Yeah you are right. I keep forgetting that things are different in Bangkok.

In my experience while EDGE is too slow for browsing, it works as a backup for poker in the event of a power outage (common here in Samui). I wouldnt want to spend a whole session grinding with it though because you can expect a few timeouts while using EDGE.

The best thing about EDGE though is that you dont need to buy anything or spend much money. It works with my nokia 3110 and costs 100 baht for 10 hours per month. Since I only use it in case of emergency its a pretty good option.

What's the best program for someone who wants to learn Thai? I saw Pimsleur mentioned a while ago (not sure if it was this thread or the other one), anyone know how that compares to Rosetta Stone?

There is one guy on here who loves pimsleur, getting a tutor is gonna be way more efficient I think though.

yes, i love pimsleur. and i know other people who do to .

i'm positive you're very wrong assuming a tutor is more efficient. for starters, pimsleur is designed in a way build up sentence structure and memory of key words and phrases based on research of how humans learn a language. it's very systematic and efficient. i doubt any tutor is like that. and most tutors are in a group setting, which has positive benefits if you're with your friends all trying to learn the language and if you have scheduled classes, but that's only if the person doing pimsleur has no self-initiative and no desire to learn the language to begin with. Also a group setting will slow the learning process as some will lag behind. And as I alluded to earlier, thai tutors are going to be pretty hit or miss. You might luck out and get a good one, or you could run bad and get one that just sucks at teaching. Either way you're way wrong on this mr green man

Personal Teacher >> Pimsleur, but only just imo. Pimsleur is a lot better than I thought it would be though. I recommend both if you want to crush the language.


And thats my personal opinion based on doing them both, not like schreeeech who is just nuthugging pimsleur without trying anything different

i know people that have done tutors, and for the time they put in i think pimsleur is way better. and just from a logical standpoint pimsleur is better for the objective reasons i outlined above. i don't expect you to understand logic though because you're a poker player who has a free coaching lesson from jman but just doesn't get around to it.

i will say that one area i think tutors crush pimsleur is when it comes to knowing words like sidewalk and library and such.

sorry Alex, but I think you are way wrong on this one, a computer course will never ever teach you any decent language, it can teach you some basics yes, but not a whole language in a proper way for sure, I can speak fluently now almost 6 languages (taking thai now also), think that I sort of know what I'm talking about when it comes to learning languages

just take a thai course, small group if you think you need motivation to go or personal tutor if you want to have an intensive course and you have a lot of free time to spare, currently my group is like 4 (sometimes 5 when Chris shows up) persons and I must say that my thai has improved 10x faster and is way better

so my advice, if you want to peddle a bit and learn some non serious stuff or a few basic key sentences go with some software, but if you really wanna learn thai, get a tutor

ryu, i don't think you know how pimsleur works. it's not a computer course. it's audio!!!

there's a reason the us gov't uses pimsleur train people instead of just tutors. anyway,i do think you need to supplement pimsleur with a thai tutor just because pimsleur only main proper sentence structure, tones, and the main words used in day to day conversation. it leaves tons of vocabulary which i think a tutor can be most helpful with.

anyway, i can't even understand what you say in english, so no one should take your advice on languages even if you speak zimbabwe and everyone should listen to me. i am number 1!

fwiw rosetta stone sucks, easily the worst of all 3 options.

lol 555+

I know pimsleur, I've listened to it a bit, when I received a copy of sh58's audiobook there was a copy of pimsleur on it, and I was curious so I decided to put it on to see how it was, but it's nothing much more then any other computer course really (I think all language computer courses have audio btw, at least the decent ones )

ps. I don't understand you either after you had 10 glasses of Jameson

haha, after 10 glasses of jameson i'm bing blang blaow.

the first few lessons of pimsleur are very basic so that's not much to go on. and once you do the a few lessons the words/phrases stick in your head for a long time due to the repition. i even remember a few phrases after 2 lessons of japanese that i'm sure i'd forget if i went to a tutor. i did 3 years of french in a school setting and barely remember a thing. that being said i haven't done tutoring so i could be way off.

you going out tonight?

I haven't finished Pimsleur yet, but I like it and it certainly helps. However I'm starting to feel less good about it with my private teacher and now random people on the street correcting me when I use sentences from the tape. As in "that doesn't mean at all what you're trying to say". Anyone else had that?

I wouldn't be at all surprised if the Thai people hired to help with making the tape had just been afraid to correct all the mistakes. Questioning your boss is bad ldo, if you tell him he messed up somewhere he'll look stupid and lose face! Omg must not say anything.

have neckked thai girlfriend tutor(s) that teach me the thai. im always asking them how to say stuff and if you do this everyday well it adds up. also they speak 70/30ish english/thai to me during the weekday when the new p*$$y rule is non applicable. As time goes by i think I've learned more than either options offer far as the speech which is most important...communicating with thai girls that can bearly speak english. Having someone listen to you speak and correct you helps alot more than listening to disks imo. In some cases its taken me like 3-4 tries to properly annunciate some words.

side note mod mega i LOL'd at the travel guide lady part.."proficient with knifes in and out the kitchen"...nh sir

Ya long haired dictionnaries are prob the way to go.

less hair the further you go in your studies?

I'm probably going to Chiang Mai in october... so if anyone is looking for a House sharing or just has the same plan, dont hesitate to PM me

Thanks

ban bkkdude roger dodger

Hey that's how Negreanu was speaking at that 6 max table last week!

For what it's worth Pimsleur plus a tutor is the way to go. I myself like to read a lot when I'm learning a language. Even if you are simply reading elementary stuff.

+1 to pimsleur.

Anyone in phuket/patong beach?
I am here for the coming 2 months at my grandparents house and looking for some guys to go out.. i know it sounds gayish but i am not.. :P

let me know

djordyplomp [at] hotmail com

Kata Beach Studio:

!5K/mo for serviced 1 BR apt/studio in decent 1 year old uilding walking distance to beach/restaurants/etc. It has "free wifi" but it was semi reliable last time someone stayed there sooooo buy an aircard or a prepaid wifi hotspot card for x hours from the interwebz spot on the same road.

room:15K/mo
aircard: 8K
23K/mo still >> 33K/mo

Hi, i have been following these Thailand threads for a while now and i am really considering making the move!

If i was to come out to Thailand i would be looking at travelling mid July till the start of September, then if all went well would be returning in November.
Would this be an appropriate time to come over as i know it will be close to the start of the rainy season?
Which would be the best destination between July-early Sep to avoid the worst of the weather, Bk or Phuket?

Would hotels do a better price than the price advertised on tripadviser.com if i was to just turn up and ask for a room for say a month(ish)?
Whats the average monthly price you guys are paying for a clean, good located room with relible wifi?
Also wondered if anyone would have a spare room in a nice apartment/house around July-Sept that they would be intrested in letting out for 6-8 weeks(ish)?

Im 25yrs from UK.

Please PM me, thanks for any help.

Raining season seems to be starting early this year, so maybe you will be lucky but well.. I think it's not that bad if you stay in Bangkok, usually enough taxi's and partying happends inside anyways right?

definitely get a serviced apartment instead of a hotel room, it will be much cheaper, you can get one from merely 100$ to 10000$ per month, depends on your requirements, check out some links I posted on the chatter thread

I am going to Phuket early in July for 3 months and I am looking for 1 BR apartment close to the beach, any suggestions? Price range: Under $400?

I need:
1. Stable internet(best if it is included so i don't have to pay for 1 year subscription)
2. Furnished
3. Kitchen with ref.
4. Quiet area, not a lot of traffic etc outside
5. Not too fare away from Patong beach?
6. No ants?? lol