This article was originally posted on WomenLearnThai.com.
Who’s talking about learning Thai…
The results for the Top 25 Language Learning Blogs 2011 and the Top 100 Language Lovers 2011 are in. Thank you for your support everyone. I’m surprised where I placed but you won’t hear any quibbling from me! And I promise to keep up the pace.
WLT’s generous contributors …
If you missed it, Benjawan Poomsan Becker’s The Interpreter’s Journal teaser is a must read: How it Started, Mistakes and Misinterpretations and Studying Foreign Languages.
Benjawan was interviewed recently on VOA as well (thanks for the reminder Andrej!): Benjawan on VOA 1 and Benjawan on VOA 2.
Next up is Hugh with his excellent Thai Language Thai Culture tips in Spicing Up Your Life. And if you are reading this now (like when this post goes live), be sure to check back for Hugh’s humdinger of a post on Friday.
There were two Getting By With Learning Thai interviews for this session (note: two more are on the way!): The lovely Snap and our very own Thai school reviewer Tod Daniels.
Tod contributed to the two theme by writing two of his bang-4-the-baht Thai Language School Reviews: AUA Thai Language Program and PRO Language. Good stuff.
Note: If you would like to contribute posts and/or if you have a talent for Thai, please contact me.
April/May: Who’s talking about learning Thai…
A new addition is Jeff Netto with The Thai Challenge. I wrote about Jeff’s Thai adventure a week ago in The Thai Challenge PLUS The 6 Week Challenge.
Jeff doesn’t blog often but he does share his tallies on twitter (@JNatAlkhimia) and YouTube (JNatAlkhimia). He’s recently added two more YouTube videos: 6 Weeks/Thai Challenge – Update 13 May 2011 and Keep the (Thai) Challenge up at the Survival Camp.
Jeff is an accomplished language learner so if you are interested in seeing how he tackles Thai then signing up for his accounts is a logical move. But I’m sure you already knew that. Right?
Andrej: Bakunin Learns Thai (no longer online)
Andrej’s ‘Tadoku results’ discusses the ‘Read More or Die’ competition. It’s an excellent language goal to set your language learning sights on and one day I will.
I knew this was coming but even so I was hoping for a reprieve: ‘The end’. Andrej has one of the most interesting blogs out there on languages and Thai so he will be missed.
Brett Whiteside: Learn Thai from a White Guy| twitter: @LTfaWG
Brett has been working hard on an iPhone app: Learn Thai Squiggles Iphone App is Live. I have a copy and will review it when I write my massive re-review of Thai iPhone apps. Promise.
Hamish: Tweet Yourself Thai | twitter: @AjarnPasa
The Thai elections are upon us so Hamish is explaining the Thai used. His first post on the subject is Tweet Yourself Elected. Stay tuned for more!
Josh Sagar: Let’s Talk Thai (formerly Learning Thai)
One can never get enough of Thai Homophones and Homographs. Josh is asking for more so if you know of any, drop by.
Julien: Diary of a Crazy Farang (no longer online)
Julien is still plugging away to learn as much Thai as he can in a short time. When you are strapped for time it’s important to jot down your bits which is exactly what Julien is doing in these posts: ‘Goals for May’, ‘My routine for May’, ‘Goals for April’, and ‘Report of April…’.
Palmisano: Thai Blog
Do you need to get around Facebook in Thai? How about a website in Thai? If yes, then the Thai Menu (not for eating) Part 1 and Part 2 will ease your way. Another useful post is The Thai equivalent to ‘-er’. I haven’t had a chance to read it but I intend to.
Richard Barrow: Using the iPhone in Thailand (no longer online)
I have been so lax on getting my iPhone apps review updated! Lucky for us, Richard isn’t as slack. He has two reviews for this period: ‘Thai Phrasebook on your iPhone’ and ‘Learn Thai Squiggles on your iPhone’ (Brett’s new iPhone app).
Rikker Dockum: Thai 101
The call for Project Gutenberg Thailand Beta Testers went out in April so if you are interested, check with Rikker to see if it’s still on.
Snap: Learning Thai In Chiang Mai
Snap is attending Pro Language, one of the most popular Thai language schools in Chiang mai. To keep us posted she’s written about her experiences with Pro Language Course – What have I learnt so far?
Stu Jay Raj: stujay.com
The iPad arrived in Thailand and what a nice piece of kit. I got my hands on one (thanks Scott) as did Stu. I don’t have a Kindle but Stu does and he’s compared them side by side: Amazon’s Kindle versus Apple’s iPad – What’s best for Language Learning? A follow up post is also planned.
Talen: Thailand, Land of Smiles (no longer online)
Talen is also going to Pro Language, but in Pattaya. Same as Snap, he’s also written about his Thai learning experiences: ‘200 Hours of Formal Thai Language Classes’. But if you don’t have 200 hours to invest in learning Thai then this post dangles ’10 phrases you should know for your Thailand holiday’.
Terry Fredrickson and Jon Fernquest: Bangkok Post, Learning From News
I planned on writing a post about what happened last May but I ducked. Instead, here’s One year after. In Empty villages, it’s yet another year later, another tragedy, only this time it’s on the Thai border. On a lighter note here’s Hunting for Ants as food. They look tasty but I haven’t had Maeng mun… yet.
Podcasts about learning Thai…
The Thai Language Series at Bangkok Podcast has been putting out great shows. First up is (at number 10) Untranslatable Thai Words, second up (at number 11) we have Is Learning Thai Hard? and third (at number 12) is an interview with Thai Language Series 12: Daniel Fraser. Daniel learned Thai all on his lonesome. Impressive.
YouTube channels about learning Thai…
Adjima Thaitrong: Learn Thai with Mod, fun & easy!
Sweet Mod has two videos to share (again with the twos). Mod created a follow up post about restaurants, Learn Thai – Restaurant Conversations.
Bloggers who sometimes tweet more than they blog…
Bloggers who bounce between twitter and blogging:
Ajarn Pasa: Tweet Yourself Thai | twitter: @AjarnPasa
Ajarn Pasa is one of the few here who gives twitter and blogging equal time.
Kaewmala: Thai Women Talks | twitter: @Thai_Talk @thai_idioms
Kaewmala is a political gal at @Thai_Talk but also shares needed insights on the Thai language at @thai_idioms and @lanna_talk.
Rikker Dockum: Thai 101 | twitter: @thai101
Rikker sometimes blogs, sometimes podcasts, but mostly twitters.
Who’s doing all that Thai twittering…
The (mostly) complete Thai twitter list:
@AjarnPasa
@andrewbiggs
@English4thai
@JNatAlkhimia
@js100radio
@ikimmim
@lanna_talk
@LTfaWG
@literallythai
@stu_jay
@Thai101
@ThaiAlive
@ThaiShortNews
@thai_idioms
@Thai_Talk
Note: The full list of both twitter people and bloggers can be found here: Thai Language Bloggers. Let me know if anyone is missing.
Ah. I was sort of leaning towards the opinion that it would be tonal but as Cambodian isn’t as tonal as Thai I held out some hope for you. Italian is relaxing. It’s not as high brow sounding as French but I know so many lovely Italians I thought I’d get to use it someday.
It’s tonal 🙁 , changes from region to region and has un-farang friendly sounds! On the up side, it is written with romanized (or close to it) letters, give or take a few wiggly bits. Italian sounds relaxing.
Ah, so now it all makes sense. Good luck on the Vietnamese. I haven’t a clue what Vietnamese is like! I’m playing around with Italian (I needed something easy for a change 🙂
Test, what test, lol! Two of my Vietnamese friends are getting married, in Vietnam 🙂 Hence, the crash course in Vietnamese. I think I’m actually going to miss the very end of my Thai course, but, am seriously thinking of enrolling in another since I have quite a few months left in LOS.
Snap, I wish I had some extra energy too as life is getting really rushed!
So you are having a test on your Thai studies in four weeks and going to a wedding in Vietnam? Or going to a Vietnamese wedding between a Vietnamese and a Thai? Confused 😀
Catherine, I wish I had your energy and dedication with keeping on top of who’s doing what with Thai! I’m adding another dimension to my new language learning 🙂 I have four weeks to remember (what little I once knew) and to learn some new Vietnamese vocab/phrases. Stray and I are going at the end of the month….for a friend’s wedding.
Thanks Talen 🙂 And I couldn’t have done it without your behind-the-scenes support. I thought I knew a lot about blogging before I created WLT but on the things that counted, I was wrong. You support has gotten me through some sticky times.
Coming in at #10 was a shocker. There were many more inspiring blogs this year so I only expected/hoped to place in the top 100. Note: I’ll be incorporating some of the ideas (tweaked, obviously) on WLT over the next year. Truly inspiring.
Ah… the promise of a quick fix is attractive. And I only wish it were true (but it’s not going to happen).
And thanks to you too Andrej 🙂 I hope you continue to drop by as I always love to hear about what you’ve been up to and what you’ve newly discovered for language learning. You blog holds many “Ah HAHs” for me – some I need to read over again.
“in the end everybody wins”
So true! I’m traveling so I won’t be able to do the Tadoku reading challenge but I will announce it. And then maybe the next one.. we’ll see.
Thanks for the reminder about Benjawan’s VOA interview. I kept it in my inbox but then forgot to add it to her bits. It’s there now. I’ve been rushed and disorganised (bad combo) so haven’t found the time to listen. I will though. I just need to get caught up or on a plane to somewhere – that often works.
Cat, thanks one last time for the mention 🙂 … and the amazing work you’re doing with WLT. I’ve often enjoyed or drawn inspiration from your posts, and I think I will continue to do so.
There’s another Tadoku challenge planned for July, as far as I know, and I would like to invite your readers to take part in it. The Tadoku challenge is about reading as much as one can within a month while reporting one’s progress to a twitter bot. It’s a friendly competition, and in the end everybody wins 🙂
Since you are mentioning Mrs Becker: there were two or three interviews with her on Voice of America (Thai program) in her capacity as official interpreter for Thai and Lao in the US courts. Quite interesting. She also shared a bit about her life in Thailand and the US. Did you listen to them? Must have been early May.
Andrej
Oh and congrats on the top 10 finish of the top 25 language blogs…well deserved. I disagree with the #1 blog as I think the author is a hack and don’t believe he has ever learned any language in 3 months…polygoat or not.
Cat, I have no idea where you find the time in the day to keep up with who is doing what Thai language wise while at the same time working on WLT projects and series and traveling around Bangkok and other places finding new stuff.
Whatever it is you are doing keep it up as this has become the best Thai language resource on the net and it’s nice to be able to go one place and find what you need.