My Struggle to Learn Thai as a Second Language

I knew I wanted to learn Thai as a second language and I had every intention in doing so. A full year before we moved to Thailand I began to teach myself Thai. First I used resources I stumbled across at my local library and then eventually invested in three excellent beginner resources. Nearly every day during my 30 minute commute, I’d pop in my Pimsleur’s “Complete Thai” CD and talk to myself, disregarding the strange looks from nearby drivers. I even brought a study guide with me during work trips and squeezed in time learning the Thai alphabet.

I was happy that I could say and understand several dozen phrases even before we had stepped foot in Thailand, and I was pretty proud that I taught myself basic reading and writing, too.

Why It’s Important to Me to Learn Thai as a Second Language

Chris and I have had no idea how long we were going to live in Thailand. If it happened to be five years or two or ten, I owed it to myself to speak the language. I think that’s an essential part of moving to any new country, right?

I looked forward to making Thai friends. I envisioned myself reading signs and short magazine articles in Thailand; I wanted to be able to explain myself or ask for help or clarification in Thai. If we were going to live in Thailand, I wanted to integrate with Thai people and not just be another uncommunicative foreigner.

We heard that English is widely spoken across Thailand, so call me crazy that I still wanted to learn Thai as a second language. But the way I saw it, I didn’t want to depend on Thai citizens knowing English for me to be able to get by. That’s a crutch. I figured that learning to speak and read Thai would grant me a level of independence that would otherwise be completely unattainable if English was my only spoken language.

Whenever we’ve gone outside of cities’ limits and traveled into Thailand’s country areas, we’ve noticed a huge drop in English speakers. In fact, without knowing Thai, much of Thailand’s northeastern region known as Isaan is pretty challenging to explore.

We’ve been lucky to enjoy several trips of this nature with our friend and photographer, Mick Shippen, who can hold his own when it comes to Thai conversations. He casually chats with the locals as we stand on the sidelines, trying to catch bits and pieces. We love hearing his translation of what they’ve said, often with good humor!

When we first moved to Thailand, it felt good being able to make meager requests in Thai while Chris listened in admiration. Whether it was getting home in a songthaew ride from the airport or ordering food at a restaurant, I managed to make it work, but it somehow stopped there. At one point, when friends back home asked how my Thai was coming along, I joked that I spoke good “Restaurant Thai,” but that was about it.

Then I became a teacher two months after we moved to Thailand and I stopped studying Thai completely for a long, long time. Teaching actually left me with little time and energy, and so my desire to learn Thai dwindled. I focused all my energy on the output (teaching English, grading, lesson planning, and battling 90 degree weather with no AC) that I had little to none left for the input (learning Thai). Although it’s a bit counter-intuitive, I think I learned five or six critical Thai words or phrases to use with my students and that was it!

When You Know You Don’t Speak Thai “Gaeng Mahk!“

Sometimes while Chris and I were out, after ordering in Thai, venders and restaurant patrons would ask, “How long you live in Chiang Mai?”

“Three months.”

“Poot passah Thai gaeng mahk – You speak Thai very good!”

Fast forward another three months and I would get the same response. “Oh, you speak Thai very good!”

Fast forward to the present. When I’m faced with the question of how long I’ve lived in Thailand, I sheepishly and obligatorily answer in Thai, “Neung bpee kreung ka – A year and a half.”

Of course, then comes a flood of fast spoken Thai. Sometimes I catch bits and try to process it, but other times I reluctantly ask them to repeat their question…slowly.

I hate to admit it, but I rarely comprehend a full sentence. I try my best grasp at several familiar words, formulate what may have been the question, and take a stab at what was just asked of me. But my brain drags and it’s hard to deliver an answer with confidence at that point.

Worse yet, I feel defeated when a word I’ve said a thousand times still comes out wrong. Although my ears have picked up on certain nuances, my tongue doesn’t want to follow suit. To this day, the word for “beautiful” is still a pile of rocks in my mouth and my error is regularly pointed out by one of our Thai friends.

Time to Hit the Books. Hard.

The good news is that both Chris and I have studied more lately. We are going hard on the vocabulary. After all, we can’t construct sentences without knowing a good amount of words. Say, a thousand? We’re also learning how to string together questions and respective answer sentences, which is a good start.

I suppose I shouldn’t be too hard on myself. We’ve met others who have lived in Thailand for two, three, even five years who, for one reason or another, don’t speak Thai. Some say they’ve tried and given up, while others openly admit that they can’t be bothered to learn or don’t make time for it. That’s fine, but it’s important to me (and dare I say, on my bucket list) to learn how to speak Thai.

With that said, we’re headed in the right direction and are putting the time and effort to learn Thai as a second language. How about you? Have you thought about learning Thai, or even a different language? How far did you go before you it fell through the cracks? Or did you manage to find a great teacher or partner that helped you? We’ll be sure to update you with another progress report in the future!