Women Learning Thai… and some men too ;-)

You are browsing the archives of Linguistics.

Khmer Influence in Thai… “The Siamese language began its formation not only from its original elements but also from a foreign root, the Khmer language to be specific.” Saveros Pou. This kind of statement might be taken as an insult by some Thais. This is a sensitive issue, especially since this ridiculous clash about Preah [...]

Interviewing Successful Thai Language Learners… Name: Ian Fereday Nationality: British Age: 50 next month (oh dear!) Sex: Male Location: Phuket Town, Phuket Profession: Semi-retired owner of Patong Language School Website: phuket-languageschool.com | study-thai-online.com | teflplus.com Products: Commenced studies at Patong Language School using the Ministry of Education series produced for Thai children studying in primary [...]

Review: The Linguist – How to learn a language… I know who Steve Kaufmann is. Sort of. A couple of times a year I stop by his blog, The Linguist, to see what he’s up to. But until lately I didn’t know the details of his method of choice. The reason? Because LingQ is not [...]

Interviewing Successful Thai Language Learners… Name: Doug Nationality: American Age range: 50-60 Sex: Male Location: Bangkok Profession: Computational linguistics Website: Sealang.net What is your Thai level: Intermediate/Advanced/Fluent or a combo? Combo Do you speak more street Thai, Issan Thai, or professional Thai? Semi-pro. What were your reasons for learning Thai? Living here, wanted to fully [...]

Interview: Luke Cassady-Dorion the linguist… I never tire of reading about the language attributes of linguists. Luke, a talented photographer, just happens to be studying for a Bachelor’s Degree at Ramkhamkaeng University (Thai Major, Japanese Minor). In addition, he has taken on Spanish, Sanskrit, Lanna, and Burmese at the university level. Impressive. Goldenland Polygot In [...]

Interviewing Successful Thai Language Learners… Name: Gareth Marshall Nationality: British Age range: 30-40 Sex: Male Location: Bangkok Profession: Magazine editor Website: www.director-thailand.com What is your Thai level? All a bit mixed up, really. Overall I’d say intermediate, although I practice writing rarely, if ever. Do you speak more street Thai, Issan Thai, or professional Thai? [...]

Interviewing Successful Thai Language Learners… Name: Martin Clutterbuck Nationality: British Age range: 40-50 Sex: Male Location: Bangkok Profession: PR Website/blog: Siamese Cats: Legends and Reality Book: The Legend of Siamese Cats What is your Thai level? Fluent, but shy of bilingual Do you speak more street Thai, Issan Thai, or professional Thai? Early on, I [...]

Stu’s impressive multilingual presentation… In case you’ve missed it, this week on WLT has been back-to-back Stu Jay Raj: Monday: Stuart (Stu) Jay Raj: Interview Part One Wednesday: Stuart (Stu) Jay Raj: Interview Part Two Friday: Successful Thai Language Learners: Stuart (Stu) Jay Raj And if you live in Thailand, then you’ll know that it’s [...]

Interviewing Successful Thai Language Learners… Name: Stuart (Stu) Jay Raj Nationality: Fijian Indian / Australian Age range: 30-40 Sex: Male Location: Anywhere and Everywhere Profession: TV Host / Cross Cultural Business Consultant   Web: Stu Jay Raj stujaystujay’s YouTube Channel Note: As this is the final post of a three part interview, some of the [...]

Interview with polyglot Stu Jay Raj… Heads-up everyone: This post is a continuation of Stuart (Stu) Jay Raj: Interview Part One.   Stu, with Cracking Thai Fundamentals and now Mnidcraft, you’ve taught the Thai language to expats for some time. In your experience, which learning difficulties are the most common?   The writing system always [...]

Interview with polyglot Stu Jay Raj… When I moved to Bangkok I was fortunate to discover Stu Jay Raj’s Cracking Thai Fundamentals course located at that time on Suk Soi 1. Once a week for ten weeks I’d jump on the MRT to travel into the bowels of Bangkok for an hour of hilarious fun. [...]

Interviewing Successful Thai Language Learners… Name: Herb Purnell Nationality: American Age range: 70+ Sex: Male Location: Currently in Chiangrai March to mid-April 2010, then Bangkok to the end of August, then to the U.S. Profession: Retired from university teaching in applied linguistics but still active in field language projects in Thailand. Current projects include producing [...]

How do YOU learn languages?… Much depends on your own understanding of your own skills in “learning how to learn” for yourself… That is, are you aware of your own learning “style”? Do you know how you learn fastest/ easiest in most subjects? Are you a visual or auditory or kinesthetic learner, or what kind [...]