Top Tips for improving your Thai
Listen and watch.
Hearing and watching characters in movies or TV will help your Thai skills immensely. It’s an entertaining way to pick up on visual cues from the characters, like their facial expressions or their tones, paired with the words they are saying.
Learn new words every day.
Collecting new words a day in, day out is a good way to expand your vocabulary. If you only have time to learn one new word per day, it is still worth trying. You will have learned 365 new Thai words after one year.
Practice your pronunciation.
Try to practice imitating the pronunciation of what you have listened to, from movies or songs. It will help you to have a better pronunciation of speaking Thai. It is a very easy method because it can be done as singing a song or watching a movie that you like.
Remember common phrases or sentences and use them often.
Try to copy and remember the speech pattern as best as you can. And then you can practice speaking these words in a different situation. When you feel confident using these words, the next step is to choose a word you would like to work on and adapt it in different sentences. Use the word until you have learned it and keep using it regularly.
Making mistakes is better you never try.
Everyone makes mistakes. Even native speakers make mistakes in Thai. Don’t avoid speaking, you will not experience embarrassment and humiliation! These errors can help you learn and improve your Thai skills. You can ask the people you are talking with to identify mistakes in your Thai. These corrections will make you better at using Thai in a natural way.
Find an opportunity to speak Thai.
The more you speak, the more you’ll learn. If you don’t get a lot of opportunities to speak in Thai with real Thai native speakers, it’s understandable. You will eventually get your opportunity, so don’t be desperate for your spoken practice! You can start familiarizing yourself with speaking Thai by listening to me speak Thai. You will get into the habit of thinking in Thai. That is pretty much the good way forward if you’re serious about your Thai development!
Set a goal.
Having an aim or goal is important for you to learn a foreign language. You should think about why you want to learn Thai, and what you want to achieve. For example, you might want to learn Thai to travel to Thailand, you like the language, or communicate with Thai people because you live in Thailand.
When you have decided on your main goal, you can then make smaller steps to reach it. By having lots of small aims, you can soon build up to your main goal. This method helps you to stay motivated.
Find a routine.
Learning a language takes a lot of time and practice. Therefore, it helps if you have a routine when you are studying. You should think about how long you can study for each day or week. Next, you can plan your time to create a routine.
Whether you study for 30 minutes each day or 1-2 hours throughout the week, you will gradually improve your Thai. Try and find a routine that works for you!
Connect with the culture.
Understanding Thai will be easier if you can understand the culture of those who natively speak it. You should learn about the culture and history of Thailand.
