Thai is the national language of Thailand. The standard form of the language, called Central Thai or Siamese, is spoken by more than 65 million people across the nation. Thailand is undoubtedly one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world, with its endless miles of beaches, temples and of course, elephants! This country attracts a huge tourist crowd every year and though English is spoken in the country’s urban centers, it will certainly give an edge to tourists to Thailand to learn the basics of the language.
There are a lot of ways in which one can choose to learn any language in today’s world. It is no longer necessary for someone to allocate time everyday to attend regular classes to learn a language; the lack of time for most people to attend classes in this manner has led to the opening up of various modes of self-learning. Books that help an individual to learn a language have been in vogue for quite a while; with the advent of the Internet, multimedia rich online and CD based or downloadable courses have cropped up over the past few years. These are the best options for people who want to learn the Thai language, but would like to do so whenever they find time and at the pace that is most comfortable for them.
A wonderful free site called learningthai.com has a set of free basic Thai lessons. It has the Spoken Thai section aimed at tourists taking a short holiday in Thailand; it lists out some of the most useful phrases that one might need to use during their stay. A very thoughtful addition is the pictures of Road and Shop signs, which will be of utmost help to decipher road signs if you intend to drive when you are in Thailand, and find the nearest toilet even if you don’t intend to drive! All of the phrases and words taught on this site are accompanied by audio guides (there are some downloadable video lessons as well) spoken by native speakers, ensuring an accurate grasp of the pronunciation. This site also has Reading, Listening, Grammar and various other sections covering all the aspects of the Thai language.
This site links to buythaibooks.com, which is a wonderful online collection of books on the Thai language. Various books and CDs for all kinds of learners from the beginner to the more advanced learner can be bought off this site. mylanguageexchange.com is a site that incorporates a very innovate way of learning the Thai language. It aims to help a learner learn a language by practicing their new language skills by conversing with a native speaker of the language. The site helps you find a language exchange partner and then practice along with them to improve your spoken or written Thai skills using various tools such as e-mail, text and voice chat. These are just a couple of resources available online for Thai language enthusiasts; the amount of information and resources available online is endless.
An article on using language partners in the Languages & Culture channel.
Travelers to Thailand should read Ten Essentials for Your Trip to Thailand- Part 1 and Ten Essentials for Your Trip to Thailand- Part 2
