Job Discussion Forums

[Simone]

I am coming to do a CELTA course in Bangkok in November and am then hopefully going to work in Thailand for 12 months. I would like to take Thai lesons on a weekly basis. Can anyone recommend anywhere I could do this?
Also - do language schools do week-long intensive courses? And how much are these?

Thanks

S.

[Kent F. Kruhoeffer]

Sawadee Simone:

If you haven't already found these, the links below will give you a good 'head start' with the basics. After you arrive, you'll find ample opportunity to study Thai with students & friends, cheaply or maybe even for free.

For example; some of your new students or Thai teaching colleagues may be willing to do an exchange with you, in which you give them an hour of private English, and they give you an hour of Thai --- with no money changing hands.



LEARNING THAI ON-LINE


http://www.learningthai.com/index.html (Learning-Thai.com / audio)

http://www.seasite.niu.edu/Thai/ (SEAsite @ N. Illinois University / audio)

http://www.thaisouth.com/learn_thai.php (a fun beginner's tutorial / audio)

http://www.sriwittayapaknam.ac.th/thailanguage/ (learn to read & write in Thai / audio)

http://sunsite.au.ac.th/education/index.html (learn to read & write in Thai / audio)

http://www.travlang.com/languages (scroll down & click on the Thai flag / audio)

http://www.into-asia.com/thai_language/ (Into Asia / beginner's tutorial)

http://www.thai-language.com/ (Thai-Language.com / nice page!)

http://www.thaiforlovers.com/ (Thai For Lovers)

http://www.pixiart.com/dict/ (Pixi Art online dictionary)

http://www.cyberdict.com/t_version/dictonline.php (Cyber online dictionary)

http://lexitron.nectec.or.th/ (Lexitron online English <---> Thai dictionary)

http://longdo.ex.nii.ac.jp/ (Longdo Thai Dictionary / a multiple bilingual Thai dictionary)


~ reposted from The Master Index located at the top of this forum

[Sheep-Goats]

One of the secreatries at your TEFL place will have a friend with an MA in Linguistics or English who'll be willing to give you private English lessons for the (bargain) price of about 200B an hour. Your first lesson will proably be the tone song (Mai mai mai mai mai. Nai nai nai nai nai. La la la la la. Tone one two three four five each time) and some work on greetings, saying where you're from, how old you are, where you work. Let her at least teach you for two hours at a time though, just to be nice to your teacher -- and I'd reccomend selecting your textbook at the store yourself. Tell her that you want help with writing the language ASAP, too, if it's not built into the book you select.

Keep in mind that she won't be a professional teacher, so you may have to suggest things like that she should prepare a vocab list of words for you to memorize for next week.

The only organization I've seen extensively advertise the fact that they speak Thai is the "Thai Language School." It's located very very near Soi Thong Lo, which runs at about Sukhumvit 55 and has its own BTS stop. Thong Lo (which is pronounced something like Tong Lar) is heavily favored with the Japanese expat community and has some very nice restraunts, entertainment venues, etc.

I've heard that the AUA Thai course (American University Allumni association, at Rajadamri BTS and centrally located in Chiang Mai) is effective, if methodically strange. Apparently the first two weeks involves only listening -- but apparently you can also understand most of what's being said around you after those two weeks.

[Kent F. Kruhoeffer]

A nice reply from Sheep-Goats!


The Thong Lo school and AUA are both listed here, along with a few others & contact details:

http://www.learningthai.com/schools/

[AsiaTraveller]

Excellent information from both of you guys!

[Kent F. Kruhoeffer]

Thanks, AsiaTraveller!

Since this thread is about learning Thai, I wanted to share one more link with everybody which is not on the list above.

If you like to 'rock', go to the website below and enter the words Silly Fools into the search box, and then play a few of their tunes. (all of the lyrics have been translated into English)

In particular, Nam Lai ('saliva' in Thai) from the album Kingsize, is really excellent. In fact, all 4 tracks on the Silly Fools page are excellent, and very popular at the moment.

Here's the link: http://ethaimusic.com/ (eThaimusic.com)



This track from Bird & Sek also rocks: (from the same website)

Here's a direct link to the song: http://ethaimusic.com/lyrics/225.htm



<---- keNt, the evil rocker dude!