Comments on: Successful Thai Language Learner: Terry Fredrickson

By: MAURICE HALPIN [MO]

MAURICE HALPIN [MO] — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 20:38:45 +0000

My advice to beginners is to learn to read Thai to a competent level,then go out and buy a couple of Thai phrase books for Thais who want to learn basic English.This way there are no mistakes,you are reading and understanding Thai correctly.
Most English-Thai phrasebooks use the same given formats,ie.at the airport,in your hotel,at the petrol station or asking directions,and are very basic.Once you get into reading Thai phrasebooks and/or newspapers you will soon begin to realise that a whole new world has opened for you.Enjoy.

By: Interviewing Successful Thai Language Learners: Hugh Leong | Women Learning Thai... and some men too ;-)

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 02:31:34 +0000

[...] is certainly becoming a fantastic resource! As always, my personal thanks goes to: Hugh Leong, Terry Fredrickson, Glenn Slayden, Rikker Dockum, David Smyth, Tom Parker, David Long, Aaron Handel, and Chris [...]

By: Keith

Keith — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 14:11:39 +0000

Thank you for your reply.

By: Terry Fredrickson

Terry Fredrickson — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 03:29:39 +0000

I think you are right. I notice that when I switch to southern Thai my demeanour changes and I almost feel that I am in a different culture. I got the tone shifts by learning sets of words with the same tones, but I think listening to texts read in southern Thai — and later Isarn Thai — helped me internalise them faster. Having a native speaker work with me on a regular basis was useful too.
.-= Terry Fredrickson´s last blog ..Middle navigation bar =-.

By: Catherine Wentworth

Catherine Wentworth — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 01:16:30 +0000

Hi Keith, great question! I’ll see if Terry will stop by and answer it for you (as I could only take a stab in the dark).

By: Keith

Keith — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 18:56:39 +0000

I have a question/comment about the advice for learning a dialect. How useful is it going to be to know the system of tone shifts while speaking? I am of the belief that it is not possible to be thinking about tones and especially tone rules/shifts while speaking. To be able to switch between dialects must require a switch in your state of mind where you would feel you are in a totally different language. A requisite amount of exposure should be able to create that ability to switch.
.-= Keith´s last blog ..intensive language courses =-.