Must now pay for a reading course but which?

[poseidon5566]

Ok so i have exhausted the books and free courses for learning to read Thai and you must read Thai to speak it in any reasonable length of time. My choices are some form of group class online and there are many and i will be parting with 10-20,000 baht or the rapid method which is 10,000 baht. 

I'm seriously tempted by the rapid method I've been using the free trial and have actually been reading Thai with about 70-80% accuracy on the tones from the free course, with honestly no success from the other materials. The goal at this stage is not to be able to translate what i can read into English but to be able to read so i can use Thai to English material a lot better the rapid method is 10k baht but i am wary of being locked into a unconventional method of reading and suffering later with other learning materials but it is sticking. I want to be able to communicate in the country beyond talking like a  5 year old or looking for translators its wearing thin     

[Ocraled]

I have no idea on courses. I have learned to read the hard way.

That is - by myself. Still wouldn't be a bad idea to take few classes at some point.

I still cannot remember every single  letter or vowel cluster, but with those I have trouble with, I can pretty much extrapolate from the context. 

I fully agree, that anyone who wishes to learn to speak, should learn to read also.

It just makes everything easier, when there is no need to rely on different translitterations and false pronouncements given by people who think their language is good, when it's actually pathethic and incorrect. 

After being able to read, along comes the pronounciation. The correct pronounciation. No more guessing or imitating false phrases. When you can read, you also know how to speak. That's a fact.

Sure, it's not for everyone and that is totally fine. You can still make girls laugh. 

But for someone who really wants to dig deeper...it is essential yet highly rewarding.

I am not an Einstein and it has taken me years to achieve the level where I am now, without any tutoring. I bet a smarter guy can learn the same in few weeks.

I still have huge difficulties trying to read certain typefaces. 

Yet all of this has been worth the while. At least for me.

จูบตูดของข่อย เข้าใจบ่ 😉 

[poseidon5566]

I pulled the trigger on this rapid method. it does stick, and is rapid. i have been at it for about 5 days and i can recognize letters and form words when they are not multiple words joined together so far seems 10,000 baht well spent for the software i also now know that the h letter (my pc does not have Thai characters) only appears at the start of words and can be used when reading to know where one word ends and another begins. I will continue to document my progress also i think its key here I am not trying to remember what the words mean just be able to read them. i will make that a focus on the second repeat of the course to learn the translations.     

[Abracadabra]

9 minutes ago, poseidon5566 said:

I pulled the trigger on this rapid method. it does stick, and is rapid. i have been at it for about 5 days and i can recognize letters and form words when they are not multiple words joined together so far seems 10,000 baht well spent for the software i also now know that the h letter (my pc does not have Thai characters) only appears at the start of words and can be used when reading to know where one word ends and another begins. I will continue to document my progress also i think its key here I am not trying to remember what the words mean just be able to read them. i will make that a focus on the second repeat of the course to learn the translations.     

Send me a PM mate, I will share the courses I have with you if you are interested. Obviously not possible to put them on here.

 

[pasta man]

I tried to learn how to read before I had any real understanding of pronunciation and it just made me confused. I then took a Thai class and learned the pronunciations and now I am going back to learn how to read and write on my own.

The Thai class I took used the Paiboon system for romanization, which had a unique letter for each of the 9 basic vowel sounds in Thai. Using various combinations of those 9 letters plus tone marks can reperesent all the sounds in thai as accurately as Thai script, but with less effort to get started. This then allowed me to focus most of my attention on pronunciation. For example the following numbers in Thai are:

2: สอง  sɔ̌ɔng

3: สาม  sǎam

8: แปด  bpɛ̀ɛt

These numbers have 3 distinct vowel sounds and when I approximate the pronunciation using vowel sounds from English, at least my English, there are only 2 distinct vowel sounds. So I needed to fix that. I found a YouTube video that showed the correct mouth shape for each vowel that helped me achieve 3 distinct sounds.

Now that I have a handle on pronunciation, I am back to learning thai script. I currently know about 70% of vowels and consonants, mostly from YouTube videos, and now digging into the tone system which seems manageable. I think with some flash cards and some practice I should be reading and writing soon enough.

[Kale]

Anyone tried the "Read Thai in 10 Days" book?  I recently purchased it because the reviews were pretty good and most people seem to think that you need to read it in order to quickly learn to speak it half decent. 

I have no illusions that I will be reading Thai in 10 days.  Most reviews said it will take at least 10 weeks to get the basics and that is only if I work really hard at it.

Edited October 22, 2022 by Kale

[pasta man]

2 minutes ago, Kale said:

Anyone tried the "Read Thai in 10 Days" book?  I recently purchased it because the reviews were pretty good and everyone seems to think that you need to read it in order to quickly learn to speak it. 

I have no illusions that I will be reading Thai in 10 days.  Most reviews said it will take at least 10 weeks to get the basics and that is only if I work really hard at it.

The author of that book later founded Duke Language School, which is maybe the best language school in Thailand for speaking Thai depending on who you ask. His school doesn’t teach reading and writing until the 4th month so I would argue that you don’t need to learn to read and write thai first.

https://dukelanguage.com/courses/

 

[Tmacdadi]

1 hour ago, Kale said:

Anyone tried the "Read Thai in 10 Days" book?  I recently purchased it because the reviews were pretty good and most people seem to think that you need to read it in order to quickly learn to speak it half decent. 

I have no illusions that I will be reading Thai in 10 days.  Most reviews said it will take at least 10 weeks to get the basics and that is only if I work really hard at it.

I have it and think you’ve made a wise purchase - should provide a solid foundation for advancing your Thai language skills IMO.  Does take work though (obviously).  

[hoback]

For someone who's self motivated, this is a good place to start - The DLI Thai Language Basic course.  DLI is the US military/govt foreign language traning center.  If you don't know the Thai alphabet, start with this folder:  Thai Supplemental Instruction.

Download the entire course free here:  https://fsi-languages.yojik.eu/languages/DLI/DLI-Thai.html

[poseidon5566]

I found the romanization of this สอง confusing but ส=S because it has something Sticking out of it,อ is the AWEsome vowel with the well hUNG ladyboy at the end lets me form the word sang nicely. but i relies this weird way of learning to read Thai will probably come back to bite me somewhere down the line but so far its working    

[pasta man]

13 hours ago, poseidon5566 said:

I found the romanization of this สอง confusing but ส=S because it has something Sticking out of it,อ is the AWEsome vowel with the well hUNG ladyboy at the end lets me form the word sang nicely. but i relies this weird way of learning to read Thai will probably come back to bite me somewhere down the line but so far its working    

There are a number of romanization systems. Each has pros and cons. Some try to be more intuitive and some try to be more simple. A more intuitive one seems nice but they tend to be more specific to a particular regional pronunciation of English and tend to get confusing when mix long and short vowels and diphthongs and triphthongs. There are roughly 40 different variations to cover and that can get messy quickly. In class I have seen some students try to invent their own writing system and it seems to hurt them more than help them.

When I pronounce AWesome I don’t get the correct vowel sound for สอง. Not sure how you pronounce awesome but for me it is very close to ahh-some, and ahh is the wrong vowel for สอง.

I liked the learning neumonics from the rapid method you are using. My favorite is ล looks like a squirrel licking its nuts and represents the letter L (or N).

I just installed the Paiboon Talking Thai-English Dictionary app and it has native speakers pronouncing all the words and sounds including section on the Thai alphabet. It actually has a fair amount of learning material and includes a phrase book and other stuff so more than a simple dictionary. It does cost more than most learning apps but seems to be well worth it.

 

 

 

Edited October 23, 2022 by pasta man

[Kale]

I downloaded the Pimsleur Thai course on bit torrent.  I then run Google Translate on my phone and have it translate the spoken words so I can see the Thai script and also the english translation.  I'm more of a visual learner so I need to see everything, not just hear it.  YMMV.

Edited October 23, 2022 by Kale

[SloanP]

On 21/10/2022 at 19:30, Kale said:

Anyone tried the "Read Thai in 10 Days" book?  I recently purchased it because the reviews were pretty good and most people seem to think that you need to read it in order to quickly learn to speak it half decent. 

I have no illusions that I will be reading Thai in 10 days.  Most reviews said it will take at least 10 weeks to get the basics and that is only if I work really hard at it.

The book could just as easily be titled "Read Thai in 10 Months". But it's brilliantly done, allowing me to learn Thai script and tone rules, something that aided me tremendously when taking an intensive Thai course in Chiang Mai this past summer.

[jaykao]

So I read Thai fairly well. I can read most news sites without much dictionary support for example, signs etc. no problem for most, obviously some phrases, odd subjects and handwriting can be tough.

Most material just gets you going and teaches you the basics so it doesn't matter too much. True reading fluency takes 100s of hours of practice, so don't worry about mastering every part of the script at first, just get going. You'll fill in details and deepen your understanding over time. Some of the consonants are rarely used, so you need them but don't focus on them too much.

Even with pronunciation and sound connection to the "letters", you can't really hear the sounds accurately until you have tons of listening experience anyway, so get as close as you can keep going.  Attempts to link Thai sounds to English are often misleading because of sound system differences between the languages let alone the many different sounds in different English accents.

Mnemonics and things like that can help you get going at first, i just created a few of my own where necessary. Don't worry about using weird mnemonics you'll forget them over time as you learn to just read fluently. They'll drop away.

I hear the read thai in 10 days book is good, the writer is from a good language school.  I had a teacher give me a brief reading course but I'd taught myself a bit too. 

There's no shortcut in the long term it just takes ages to really read. 

[poseidon5566]

4 hours ago, SloanP said:

 

I think the books try to overcomplicate things in the beginning they try to tell you everything and its to much. Progress has gone much faster, just focusing on learning the alphabet and vowels first. to the untrained eye the words are the same (or are to me at this stage) once you strip out the tone rules and marks. once you have essentially learned the alphabet and can read the word even in a flat monotone voice. then go over it a second time and start implementing the tone rules based on consonant class and live dead sounds ect, if your using a book to self teach instead of a school or program. I'm also choosing to focus on just reading the word. I don't need to be able to translate it yet because i want to be able to just read the word i will start to focus more learning what it means after this run through, which is focusing on learning the alphabet, vowels and sentence structure of written Thai, so i know where one word ends and a second begins.

 

I will then be able to start watching formal tv shows like the news and reading the subtitles on pause as well as books translating with a Thai to English dictionary. I think its important when learning this language we treat our selves as children and stick to formal till we can regonise slang as slang, or we will pick up bad habit's and be the worse off for it. Its also why i will stop using YouTube its not professionally edited and i have no idea what they are saying is correct except to go on faith       

[jaykao]

8 hours ago, poseidon5566 said:

I think I don't need to be able to translate it yet because i want to be able to just read the word i will start to focus more learning what it means after this run through, which is focusing on learning the alphabet, vowels and sentence structure of written Thai, so i know where one word ends and a second begins.

 

I will then be able to start watching formal tv shows like the news and reading the subtitles on pause as well as books translating with a Thai to English dictionary. I think its important when learning this language we treat our selves as children and stick to formal till we can regonise slang as slang, or we will pick up bad habit's and be the worse off for it. Its also why i will stop using YouTube its not professionally edited and i have no idea what they are saying is correct except to go on faith       

It's not a bad plan, just keep going with one thing and another and you'll get there with enough time spent on it. 

I'd be careful about restricting yourself to only "formal" material such as news as it only covers a limited range of language some of it not that useful (like the endless convoluted titles for officials, police etc. in printed news stories, and the weird way headlines are phrased). Even in spoken language, the way they pronounce ร on the news is totally different from how regular Thais say it in day to day life, for example, among other differences.    

It all doesn't matter than much though, do whatever you want to do, it's more about quantity of input rather than specific source. It's a long road so make it as enjoyable as possible. 

Anyway if you use facebook I recommend the group Farang can learn Thai Language, it has some really committed and good students, speakers, teachers, resources etc.   Good luck! 

Edited October 23, 2022 by jaykao