Women Learning Thai… and some men too ;-)

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Is it Kun, Pêe, Aa-jaann, or Pôo yài Moo?… There used to be a time in the west when calling a person by their first name was something you didn’t do until you had known them for a considerable length of time, and then only when you had become very close. Nowadays, the new generation [...]

Alan Brewis: The Ultimate Survival Guide to Thailand… The true generosity of Thai language learners never ceases to amaze me. Last year, Alan Brewis put a highly polished draft of his book, The Ultimate Survival Guide to Thailand, online for anyone to read. For free. When I contacted him about adding it to WLT’s growing [...]

Thai language and Thai culture go hand in hand… Thai, just like any language, has multiple ways to say the same things. And culture has a lot to do with which words we use in which situations. Although this makes for a robust, fun language to learn and use, it causes us non-native Thai speakers [...]

The iPhone and the DEVIL in me… Me: I need some sort of PDA. I’m thinking it would be sort of like a walking dictionary, where I can quickly access new Thai words and phrases. The DEVIL in me: Well, you are not really PC, so how about an iPhone? Me: But I already have [...]

Language thinking gets you everywhere… When speaking a new language, it’s tough to kick the impulse to translate what you want to say from your mother tongue. When you’re first learning, you’re thinking of each sentence in English first. This can result in some pretty tortured Thai. As you continue to improve, your speech patterns [...]

Interviewing Successful Thai Language Learners… Name: David Smyth Nationality: British Age range: 50-60 Sex: Male Location: UK Profession: University lecturer Books/Products: Thai: An Essential Grammar, Teach Yourself Thai, Linguaphone Thai Course (with Manas Chitakasem) + translations of a number of Thai novels and short stories. Do you speak more street Thai, Issan Thai, or professional [...]

Interviewing Successful Thai Language Learners… Name: Tom Parker Nationality: British Location: Bangkok Profession: Recent MA graduate. I have previously worked as a Research Manager for a multi-national in Chiang Mai. I have a BA (Hons) in Southeast Asian Studies and Language (Thai) and an MA in Southeast Asian Studies. Website: Chiangmai News Twitter: @tomjparker What [...]

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: Thai Life 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? I moved [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Babeling away… can you hear me?… About BabelWith.me BabelWith.me is a simple, free group chat tool that lets you communicate in one language or multiple languages (up to 45). Enjoy real-time conversations without language barriers – BabelWith.me automatically translates each message as you type. BabelWith.me most likely uses Google Translate, so it should create many [...]

Google goes virtual with Thai keyboards… If you look under my resources nav at the top of WLT, you’ll find a new page: Thai Keyboard Input. The Thai keyboard is all thanks to the coders at Google, with their AJAX Language API. As you can see, they have all sorts of programming bits on offer: [...]

Naming names in Thai language learning… When I first started learning Thai, the same names kept coming up: Mary Haas, Shoichi Iwasaki, Preeya Ingkaphirom, David Smyth, James Higbie, J. Marvin Brown, John Moore, Joe Cummings, Andrew Biggs, Stuart Campbell, Denis Segaller, Chuan Shaweevongs, Christopher G. Moore, Dr. Paul Pimsleur, Benjawan Poomsan Becker, and Rikker (the [...]