At Rama IX Park

17 July 2015, TV = 1172.6 hours

AUA: total class time = 2180 hours; taking reading/writing level 2

advanced class = 1199 hours; reading/writing classes = 43 hours

At Rama IX Park, which I went to this morning and which is less centrally located than the probably better-known Lumpini Park, but which I think I like better because it feels more secluded — like you can actually kind of feel like you’re out of the city, and when you look off into the distance you don’t see a glass wall of skyscraper standing sentinel at the park’s edge —

Acquiring New Words

10 January 2015, TV 1042.6 = hours

AUA: advanced class = 1068 hours, total class time = 2006 hours

In my experience with learning a language on its own terms, from the inside — in other words, not going through other languages (i.e., not getting translations or explanations in English¹), and a lot of the time not even asking what words mean, but just letting their sounds and meanings crystallize in my consciousness of their own accord — I think the acquisition process happens largely on its own timetable. The points at which I’ll start noticing a word, at which the sounds of the word become clear enough to discern, or when the meaning or use of the word comes into focus, don’t seem to be things I can predict or control, though I believe that continually getting more input is what keeps the process going forward.

Steps Taken Toward Reading Thai: 2014 Summary

5 January 2015, TV = 1034.6 hours

I really enjoy tearing things down in detail, and going into the minutiae of my encounters and collisions with the Thai language. I only get to write about a fraction of the things that I’d like to, and I usually have vague sketches of ideas or even whole posts knocking about in my head. But sometimes it’s hard to get down in words the things that I most want to write about.

Bad Signs

19 November 2014, TV = 998.2 hours

blah blah blah…ระวัง!…blah blah blah….

Things don’t always work the way they’re supposed to; and sometimes they don’t “not work” in the way that they’re supposedly not working.

How I’m Using Written Thai Even Though I’m Only Protoliterate

30 June 2014, TV = 827.1 hours

How I’m using written Thai even though I’m still illiterate (or maybe, to be charitable, “protoliterate”): another step on the slippery slope to “scripteracy”¹.

Despite not even being able to read Thai (well, not really being able to read Thai – see footnote 1 below for a bit about my abilities – or lack thereof! – and this post for the rationale behind my decision to not learn how to read), I’ve increasingly been using the written language over the last couple months.

Still Thinking About Learning To Read

13 June 2014, TV = 783.8 hours

Attempting a little self-evaluation a few posts back, I talked about my comprehension of spoken Thai, as well as my very limited ability to read – or maybe more accurately, to pick out a few words here and there.

A commenter named Jon wrote:

“Why don’t u write ur blog in Thai? Or at least some of it? This is how I got really good at Thai. Writing is such an essential part of a language learner s journey to fluency. Studying at AUA will never make u fluent. . . unless ur extremely gifted in picking up languages.

Progressing Or Not?

21 May 2014, TV = 775.9 hours

Sometimes I feel disappointed that my Thai isn’t better than it is:

Elegant!

10 May 2014, TV = 775.4 hours

สีฟ้า sign on Thong Lor, in Bangkok.

Walking down Bangkok’s Thong Lor, my attention was arrested by the elegance of this sign. I was at first surprised that the Thai should appear in English transliteration only, without any actual Thai.

Sometimes They Just Don’t Want You To Know

30 April 2014, TV = 748.0 hours

This was the scene at my local BTS stop yesterday:

Advertisement for…what?

Attempting to read the two lines of text, I stood there squinting – my vision’s gotten a bit worse in recent years (and spending all this time staring into a computer screen watching lakorn and blogging etc probably hasn’t helped!); the Thai writing system, though now a fairly familiar sight in so far as most of the individual letters go, is still no match for English in terms of instant recognizability; and – oh yeah! – I’m basically illiterate in Thai.

A Very Short Message

28 April 2014, TV = 744.4 hours

While it was only a few words long, this morning I composed something in Thai for the first time – a short note to be included with a package I was sending someone.