Alright, it's been 13 years almost to the day since I arrived in Thailand, and the level that my language skills are at is getting embarrassing. It's at the point where I hate being asked if I can speak Thai, because I know that I should be so much better than I am.
It's not entirely my fault. When I first arrived in Thailand I worked as a teacher at an elite private school, and we were encouraged to speak only English to simulate an immersion environment for the benefit of the students. I used English all day long, and though I did study with my colleagues a bit in the office, but the time I got home I was usually pretty tired and ready to just veg out instead of intensely studying.
After that, COVID kept me locked indoors for a handful of years, and nowadays I'm just not in that many situations in which I actually need to speak Thai. Sure, I can read the alphabet (which actually gives me a huge leg up over many of the long-term expats here who can speak but never actually learned to read). I can order food, shop at a market, and direct a taxi. But my language abilities have really stalled out, and it's so easy to fall in the trap of never learning to speak Thai. You can pretty much live in Bangkok speaking exclusively English, and in those rare situations where English doesn't work, Google Translate is always there to step up.
However, it's time to make a change and get serious! Thailand is my home now. I'm the guest in this country, and it's not right for me not to be able to speak the language. I never wanted to be one of those farangs who has lived here for twenty years and can't speak a word of Thai.
After some debate and lots of research into the many, many Thai language schools in Bangkok, I settled on the well-regarded Duke Language School's Thai course. Besides the Intensive Thai program at Chulalongkorn University (where one course costs the same as 4 at Duke), it's probably the best and best respected language school in Thailand.
I took an online level test last week. I had to log on to Zoom and meet with a teacher for a casual conversation. She told me that I knew about 70% of the vocabulary for our conversation and could place somewhere between levels 1 and 2.
Part of me wanted to start as an absolute beginner to get my solid foundations, but the upcoming level 1 (called "Journey 1") course was already full up, so I decided to take a leap and sign up for Journey 2 with the promise that I would study independently between now and when my course begins in August.
This afternoon I took the train to Sukhumvit, where the school is located, to purchase my Journey 1 textbook. It's time to get serious about Thai language. I'm officially enrolled and have about 3 months to study hard and hopefully get myself up to the same level as my classmates. Wish me luck!
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