I'm currently trying to improve my Thai skills. So I am learning using this site called italki. My father found me a great teacher and she is amazing. When I was at school learning Thai was torture, let me say it again to just make my point and to show my love for exaggeration. TORTURE! Now I'm learning at my own pace, and doing lessons one-to-one. I can really focus and I don't have to rush for the pleasure of my peers, plus, my teacher is really supportive. Unlike what I used to have to deal with at school.
You can learn whatever language you want on italki, and yes you have to pay, but if you find a great teacher it's worth it. My father, who I love dearly, took time out of his busy schedule to find my teacher. It didn't take him long...maybe around 3 hours. Why does Thai have to be such a fiddly language? Why does it have to have tones and pronunciation thingamajigs?
If you want to join italki click this link. When you purchase a $20 credit then you will receive an additional $5 free.
haha took WAY longer than 3 hours!! You can now do the same for Chinese - altho we do have local language clubs - all petrified by the scamdemic - nearly all.
Was some months ago, but your teacher stood out as having clear Thai and English - a miracle!
Best of luck in your learning endeavor. I've always felt that those who understand multiple languages likely have an edge over those who don't in the way(s) their brain functions. I believe it expands even more if one can learn to read in several languages. I imagine the ways contexts can be expanded, little nuances that exist on one language but not the other would give one a definite advantage.
Being bilingual means I can understand all the crap other people say. I was at a mall once and I was with my mother, a couple of rich, teenaged snobs walked past and said I looked poor and weird, in English. They must have thought I couldn't speak English, so I casually went up to them and told them to fuck off in a very British accent. The look on their faces made my day.
Good for you!!
But also remember that, when you least expect others to understand you!
;-)
Yes, being fluently bilingual adds a flexibility of thinking. But is not such an easy process as a kid struggles to juggle two parallel thought-worlds. My experience is that the child may at first appear slower, precisely due to this extra processing - I don't think in translations, unless I am translating, I just flip from one to another.
Even among European languages, they can be very different in structure. Mixing that with one (or more) Asian languages is a mental challenge - until it all flows! ;-) It really helps being immersed in multiple languages from the start, else one becomes a minor key... then may even fade away...
I found Spanish to be to different for my continuing to attempt learning it. I can understand bits from being spoken due to being around Mexicans a good chunk of my life, but between the sentence structures being somewhat backwards to English and assigning genders to inanimate objects it made me throw my hands up.
Were you exposed at a young age to other languages? Given how your mind operates, if you ever felt the desire posts on your formative years would make for an interesting read.
lol, yes, the Romance languages seem kinda backwards - simple things like noun-adj rather than adj-noun. Thai uses noun-adjective too.
You may have caught in other comments - yeah, early years spent in London and Rome, so ended up fluent in both - but not without effort, as is very easy to forget! I recall always being "the foreigner", as when started school in England I could only speak Italian! A few years later, back to Rome, I spoke English. Was at that period I became fluent in both, so maybe the age of about 7 or 8 is when a language can "stick"... or slide away. It isn't just about schooling but about daily continuous use.
I also learnt French and German but, although I can retain their syntax, the vocabulary (esp. German) has wafted away. Although French and Spanish are fairly easy to read as very similar to Italian.
I've seen students struggle with what should be their mother-tongue if they no longer use it, eg Japanese/Thai students in Thailand going to a British school. By no means all, but crucially depends on what is spoken at home.
Reminds me now, the thing that saved me at school was always coming top in Mathematics ;-) didn't matter in which country! The language always took 1 or 2 terms to catch up with peers.
You're very serious about learning Thai, respect 👍
I actually have to know Thai because for one to live in Thailand and survive, you need to know the language. Unless you're my father, who has me as a walking talking translator.