I've just finished my second term of Thai lessons for the year, and to be completely honest I was rubbish! Gone is the youthful ignorance when I thought everything was easy and it was a simple language to learn.
We've been learning to read and write Thai which has proved no easy task with thirty two vowels and forty four consonants. I've struggled to get to the stage where I have instant recognition of all the letters, this has inhibited me as we've learnt more vocabulary and grammar. Silent letters, consonants that change their sound, writing tones and lots of other quirks. ARGHHH!
I'm definitely not going to study the next level up this term. I might repeat the classes I've just taken, but we'll have to wait and see. Thai is a bit of a niche subject in Sydney, so the classes don't always have enough students to run.
Our teacher is friends with a Lady in Waiting to one of the Princesses in the Thai Royal Family. The Princess writes a poem each new year and we were given the Thai text to read. Apparently the Princess will listen to our recordings, although I'm not sure I actually believe that!
You can here my rather comical effort here:
Princess Poetry
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Wow, good on you for trying! Thai sounds like a rather complex language. Do I dare try and listen to your effort? Hehe maybe I should spare you the embarrassment =p
ReplyDeletehahaha love it! You'll be narrating wildlife shows on Thai TV next!
ReplyDeleteI don't know what you are saying but it sounds Thai! Very cool.
ReplyDeleteLearning another language can be difficult but have you noticed how f- up English is? I don't know if it's the same with Thai but when I'm learning italian, I've also learnt that the Enlish language is not so straight forward as we think it is - no wonder people find learning English so hard. There's not much structure to it imo..
ReplyDeleteBut good job for learning Thai, keep it up. I guess it does help if you have people to practice it with.