What do guys usually do? Take a break? Or just carry on regardless of how you feel?

I'm not a complete beginner and I'm mostly following ALG method. I'm not totally convinced of pure ALG so I sometimes practice speaking (and a little bit of reading). I learned the Thai script and correct pronunciation a while ago (but I've mostly put reading and writing to the side for now).

My frustration usually comes when watching ALG input videos. I've never gotten frustrated when using transitional learning methods.

Ant tips?

Hi! I’m considering getting a tattoo in Thai and I really want to make sure the wording is completely correct and natural before I do anything permanent.
The sentence is:
ทุกวันฉันเข้าใกล้คนที่ฉันอยากเป็นมากขึ้น
What I want it to mean is:
“Every day I get closer to becoming the person I want to be.”
I’m specifically looking for someone who is a native Thai speaker who can tell me:
Does the Thai sentence actually mean what I intend it to mean?
Does it sound natural to a Thai speaker, or does it sound translated/awkward?
Would you phrase it differently if it were a tattoo?
Does it have any unintended, strange, negative, or funny meaning?
This is going to be a permanent tattoo, so I would really appreciate a native speaker’s opinion rather than relying on Google Translate.

Hello, I'm a 39-year-old Thai male. I was born and work in Thailand, in Nonthaburi province.

I work for the government, so in my environment, I don't have anyone to practice speaking English with.

I've taken many free online courses, but since I don't use them, my skills have deteriorated.

Recently, my agency sent me to training that involved English, and I felt shy about expressing myself.

Therefore, I'd like to find someone to chat and exchange languages ​​with in this group.

Anyone interested in practicing English-Thai conversation, let's start together, beginning with the basics.

We could even take turns teaching Thai one day and English the next, whichever day we have free time.

And please be patient with me. I'm happy to chat, even if I don't know everything, I will try.

If anyone is interested, please contact me.

Fyi not seriously hating on the language btw, it's just pure frustration lol Got frustrated with Japanese too for the lack of spaces and the 3 different writing systems but it starts making sense at a certain proficiency.

So I'm just wondering, when will this happen with Thai? Do you just need to know enough vocab? Or do you need to know enough vocab AND grammar? Or will it still be confusing to separate words even at the intermediate/advanced level?

Hello, I'm from Latin America and I'm very eager to learn Thai. I hope to connect with a study group or make native friends who can help me practice... Please recommend a study group I could join... thanks ✌🏻😎

Hi, i would like to ask book or media to learn thai from very basic, i would like to learn writing and reading of thai.

Hi everyone,

I'm a PhD student at Chulalongkorn University looking for native English participants who can read and write in Thai at an intermediate level or above. If you are:

✓ are native speakers of English,

✓ are currently learning Thai as a second language,

✓ are 18 years of age or older,

✓ have intermediate or advanced Thai reading and writing proficiency, and

✓ have not lived or studied in Thailand for more than 6 months (borderline cases may still be eligible),

Please feel free to contact me. You will complete a placement test and two experimental tasks. All tasks will be administered via Zoom and will take approximately 1 hour 45 minutes. Flexible scheduling is available.

As a token of appreciation, participants who complete the study will receive either an Amazon eGift Card (£10, USD 15, or AUD 20 depending on availability and their location) or THB 500 in cash if they reside in Thailand.

This research has been reviewed and approved by The Research Ethics Review Committee for Research Involving Human Subjects, The Second Allied Academic Group in Social Sciences, Humanities and Fine and Applied Arts, Chulalongkorn University.

Certificate of Approval (COA) No.: 311/69

Research Project No.: 6901654

Participation is entirely voluntary. You may withdraw at any time without penalty. All information will be kept confidential and used solely for research purposes.

Itsara Namtapi

PhD candidate

Chulalongkorn University

When I first started out I thought the hard thing about tones was to compute which tone a word had, remember which tone a word had and not misremember/use the wrong tone in conversation due to that.

Learning vocab is basically double the workload. You have to learn the word + the tone). If you account for the unfamiliar script it's probably tripple or quadruple the workload (since it's harder to relate to anything else and thus harder to remember). Not to mention most word have 5-6 different common meanings.

At that point you're looking at orders of magnitude higher workload than another "simple" language.

Eventually , with the way I'm approaching the language now, remembering the tone once you learn the script and the words are unproblematic, the hard thing is actually the produce them in a clear way orally. Would you guys agree or disagree?

What is the hardest tones for you to produce?

Is it all pitch or what exactly is it? Falling and rising tone I feel like I've figured out. High tone seems to be really unique (you eventually pick up on it when you hear nii, ron, and all those super common words with a high tone). Seems like they become a bit stretchy? (although I've noticed high tone can be a bit hard to do in a "natural way in a conversation") Funnily enough, mid tone is actually not that easy. I've been told I say dog when I want to say come, which is weird, because in my voice in my head it really feels like I'm saying to come, but maybe not... The most confusing tone for me is the low tone. How do you produce it? Do you move your throat/tongue in any way? Do you drop your jaw, try to speak from deeper in the throat? Is it like making a deep voice or is that another kind of low tone?

Hi! Currently living in Southern Thailand. I have been here for 2 months and will be here for another year. I'm doing full-time Thai language study, and as of right now, I know the entire alphabet, the special characters (mai tai khu, thantakhat, etc etc). I can read very basic signs and phrases and can also spell some words, etc. I can hold VERY basic conversations (think: talking about hobbies, food, weather, asking where someone was born/if they were born in the south, asking for directions, ordering food and drinks). I try to strike up coversations with grab drivers, hair dresses, fellow thai students and they understand me like 90% of the time, but i often struggle to understand them. In Bangkok, i could understand a lot of what was being said but not so much in the south (although it's getting better a bit?)

My biggest problems right now are listening and losing my tone/reverting back to my native way of speaking when I'm nervous (not reverting back to english but saying thai words the way i would say an english sentence...)The listening thing is my biggest gripe because i KNOW what is being said like 70% of the time, but I go into fight or flight whenever a native speaker rapid fires thai at me and I just freeze. I feel like i know so MUCH but at the same time, i feel like i know absolutely nothing !! I study every day, i interact with locals as much as possible and even when they initiate conversations in english, I ALWAYS respond in thai just to let them know I can speak it a bit. But i just feel like i should be better by now like idk??? I just feel so dumb all the time. Is it normal???

I genuinely want to learn Thai but I honestly don’t even know where to start 😭 I don’t know the basics or anything I just randomly had the thought that I wanted to learn something new and Thai came to mind!

I’m a complete beginner and want to learn it by myself as a hobby so please don’t suggest getting a tutor or taking classes

Any tips, resources, apps, YouTube channels or advice for self learning would be greatly appreciated🤍

Hello,

Met this Thai person during my trip and we hit it off (romantically). I am now leaving and writing them a letter in Thai but I don't speak any of it so I used AI and tried to write to the best of my ability. Is it understandable/ is the grammar correct? (Check comments)

Thank you so much!

Can I use this word on its own to mean "just in case" or do I have to specify the "in case of what?" For example, can I just say กดเงินไว้เผื่อ or do I have to add something meaning "...they don't take cards", "...it turns out to be more than we thought" etc.

This is where I am struggling, anything more than 5 words and I feel a little lost. Also, Google Translate does not always appear to translate correctly, I have been using 'chai' as yes for months now incorrectly lol. I also noticed many Thai people do not include 'chan' as in 'I', in sentences.

Can anyone recommend sentences 5 words or less that I can use to speak to anyone, it could be a restaurant, airport, hotel, bar. I am keen on improving but recently only realised where I was going wrong.

Edit, some examples below

• Where are you from?
• What is your name?
• Have you ate?
• It is nice talking to you.
• You are funny.

Hi everyone! I’m from India and I’m looking to learn Thai, but I specifically need structured online classes with a fixed schedule and a human teacher, but at the same time right now i wont want to have a private tutor(something for future).

I know myself well enough to know that if I start with YouTube, books, apps, or self-study, I’ll probably lose motivation and stop!!!. Having an actual class and teacher keeps me accountable.

I’m a complete beginner. My first language is Hindi and my second is English.

My goal isn’t necessarily to become fluent right away. I want to build a solid enough foundation that I can eventually continue learning on my own—reading books, watching YouTube, using apps, etc. I want to reach the point where, when I encounter Thai content, I can actually understand the basics and become curious about the words/phrases I don’t know, rather than everything just looking completely unfamiliar.

So I’m looking for recommendations for online Thai courses/classes for beginners, preferably something structured where I can attend regularly and have a teacher.

I’m open to classes/tutors anywhere in the world since they don’t have to be India-based.

Would really appreciate any recommendations, especially from people who have actually taken the classes themselves. Thank you!

I've seen มาหา for coming to visit someone at their house, but พบแพทย์ for meeting with the doctor

Can I say มาแพทย์ too?

I keep seeing lists of Thailand being ranked absolute lowest when it comes to English proficiency in Asia, which kinda surprises me. Never been to China, but how is China higher than Thailand?

I saw an old discussion on here where Thai & Chinese language was discussed. Someone said that China basically run on 100% Chinese. Every streetcorner, everywhere, it's all Chinese characters. While in Thailand you see a ton of English everywhere you go.

Thailand also have a ton of English loan words (does Chinese have that?). Although I think I've heard Stuart Jay say that a native English speaker won't really understand an English-Thai loan word (except something like strawberry), so maybe it doesn't help much if it's pronounced like that? You actually have to know the English pronunciation.

So the EF EPI English Proficiency Index ranking is given below (for Asia). Thailand got a score of 402 which is ranked 2nd lowest in Asia, and 116th globally. Cambodia ranked lowest in the world (amongst the participants) at 123th, meaning Thailand is like 7th or 8th lowest globally.

High proficiency

1. 🇲🇾 Malaysia — 581
2. 🇵🇭 Philippines — 569

Moderate proficiency

1. 🇭🇰 Hong Kong — 538
2. 🇰🇷 South Korea — 522
3. 🇳🇵 Nepal — 514
4. 🇧🇩 Bangladesh — 506
5. 🇻🇳 Vietnam — 500

Low proficiency

1. 🇵🇰 Pakistan — 493
2. 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka — 486
3. 🇮🇳 India — 484
4. 🇧🇹 Bhutan — 473
5. 🇮🇩 Indonesia — 471
6. 🇨🇳 China — 464
7. 🇱🇦 Laos — 461
8. 🇹🇲 Turkmenistan — 456

Very low proficiency

1. 🇲🇳 Mongolia — 447
2. 🇦🇫 Afghanistan — 446
3. 🇯🇵 Japan — 446
4. 🇲🇲 Myanmar — 444
5. 🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan — 443
6. 🇺🇿 Uzbekistan — 429
7. 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan — 417
8. 🇹🇯 Tajikistan — 409
9. 🇹🇭 Thailand — 402
10. 🇰🇭 Cambodia — 390

One caveat is that this ranking is not a random sample. So you can't interpret it as X& of people in the country speak English. It measures proficiency among people who took the test, which is not necessarily a representitive of the national population. They volunteered to take the test. People who take the test are probably disproportionately interested in learning English or curious about their English ability. They're also disproportionately young adults. The average age in the sample was 26, 85% were under 35 years old (you have to be above 18 to take it).

Finding a real list that could be extended to the general population is much harder. But asking AI, even on any list that they produce Thailand is more or less always among the bottom with Cambodia and Laos. China always quite a bit ahead (could that really be right)? Even looking specifically at 20-30 year olds, AI puts the average Thai at around A1/A2-B1, while the average Chinese is A2-B1.

When you go to Bangkok you encounter way more English than the country's overall proficiency ranking suggests. Is that just because all the tourism creates an English-speaking bubble? What can you really expect outside of that bubble in Bangkok (but still in Bangkok), and what about outside of Bangkok all together.

I know นั้น itself means "there, that". But I found terms like ฉันนั้น เธอนั้น showing up in lyrics very often. I'm trying to understand it basically works as a add-on of the pronoun? To make things sound more... emotional, with a deeper connection or poetic?

I think only natives can explain this well...?

How should I understand เอา in expressions like เดี๋ยวพ่อเตะเอา, เดี๋ยวแย่เอา, ทายเอา?