The second reason, is that some people just want to speak Thai, they dont want to learn to write or read. By all accounts the best Thai Language school in Bangkok. Perhaps I would be better off taking private lessons over Skype. You can rest easy knowing youre learning with Duke. Feel free to contact me or visit me at Duke Language School if you have any questions . While many students are happy to be learning face-to-face, others enjoy the convenience of being able to learn from anywhere. Its got nothing at all to do with schools wanting students to pay for more levels and EVERYTHING to do with the time investment it takes to even begin to read retard thai (beginning conversational thai) with a proficiency where you could keep up in class. Great value for an almost full-time monthly course. As many of you guys know, Thailand has been my base since quitting the real world and becoming a full-time blogger. I asked. You can even sign up if you're already overseas and traveling, pretty cool. I couldnt agree more with everything you said. Hi Phil. Sternschnuppe Verlag is a company that operates in the Education industry. Sorry this was long, hope it was of some value. Keep up the good work. The only problem I had with using the Maanii readers is that they dont teach conversational Thai. But know that there are 5 tones in Thai. Located in Bangkok, Duke makes learning Thai fun, interesting, and engaging. Although as soon as you start studying something as complex as this the better you get, the more you realise there is to learn! We have plans to revise our textbooks and include both karaoke and Thai script. You will learn how to speak Thai and simple patterns of language structures to be able to speak Thai in a short period of time. Similarly to Baan Aksorn, the school follows the Benjawan Poomsan Becker's Phonics method as well. Room 607, Yen Sheng Centre, 64 Hoi Yuen Road, Duke Thai Language School: Materials Review, Benjawan Beckers phonemic transcription method, Reviewing Thai Language Schools in Bangkok, The Easy Way for Beginners to Read and Write Thai, Memorize Thai Tones With Five Simple Rules, Learn Thai Online for FREE the Mother of all Resources, 2018: The Tenth Google Translate Challenge, A structure lessons to help you effectively learn Thai, Thousands of Thai language lessons with lesson notes, podcast, and quizzes, Learn Thai on the go through their mobile application, Personalized program to learn exactly on what you need, Affordable price starting at only $8 a month. (1). Journey 1 covers the usual small talk, Journey 2 has a fair amount of grammar to learn. The teachers are all good, and some outstanding. What they do is to learn the characters as they encounter them. Pushing them on the first-read-then-speak track means most of them will quit frustrated. Now thats not a bad thing by any stretch of the imagination so dont take it as a negative. This is why, when I went to Duke Language Schools website and saw the format; I surmised it was another Union Clone School in methodology and course structure. One about karaoke being a waste of time for people wanting to study higher levels and the other that karaoke is only useful for those who want to know some very basis spoken thai. Heh heh. Excellent review Tod; sounds like a great school. After that I did social problem and had 30 hours private course with the director of the school. Ah yes, the timeless karaoke ve script debate. As this is a massive amount of work, it will take us a few months to complete every book. Click here to learn more about our courses. If I remember correctly there are some schools which have textbooks available in Thai or karaoke. Ive lived in BKK for 6 years and other than numbers I only know about 50 Thai words that I wring the life out of when I go shopping or take a taxi. It is a very useful textbook, I believe, but the transliteration always comes first, before the Thai, is in bold as you say, and anyway it is not karaoke, it is IPA and I cannot read most of it. South Sudan Travel; Staying with the Mundari Tribe, Climbing Mount Everest Everything You Need to Know from My Experience. You cant be tryin to remember the consonant classes, the vowels sounds and tone rules when youre trying to learn how to speak. With ThaiPod101, you can a comprehensive Thailand course for all types of learners. Travel Bucket Lists; A List of travel things to do before you die! So, I went to level 6 within 3 months. Yup. (Id rather avoid the expense of private lessons if I can find a good class that meets outside of office hours. Thai Language School Bangkok | Duke Language. Thai language courses in Bangkok. : r/Thailand - Reddit Copyright 2023 Duke Language School. Ill see you there! The textbooks are up to date and topical (much better than those at Pro Language where I had a few lessons last year) that follow a storyline through out the series. I understand you opinion. I feel the same way about karaoke. That's why most schools teach speaking conversation levels in karaoke FIRST before you learn to read or write. Today we slept in the same place 2 nights r, Day 8. Students would be frustrated by the huge challenges and difficulties if one would start with the Thai writing system from the very beginning. Too many times sitting in class, its no fun learning Thai (or any language), but these teachers appear to go out of their way and make it fun. Leo; that Thai phonetic script used in a LOT of thai-thai dictionaries is a god-send.. Its really helpful in pronouncing unfamiliar words; especially ones with what I call invisible vowels, or those tricky double function consonants which end one syllable and then stand alone for the next one too! I think it must be unique in that respect. However, the teacher still writes in karaoke on the whiteboard during the first 3 modules. Even during this Covid-19 pandemic, their classes often sold out! Stay in Thailand for 8 months or 14 months with the ED Visa. Step forward Duke Language School. Besides, students would have to pay considerably more due to the increasing cost. Sorry to go with the same subject. Professional Teachers Learn Thai with highly trained teachers who teach the fun and interactive way. Have you ever thought of giving up? If you email them with your questions youll get a prompt & in-depth reply. I do know that the headmistress is not a big fan of karaoke, but agrees phonetic Thai can be useful. First proper rest day on our Everest climb, Day 11. Learn Thai language in a fun and entertaining way in Bangkok, Thailand at Duke Language School http: Duke Language School | Bangkok Each Module or term lasts 4 weeks. The site says This is not for learning Thai from beginners level, it is for learning spoken Thai as the Thais speak it and you should already have basic Thai ability. See. Duke has broken down the Studying Thai Language process into 9 modules (you can see them here): Each module lasts 4 weeks. And I did it all from my laptop as I travel the world and live my dream. Bangkok am Inn, Muhldorf am Inn: See 38 unbiased reviews of Bangkok am Inn, rated 4.5 of 5 on Tripadvisor and ranked #1 of 37 restaurants in Muhldorf am Inn. There is a HUGE (as in really big investment of time) which you have to front load when you go about learning to speak thai by using thai script. 13 years later, Thailand is still my adopted home. Study Thai in Bangkok - Private Schools and Universities - Sapore di Cina They do also teach via karaoke Thai for the first three levels of conversation too. You can also reach out to us on Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Line, WeChat, and KakaoTalk. Khun Serene, having karaoke on one page for those wanting to concentrate just on speaking and listening on one page and for those wanting to read and write as well on the other page sounds like a great compromise, and might even encourage more students to learn to read and write Thai. Too often the design has the same font size for both the karaoke and the Thai with the result that the Thai characters appear half the size of the karaoke. But I desperately need help with conversation. Make sure to check their website for promotions, etc. Fees. If from the very beginning your intention it to study Thai until a level you can read and write, why would you waste your time with learning karaoke? Is it possible the the people you observed learning with script were of a different cut that the ones learning with karaoke? Explore 1 is all about becoming familiar with the letters. Everest climb with @furtenbachadventures, Day 7 on our Everest climb with @furtenbachadventu, Day 6. Face it, theres no one who has more books in print about learning Thai than Benjawan does, so if a school uses her karaoke there is a plethora of other materials a student can use to supplement their learning. Over the years Ive taken Thai lessons a few times and dropped out each time. They do have the same module based structure: three hours a day, five days a week, for four weeks. I used karaoke, and was able to work on other aspects of the language immediately. I dont see any reason why there would be any difference. Still thanx for the comment, hope you found the review useful.. At Piammitr you can get textbooks in Thai only (Ive never used the karaoke books.) Nor should you try to draw a parallel of who achieves better proficiency in thai by comparing karaoke learners to thai script learners. I also skipped the first book because I thought is was too easy. If they do, they must be some pretty slow clunky speakers of Thai. The German speaking would have no problem with it, but the Americans read it wrong. Mostly because there are so few schools coming into the teach Thai to adult foreigners niche market. If I hadnt learned with karaoke, I would have quit. During my journey to every country in the world, I used Bangkok as a place of mental recovery. And thats also the level that you begin the reading and writing. I cover life topics with a mixed race perspective, share my travel tips and tricks, and document my language learning journey.If you are wanting to improve your Thai or Chinese, want to hear a mixed race perspective on things, or just want to join this supportive family then please smash the subscribe button and share the love in the comments! If anyone from Duke Language School is still following this thread, Id be interested to know if they still have plans to implement the changes mentioned above by their representative. PS You even get 5% off if you use MY LINK! By all accounts the best Thai Language school in Bangkok, Duke Language School; My Experience Studying Thai here, Final thoughts on studying Thai in Bangkok at Duke Language. Thats not a good thing, because it reinforces incorrect pronunciation, and I would have done the same thing if I hadnt used karaoke. . But of course, thats up to the individual. She estimates students will need 10-15 hours to master the Thai writing system; which I think is somewhat optimistic, but should get you started. The materials have an archaic, too formal a version of syrupy sweet over the top Thai. FWIW: these arent just those b/s trips to a Soi side street vendor, J/J Market or Pratunam, but decent day trips, which in talking to the students, seem to be well received and attended. - See 38 traveler reviews, 21 candid photos, and great deals for Muhldorf am Inn, Germany, at Tripadvisor. If somebody is going to ignore vowel length while using karaoke, theyre probably going to ignore it while using script too, for example. And that way I can avoid the karaoke issue entirely; just tell I dont want to see it, just write everything in Thai. But within 2 modules of studying Thai, finally, Ive made the breakthrough. Learn English | Thai Language School Bangkok | Duke Language That works just as good, and maybe even better than karaoke. They contain both phonetic transliteration and Thai script in the vocabulary and dialogue sections throughout the books, in which the Thai script is written underneath the phonetic guide. All Courses; . Fees And Calendar | Thai Language School Bangkok | Duke Language The teacher really pushed me to my limits. Thank you Khun Keith We look forward to meeting you the next time youre in Bangkok! First proper rest day on our Everest climb, Day 11. And if you just want to get cracking, use BlueHost at a discount, through me.