Interested in learning the Thai language?  

How did I start? How do I learn?

I have been in Thailand several times over the last thirteen years, and have plans to visit this beautiful country many times in the years to come!

If you are considering learning the Thai language, I really encourage you to read this front page !

In August 2007 I started to pay special interest to the Thai language. Over the years I had picked up some useful words like "hello", "thank you" etc. When I got a copy of "Lonely Planet Phrasebook" from one of my good friends in Thailand, the curiosity was lit.

When I came back to Norway, I checked the internet for information on books and training. I purchased the "Thai-English English-Thai dictionary" by Benjawan Poomsan Becker and a basic course on CD's by Pimsleur. The course contained 10 lessons of about 25 minutes. This was very useful for me! I used the CD's every day when I was travelling back and forth to work. Later I bought the new dictionary by Benjawan Poomsan Becker, and that one is enhanced in many ways. A real must for you, when studying Thai. It has three sections: English to Thai, Thai to English, and the most used section by me, the "Thai sound" section. This last section makes it really easy to find Thai words in the dictionary when you have learned the sound script.

Click here to read about this dictionary on Amazon.com.

To succeed with the CD training, you really have to repeat every lesson until you master it well. That makes it fairly easy to go step by step.

In paralell to the CD's, I started to learn the consonants and vowels by myself. At first it seemed like a "mission impossible"! To make it easier, I produced some nice flash cards with all the consonants and vowels. On the photo to the left, you can see my consonant flash cards on the kitchen table.

I used the consonant flash cards to memorize the sound, class (low,medium,high) and ending sound. It's hard work, but not impossible! If you register on my web site, you will be able to download a document containing the consonant flash cards. I have used the same method to memorize the sound of the vowels.

After completing the CD training, I wanted to learn more. I then purchased the full Pimsleur Thai course with 30 lessons. This training set also includes some reading lessons at the end.

My work with the flash cards, made it fairly easy to follow the reading exercises. Note that the 30-lessons training starts with the same 10 lessons as in the basic version. So if you are really determined to go through it all, go for the 30 lessons right away! It's worth the money!

I have also learned to write Thai. I got an excellent recommendation from a friend. The "KHIAN THAI" book. You see it on the photo to the right. This book is really good! You can look it up on my "Thai BookStore" in the main menu of this page.

Another challenge I faced, was: how to learn the tone rules? In every book I have on the subject, the rules are listed in tables and text. To make it easier for me, I used some time to develop my two "tone rules cards". These two cards really made it easy for me to memorize the tones by graphics. If you register on my web page, you will be able to see these tools for free. There is no downside to registering. I will not use your email in any way, unless you contact me for information. I just want to share my experience with serious learners. I will also publish much more, including many of my homework projects used with my Thai teacher.  I have been learning with Narisa Naropakorn for almost two years now, and have no plans to stop yet. It is great fun to experience the improved Thai skills along the way. We run the Thai lessons on Skype, and it works very well.

Happy learning!