Dear Hillary,
You are always telling people that they should learn Thai if they are living here for some time. I agree with you, that it certainly makes life a lot easier if you can communicate with the locals. I have retired here, but at my age (72), I find it very difficult to learn a new language at my time in life. Is there any quick way of doing this, or do you have any special tips for people trying to learn this Thai language?
Tongue-tied
Dear Tongue-tied,
You are correct that life becomes easier if you can talk to people. You don’t need to have philosophical discussions, but “Where is the closest gas station?” asked in Thai will get you better answers, that’s for sure, even though “close” and “far” are the same word in Thai – there’s just a difference in tones. My Petal, it is a problem I know, but if you are retired and not working, then there is one quick (but none of them are easy) way to learn. It’s called Total Immersion and Hillary’s language teacher friends all tell me it is the quickest. Go and stay in a village up country in a little local hotel and put yourself into the situation that you have to speak Thai or starve! I am told that in six weeks you will have picked up reasonable Thai and you are on your way to complete mastery of the tongue. You will also probably have picked up a small language teacher as well. Lots of luck and “Chok dee, Kha”.
