I have never learned a new language in earnest before. Maybe a few french words at high school. Some Chinese phrases to get me by when I lived intermittently in China. Just enough to buy essentials and basic items, order a coffee the way I like it etc.
Thai language is more complex than Chinese languages. Thai writing looks easier. Thai phraseology and grammar is harder I am told. Even though there are 16 tones in Cantonese and four tones in Mandarin.
I started with downloading a few Apps on my phone such as Everyday Thai, Learn Thai from a White Guy, Learn Thai Vocabulary, Daily Dose and WordPower from Innovative Language. Some of these have paid content you can subscribe to when the free content is not enough for your needs. I also downloaded a simple but comprehensive App “Learn Pali with Dhammapada for Pali of course.
Apps are fine but I think serious study requires online full website participation for me. I will also take face to face lessons from Thai language teachers. Some of these can be online live lessons or skype sessions. More on one of these later.
Some websites I have found so far are:
- Omniglot, which is has alphabet and pronunciation tips but also has a very comprehensive list of further sites http://www.omniglot.com/writing/thai.htm
- A woman learning Thai…and some men too 😉 it has interesting childrens school books turned into som interesting interactive learning tools http://womenlearnthai.com/index.php/the-easy-way-to-read-and-write-thai-beginners/
- Learn Thai from a White Guy, as you would expect, a different style. Quite useful for perspective. https://learnthaifromawhiteguy.com/learn-thai-online
- The comprehensive online version of Innovative Language offering very good integration with iot’s associated Apps. https://www.innovativelanguage.com/
- Last but not least, a very interesting style from Learn Thai with Mod. Lots of free stuff and free podcasts / YouTube videos. Also there are intensive one on one lessons can be purchased. Their one on one Skype lessons (they are professional teachers and University graduates) start from 950 Baht per hour (AU$35.00) and get less expensive with bulk packs from 9000 Baht for ten lessons and 32,000 Baht for 43 lessons (about 744 Baht per lesson) It is still expensive but it is one on one and they sound quite good at what they do. I might look them up when I get back to Bangkok. I am sure that classroom lessons would be cheaper. http://learnthaiwithmod.com/
A good language book with accompanying CD can be found here. I think I will try ordering one of these and give it a go. http://kaweepublishing.com
The image I have used for this post is from http://kaweepublishing.com
