Back to basics

[Ajay75]

Well after a month in Patts and speaking quite a lot apart from when tired or hungover I had some pretty good experiences speaking with BG's, friends and my Thai was well received. Some days I didnt speak a word of English but somedays I just couldnt be arsed (mainly due to my brain not wanting to work).

 

Anyway I have started learning regulary with my teacher again and decided that I wanted to go back to basics regarding the use of tones. I used to ask everyone I spoke with how much they understood me and the average was 75% which I didnt think was too bad but it made me think that I need to step it up.

 

It feels like I have regressed but I would rather take a step back to speak as near perfect as possible rather than plough on as I know it will benefit me in the end and save alot of time in the long run.

 

I heard and chatted with many Thais and the general opinion was that although some Farang can speak and know alot, they dont speak very well and alot of Thais just guess parts of a conversation or words.

 

For me its not how quickly you get there but to reach my fluency goal the right way.

 

Not sure what everyone else thinks?

[herds]

I often read things and then learn words/sayings that are too advanced for me when I still have problems with some basic phrases, some things just don't stick like other things do so I just put them on the backburner.

 

Tones are a bitch when speaking, some words/syllables I have heard/used a lot but I struggle to see how anyone can remember each and every consonant and vowel combo and work that out whilst speaking. I can work this out, but it means I have to mentally pause too much, I'm sure the answer is practicing and immersion until you don't even thing about it.. which takes a while. I personally try and mimic as best I can, which I think falls more under accent that tone.

Edited July 8, 2009 by herds

[Ajay75]

Yes immersion is the key and alot of practice but it still takes alot of work. Some days are better than others for me but thats mainly due to the booze clouding my thought process which never helps. There is a fair bit I can just reel off without thinking with patterns and rules etc but there are always some complicated stuff which I only ever attempt to chat with the Thai friends I have as I know they will wait. Forget doing it with someone you dont know as it just adds to the pressure of speaking it.

[herds]

http://slice-of-thai.com/voice-viewer/

 

useful for honing tones.