Women Learning Thai… and some men too ;-)

You are browsing the archives of 2009 July.

Tackling the nitty gritty of Thai… In the previous installment of this column, I observed that learning to speak Thai means learning to make some new sounds. Today we’ll start to tackle the nitty gritty. From here on, I’ll be using Thai script in addition to the phonetic system used by the AUA language school, [...]

Interviewing Successful Thai Language Learners… Name: David Long Nationality: American Age range: 40-50 Sex: Male Location: Samut Sakhon, Thailand Profession: School Administrator, Consultant Blog: David Long in Asia What is your Thai level? Fluent Do you speak more street Thai, Issan Thai, or professional Thai? Street and Professional. What were your reasons for learning Thai? [...]

Learn Thai with YouTube… While my server stats and alexa.com stats do not agree, it is apparent that a large percentage of my readers do not live in Thailand full-time. This means that they need to be creative if they aim to surround themselves with the Thai language. YouTube is great place to find Thai [...]

The importance of learning the Thai script… As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a big believer in learning the Thai script as a tool for learning the spoken language. Be warned, though, that there’s a major side effect of this learning method: it will improve your accent. Shocking, I know. Why will this improve your accent? [...]

Google Translate, I challenge you… In my posts, Google Translates Documents and Email Too and Thai Google Translate: Will Crowdsourcing Work, we got to discussing how Google Translate takes online translation beyond Babel Fish by allowing users to correct bad translations. In the comments, Jeff Gray put this bug in my ear: …the sheer volume [...]

Interviewing Successful Thai Language Learners… Name: Aaron Handel Nationality: American Location: Thailand, sometimes Bangkok, Pattaya, or the mountains north of Chiang Mai Profession: I’m the author of two books, Thai Phrase Book with Tones, and Thai Language Course, Speaking and Listening, 4th Edition. Recently, I received a Master’s Degree in Economics from Chulalongkorn University in [...]

Thailand’s Paknam Web Network… When it comes to learning about Thailand, the collection of websites found under the Paknam Web umbrella should be your first stop on the Internet highway. The Paknam Web Network is the largest collection of English language websites about Thailand. We have sites about every aspect of Thai culture and life. [...]

A Thai language learning find… In May of this year, Khun Krajog started a blog on The Nation Weblog. I don’t know much about blogging at The Nation, but apparently members of the public are free to write blogs on their subject of choice (?) Khun Krajog’s blog, Brush up your Thai, is a mix [...]

Thai 101 and book learning… There’s a whole market for books on how to learn Thai. A given book might promise you that you’ll learn Thai in 24 hours, that you’ll speak like a native – and that you’ll simultaneously cure cancer and world hunger in the process. Chances are, you own at least one [...]

Google Translate takes Babel Fish one step further… In a previous post – Google Translates Documents and Email Too – we got into a discussion about the possible crowdsourcing aspects built into Google Translate. Andy said: Even ten years after Babelfish was first online the quality of these free online translators hasn’t improved much. Even [...]

Interviewing Successful Thai Language Learners… Learning Thai can be a solitary pursuit. And while a student might have a teacher, Thai wife and/or Thai friends, sound advice from successful Thai language learners is also needed. And as I often come across questions from beginners enquiring about firsthand experiences, I thought I’d ask those very same [...]

When elephants sprout wings and fly… Do you feel deeeeeeeep down that you’ll only learn Thai ‘when pigs fly’? Or how about when ‘elephants’ fly? (Hey, it’s Thailand. And besides, I had that great photo…) Learning a second language is hard. Learning a tonal language? Yeah. REALLY hard. And HARD can really mess with your [...]

Google Translate does documents too… Over the weekend Google added a new service to Google Translate: upload a document. What you do is select ‘upload a document’, then browse for a file to translate. Right quick your translation pops up in a browser window, but minus your original formatting. Google Translate can also be used [...]

Welcome to the Thai 101 Learners Series… It’s easy to start learning a language. You might pick up a few words from friends, memorize a line or two from a phrasebook, even study some grammar. At the same time, it’s easy to get in over your head. And when it comes to mastering a new [...]