If you have fallen hopelessly in love with Thailand and you are planning to spend the rest of your life in this tropical paradise and who could blame you? The colourful culture attracts most foreigners and Buddhism brings an air of tranquillity to the Land of Smiles; if you really want an in-depth understanding of Thai culture, you need to learn the language and with that in mind, here are a few Thai language learning tips.
- Practice makes perfect – There’s no room for shyness when learning to speak a foreign language and the more you try to engage in conversation with Thai people, the sooner you’ll become fluent. The Thais are very friendly and curious about foreigners, so it shouldn’t be difficult to strike up conversations.
- Online language courses – It is very easy to learn Thai online and there are quite a few Thai language schools that offer online one on one tuition with a qualified Thai teacher. You will learn new vocabulary and you can practice with your Thai friends, which will see your speaking skills develop quickly.
- Learn to read Thai – Thai is a phonetic language that has 5 tones, each with a different meaning and learning to read means you know what tone to use. This is probably the hardest thing about learning Thai and English is not a phonetic language, which makes is even harder. This can be very frustrating for the learner but do persevere and eventually, you will be able to produce the right tones. If you contact a Thai language school, they have reading, writing and speaking courses and we recommend learning to read Thai at the same time as learning to speak Thai. If you are planning a family vacation in Thailand, here is a useful article.
- Watch Thai TV – Many foreigners who are now fluent in Thai started out watching Thai soaps and movies; this really helps with comprehension, which must come before speaking and watching a TV program gives you visual clues as to what’s actually going on. Try to watch Thai movies with no English subtitles and if you watch the news on a daily basis, this will give you another perspective.
- Find a Thai partner – If you already have a Thai partner, they can help you immensely; make an agreement that you will only speak English and they only speak Thai; that way, you get to improve your Thai comprehension and your partner’s English will get better too.
If you are planning to relocate to Thailand in the near future, do check with the Tourism Authority of Thailand to find information on all regions of the country. There are many obstacles when learning to speak Thai; you will feel like you’re doing well and then seem to stop improving for a while, but this is natural and if you are determined and not afraid to be laughed at, you will reach your eventual goal of fluency in the Thai language.
