The materials focus on teaching words and phrases in context.
To keep it fun, humour is sprinkled around the courses.
The audio lessons are roughly half hour long.
Both male and female voices interact in the conversations.
Each course includes an audio file, two artistically designed pdfs, and a plain text file (note: the text files are not exact copies of the pdf files).
The lesson pdf’s have three sets of vocabulary, followed by the conversation, ending with additional vocabulary. The audio follows the pdfs to a degree. The audio starts out by covering one set of vocabulary at a time. Then, Pimsleur-like, you are asked to listen and repeat. And to help you remember, you are prompted for answers. After the three sets are over, up comes the conversation. To make sure you are not overwhelmed the phrases are broken up into easy chunks. As with the pdf’s the additional vocabulary comes next.
Using various methods (prompts, roleplaying, quizzes), all through the lessons you are tested on what you’ve learned – it’s an extremely powerful way to study a language.
Below are sample subjects from the first five lessons:
Creamy Coconut One: How to greet someone. How to introduce yourself. How to say you like something. How to say “Thank you” and “Sorry.” How to tell someone you’re leaving.
Creamy Coconut Two: How to say numbers. How to ask someone’s age. How to say how old you are. How to say what you don’t like. How to ask someone’s phone number. How to ask someone out for dinner.
Creamy Coconut Three: How to say when you did something. How to invite someone to do something. How to ask and talk about someone’s nationality. How to say what you know or don’t know how to do. How to ask and say what languages someone speaks. How to say where you were born and where you moved to.
Creamy Coconut Four: How to give a suggestion. How to ask for suggestions. How to say what you’re afraid of. How to say what you have just done. How to say what you don’t want to do. How to say names of meats and beverages. How to ask if someone has ever done something.
Creamy Coconut Five: How to list things. How to say what you are happy for. How to estimate someone’s reaction. How to say something is up to someone. How to ask the price per unit of something. How to ask questions expecting multiple answers. How to say the names of colors and days of the week.
To see for yourself, the first three lessons can be downloaded for free:
Yuki Tachaya & Miki Chidchaya / PickupThai: After many years of teaching Thai as a second language, we realized there’s something missing in the market – materials that teach REAL spoken Thai.
We constantly witnessed Thai learners pick up wrong phrases and expressions from textbooks that no Thai person really uses. The learners also lacked the knowledge of how to speak naturally (like a Thai person).
We also noticed that there are hundreds of words and expressions that Thai people use all the time but for some reason, Thai learners have never heard of, let alone know how to use.
Everything we’ve done so far on PickupThai – our one-on-one Skype lessons, Youtube videos, and the free lessons we constantly provide on our website – have focused on REAL and PRACTICAL Thai. Unlike in textbooks, we teach non-Thais to speak like how we speak.
A lot of learners get lost when they try to apply their knowledge to the real world. They feel devastated. This is because the world of textbooks and the real world of Thai usage are drastically different. We wanted this to change. We wanted there to be new tools to help Thai learners pick up REAL and PRACTICAL Thai. We wanted to create a bridge that connects them to the real world, the actual way we, Thai people, speak.
And so we came up with “PickupThai Podcast” – innovative Thai teaching materials that not only teach you what you can’t find anywhere else but also keep you entertained while learning with the humour and jokes added to every lesson. We’re very proud of the effort we’ve put into this project and we can’t be more thankful for every fan who supports and appreciates what we do.”
Comment(s) need to add to the conversation (it really does matter).
Each relevant comment gets counted, so please leave as many as you like!
If you don’t collect your prize within a week of the announcement, it will be given away to the next person in line.
Yuki and Miki will choose the winners, so don’t worry if you know me intimately, you can still win.
The draw will run from this moment until 29 May (Sunday), 6pm Thai time. After the winners have been selected I’ll leave a comment below as well as create a dedicated post.
Thank you Yuki and Miki for being a part of WLT’s eight year celebration!
Dear Anna, good luck with you learning! Please note that the pick up thai course is not only audio but has also a considerable amount of written material, both (but in separate pdf’s) in Thai script and transliterated. Reading transliterated text needs some adaptation. You time will be much better invested if you drop translitaration and learn the Thai alphabet. And you will be a star if your friends see that you can read the Thai letters! But the good thing with this course is that it based on communication through action (real life situations)
Pick-Up Thai has many useful free lessons for starters. To get serious about learning Thai it would be even better to get the complete organized lesson package. I live in Northeast Thailand where the local dialect is lao (issan) but the schools teach standard Thai. I noticed that many people leave this area for a period of time to go work in or near Bangkok. So it seems that they do not have much problem with communicating in standard or central Thai.
I like pick up thai series course. Try the sample course,it is very easy to understand the conversation. Love Thai culture and want to learn more from thai language 🙂
Learning Thai is complicated and a strong motivator is needed at all times.. The more I learn, the more I realize how little I really know. Watching Miki and Yuki’s youtube videos ( in the early days ) helped greatly with filling the gaps, especially the differences between spoken and written. I also like the annotation, which was easy to read compared to most. Thanks to you both for your bright and friendly videos.
We teach the standard central dialect in the podcasts. Even though other dialects are widely used locally, everyone from every part of Thailand can understand and generally communicate with one another using the standard dialect. If you’re going to learn Thai, learning the standard accent is highly recommended as it is the most useful. But of course, everyone has their own preferences depending on their needs. Are you more interested in learning the Northern Thai accent? In that case, your best bet is to find a local teacher in the city where you live in. I believe almost all (if not all) learning materials use the standard dialect.
Hi
I have lived and taught in Thailand for the last 3 years in the far north.
I really should learn how to speak Thai. I always joke I am here to teach English not to learn Thai. My limited vocabulary is from my students so I talk like a 10 year old. Maybe it is time to learn more Thai so I can understand what they are saying about me.
Which Dialect are you teaching as each area is a little bit different.
We have a new teacher this year she has lived in “Thailand for 10 years
so Thai is quiet good but she is having a hard time understanding as she is from central Thailand and the teachers speak Lanni or northern Thai here
This is an amazing idea!! I can’t tell how many times I learned an expression in a foreign language from a book and it turned out to be either not common at all or obsolete! It seems that most language publishers focus too much on the written or “formal” language, forgetting that most of the population of ANY country actually live simple lives using simple language! The colloquial style of spoken language is the way to go if you want to communicate more, unless you are planing to become a snob fame-seeking tycoon of sorts 😛
I have listened to more advanced lessons from Pick-Up Thai and like them: they are interesting! For my Thai, there is too much new language in the more advanced levels, so I am happy there is a beginner level now, too.
Good work.. You’re right that a lot of material focuses on very formal language and phrases that people don’t use in everyday language. ขอบคุณมากครับ
Hi all, the winners have been announced here: WINNERS: PickupThai Podcast’s Creamy Coconut.
Congrats!!
Dear Anna, good luck with you learning! Please note that the pick up thai course is not only audio but has also a considerable amount of written material, both (but in separate pdf’s) in Thai script and transliterated. Reading transliterated text needs some adaptation. You time will be much better invested if you drop translitaration and learn the Thai alphabet. And you will be a star if your friends see that you can read the Thai letters! But the good thing with this course is that it based on communication through action (real life situations)
Only three words, simply the best!
Pick-Up Thai has many useful free lessons for starters. To get serious about learning Thai it would be even better to get the complete organized lesson package. I live in Northeast Thailand where the local dialect is lao (issan) but the schools teach standard Thai. I noticed that many people leave this area for a period of time to go work in or near Bangkok. So it seems that they do not have much problem with communicating in standard or central Thai.
I like pick up thai series course. Try the sample course,it is very easy to understand the conversation. Love Thai culture and want to learn more from thai language 🙂
Learning Thai is complicated and a strong motivator is needed at all times.. The more I learn, the more I realize how little I really know. Watching Miki and Yuki’s youtube videos ( in the early days ) helped greatly with filling the gaps, especially the differences between spoken and written. I also like the annotation, which was easy to read compared to most. Thanks to you both for your bright and friendly videos.
Hi khun Ray,
We teach the standard central dialect in the podcasts. Even though other dialects are widely used locally, everyone from every part of Thailand can understand and generally communicate with one another using the standard dialect. If you’re going to learn Thai, learning the standard accent is highly recommended as it is the most useful. But of course, everyone has their own preferences depending on their needs. Are you more interested in learning the Northern Thai accent? In that case, your best bet is to find a local teacher in the city where you live in. I believe almost all (if not all) learning materials use the standard dialect.
Hi
I have lived and taught in Thailand for the last 3 years in the far north.
I really should learn how to speak Thai. I always joke I am here to teach English not to learn Thai. My limited vocabulary is from my students so I talk like a 10 year old. Maybe it is time to learn more Thai so I can understand what they are saying about me.
Which Dialect are you teaching as each area is a little bit different.
We have a new teacher this year she has lived in “Thailand for 10 years
so Thai is quiet good but she is having a hard time understanding as she is from central Thailand and the teachers speak Lanni or northern Thai here
This is an amazing idea!! I can’t tell how many times I learned an expression in a foreign language from a book and it turned out to be either not common at all or obsolete! It seems that most language publishers focus too much on the written or “formal” language, forgetting that most of the population of ANY country actually live simple lives using simple language! The colloquial style of spoken language is the way to go if you want to communicate more, unless you are planing to become a snob fame-seeking tycoon of sorts 😛
Good job guys!
I have listened to more advanced lessons from Pick-Up Thai and like them: they are interesting! For my Thai, there is too much new language in the more advanced levels, so I am happy there is a beginner level now, too.
That’s sound as humour way to learn, oriented on practical situations. I’m interested to work with this.
Good work.. You’re right that a lot of material focuses on very formal language and phrases that people don’t use in everyday language. ขอบคุณมากครับ