Although I had visited Thailand several times I had no ambition whatsoever to learn the language. Thai sounded too alien to me and I was convinced I would never be able to speak or understand any of it apart from the ubiquitous kop khun krap and sa bai dee.
Now that I am retired and can stay in Thailand for longer periods of time I felt the obligation to get to know more of the language and finally took the courage to step into the office of Mind Your Language in Bophut at Koh Samui.
I registered for the 1 day a week intensive course, as I really wanted to make an effort to at least master more of the daily greetings and be able to use some useful phrases for daily life like ordering food, introducing myself, counting and so forth. This particular course only took me five days and had a huge impact.
To my surprise after the first session I came out with a big smile on my face feeling great already being capable of speaking more Thai than I would have thought possible. I felt really stupid not having taken this up much earlier.
It would have been so helpful for me and respectful to the people of Samui to be able to speak more of their language. If I want, and I surely would like to, I can take five more courses to add to my knowledge. The staff at Mind Your Language is very passionate. They see it as their personal mission to teach you Thai and introduce you to their culture a bit at the same time. They really want you to get it.
Based on decades of experience Jom Nawa, one of the teachers and founder of this renowned language institute, developed the efficient T.M.C. learning method. A great way to memorise words and sentences with more ease. For instance it took me some effort pronouncing specific words the correct way, especially the ones with the difficult ‘ng’ sound at the beginning. But it worked. The T.M.C. method is explained and reviewed by fellow classmates on the website of Mind Your Language.
From the start of the course you quickly learn to speak more and more Thai in a fun and friendly atmosphere. With English explanation whenever needed. Very basically initially, memorising and pronouncing words by repeating them out loud over and over again, and playfully getting deeper into the language structure.
And look at me now. Astounding my friends and family with my Thai conversation, still a bit limited of course. And at the same time becoming more and more alert to what Thai people are saying amongst each other. I learn from them as well and feel proud when I can gently mix into their conversation. Boosting my enthusiasm to go full force during the next course.
Ben de Jongh
From Amsterdam, Netherlands
