# Best Method(s) to learn to speak and read Thai?



## dhream

Newforestcat, Tod-daniels, Stednick, and other learned Thai speakers here... hello to you all!

I think you all know already from our previous interactions that I am brand-new to Thailand as an expat, my Thai is limited to what I've picked up over the years in cursory friendships, guide-books, etc. on layovers in my past career.

I am keen to really make an effort with Thai, as I have seen the dividends even a few words spoken beyond my halting 'tourist-speak' brings; Just this evening, I managed to order an incredible 'Yam' (Warm Salad) for THB25 from a street vendor that most farangs would not ever experience, there were no signs in English, and no pictures, and no Thai customers to mimic, all I knew was that I wanted some kind of spicy glass noodle salad, and took it from there with the help of a little dictionary, it was enormously encouraging, and, given the price, the salad was sublime!

It is likely sooner or later, I'll end up in a relationship; I know how easy it can be for the superior language speaker to default to the language of the weaker speaker, as it is 'easier' I want to avoid this before it happens, and try hard to be able to at least eventually get by in Thai... including the challenge of basic literacy.

Having delivered this preamble, and accepting that 'immersion' out there in the world is the way to go, I have also come across a site: thai-language.com 

Would you please take a look and advise if it is a worthwhile tool, or are there other sites that you prefer? Also, is there a widely respected Thai language school in Chiang Mai, or should i just plug away at it on the streets and on sites similar to the above? Should I go to one of the forums where Thai is spoken by foreigners? In short any and all advice about how I can take this forward would be very welcome.
Thank you ladies and gentlemen! :yo:


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## stednick

dhream said:


> Newforestcat, Tod-daniels, Stednick, and other learned Thai speakers here... hello to you all!
> 
> I think you all know already from our previous interactions that I am brand-new to Thailand as an expat, my Thai is limited to what I've picked up over the years in cursory friendships, guide-books, etc. on layovers in my past career.
> 
> I am keen to really make an effort with Thai, as I have seen the dividends even a few words spoken beyond my halting 'tourist-speak' brings; Just this evening, I managed to order an incredible 'Yam' (Warm Salad) for THB25 from a street vendor that most farangs would not ever experience, there were no signs in English, and no pictures, and no Thai customers to mimic, all I knew was that I wanted some kind of spicy glass noodle salad, and took it from there with the help of a little dictionary, it was enormously encouraging, and, given the price, the salad was sublime!
> 
> It is likely sooner or later, I'll end up in a relationship; I know how easy it can be for the superior language speaker to default to the language of the weaker speaker, as it is 'easier' I want to avoid this before it happens, and try hard to be able to at least eventually get by in Thai... including the challenge of basic literacy.
> 
> Having delivered this preamble, and accepting that 'immersion' out there in the world is the way to go, I have also come across a site: thai-language.com
> 
> Would you please take a look and advise if it is a worthwhile tool, or are there other sites that you prefer? Also, is there a widely respected Thai language school in Chiang Mai, or should i just plug away at it on the streets and on sites similar to the above? Should I go to one of the forums where Thai is spoken by foreigners? In short any and all advice about how I can take this forward would be very welcome.
> Thank you ladies and gentlemen! :yo:


dhream;

Thai is a complex language in that it is tonal. Our falang ears were never trained to listen for the tonal variations. We don’t hear the nuances in the speech so we have a difficult time deciphering the language. It takes many years of practice to achieve fluency in Thai. 

However, it should not take long to pickup a useable vocabulary. The more time you invest in practicing Thai the quicker you will get there.

The biggest error made by falang is attempting to convert Thai into the roman script. It does not translate well. Hence you will find several variants in the transliteration of single words.

My advice to you, or any falang who wishes to speak Thai is to learn the Thai alphabet. 44 consonants with 32 vowel sets sounds a lot more intimidating than it is. But, you do have to wade through mire to make sense of it all. Practice, practice, practice. hours, hours, hours. It falls into place faster than expected but you do need to put significant effort into learning. 

If possible, download and print the Manee elementary school books. 
A Woman Learning Thai… and some men too ;-) Â» Download 12 FREE Manee Books

Learn the Thai letters and practice pronunciation. e-learning ??????

Run through conversational exercises. 
Thai Language Wiki

No resource you have available is without value. 

Finding a structured school, paying for instruction, working on a fixed schedule, may force discipline into the learning process. Everyone in an individual, what works for one may not work for another. Find you own path by trail and error. 

Practice, practice, practice, hours, hours, hours. 

Good luck.


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## tod-daniels

Sorry this is long, perhaps you will find some value in it;

Well, I hate to be a naysayer, but I'm gonna hafta disagree with some of the premises put forth by "stednick"..

First; the fact that thai is a tonal language has abso-tively posi-lutely NOTHING to do with why our foreign ears can't hear the tones in thai. In fact English is a totally tonal language too. You can't speak it in a mono-tone, and we routinely use all 5 tones found in the thai language.. We just use tones for a different reason. I got so sick of hearing foreigners spout that b/s excuse about not hearing the tones that I wrote a submission about it here (shameless plug);
We have all 5 thai tones in english too

Even though I totally abhor any foreigner who uses what I call "the-F-word"(ฝรั่ง) referring to other foreigners, I'll put my distaste aside and still weigh in on using what I call "karaoke thai"; thai written using a combination of English and other characters to denote vowel length and intonation. 

I know some people who can speak circles around my thai ability yet couldn't tell "a chicken from an owl" in Thai script. FWIW; กอ ไก่ (chicken) and ฮอ นกฮูก (owl) are the first and last character in what's called the Thai alphabet... 

These people learned to speak Thai from karaoke. Most thai language schools out there use some form of this to get you speaking FIRST before you start reading and writing. In fact some schools won't even expose you to thai script until you've taken 3 or 4 levels of their speaking classes which are all taught in karaoke thai.

I agree with "stednick'; the thai alphabet at first blush looks intimidating. 44 characters comprising different 21 sounds. The reason there are more characters than sounds is; there are 6-T's (ฐ, ฑ, ฒ, ถ, ท, ธ), 5-K's (ข, ฃ, ค, ฅ, ฆ) 4-S's (ซ, ศ, ษ, ส) and so on in Thai. As far as the vowels, yes also a high "fear factor" with 32 characters (14 long & 18 short vowel sounds) but even in English with A, E, I, O, U & Y we can get almost 22-25 sound depending on who you believe. So again, not too unmanageable.

Thai-Language Dot Com is probably one of the best free online dictionaries out there. The creator Glenn Slayden and the people who update and run the site are great. There is a feature in the settings where you can display the "karaoke version" of thai you want.

There is a site called teach thai dot com which was designed to teach thai kids born overseas how to read thai. In fact it's how I taught myself to read.

After going to and reviewing a lot Thai language schools here in Bangkok I've found that it is not so much the methodology when you start learning it's your own personal motivation. You either WANT to learn thai (and you do) or you pretend to want to (and you go thru the motions and don't).. 

I mean face it you're gonna hafta crawl before you walk and walk before you run.. I know people who've been here 20+ years married to a thai, have half thai kids, yet they couldn't string 5 thai words together into a semi coherent sentence. It's not because they couldn't learn, it's because they didn't WANT it bad enough.. 

Personally I learned Thai primarily out of spite and the fact that these people totally suck at what passes for engrish here.. 

I looked around, realized that there are close to 70 million people in this country who seem to be able to speak, understand, read and write Thai just fine. It came to me that while it is entirely probable that 1% of the world's population is smarter than I am, it is a statistical impossibility that every one of those people were thai.. I just adopted the mindset that if they could learn to do it so could I.. 

Now don't get me wrong, I speak thai with an Ohio accent, and I'm NEVER gonna be confused with a native born speaker of thai EVER, but I don't care and neither should you.. As far as fluency, it means different things to different people. Just to prove that I wrote another submission here (yet another shameless plug);
What does fluent in Thai mean to you

Good luck, I know I'm not all that smart, which means ANYONE out there can learn thai IF they want too..

Note-2-mods; if links to my own stuff violates any forum rules, just delete the linx.. I didn't mean to contravene forum rules.. I just didn't want to write stuff I've already written before...

Again, sorry this was long-ish...:confused2:


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## Mweiga

Interesting discussion. My own experience with learning the language after eight years living in Thailand is centred on living within a wholly Thai home environment. 

I hear Thai spoken all day long and have made a conscious effort to build up as large a vocabulary of words and expressions as possible , without paying much attention to the five tones used. I then use these words in conversation as often as possible despite pretty good English also being spoken in the home situation with everybody wanting me to talk English so they can learn themselves !

In time the correct tones seems to come - get told my Thai is clear with good pronunciation which has come as a big surprise as I've never made an effort at learning the tones. Apparently after constant repetition over time your brain eventually remembers the tone used in a word and reproduces it like a tape recorder when you talk.

This is a lazy way to learn Thai I know but I don't have the time or self discipline to read books or attend a language course - and it works.

Doesn't help with reading Thai of course but there is a two year old boy in the house learning the Thai alphabet off a big chart with buttons , pictures and music , and I sometimes sit down alongside him on the floor repeating out loud in an effort to learn the characters - gor gai , kor kai , .... !!


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## tod-daniels

Wow, THANX "caitlinlee" I never even heard of or knew that Duke Language School was a new school and in the Trendy Building! 

I knew of a school in the same building called Piammitr Language School. It's either still there or at least it was there when I wrote a review about it..

In looking at Duke Language School's curriculum, it would appear they are what I call a "Union Clone School". By that I mean their course structure is based on 60 hour courses (which run 3 hours a day, 5 days a week for 4 weeks). This would lead me to believe they use a version of the original Union Thai school's methodology as far as books and the way Thai is taught. 

Now that's not saying anything bad because way back in the day (nearly 40+ years ago); Union Thai was the ONLY private school designed to teach adult foreigners the Thai language, in fact they still teach it to this very day. 

The original Union teachers saw how well the methodology could work and got proficient teaching it too. Then, as with all things in this country, those teachers quit and opened up their own schools using the same text books (with different covers). 

Some Union Clone Schools; like Rak Thai Language and a few others re-wrote the original ancient dialog books into more contemporary and up-to-date material. 

However, some still teach archaic sentences like "Please tell the porter to bring my bag to the platform." <- possibly when there were still steam engines plying the rail tracks here, I dunno.. 

It would also appear from looking at Duke's website, that they've coined the phrase “Teaching Thai the edutaining way”, even the co-founder is listed as an "edupreneur". Maybe they've freshened up the material.. Their pricing structure is 100% Union Clone, but they might be onto something new, so we'll see! 

I'll definitely go scope it out tomorrow, and I'll make sure to write a review about it too on Catherine Wentworth's website;
A Woman Learning Thai… and some men too ;-)

Thanx again!!


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## Newforestcat

Hello Dhream

First of all, good luck with learning Thai and finding that special someone!

As a native Thai speaker, I am unsure if my advice is that useful to you... Anyhow, I can only speak from my experiences of learning other languages and of having tried to teach a few native-English friends to speak Thai. I would like to say that you should:

- Learn the alphabets, vowels and tones not Karaoke Thai, if you are serious about it. I know it is not that easy but it is not that hard! 

If you are living here, it is quite important. Knowing the language enough will sure make you happier. Besides, you may find that Thais treat you more warmly, and your restaurant portions are bigger than usual. 

I think the most problematic Thai alphabetical sounds are:

ง /ng/ as in sing which all of my friends pronounced as /n/, 
บ /b/ as in bad, ป /p/ as in sport (/p/sound that follows /s/), 
ด /d/ as in dog, and ต /t/ as in stop ( /t/ sound that follows /s/). 

I find that all of my friends have problems with them. As for the vowels and the five tones, I guess you need to practise A LOT. The best thing about the Thai language is it is mostly written as it is pronounced! Once you know how Thai words are made up in the written language, this will CERTAINLY help with your pronunciations. 

Here is a very funny example based on my friend's Karaoke-style Thai via Skype chat (not call, we are lazy people): my guess was embarrassingly wrong. He said Tiang Keun. I thought, as it was late, he told me to go to bed. I thought he meant 'climb to bed' or in Thai Keun tiang ขึ้นเตียง. So I told him off as a joke that that was also a slang which meant something else completely intimate. He then said he meant Tiang Keun เที่ยงคืน or midnight. Needless to say, I was speechless. LOL. I have to say that I am usually pretty good at guessing. Maybe it was late. But this is why karaoke Thai could be confusing. When Thais use it, we include tonal symbols so it is not very confusing. 

- Practise A LOT. Find Thai friends, go to Thai classes or just become chatty. You can talk to any Thai, 99.99% will be very happy to talk to you and it is free! 

- Listen to Thai music or watch Thai films or anything else on the internet. Starting from children programs to build up vocabs and confidence is possibly best. 

- Read English children books that you are familiar with in Thai. One of my friends finds Beatrix Potter's stories very useful. He learnt so much from just Peter Rabbit alone. From that book alone in a few weeks, he could read most Thai signs! 

- Imitate native speakers. Imitation is a key in learning languages, IMHO. By being in Thailand, you will speed up the learing process by a lot. Having said that if you live in CM, most people speak Northern dialects.

- Never worry too much about your accent. Even if you get the tones or the grammar wrong, if you speak slowly, most Thais should understand you. We are pretty lazy when we speak, you will soon notice that we omit a lot of subject of the sentence, most of us do not pronounce the /r/ and /l/ sounds properly. I guess to start with, this laziness can be confusing to you. 

- Never forget that Thais also love cute Thai accents and are more than happy to help. So do ask, if you are confused! 

Cheers!

Dani


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## stednick

dhream said:


> Newforestcat, Tod-daniels, Stednick, and other learned Thai speakers here... hello to you all!
> 
> I think you all know already from our previous interactions that I am brand-new to Thailand as an expat, my Thai is limited to what I've picked up over the years in cursory friendships, guide-books, etc. on layovers in my past career.
> 
> I am keen to really make an effort with Thai, as I have seen the dividends even a few words spoken beyond my halting 'tourist-speak' brings; Just this evening, I managed to order an incredible 'Yam' (Warm Salad) for THB25 from a street vendor that most farangs would not ever experience, there were no signs in English, and no pictures, and no Thai customers to mimic, all I knew was that I wanted some kind of spicy glass noodle salad, and took it from there with the help of a little dictionary, it was enormously encouraging, and, given the price, the salad was sublime!
> 
> It is likely sooner or later, I'll end up in a relationship; I know how easy it can be for the superior language speaker to default to the language of the weaker speaker, as it is 'easier' I want to avoid this before it happens, and try hard to be able to at least eventually get by in Thai... including the challenge of basic literacy.
> 
> Having delivered this preamble, and accepting that 'immersion' out there in the world is the way to go, I have also come across a site: thai-language.com
> 
> Would you please take a look and advise if it is a worthwhile tool, or are there other sites that you prefer? Also, is there a widely respected Thai language school in Chiang Mai, or should i just plug away at it on the streets and on sites similar to the above? Should I go to one of the forums where Thai is spoken by foreigners? In short any and all advice about how I can take this forward would be very welcome.
> Thank you ladies and gentlemen! :yo:


dhream; PM me and I'll send you a few links to get you started.


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## stednick

*Learning Thai*

First, a word about myself, my first exposure to Thailand was in 1985 through one of my customers. An American entrepreneur who was heavily involved in the Asian/American jewelry business. I am forever thankful to him for financing a couple of vacations to Thailand so I could “get a grip” on the Thai culture. In a business venture I lived in Thailand ’95-’97. I was a victim of the 1997 Asian financial crisis and found myself unemployed, so, married my girlfriend and moved back to the states. Since then we have been frequent visitors to Thailand spending a month or so every two of three years. In the US we are fortunate to reside in one of the few Thai enclaves and have a short five minute commute to the local Thai Temple. So, my exposure to Thailand, the Thai people and the Thai language spans more than 20 years, 30 depending upon how you count. My post is only based on my personal experiences. I have invested an untold number of hours in studying Thai over many, many years and I classify myself as a rank amateur.

Thai is a tonal language. The tonal aspect makes it difficult for falang (non-asian) to understand and to speak. The Thai alphabet of 44 consonants and 32 vowel sets identify discrete sounds. Many of which sound identical to falang but are recognizably different to the Thais. 

The sounds used in Thai are different than the sounds used in falang languages. So, to learn Thai you need to start in training your ears to hear the tonal differences and training your mouth to make the Thai sounds. Practice, practice, practice. Hours, hours, hours. As with everything practice makes perfect. 

Speaking from experience, to learn Thai (other than fundamental phrase book snippets), you must start with the Thai alphabet. Just like the Thai children do. Learn the consonants, learn the vowels, practice the sounds. You need to train your ears to hear. You need to train the muscles in your mouth to make the Thai sounds. Practice, practice, practice. Hours, hours, hours.

There are many, many, many Internet sites that are more than willing to take your hard earned cash and pretend that you are being taught Thai. Caveat Emptor. There are a few free websites that provide the tools to learn Thai. I’ve offered to share them by posting the links, the mods, deleted the post. I offer to those who are interested, PM me and I’ll provide links to the couple of sites, that work for me.

Learning Thai is all about the hours invested. You level of fluency and understanding will be algebraically linear to the hours your spend learning the language. You can do it on your own, for free. The only factor is your motivation. To those who intend to learn Thai I would suggest a regimented schedule investing several hour per week for several months each year - similar to attending a formal school. It really is about the hours.


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## Newforestcat

Hi Stednick, 

Hope you are well.

I am wondering if you can share your useful Thai links here. I have a friend who might find your links very helpful, but he is not a member on this site.

Thankyou very much in advance. Take care!

Cheers,

Dani 

PS. Does anyone know why I have Rep Power and some of you don't? I am possibly too curious for my own good.


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## stednick

Newforestcat said:


> Hi Stednick,
> 
> Hope you are well.
> 
> I am wondering if you can share your useful Thai links here. I have a friend who might find your links very helpful, but he is not a member on this site.
> 
> Thankyou very much in advance. Take care!
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Dani
> 
> PS. Does anyone know why I have Rep Power and some of you don't? I am possibly too curious for my own good.


Dani:

Mods deleted the post thank contained the links. I'll private message them to you. 

Clicking on the "Thanks" tab adds to your reputation "rep".

Thanks for your contributions to this forum. They are greatly appreciated.

Tom


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## tod-daniels

While "stednick" has had far more exposure to thais and the language than I have, I still disagree that in order to speak clear thai a foreigner has to learn to read thai. It just ain't so no matter how much they say it is and there are possibly thousands of very proficient foreign speakers of thai who can't read a lick. 

In fact children who can't read any language at all seem to learn how to speak WAY before they are taught how to read. Granted as adults we learn or acquire knowledge differently, but don't believe for a second that learning to read thai helps your speaking as far as pronunciation or intonation. 

Don't misunderstand me, being able to read thai is helpful (especially as everything in the country is written in thai or what passes for engrish here), but it is not the tool which will help you speak thai better..

Also face it, you're NEVER EVER gonna sound like a native speaker of thai, no matter what these over complimentary people say about your thai ability. These people will praise a foreigner's thai ability for being able to spit out the phrase สวัสดีครับ as "Sweaty Crab" (yes, by that I mean a crab covered in sweat). Take anything a thai says about your alleged language proficiency with a grain of salt. 

Thais have excellent "accent identification" skills. Two strange thais who meet, interact for a few minutes in Central Thai (the government approved version of thai) will immediately know what province the other person grew up in and sometimes they can tell right down to the Amphur in that province.. As foreign speakers of Thai we're gonna sound foreign, and thais will know it after we speak 3 or 4 phrases.

The HUGE linch-pin in whether you can learn thai is do you want to learn it or not.. There're a plethora of Thai language schools out there which teach thai to foreigners 4 hours a week for a year.. I think you could study thai 4 hours a week the rest of your life and never get past 2-word-tourist-thai, taxi-thai or horse-peak-thai.. You get out what you put in, the more time you invest, the more you start to reap the benefits.

If you're serious about learning, go enroll in one of those 3 hours a day, 5 day a week, intensive 60 hour modules taught by any one of those Union Clone schools out there. BUT be warned, if you're not 100% into it, you're gonna fall by the wayside. 

There are only a couple sounds which thai has that we can't replicate in English, and while they take practice to get down they are not insurmountable. 

Totally concur with stednick insofar as you're gonna invest hours, hours and more HOURS getting something close to proficiency in thai. As I may have said before; forget the word "fluent", because at the end of the day it has no meaning at all. Shoot for being a "fluid" thai speaker. That means having a sufficient vocabulary and thai sentence structure under your belt to get an entire thought out without pausing at the wrong time searching for the next word you want to say in your head.

It ain't rocket science, it just takes effort and motivation.. A brief perusal of Google using the phrase "Free Thai Language Resources", should get you on track, but NOTHING takes the place of a qualified Thai teacher. By that I mean one who has experience teaching thai to non-native adult learners. Just because a Thai is a native speaker doesn't qualify them to teach thai to non-natives. Every one of these people here had the Thai language beaten into their heads in school a character at a time by the teacher, they learned by rote, by not asking questions and back in the day by being beaten for pronouncing words wrong. 

Ask any Thai how many "tone marks" are in the thai language and almost any Thai over 35 will say there are FIVE tone marks.. Even though there are just 4 most adult thais will say there is ไม้เอก, ไม้โท, ไม้ตรี , ไม้จัตวา & ไม้เรียว <- That is the word for a wooden switch and is what they were whipped with when they pronounced a word wrong..

Good Luck..


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## Newforestcat

Thankyou Stednick, I got your PM!



Tod,

I hate to disagree... and this is only meant to be constructive... 

I have met an English lady who speaks perfect Thai, and I am not saying that to be nice, I am not like that. LOL... This lady has lived all over the place from Bejeing, the Folklands, Brussels, to Egypt since birth, she has been used to too many more sounds/tones than most. But she only speaks English, some French and Arabic. You can say pretty much anything to her and she would say it back perfectly every time! Amazingly, all of her family--parents and two siblings, who have had the same nomadic Foreign Office lives, were nowhere as good as her. 

Also, maybe around 10-15 years back, there was a Farang soap star who was in a few Thai soaps. He spoke perfect Thai. 

Speaking a foreign langaguage with perfect accent is achievable by a few people, IMO. But I am not one of those. My English accent is pretty British public school-ish and very understandable. Having lived in the UK since I was 22, now I am 36, my accent has improved quite a lot but I do not expect that it will be 100% perfect. My French accent as well as listening and speaking skills are hopelessly bad. I have survived in France because I can read and know the important words, plus I am very good at guessing the food menus!


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## stednick

Yes, some people can speak a foreign language impeccably - it is a talent few are born with.

Tod is correct - you do not have to know the written Thai alphabet to learn and speak the language. There are many who can speak passable Thai but cannot read a word. Reference mweiga's input of his first hand experiences. 

My premise in this thread is, you will be much better off if you invest the time to learn the alphabet initially, before you pick up any incorrect usage/pronunciations/misconceptions that you will then have to unlearn. 

Once you have Learned the building blocks, you are provided with the strong foundation needed to quickly and easily pick up the language. 

Good luck to all.


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## Asian Spirit

*Rep Power*



Newforestcat said:


> Hi Stednick,
> 
> 
> PS. Does anyone know why I have Rep Power and some of you don't? I am possibly too curious for my own good.


*Your "Rep Power changes or should I say increases when someone uses the "thanks" button on the top of any post that you make.



Gene
Philippines site moderator*


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## Newforestcat

Thanks, Jet Lag!!!


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## gnazi71

Really interesting.
I have a thai wife and 2 daughters (6 and 3 years old) when they speak I understand what they say (the sentences are quite the same...).
Speaking is a little bit more difficult but I trying.
Keep exercising.
Good luck to everybody


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## tod-daniels

"Newforestcat & Stednick"

Please believe this reply is not meant as a negative; it only relates my experiences with these people and this language the last 9+ years I've been here in the glorious "Land 'O Thaiz".

I wish I had a baht every time I heard a foreigner say, "I know some foreigner who's fluent in thai or speaks thai with a perfect accent." 

I mean how in the blue blazes would you know what constitutes fluency? 
Especially when the foreigner saying that nonsense statement could barely string 5 thai words together and have a thai understand what they said?

That a foreign speaker of thai get's on a t/v show it ain't always about fluency in thai and often it comes down to being the "token white guy speakin' thai"  often as a novelty factor, more than as a contributor. 

While I think it's admirable to say speaking thai with a thai accent is achievable, I do hafta ask what thai accent do you want to speak thai with? 

There's probably as many different NATIVE thai accents as there are provinces in thailand. 

Do you want to speak with that sing-songy southern thai lilting accent where the words are all cut short?

How about that hill-billy accent so prevelant in Suphanburi/Ratchaburi? 

Maybe that Surin thai accent is the one you want, where the thai has a more cambodian sound than thai. 

Or maybe that Isaan accent which 60% of the people in this country speak central thai with? 

I say; FORGET tryin' to sound like a native thai speaker. Instead try to say things the way thais say them as far as structure and cadence when speaking etc. 

You'll go way further with this language if you stop sweating the small stuff and start concentrating on the important things.

Then again what do I know, I'm just a dumb hill-billy from Ohio who happens to speak, understand, read, write & type Thai. ..


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