09 August 2008

Thai, 101 True Beginner

The next eight weeks or so, my focus is going to be on kick-starting my learning Thai. It's been almost a month and a half and I barely mastered the greeting.

My first class was this morning, for about 90 minutes. And the class started like this:

Teacher comes in with a piece of paper with notes on it. Confirms that I am Khun Jane.
Teacher: Dichan chûui ...
Teacher: Dichan Naam-sa-gun...
Me: *slack jaw*
Teacher: Dichan chûu dtor-pak.
Me: (figuring I could at least repeat) Dichan chûu dtor-pak/
Teacher: Mai, mai.....

Teacher: Khun Phɔɔ` Khun Mêe bpen-khon thai
Teacher: ..chɔɔb....
Teacher: Khun yùu thîi ...
Teacher: Khun tham-ngaan thîi nai?

*sigh* I'm contemplating revising my goal...

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

You should have paid attention to that phrase book I gave you last Christmas - Abigail

Jane said...

Guilty as charged. Thank you, by the way, again. I had assumed that I needed structured classes from the very basics. Like starting with the alphabet. But this language has nothing in common with the half a dozen others I have learned to some degree of proficiency in my life. So it doesn't matter how I start.. I just needed that push to take the plunge to get started.

Abigail said...

My most frustrating language experience was in Germany, when I couldn't order a bratwurst. It looked soo delicious and I was soo hungry. It took 10 minutes to convey what I wanted.