A Complete Journey Into a New Language - Part 1
An introduction to a new language-learning series
I’ve written a lot about learning languages. I’ve shared some of the struggles I’ve had. I’ve given tips I’ve learned the hard way.
I’ve tried to prove learning languages isn’t hard. Hell, easy even.
And now I want to actually show it, along with pictures.
Introduction
From today onward, I’ll post about my journey weekly or biweekly, sharing the struggle I have and the discoveries I make.
Contrary to my articles specifically written to express the lessons I learned and digest them in short digestible pieces, this series might go a lot more in-depth on some topics.
I will give specific examples. I will say when I’m frustrated. I will share the resources I use in real-time.
These pieces won’t be reworked much. They’ll be as raw as possible. And their format might change as I keep learning and as I get feedback from you.
Because this won’t be just a place for me to show you what it’s like to learn a language. I hope to exchange with you too.
Share your struggles. Tell us where you’re at. Ask questions. Give answers. Or, you know, just lurk and take the information you want.
No pressure here, alright?
Is it time to say what language I’ve chosen already? Alrighty then.
My rules for this game
I’ve decided to dive into Thai.
My goal is to use mostly free resources to prove you don’t have to pay mountains of money to reach a conversational level.
The only particular aspect is that I’ll go spend a few months in Thailand this year so I’ll get more natural exposure than stuck in my room in Paris but you can be sure I won’t rely only on that since I’m quite introverted!
Oh, right, my goal!
My goal
I don’t plan on reaching an advanced level like the one I have in Japanese or English. I just want to be able to have daily conversations with native Thai speakers.
How will I evaluate that?
Have real conversations with native speakers before I leave Thailand (probably around May).
Learn all basic grammar I deem necessary (see here for more details)
The capacity to create simple conversations on my own about my life without looking up every word.
Read at least 1 short story/graded reader without sweating like hell (something that actually happens when I try to read something way above my level in a foreign language)
Understand up to 20% of Thai series or videos I find.
All this is pretty vague but that’s how I like to roll. In my head, I have some idea of the type of sentences I should be able to understand.
What’s my current level?
If you’ve been following me for over a few weeks, you already know I recently “finished” learning the Thai script. I can now read it, although quite slowly. The topic of the first real post I’ll make in this series will be about how I handled that part.
The real “beginning”, however, goes back a lot farther. About 10 years ago.
My brother lived in Thailand for three years and quickly gave up on learning Thai, stating it was “too hard.” I hate hearing that any language is “too hard” because I know no language is too hard. 😒
I began learning Thai just to prove to him anybody could learn, even while outside of the country.
Not even a month later, I had given up. I had tried to learn the script and felt overwhelmed. It made no sense to me. I tried listening to the language and it sounded like gibberish. I disliked the sound of it.
A lot has happened since then, nothing related to Thai, but the sound of the language has gone from hurting my ears to something pleasant. I must give my thanks to a few songs which convinced my ears to accept the sound of that exotic language:
Contrary to how I convinced my ears to learn to enjoy Chinese 14 years ago by accident, I did it on purpose this time around.
I had started to see the script as beautiful and wanted to see if I could enjoy the sound of Thai. Turns out I could!
I’m now enjoying this radio channel almost daily.
Resources
Here are the resources I have found so far.
I’ll fill the list as I go so I expect the list to get quite long in a few months!
Thai-oriented websites
Best for learning the script: ThaiPod101 (and its YouTube videos)
Most recommended online: http://www.thai-language.com/lessons
Bilingual texts: http://www.sealang.net/lab/index.htm
Typing game: http://www.thai-language.com/id/805664
Free online course: Let's Learn Thai Language Universiti Malaya — FutureLearn
Textbooks
I only use one that I bought in 2015 out of curiosity and never opened until now. I might add more later but hopefully not many.
Easy Thai — Tuttle Publishing
Other
My most prized tool will be my notebook where I’ll write down anything I want to remember. It won’t be beautiful but I’ll let you see it either way!
I will also rely heavily on the following websites that can be useful for any other language than Thai:
That’s it for the introduction!
The first 3 or 4 articles in this series will be free while the following will be part of my paid newsletter subscription I’ll start later in this quarter. More info on that then!
Next week you’ll receive the second piece about my experience learning the Thai script.
See you then!