Post deleted by Mat Sklansky
 

Post deleted by Mat Sklansky
 

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

what is the best way to go about learning to read thai? I've learned other languages before, but thai has its own alphabet which is throwing me off a bit. How did you guys learn the thai alphabet and how long did it take until you were able to read thai? Not understand it, but be able to say it

Also how much of a problem did the tones present to you?

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

Im using alphabet books that the little kids use when they first start to read. I cant read thai, Im still learning the letters.

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

I'm using the guide at www.teachthai.com

A little cartoonish but its ok. Once I can read the characters and pronounce the tones correctly I should be able to pick up enough to be able to convey simple ideas.

I don't want to even start learning meanings with transliterations because they are all different and some are flatout wrong.

The best approach I can think of is to learn what the vowels look like and where each one of them is located in relation to the the starting consonants (in front, behind, on top, below) and then its a matter of what sound does the consonant make/what sound does the vowel make. It seems like a daunting task to memorize them since there are so many, so I will do it a few at a time.

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

I start teaching at a microeconomics at a university tomorrow. Trip report with how hot the chicks are. No pics though.

Post deleted by Mat Sklansky
 

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

www.learningthai.com is a pretty good way to get started. You can click on various words/phrases and hear it spoken so you can learn the tones.

I have been going to 1 on 1 tutoring for a few months and I can speak a fair amount but I'm not great at understanding it yet. In another few days I'll have finished the basic reading/writing course. I'll be able to read but usually won't have a clue what it means!

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

the only thing that is really hard is pronounciation. you could learn the alphabet in 2 weeks.

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

Any idea if learning Thai is easier/harder than learning Korean. I found Korean extremely difficult to grasp.

I just tried the google, and I think that's maybe the first time I've seen the Thai alphabet. It looks almost like Arabic, where Korean seems like it's closer to Chinese.