gift.

 

The vids are pretty good listening practice as well, couldn't find part 1.

Edited August 6, 2009 by herds

[Ajay75]

This is pretty impressive and he is right, immersion is the key. It does really help but not all of us have all day to practice and do this. I try to do as much as possible but I also have a life and work outside of Thai so learning part time is going to take longer.

 

I also think this guys IQ must be pretty high or he maybe has a natuaral ability in learning languages which not everyone has. Learning takes time even if you practice all day (which is pretty impossible) to become fluent. But I do agree with many of his techniques and employ them myself when learning.

 

Basically for me its just practicing patterns and vocab alot outloud so it just becomes natural so you dont even think about it. My vocab list is around 1500 words and I have seperate lists for phrases and grammar rules and patterns. My sentences are becoming longer and longer and I can understand people alot more when they speak at a normal pace.

 

Good stuff anyway. We're all trying to get to the same goal but we all wont get there at the same pace.

[The Mentalist]

This is about a thai learning English (We think we have problems)

The guy is a barman at a resort I stay at a lot.

His english is very good to a point and he is self taught from customers and he is one very smart man. In fact he could almost become an interpreter now.

Thais seem to have a lot of trouble pronouncing words with an "F" or our us of the "Th" sound.

He poured me a beer and I said "It has a lot of froth on top". He could not get his longue around froth, I found a little latter he had trouble with the word thirsty.

He went and got his phone so he could record me saying these 2 words. He then had 2 days off, when he came back he could say both of then OK and he told me he had spent over 5 hours in front of a mirror saying them to himself so that his lips looked the same as mine when he said them correctly.

I am now wondering if a lot of languages are not the same and the people we are talking too are also lip reading a lot as well as listening.

I know Thai is a tonal language, but also I believe if we get the lip movement correct they understand us better as we are learning.

[herds]

I may be wrong, i forget the source I read this but I think in English we beat the second language by about double in the amount of words we have and use in our daily vocabulary which must be a big obstacle for people learning english.

 

I think you're right, a lot sources say try and not only mimic the sound but the movements of the natives mouth. I think some of the unnatural thai sounds take most of us a long time to even get anywhere near correct.

 

In another interview he says that he grew up with languages, like his grandfather could speak a few well and it motivated from a really young age. He said in another, when he goes to learn a new language he learns to touch type first and then start memorizing words, like a few thousand to start with. 15 languages fluent and another 15 with proficiency to the point his native language accent is now a bit screwed, what a nutter.

Edited August 7, 2009 by herds

[Breeze]

Check out his Blog.

 

http://stujay.blogspot.com/

[Ajay75]

Here is the first part to the videos: