Project 2: Successful Thai Language Learners Compilation series…

As I mentioned in the previous post, Please Vote: Top 100 Language Learning Blogs 2012, the idea for the Successful Thai Language Learners interview series came about when the team behind the competition, bab.la and Lexiophiles, inspired me to improve WLTs content.

In a nutshell, the interview series shares successful Thai learning experiences. And now, over 50 interviews later, it’s time to post the results in a compilation series.

The series starts off with a tally of the short answers (shown below). The next post will introduce those interviewed. Following will be individual compilation posts focusing on questions going into more depth.

For over three years I’ve been thrilled to read each new interview as it arrives. I hope you’ll be equally thrilled with the compilation series. Enjoy!

Tally of the Successful Thai Language Learners series…

To get an overview of the answers (and to satisfy my anal nature) I created a spreadsheet to tally the information. Unclear answers were queried (and a huge thank you goes to those who had time to respond).

Below you’ll find the brief answers in the series (age, nationality, sex, yes/no answers). The total is from the time of their interviews (well, except for their length of time in Thailand – to keep it simple, those years have been calculated to 2012).

Nationality: 28 Americans (includes 1 American-Swedish), 15 British (includes 1 British-Dutch, 1 British-English, 1 British-Swedish), 2 Australians, 1 Canadian, 1 Fijian Indian-Australian, 1 Frenchman, 1 Irishman, and 1 New Zealander.

Age: 20-30 years old (8), 30-40 years old (11), 40-50 years old (11), 50-60 years old (7), 60+ years old (7), 70+ years old (2), and four didn’t answer the question. As you can see, the largest ages represented are in the 30-50 bracket. And except for the two 70+, the rest are not that far behind (8, 7, 7).

Sex: Out of the 50 included in this compilation there were a total of 3 women and 47 men interviewed. Please understand that the absence of women being interviewed wasn’t from a lack of trying. I would seriously love women to be better represented in this series so if you can help, contact me.

And to those weirded out by my tongue-in-cheek domain name, Women Learning Thai… and some men too ;-), it now makes sense, agreed?

Ah, this also needs a mention. Due to the high average of male responders, more often than not the answer came back “yes please”. Sigh.

Location: 34 reside in Thailand full-time, 1 splits time between Thailand and Australia, 2 between the USA and Thailand, 7 are in the USA, 1 in the UK, 1 in Scotland, 1 in Japan, 1 in New Zealand, 1 in Sierra Leone, and 1 in transit.

Do you live in Thailand? If so, when did you arrive? Those residing in Thailand are equally spread out from 2 to 35 years: 2010 (2), 2009 (2), 2008 (2), 2007 (1), 2006 (3), 2005 (3), 2004 (1), 2003 (1), 2002 (2), 2001 (2), 2000 (1), 1999 (1), 1997 (2), 1994 (1), 1993 (1), 1992 (1), 1990 (1), 1987 (1), 1985 (1), 1979 (1), 1978 (2), 1977 on and off (1).

If you live elsewhere, how often are you in Thailand? Of the 12 who do not presently live in Thailand, 4 have never lived here. The rest previously lived in Thailand for 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 10, 14, 15, and 16 years.

Profession: The professions are all over the place. Scanning through (I won’t list everything) there are 10 writers, 9 performers (actors, MCs, Thai TV hosts), 7 retired to semi-retired (from various professions), 6 teachers, 3 translators, 3 consultants, 2 plus linguists (some didn’t list themselves as such but I know what I know), 2 Lookthung performers, 2 NGO employees, several university students, 2 past directors of AUA, 1 present director of AUA, 1 former foreign service officer, 1 martial arts instructor, and a Theravada monk.

What is your Thai level?: While I do realise that there are official tests to grade language levels, at the time I felt I was already asking a lot from those replying. Instead, as a starting point I chose the intermediate level (can converse freely in regular day-to-day conversations). Overall there are 10 intermediate students, 13 intermediate-advanced, 1 high intermediate-advanced, 10 advanced, 5 advanced-fluent, and 8 fluent. Three purposely didn’t answer but if I had to guess I’d say they are mostly advanced-fluent.

Can you make your way around any other languages? A whopping 28 said yes, 10 admitted to no longer being able to converse in other languages (except for English), 7 came back with an absolute no, and 1 can sort of fudge it.

Were you learning another language at the same time as Thai? 36 said no, 8 yes (but out of those, 1 quit studying a second language after awhile).

Are you a computer programmer, or do you have programming experience? A grand total of 21 said no (some replying NO!), and 11 said yes. The rest, 18, were so flabbergasted by the question that they didn’t answer.

Do you have a passion for music? Music got the popular vote with 31 saying yes, compared to 6 no’s. But again, 13 either chose not to answer the question or didn’t receive the question.

And why those two odd questions? Both computer programming and music were added a ways into the series when I noticed how many of both were appearing. It didn’t pan out but it’s still interesting to know.

The series: Successful Thai Language Learners Compilation…

And here you have it, the rest of the series to come:

• Successful Thai Language Learners Compilation: Interviewees
• What were your reasons for learning Thai?
• Did you learn Thai right away, or was it a many-pronged approach?
• What was your first ‘ah hah!’ moment?
• Did you stick to a regular study schedule?
• What Thai language learning methods did you try?
• Did one method stand out over all others?
• How do you learn languages?
• How soon did you tackle reading and writing Thai?
• Did you find learning to read and write Thai difficult?
• What are your strengths and weaknesses?
• Do you speak more street Thai, Issan Thai, or professional Thai?
• What is the biggest misconception for students learning Thai?
• What advice would you give to students of the Thai language?

Favour: Pretty please Vote for your favorite Language Learning Blog 2012. Ta!

Please vote for the Top 100 Language Learning Blogs of 2012…

Each year the Top 100 Language Learning international competition put on by bab.la and Lexiophiles has gradually gotten tougher. But this year the quality of the sites have taken a noticeable leap, meaning it’s a win win for anyone interested in learning languages. It also means that you have even less excuses for not learning a second or even a third language. Yeah, I’m bad.

Which reminds me… if you don’t want to read all the way to the bottom of this post before voting, just click on the button to your right. Tip: Scroll all the way to the w’s for Women Learning Thai… and some men too ;-)

No doubt, competing in the Top 100 Language Learning Blog competition has improved WLT immensely. It’s also taught me that qualifying for the competition isn’t about making pretty right before the event, but working on improvements throughout the year.

In the early days I concentrated on tweaking WLT’s design, creating posts and series useful to students of Thai, and adding knowledgeable guest authors (megga thanks go especially to Hugh, Tod(d), Rikker, and Luke).

Something must have worked because WLT is now listed as a go-to resource for learning Thai on BBC – Languages – A Guide to Thai, CNNgo, Yahoo, and elsewhere.

When I first entered the Top 100 Language Learning Blogs competition, I took Lexio’s suggestions on what makes a good language blog to heart. In 2009, competing against more popular languages such as English, Chinese, French and German, WLT came in 85th place. Sweet. In 2010 I kept up with the improvements, and even though I mostly quit blogging about learning Thai during the Red Shirt protests (it was too heartbreaking), WLT came in 54th place. Not too shabby (especially as I didn’t expect to place at all).

Last year was a shocker when WLT came 10th in Top 25 Language Learning Blogs 2011 and 19th in the Top 100 Language Lovers 2011. Understandably, I was surprised and totally chuffed at the leap.

Shortly after the competition a tweet came through stating that placing where it did, WLT was representing Thailand. It was then that I realised that the Language Learning Blog competition was not just about the language learning community. It was about my responsibility to Thailand as well.

Seriously, it was a sobering thought. And with sobriety comes much responsibility.

No doubt, I have fun researching and writing posts for WLT. And I also enjoy being in the position to give back to Thailand (reason why I donate all proceeds from WLT to the SET Foundation). But ever since that tweet the idea of taking WLT to another level has been a concern.

After months of going through options to improve WLT I decided to focus on two main projects. One, started after the competition last year, will take more time to complete (and I’ll need even more of your help). But the other, already three years in the making, will launch following this post.

Project 1: Top 100 Thai vocabulary…

Since starting WLT I’ve learned that it’s not unusual for students to fizzle out soon after embarking on their Thai language adventure. And while it’s clearly a worry, I wasn’t quite sure what I could do about it.

From what I’m seeing the problems with learning any new language are: memory, available time, and sustained motivation. But confidence is also high on the list (especially for a tonal language such as Thai).

If you remember, last September I reviewed The Art and Science of Remembering Everything. The resources mentioned lead me to an idea that just might work as a mini Thai course.

The idea is simple. Start out by learning your way around the 100 most useful words in your target language. This includes using those mere 100 words to learn basic grammar. And if you make it through to the end, and still have an interest, work out from there. And if you don’t, you won’t have wasted too much time. Correct?

Choosing the top 100 Thai words was an adventure. These days I’m staying busy creating workable phrases (words on their own are just words) but I continue to tweak the list.

To see how the method operates I purchased several top 100 courses, but in Italian. Seems they all fudge on what they are calling 100 words (some shamefully) so back to square one I went. But whoever said that necessity is the mother of invention has it soooo very right because getting around the hurdles made me very creative indeed. And in the coming mini-course I’ll only cheat a little. Promise.

Disclaimer: In no way can you communicate fully by learning 100 words and choice phrases. But, with the right 100 words one can get a taste of a language. My hope is that a taste will tantalise students enough to push them over the quitting hump and into the excitement of learning more Thai.

People learn in different ways so I’ll be using a combo of resources (most free): BYKI, Learning with Texts and Brainscape. Scott came to my rescue with LWT so it’ll be implemented first. Ta Scott :-)

Even though I’ve been working on this project since last year, more time and collaboration is needed. That’s right. I’m in the need for guinea pigs. And if you want to pig out on Thai, please contact me.

Project 2: Successful Thai Language Learners Compilation series…

In 2009 I started the Successful Thai Language Learners series. One, two, three years have now gone by, with over 50 talented students and former students of the Thai language being interviewed.

Some of their replies were surprising, some quirky, and all were totally interesting. Well into the series a suggestion was made to tally the results, so I did. Wanting to share what I found, a compilation series was put together.

The compilation series will start next week. I seriously hope you enjoy reading the results as much as I have.

Oh. And btw. After sending out a zillion emails for the Successful Thai Language Learners series, I was able to interview 47 men and 3 women. So, as it turns out, I chose an appropriate tongue-in-cheek name after all. True?

Now back to voting for your favourite Top 100 Language blogs…

There are four categories to vote for. Please note that you are allowed just one vote for each section.

• Language Learning Blogs
• Language Professional
• Language Facebook Page
• Language Twitter Account

Other Thai blogs to vote for…

As before, there are other Thai blogs entered in the contest (three). Would I love your vote? Absolutely. But please check them out (if you haven’t already).

• Learning Thai
• Thai Language Hut
• Learn Thai from a White Guy

Before I sign off I’d like to thank the teams at bab.la and Lexiophiles. As I mentioned before, it’s clear that without their yearly competition and advice, WLT wouldn’t be the site it is today.

Once again, stop by Lexiophiles Top 100 Language Learning Blogs to leave your vote. Ta!

Learn Thai by Speaking Your Language…

Over a decade ago I learned Thai by using a method called Speak Your Language. I wrote a post on what Speak Your Language is, but to summarize: I learned to speak Thai by starting with what I knew about English, slowly converting it into Thai one word and one grammar point at a time. By using the Thai I knew, filling in any gaps with English, I was able to communicate right away, and at the same time focus on what I needed to know next.

Times have changed over the last 10 years and so have I. I am now a father of four children living on the opposite side of the world (at least as far as time zones go). I am not living in a fully immersed atmosphere of Thai language 24/7. Despite that, I can still perfect my Thai. And I do that by using the Speak Your Language method.

Don’t you already know Thai?…

Let me ask that question another way. Despite being a native English speaker, do I know all there is to know about the English language? The answer is no. I have gaps in the lingo of lawyers, doctors, politics, cars, and the list goes on. My ability to talk incomprehensibly about any of those subjects vary considerably. And while I might be able to hold conversations in Thai, depending on the subject they are talking about, keeping up on the news is hit and miss. So there is always room for improvement.

When I learned Thai, I was a missionary. As missionaries we sacrifice many outside pleasures. One of those pleasures is watching TV or reading anything that is not related to the church. We got to go to an Internet Cafe once a week to send an email home and that was it. Now speed up 10 years and I am no longer living as a missionary. I have the new challenges of being a full-time working father with four children.

Ten years ago high-speed internet in the home was a novelty. It was the swimming pool in the back yard. We all know someone who had one, but never had one ourselves. There are now many advances in technology that I would never have dreamed possible when I first learned to speak Thai. Logically, to take advantage of these useful tools, I upgraded how I use Speaking Your Language.

Record yourself speaking to the wall…

The wall is such a nice conversational partner. It never talks back. It will listen to you ramble on and on. I’ve been told that steering wheels have a similar personality. Don’t just talk to the wall, record yourself while you talk. Digital recorders are fantastic upgrades from the tape recorders of old. They are not only smaller, but let you separate the recordings into individual files that can be kept independent from each other.

With digital recorders, you can record yourself talking about any subject you want. And as you fill in the gaps with English, you can figure out more words and phrases you want to learn. You can also record yourself translating TV, Radio, or whatever.

Use Anki to practice the words you need to learn…

Now that you have these words and phrases you need to learn, what do you do with them? Back in the day I would have made a list or flash cards. It’s not a bad method but flash cards are so old-fashioned. If you want to be hip and with the times you use a spaced repetition system, known as SRS. There are many on the web for free; the one I like the best is Anki.

Why is SRS better? It’s like flash cards on steroids. SRS gives you a new list of words to review every day based upon how successful you were in the past. Words you need to work on more come up more frequently. On the flip side, those you know better appear less often, but are not taken out entirely, so you still get a chance for a review. It’s like having a tutor pick which words and phrases you should review that day.

Post your Thai online using social media…

Just because you are not sitting in a street vendor’s fold up chair waiting for a plate of kài jieow mŏo sàp, doesn’t mean you can’t have the benefit of having a native correct you. There are many websites like lang-8.com or thai-language.com that let you post something online for others to correct. Twitter and Facebook have also proven to be useful tools. The great part is that you can continue to use English to fill in the gaps, while getting instant feedback from native speakers on how to say what you want to say.

The point I’m making is that it’s not the tools that improve your Thai, it’s how you use them. The point is that with Speaking Your Language, you need to speak as much Thai as possible, while using English to bridge the gap. And the more you speak Thai, the better you will become.

Justin Travis Mair
I Want To Speak Thai | I Want To Speak Spanish
Successful Thai Language Learner: Justin Travis Mair

Thai chili scale: A spicy secret to ordering Thai food…

I’ve been eating Thai food for like a gazillion years now and while I can order เผ็ดเผ็ด /pèt-pèt/ just fine, what arrives is almost never “up to me”. Tom Stephan has the same difficulties, only in a slightly different direction.

Tom: I wish I knew how to say “I’d like to order the Pad Thai, but moderately spicy. Not bland, but not number 5 on the scale. Maybe a 3?”

Me: A new one on me… I have the opposite problem – getting Thais to believe me when I say I want super spicy (especially as I don’t eat rice, used to cool down the mouth). I’ve settled on เผ็ดเผ็ด (and lots of praying to the pepper gods). Can’t you just say spicy a little bit? But all in all, what you get often comes down to the cook’s belief in what you can handle more than anything else.

Tom: Yeah, most of the time when you ask for spicy, the waitresses at the local Thai eateries (there are a dozen) kind of look at you like one regards a small child asking for his own glass of whiskey; adorable, but…no.

Thai chili ranges…

After chatting with Thai friends an easily understood chili range was agreed on. Number 1 being for (cough) (cough) wimps, with the chilis getting progressively hotter from there.

1. Western style spicy: เผ็ดแบบฝรั่ง /pèt bàep fà-ràng/ (or not spicy: ไม่เผ็ด /mâi pèt/)
2. A little spicy: เผ็ดนิดหน่อย /pèt nít-nòi/
3. Moderately spicy: เผ็ดปานกลาง /pèt bpaan-glaang/
4. Somewhat spicy: ค่อนข้างเผ็ด /kôn kâang pèt/
5. Very spicy: เผ็ดๆ /pèt-pèt/, เผ็ดมากๆ /pèt mâak mâak/
6. Thai style spicy: เผ็ดแบบไทย /pèt bàep tai/
7. Super spicy (the most spicy): เผ็ดสุดๆ /pèt sùt sùt/

[See post to listen to audio]

So if you want to take a stab at getting your Thai food at a hotness suitable for your tastes, you’d say something like this:

น้องๆ ขอส้มตำไม่เผ็ดหนึ่งจาน
nóng nóng kŏr sôm-dtam mâi pèt nèung-jaan
Waitress, I want one plate of somtam, not spicy.

[See post to listen to audio]

ขอลาบไก่เผ็ดนิดหน่อยหนึ่งจาน
kŏr lâap gài pèt nít-nòi nèung jaan
I want one plate of mixed chicken salad, a little spicy.

[See post to listen to audio]

ขอผัดกระเพราไก่เผ็ดปานกลางหนึ่งจาน
kŏr pàt grà prao gài pèt bpaan-glaang nèung jaan
I want one plate of chicken with basal leaf, moderately spicy.

[See post to listen to audio]

ขอแกงเขียวหวานไก่ค่อนข้างเผ็ดหนึ่งถ้วย
kŏr gaeng kĭeow wăan gài kôn kâang pèt nèung tûay
I want one bowl of green (sweet) chicken curry, somewhat spicy.

[See post to listen to audio]

ขอต้มยำไก่เผ็ดๆหนึ่งชาม
kŏr dtôm yam gài pèt pèt nèung chaam
I want one bowl of Tom Yam Chicken, spicy.

[See post to listen to audio]

small bowl: ถ้วย /tûay/
big bowl: ชาม /chaam/

[See post to listen to audio]

ขอผัดเผ็ดขี้เมาทะเลเผ็ดสุดๆหนึ่งจาน
kŏr pàt pèt kêe-mao tá-lay pèt sùt sùt nèung jaan
I want one plate of stir fried drunken seafood, super spicy.

[See post to listen to audio]

When your Thai food is not spicy hot enough…

Often (for me) a dish will arrive and it’s not spicy enough. It’s a good thing that most Thai restaurants have a condiment selection on the table.

Condiments: เครื่องปรุง /krêuang bprung/
Dried crushed chili: พริกป่น /prík bpòn/
Shrimp paste with oil: น้ำพริกเผา /nám prík păo/
Vinegar with fresh chili: พริกน้ำส้ม /prík náam sôm/
White sugar: น้ำตาล /nám dtaan/

[See post to listen to audio]

If you can’t find what you like, you’ll need to ask the waitress. What you ask for sometimes depends upon the dish. But, as they say in Thailand, up to you.

I’m not fussy (I just want hot), so if there isn’t a chili pot on the table I ask for น้ำปลาพริกขี้หนู /nám bplaa prík kêe-nŏo/ (fresh mouse dropping chili and lime in fish sauce).

[See post to listen to audio]

But if you want to be more traditional, here are a few dish/chili combos:

Papaya salad: ส้มตำ /sôm-dtam/
Ask for either พริกป่น /prík bpòn/ or พริกขี้หนู /prík kêe-nŏo/

[See post to listen to audio]

Minced chicken salad: ลาบไก่ /lâap gài/
Ask for พริกป่น /prík bpòn/

[See post to listen to audio]

Chicken with basal leaf: ผัดกระเพราไก่ /pàt grà prao gài/
Ask for น้ำปลาพริกขี้หนู /nám bplaa prík kêe-nŏo/

[See post to listen to audio]

Green chicken curry: แกงเขียวหวานไก่ /gaeng kĭeow wăan gài/
Ask for น้ำปลาพริกขี้หนู /nám bplaa prík kêe-nŏo/

[See post to listen to audio]

Tom Yam: ต้มยำ /dtôm-yam/
Ask for either น้ำพริกเผา /nám prík păo/, or พริกป่น /prík bpòn/, or พริกขี้หนู /prík kêe-nŏo/

[See post to listen to audio]

To get what you want just say:

Waitress, I’d like… + your chili of choice
น้องๆ ขอ /nóng nóng kŏr…/

[See post to listen to audio]

Spicy downloads…

If you are not confident enough to speak Thai I’ve prepared audio downloads. So all you need to do is stick the audio on your smart phone, and when needed, play your chili needs for your waitress. And pray.

Zip format: Thai Chili Pepper Scale
Zip format: Thai Chili Conversations

Good luck and good eating!