When learn language websites behave badly.

“It is normal that American people from the north do not fully understand those from the south. The way of life, climate and everything all impact pronunciation.”

But, rest assured...

“We have example of online English conversation in different situations that you likely to use oftenly.”

Learn how to use tenses and grammar....

“I hit him at the back yesterday.
He was hit by me at the back yesterday.

A pen is under the table.
I have two pens in my pockey.

John is kicked by me
They are cooked by Marry.

Jim is a little nervous when he on the stage yesterday.

Our group have different oppinion on where to go today.

I will have jumped to the water if the bear will come."


And... “if you want to speak english fluently. You can visit our conversation corner...”


“How long do we have to wait? Arond five to ten minutes”

“Can I site here? It's ok for me.”

“Excuse me. Do you mind taking us pictures?”

 "I heard you are going to have an exam tomorrow. Yes, I'm quite worry about it.”

“Shalle we postpone?”

Learn the meanings of popular idioms....

“A hot potato = A hot issue that people are talking about
Eating someone = Disturbing someone
Backup the wrong horse = Support the wrong person, team or side.
Egg on the facel = To be embarrassed
Eata humble pie = Admit on something
Fly a kite = Test reaction of the idea
In black and white = Formal (dress)
Jockey the position = Try to train or someone to be best in their job/position
Jungle out there = Something are dangerous outside
X rate (Rate X) = Too aggressive
Panic stations = Very exciting situation”

Learn by watching movies... “Right, the thing is you don't just watch it but you have to watch by learning purpose to create more useful entertainment.... The steps may annoy your emotion but if you want to learn English you better follow below steps. Otherwise, you may lost your time and effort without nothing.”

“At xxxxxschool, we believe that memory cannot take you any far in English learning journey.” “Listenning skill is one of the most difficult among all other English learning skill because it gives you the least time for your brain to process.”

“Everyone loves playing game so why waste your time with a non-sense online game, if you can play English Game Online with us.”

Try your hand at some multiple choice quizzes...

“Our effort is good to a/an/the environment.
Don't look at a/an/the sun with your bear eyes?
I earn many/much/both money this year.
We are so hungry. There is little/a little/few food left?”

“It was my pressure to meet you.” But, for now I’m going back to my “Ivory tower = A perfect, and unreal, place where everyone dream to stay.”

The not so funny thing about this website is that it appears to be mainly a vehicle for advertising, and that people are actually consulting it and its forum. Think I scoured the site for hours looking for errors? Think again...it was hard to stop (copying and pasting) at just the few examples in this post.

Related posts Note to self #2

Cheers!
สเนป

See what else we're up to at Cooee!

Note To Self 2 - Learning Thai(land)

Don’t believe everything you read AND use more than one Thai language reference resource to verify its meaning and use.

I shout myself a massage about once every two months. And, after yesterday’s, which was outstanding, the owner of the place asked me "How was it?"

“พอดี (por dee) ” I said, with which she gave me a disappointingly blank stare. So, I tried saying it again a couple times, altering it a little each time. Nup, still nothing!

“Perfect” I said, and with that, a look of relief came across her face. I was befuddled for a short while after, because I’m sure I was saying it correctly and had only learnt it that morning in a vocabulary list in one of my lesson files. How hard can it be? I know these two words separately, and use them often.

พอดี = ‘perfect’, the file said. WELL, NO, IT DOESN’T!!!!! And, after reviewing the lesson (about food), the word พอดี in the vocabulary section isn’t used again...anywhere, so I had no context to refer to.

พอดี = ‘just enough, just sufficient, good enough’.

I suppose if someone’s asking you “Would you like some more (food)?”, 'พอดี' might be an appropriate response. Or, if you're ordering a meal, you could say 'เผ็ดพอดี' (spicy just enough...medium heat).

BUT, if someone has just given you a really heavenly massage, I reckon พอดี would mean PRETTY AVERAGE. I really should have known better, it being a compound of ‘adequate/enough + good’. However, compound words don’t always equate to the sum of their two or more parts. Sometimes they’re totally unrelated and make you wonder who was thinking what the hell, when the word evolved...I guess that’s why they’re referred to as idiomatic compounds.

pen = mouth + crow / ปาก + กา / pbàhk + ​gah
rudder = tail + tiger / หาง + เสือ / hǎhng + sǔea
responsible = get + wrong + like / รับผิดชอบ / ráp-​pìt-​châwp
parrot = bird + glass / นก + แก้ว / nók + ​gâeo
cashew = seed + mango + Himapan (in north India) / เม็ด + มะม่วง + หิมพานต์ / mét +​má​môoang + ​hǐm​má​pahn

I am however extremely grateful that most compound words (คำประสม / word + mix, add) in Thai, are what they say they are, or close to it!

Anyway, I think I’ve written พอดี

BTW, if you're looking to get a massage in Chiang Mai, I can recommend Saija.

Note To Self 1 - Learning Thai(land)

Stop asking the question WHY? your Vivite deodorant not only has a whitening agent in it, but also a UV protection ingredient. Just accept that some people in Thailand might like to walk around with their armpits facing the sun.

Vivite deodorant advertisement  Who knew armpits could be so sexy?

Cheers!

สเมป

See what else we're up to at Cooee! 

Treading water - learning Thai on your lonesome

My Thai course finished weeks ago, I wagged the last two lessons and went to Vietnam. So what now? I did toss around the idea of enrolling in another course, but I want to travel around a bit before we leave, so don't want to waste money or class time.

It would be easy to find excuses and put the books/laptop away and call it quits, but that would be kind of like flushing a lot of hard work down the loo. So, if there are obstacles, just go around, over or under them, find a another way.

What's missing? Mainly structure and guidance. So what to do, what to do?

Before I discovered the post on WLT about the online free Thai Course at TCU (read the post/comments if you're thinking about enrolling), I got myself a Mee. Mee is a pen pal in Bangkok I found at Conversation Exchange. Like most of these kind of sites, it's a lucky dip of sorts. The first site I tried limited your communication couldn't contact anyone, instead had to wait for them to contact me first if you didn't pay a membership. Then once I found Conversation Exchange I was approached by several people, who eventually dwindled down to one very dedicated and professional conversation exchanger.

Mee is wonderful! He not only answers my questions, but corrects my Thai and gives me examples to explain differences, grammar order and particular word uses. And, he usually replies within 24 hours, to boot.

The main content for the structured part of my  learning, I downloaded from TCU, which Mhee recommended. It wasn't long before I realised that the online lessons were fraught with errors...which would be down right confusing and possibly dangerous for a complete newbie. However, so far, the associated PDF files, which include audio, have been far less tainted and are proving to be valuable to revise, to add new vocabulary and annoy the dickens out of Mee with more queries.

Who knows, this in conjunction with the other online and hard copies of language resources, might be enough to keep my head above Thai waters. And, when we return home, I might just get brave enough to Skype with my Mee, because I won't be able to just pop out and inflict my Thai on any of the local shop owners or restaurant staff.

I'll miss being surrounded by signs in the streets and on buildings, because it's an 'in my face' way to practice my reading...which is improving by the way. It's a great feeling to be able to read (on the odd occasion), even if the eureka moment is delayed by 30 or so metres down the road. Poor Stray, but I DO have to tell someone that you should 'please drive slowly' here, or that we should hurry up and move if we don't want to be 'fined 2,000 baht for smoking in this area'.

Thai language courses are non existent where I come from, except for one Wat where they hold an adult class once a week. Maybe. It's a bit of a distance from our home...and Sundays are hardly a day for motivation.

If you're not in the country, or in a classroom, how do you learn a language successfully?

Cheers!

สเมป

See what else we're up to at Cooee!

So, why are you learning Thai?

So, why are you learning Thai?

Astonishingly I’ve been asked that question more than once and it’s a question that shouldn’t warrant an answer, since I am living here, albeit in the short term.

The question should be to some of those residing here, why are you NOT learning Thai (formally or informally)? I used to think how much easier it would be for those married to a Thai, not that I have any desire to trade in Stray. It’s just that one could practise and learn the language 24/7 if they lived with a walking talking dictionary/thesaurus/encyclopedia.

Why does he only hand me one packet, when every time I ask for two? Thank you happy, smiley 7-11 guy, for teaching me the correct tone. Now I don’t have to use my fingers anymore.

But then I started to notice (more often than not) old, large white men standing behind the skirts of their tiny Thai wives, giving her English instructions, so she could turn them into to Thai and relay them to shop assistants and the like. I can see that it would be a convenient trap to fall into and don’t think that there haven’t been times when I wished I’d had an interpreter by my side, because there has.

Why are they giggling? What did I say this time?

It would be easy here, in Chiang Mai, to put down my Thai books for good, and speak only English. Limiting perhaps, but easy.

Other’s learn new languages because they have a passion to do so and some even possess an uncanny talent to master them simultaneously...I can only dream the polyglot dream.

Lady, why are you screwing your nose up? My friend only wants to know ‘what are these fruit called?’

Then there are those who move to a different country, often because they are escaping war, hunger and or political persecution. Refugees. I have the utmost respect, and even more so now, for the difficulties they must face not only fitting in to a new culture, but learning, in many cases, English. Learning while also trying to deal with, or forget, losses and atrocities some may have endured before they migrated.

Oh sorry, I meant to say, can I have my wine in a glass, not a bowl, please.

In the few places I worked and in college, I was always drawn to employees/students we call New Australians. I enjoyed learning about them, their stories and their cultures and in a way, I guess I empathised with their predicament. Would it be wrong of me to say I also feel a bit sorry for them?

One day a (Australian born) colleague had a light bulb moment and said to me about our Chinese co-worker “It must be hard to move to a different country, study accounting, work and learn a new language, mustn’t it?” HHeeellloooo! I found it disappointing that many staff tended to ignore, or perhaps I should say, not make an effort to befriend or at least interact with new comers.

Is my Thai really that bad?... or is it the amount of whiskey he’s consumed?...or is it Chiang Mai Thai?...or both?..or all of the above?

It also peeves me that quite a few immigrants change their names to John, Peter, Sue or Kathy, because it’s easier for ‘us’ to pronounce than Hai Shan or Guido. But that’s a whole other kettle of fish!

For me, learning Thai is (99% of the time) a fun experience, because I don't have any added pressures, like finding employment or sitting for exams. It’s like the biggest jig saw puzzle I’ve ever attempted, but someone has hidden some (OK, a zillion) of the pieces. No matter how bewildering it can be some days, I'm still enjoying the challenge and continue to smile at my own botch ups, on a regular basis.

No wonder she was looking at me like that, I think I asked her if she has a fever, instead of eggs. Sigh!

Cheers!
สเมป

See what else we're up to at Cooee!