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Speak Read Write Thai

Speak Read Write Thai…

Blogging about the Thai language can be a lonely business, so when Sean Harley decided to create Speak Read Write Thai to share his extensive knowledge of Thai, I got the grins on.

Speak Read Write Thai More and more I’ve been paying close attention to Sean’s insightful comments on two FB Groups: FCLT and one that is secret (mum’s the word).

But as most of you know, with FB, comments get sucked into a bottomless void, never to be seen again (so much for being told that, “everything you post on the internet will always be there to haunt you”).

If you want to preserve information, websites/blogs are the way to go. Not Facebook. And now we have Sean authoring Speak Read Write Thai. Wicked.

Sean: The learning process is very much like a journey, a never-ending one but always a wild adventure filled with surprises at every turn. Along my Thai journey I have scribbled, jotted, and written down everything Thai in trusty notebooks. I invite you along for the ride as I share what I’ve learned about Thai.

Sean decided to focus his site on intermediate and above students of Thai instead of beginner. Makes sense. There’s an excess of resources for beginners, but for intermediate, decent ones are almost non-existent.

Three main subjects are what we get: Thai Language, Thai Culture, and Everything Else Thai. There’s not much online at the moment, but no worries, it’ll grow.

To take advantage of the commenting ease of Facebook, Sean also has a restricted Speak Read Thai FB group. An experienced FB Mod (mum’s the word), Sean keeps a tight control of the membership to make sure comments stay relevant.

The main purpose for having this group is for discussion of the blog posts in Speak Read Write Thai. In-line with the theme of the Speak Read Write Thai blog, this group is for non-beginners only. Absolutely no transliteration will be tolerated.

Only proven serious learners who already know how to read and write Thai and with the ability to contribute in a significant way need apply to join. Kindly note that a majority of our current members will be consulted when considering whether or not to accept a join request so do not take it personally if your application is not accepted.

Note: With everything that’s been going on (creating a new site is a timesucker) Sean has been adding members on SRWThai’s FB group slowly, so don’t be surprised if it takes awhile to get any sort of a reply.

For sharing new posts and other learning Thai resources there’s also @SRWThai on twitter as well.

Important Points for Learning Thai…

For a quick peek into where Sean is coming from read his thoughtful notes on Important Points for Learning Thai. I found them quite enlightening and hope you do as well.

Important Point Number One: Before even thinking about output, serious learners need to get a lot of quality input. One hundred words learned well will always trump one thousand words badly learned and hastily memorized.

Important Point Number Two: We need to understand the culture if we are to understand the language. For example, study what Thais of a similar status to you would say or do in any given situation.

Important Point Number Three: To help you understand why some things are the way they are in the Thai language, study the concept of Thainess. Two important points to consider are 1) being the ideal citizen (even if only superficially) and 2) face.

Important Point Number Four: To understand the face of Thai education, first learn how to crawl (formal Central Thai) before you learn how to walk (casual Thai).

Important Point Number Five: Keeping abreast with groupthink is important (not just what’s popular today, but who you can use it with) because then you’ll be clued into what’s currently a fad in the Thai language.

Important Point Number Six: Loanwords and loan phrases often sound similar, but that does not mean that they will have the exact same essence in Thai. Always be aware that groupthink determines the final outcome.

Important Point Number Seven: Understand that your English ways (accent and grammar) can interfere in the Thai learning process. To head this problem off, spend time studying the porosity of real spoken Thai.

Important Point Number Eight: Try to keep an open mind during this Thai language learning journey. Be prepared to consider surprising and sometimes opposing views.