Puud Pasa Thai Nidnoi

One of the most frequent questions I get here in Thailand is “do you speak Thai”. My response is always “nidnoi”, meaning a little bit.  Since getting adjusted here in Thailand I have been wanting to learn to speak more of the language so that I can actually hold a conversation with a Thai person. I have learned a few key phrases and words that has definitely been enough to get me by, but I would really like to learn more. I was excited when OEG sent me a link to a language school in Bangkok that was offering a REALLY good deal on 30 hours of Thai language and culture classes. I decided this was my chance to improve my “nidnoi” status so I signed myself up. I headed to Bangkok this weekend to try out a few classes.   It was well, an interesting experience…..

The class was not at all what I expected. Apparently at this school they focus on the listening aspect and not so much the speaking. Their philsophy is that you can learn a language simply by observing and listening. So in each class there are two teachers and they basically just converse with each other in Thai and gesture and draw pictures so you can attempt to follow their conversation.

In the first class they talked about how the world was going to end in 2012 and how they wanted to be able to fly to the moon. Then they discussed the 3 items that they would take with them on their trip……not exactly a useful conversation I plan on having with a Thai person.

In my next class one of the teachers literally talked about toilets for 20 minutes. This included some very awkward gesturing involving actually using the toilet….. I think spending 2 minutes covering the Thai word for toilet would have sufficed.

All in all I am not so sure about these classes, however, I did learn what it must be like for my students when I talk at them in English and make weird gestures and drawings.