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I completely agree. It literally takes practice, practice, and more practice. I speak Thai every single day and i have dedicated practice with different apps, watching movies, ChatGPT for up to 3 to 4 hours per day on average but honestly, I use it almost as a secondary language since I made many acquaintances and friends. It took me about 3 to 4 months to go from 2 phrases to having basic conversations with native Thais while in Bangkok. Currently, I’m learning the Thai “alphabet.” Have fun with it and just know you’re going to make mistakes and mess up and you would definitely confuse the native Thai people, but they have been so helpful in correcting me and using ways to get my point across.

@8:34 you’re very wrong បា khmer has this

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ตามความเป็นจริงการที่ชาวต่างชาติมาโวยวายในไทยแล้วยังมีเรื่องการเหยียดภาษา ดีแค่ไหนที่คนรอบๆไม่จัดการ หลักๆภาษาไม่ได้มีความจำเป็นใดๆต่อชีวิตของคนไทยเลยสักนิด เเละพวกอังกฤษสารเลวนั้นต่างก็เคยเอารัดเอาเปรียบพวกเราทั้งนั้น

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เขมรอ่านภาษาขอมไม่ออก

เยี่ยมเลยครับ

我来自广西，我发现我居然能听懂一些越南语，哈哈哈，可能是因为广西和越南北部曾经是一个国家。

good video, wish u to find husband soon

His approach is best, but some apps are useful. I'm currently using Glossika, ClozeMaster, Anki, and Chatgpt. Today I sent Chatgpt a screenshot from the thai-language site for all meanings and combinations of the word "สกัด". It gave me 7 accurate and useful sentences that I added to Anki.

Yes, lots of people are multi-lingual. What skills do you have? Are you a multi-lingual lawyer, doctor, engineer?

มาไทยจะไม่ฝึกภาษาไทยหน่อยหรอครับ ที่ไทยคนไทยสื่อสารกันภาษาไทยอยากได้ความสะดวกสบายไปฝึกภาษาไทยครับ

Stu, I would love for you make some content on how you can build an environment for learning Thai. Especially for us not living in the kingdom. This is something I’m personally really struggling with. This is great and insightful content from you as usual!

อาจารย์อดัม

ภาษาขอมไทยมันอันตราย ถ้าใช้ผิด ระวังของจะเข้าตัว ตาผมไม่ให้ลูกหลายอ่านละศึกษา

บางพยัชณะคล้ายอักษรล้านนา

จีนยากกว่าค่ะ เขียนยากมาก

Thanks, Stuart ... didn't know that you had those wonderful tools. I don't remember them from when I was a subscriber to Jacademy a couple of years ago - just coming back to learning Thai and they look really helpful. A part two of this video would be great! Thanks for your dedication to helping learners of Thai and other languages.

"I have a lot of fun playing with this too, and it really makes it visually clear how all these languages use the same tone engine. Maybe one day, you can also add Taiwanese (Taiwan Southern Min) alongside Cantonese, as it has also preserved much of Middle Chinese tonality.

Great stuff as always. However, a couple of times now I've heard you comment on "OK" being tinglish that Thais don't really use amongst themselves. I respectfully disagree. I not only hear it all the time between Thai friends, I also hear it on TV. I think at this point it is just a full blown loan word like so many others. Though I am sure this is generational to some degree. Anyway, keep up the good work.

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Duolingo actually usually is done by people that speak the language. The problem is that they either don't know English as well, or they don't know how to teach their language, or both. They were using volunteers for years but that stopped a couple of years ago.

Phom mai dtaung kan chai ChatGPT.

ติดฮึไทยมังไอควาย

អាបារង ងប់ទឹកក្ដិតស្រីសៀមអើយខំណាស់គេឲ្យហែងប៉ុន្មាន

I don't know when I'll be able to figure out these mixtures of languages. Maybe this is something for those who already know everything about everything at once.

เขมรเป็นคนป่าเผ่าซาไกที่เกาะชะวาถูกเอามาเป็นแรงงานให้ชาวสยามเพื่อปลูกข้าวปลูกผักผลไม้เลี้ยงชาวสยามในจารึกของพระจ้าสุริยชัยวรมันที่7.ผู้สร้างปราสาทหินพิมาย.และเขมรเพิ่งมีตัวหนังสือใช้เมื่อสมัยรัฐการที่.4. ท่านใด้ให้พระสงคิที่เก่งตัวหนังสือประดิษตัวอังสรให้เขมรใข้เพราะเขมรตอนนั้นอยู่ในปกครองของไทยและกษัตรย์ของไทยก็เลี้ยงดูพวกลูกหลานของตระกูลนโรดมไว้เมื่อจะส่งกลับเลยให้พระสงสร้างตัวหนังสือไว้ให้ใข้เมื่อสร้างตัวหนังสือให้ใหม่จึงเอาตัวกนังสือของขอมบางตัวมาดัดแปลงและเพิ่มตัวหนังสือใหม่เข้าไปให้กลายเป็นตัวหนังสือใหม่ให้เขมรไว้ใช้เขมรถึงมีตัวหนังสือไว้ใช้.ขอมไม่ใข่ผู้คนและเผ่าพันธุ์แต่ขอมคือตำแหน่งข้าราชของสยามคือครูผู้สอนหนังสือสอนงานชั่งงานแกะสลักงานเย็บปักถักร้อยงานก่อสร้างต่างๆเรียกว่าชั่ง10หมู่แต่มาเปลี่ยนคำเรียกใหม่จากขอมมาเป็นครูและอาจารเมื่อเปลี่ยนคำเรียกใหม่คำว่าขอมจึงหายไป.และขอมคือเจ้าเมืองและมาเรียกผู้ว่าราชการ.จ.ว.แต่เมื่อก่อนเรียกว่าขอมเมื่อเปลี่ยนคำเรียกใหม่ๆคำว่าขอมจึงหายไปทุกวันนี้จึงหาคนขอมไม่เจอว่าอยู่ตรงใหนหมู่บ้านตำบลอำเภออะไรเมื่อตัวหนังสือไทยเบลี่ยนแปลงไปเรื่อยๆเพื่อให้อ่านง่ายและเพิ่มคำอ่านให้มากขึ้นตัวหนังสือสมัยขอมจึงเหลือแต่พระและคนศักยันที่ต้องใช้ภาษาดั้งเดิมเพื่อให้ขลังเขมรมันมาอ้างว่ามันเป็นขอมเพื่อจะใด้เป็นเจ้ายองปราสาททุกแห่งในไทยเพราะแต่ระปราสาทจะแกะสลักตัวหนังสือขอมไว้ทั้งนั้นทั้งๆที่เมื่อก่อนมันก็ปติเสตว่ามันไม่ใช่ขอมและมันก็อ่านตัวหนังสือขอมไม่ออกด้วย.ไปอ่านกระเบื้องจารที่มนขอมพิสนุใด้จารึกไว้ในก.เบื้องจารดูของการเป็นมาของสยามในอดีดขอมหรือครูของไทยใด้จารึกไว้ทุกยุกทุกสมัยแต่ก็สุญหายไปมากทั้งทบไปทำถนนเพราะไม่รู้และอ่านไม่ออกชาวต่างชาติมากว้านซื้อไปและถูกเก็บไว้เป็นสมบัติส่วนตัวบ้างแต่อเดีดเจ้าอาวาสวัดโสมนัสวรวิหารหลวงปู่อ่ำก็ใด้เก็บรวบรวมไว้ใด้จากสถานที่ต่างๆในแหล่งโบราญใด้ถึง2000กว่าแผ่นจากวัดคูบัวราชบุรีใด้มากที่สุดโดยเฉพาะแผ่นต้นๆสมัยมนขอมพิสนุเมื่อปี.พ.ศ.300ที่ใด้เล่าถึงผู้สร้างเมืองทราวดีและเมืองศรีเทพคือพระเจ้าเดือนเด่นฟ้าและพระเจ้าอาทิตย์ตยราช.ที่เป็นคนไทยไม่ใข่มอญเขมรที่ใหนมาสร้างทั้งนั้น.ไปกาอ่านใด้ที่วัดโสมนัสวรวิหารท่านพระอาจารอ่ำใด้แปลออกมาและพิมเป็นหนังสือเล่มใหญ่ในภาษาปจุบันไว้ให้อ่านแล้วที่วัดโสมนัสวรวิหาร

I have the same book..... a thai friend gave it to me...... he was the university teacher of the author.

I'm so happy you did a comment video on Mark Abbott's one! I'm one of your followers, I stumbled upon his video too last week and it was really good.. I'm a foreigner living in Thailand for over a year now and I'm following pretty much the same learning process in terms of immersing myself in the real world and making mistakes like that to learn new expressions, I never took a Thai language class and Mark's video spoke to me in that regard

You noted that Mark started learning as an adult but do you think age within adulthood makes a difference? There was a discussion about it on fb the other day with some people saying it does and some saying it doesn't. I've always thought that most of the English native speakers who I've seen speaking very good Thai who started learning as adults started learning in their early 20s and I assumed that there's a physiological difference in the brains of people at that age that helps them. However, another element that I only started thinking about more recently is that typically people in their early 20s have fewer commitments in life so its easier for them to get themselves in an immersion situation so that aspect can't be ignored either.

I watched Mark's video before hand and, although inspiring, to me it's not really helpful. When I watch this type of videos I expect to learn new things I might not be aware of that would help me in my own language learning journey. Unfortunately, Mark just stayed on the surface with generalizations and doesn't provide any specific guidance. Yes, what he said is true but with a title like "How I learned to speak Thai fluently" I was expecting more like steps, resources, tips and tricks, recommendations, etc., rather than something like I opened a book and 5 months later I knew how to read and could speak some sentences. I mean it's nice to see how he improved over time from zero and how fast he's going but as a learner I don't personally feel I'm getting anything out of it, which is a bummer because he speaks at such a high level that I'm sure he has a lot of in-depth knowledge he could be sharing that would be more beneficial for any Thai learner out there.

I love your take on tones. Learning Vietnamese, and although all the teachers are showing them only in terms of pitch, now I think of them more in terms of their placement and how they “feel” in the mouth and throat. It’s almost like another consonant or vowel quality. Then again, I think that’s vital to really sound anywhere close to native in any language. After living in Greece for several years and trying to learn Turkish from a book, I finally went to Istanbul and the first thing I noticed was how different the basic vocal placement was. I just kept listening and trying to find that with my own vocal equipment, and of course that made it easier to notice other differences (aspirated vs in aspirated stops, actual vowel placement etc.) The “foreigner” version is funny; it happens in Turkey a lot too. Turkish is an insanely inflected+agglutinated language but if they think you’re new, they’ll speak in “Tarzanca” (“Tarzan-ese”) thinking it will help. (It doesn’t.)

Exactly, there is no magic formula to speak thai fluent in a month. I am Brazilian so my native language is Portuguese. I started to study thai in august of 2020 with 41 years old. And until today, I did not travel to Thailand yet. I do not study by textbooks. That year, I did not found speakers of thai and portuguese to pay for online lessons. So, I thought if I could understand the english that thai teachers speaks at You Tube. And, that is the way I studied thai since 2020. There is no good app to teach thai to portuguese. Really, it does not have portuguese texbook to study thai. I prefer to study from native thai because they speaks a different thai from de textbooks, more slangs. I knew since the start of my journey studying that Thai is a tonal language and at the begnning, I had the problem with the sound R (ร) that they change for L, but after saw the hints of the native teachers then I understood. To learn all the alphabet (consonants and vowels) take a long time so I changed to the method to learn some phrases, the numbers and after the pronouns, some verbs. And, of course that I watch thai series! Well, until today I still need my notes to write thai. I can listen the basic but could not write from memory.

Im learning thai and maybe at around the start of intermediate, i think i speak better then what i think because thais will speak fluent thai to me. Which i dont understand completely 😅

Yeah...I did watch and listen to Mark's talk in his VDO a few days ago. As a Thai myself, I really admire you two and totally accept that both of you are really 'genius' who can master our Thai language which is consifered by many to be one of the most difficult languages in the world. Especially you yourself, Ajahn Stuart, you have really truely profound knowledge of Thai language. I've to admit that I'm really ignorant about those 'High, Mid, and Low'.

How can you whisper in a tonal language?

มันไม่ใช่พูดไทยชุดอย่างเดียวน่ะสิ บางคำ แอบเหน่อด้วย เหน่อแบบไทยแท้ ๆ เลยครับ คุณมาร์คเนี่ย

I'd love a second part of this please! I teach in a rural classroom in Japan which is, to put it kindly, not providing the English students with all the info that's available to them... But when I tell the students about advice like this from people who have done it, the ones who are interested in English really take it on board. More pls.

To be in the middle of the sea its the most important

Wow, I just saw this. Thank you for this video. Your website seems like a great resource to learn Thai!

Old school learning, yes 100% - I tried the apps, somewhat OK for me, but distracting. And once I was in Thailand, that's where my learning/speaking took off ! And yes please 2nd clip :)

I won't be listening to this guy. Took him 20 years to speak Thai fluently

Notice how he started 20 years ago. This is not the same Thailand. People still speak horrible English for the most part, but they're also very arrogant about it. I go all around Korea, China, Japan, etc. and am spoken to daily in the local language without issue. In this way, I building up my listening skills and understand 99% of what is said to me in daily transactions VERY quickly. I don't need to "output" much except yes/no essentially and it makes the workers' lives very easy too. Eventually I'll be able to say more. But in Thailand in 300+ days no one has ever been kind enough to say something to me in Thai, they literally just go silent rather than explain ANYTHING to you. A girl asked me the % sweetness for my drink yesterday, she said 0? 25? I replied 50 using the Thai numbers. She gave me a nasty death stare. Trust me my tones were on point. I got my receipt and she'd inputted 25. I assume 50 was not an option, but she couldn't be bothered to explain it to me, even though I would have understood something that simple. They're just hostile interlocutors. Pattaya & BKK, really unpleasant places IMO. I believe all Thailand that sees any tourists at all is probably the same in 2024. I'm just warning people: you will be gaslight in Thailand and you'll think it's *you* no matter how many hours you put in. It doesn't have to be this way. Even in Hong Kong when I spoke Cantonese I didn't feel people were trying to gaslight me to this degree. I ordered a lot of Starbucks coffees and MOS Burgers *in* Cantonese and was asked all the detailed questions about alternate milk types and so on without hesitation! In spite of how hard they push English there!

I think he's very talented when it comes to clear pronunciation, not only when he speaks Thai, but also when he speaks English. I am not a native English speaker - but he's very easy to understand because of his perfect pronunciation. I think this is what made him this strong in languages in general.

Yes. More please. Thank you.

At 86 i dont have too long left to learn thai. My wife says dont bother, youre too old etc. years ago , i thought reading thai should be where to start. But i lesrnt the allhabet and couldnt find the vowels. Plus , the only company i had and have in thai, is my wife, who speaks good english, so I was also unable to find anyone to let me practise on them. She has lots of 'friends' whose company I get once or twice a year. I feel since ive been here so long they look down on me for being unable to speak some thai. And would still like to learn to speak at least some cinversational thai. But I still have no one to bounce my practice off. So Im still looking for a majic bullet. Sadly its been so long Ive forgotten at lesst half the alphabet now too. So where donI find a method to fill in what .id like and may have time to learn and use ? Can you or anyone offer some ideas please.

Mark's approach to learning a new language is amazing. He has a strong mindset and his perseverance should be admired. Everyone who is interested in learning a new language can definitely learn something from his experience. Your comment about the Thais learning English just to pass exams is spot on. It seems like most Thais aren't great at using English for communication, despite the fact that they spend 10-12 years studying English in school, because they don't get to put English into practice in real-world situations, like what Mark talked about with his mechanic shop example.

I live in Chiang Mai. I had two hacks when I came here two years ago after covid. I am fluent in Cantonese Chinese which has even one more tone than Thai, and the same broken grammar as spoken Thai. So I spoke Cantonese in my head and blurted out the equivalent Thai phrases in the correct tones, and I was 80% understood. From having learnt Buddhist prayers, I can read classical Sanskrit, so the vowels surrounding the consonants did not trip me. But what I did to get to speaking Thai for an hour was to go to the suburbs when I'd like a beer, where nobody speaks any English, and have a few words with anybody curious about my Chinese face speaking Northern Thai. The common phrases and grammar are spoken to me so often that the usage and phrasing automatically registered in a few months.

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