Women Learn Thai

Women Learn Thai was originally started by Catherine Wentworth. When Cat decided to take a break from the site more than a decade later, her project had grown to nearly 1,000 posts and close to 10,000 comments, was featured in many offline and online outlets and even the BBC referred to her site as a go-to resource to learn Thai. Her hobby project had grown into a one of a kind online Thai learning resource.

Wanting to ensure the tremendous work and effort Cat and many volunteers put into Women Learn Thai continues to reach a broad audience even after Cat’s “retirement”, I decided to acquire Women Learn Thai and make it the foundation of a new Thai learning section on Expat Den.

Bringing Women Learn Thai and Expat Den together is part of a larger pursuit to put together a super comprehensive expat-resource that allows people to not just figure out practical issues, but to settle in and become a part of society. In my eyes, language is a key component in making a place home and it’s an insight I want to share with as many people as possible.

I’ve seen it plenty in Thailand, but also back in Europe: Language is really one of the biggest obstacles for people to really get to a point where they can call a place home. Relatives of mine bought a house in Spain, but never bothered learning Spanish. Over the years this caused them a lot of hardships – from being asked to pay for translators out of pocket at the police station, to getting stressed out over talking to lawyers and property agents and being unable to use a great many useful local websites that were only available in Spanish. I’d like to help fix that problem on a broader scale, thus the plan to make language learning an integral part of the expat experience.

Women Learn Thai was and remains an amazing resource and I’m excited to have been able to make it part of the Expat Den project. I understand that the site is incredibly dear to a great many teachers, writers, learners and readers who’ve helped the site grow and have grown with it over the years. Thus I’d be keen to hear your thoughts on what would be important for you going forward: What is the content you’d like to see come online in the years to come? Are there any series you particularly enjoyed on womenlearnthai.com that you’d like to see revived? Any favorite writers who you’d love to hear from on a regular basis?

I’d love to hear from you – please send any comments/suggestions/feedback using our contact form or leave a comment below!

— Karsten and the entire team at Expat Den