Become fluent in Thai

Well, this one will probably take a long time, partly because I’m also busy with Japanese and other things I’m going to need sooner, but also because I have a really hard time with the pronunciation and I don’t understand tones very well. The writing also confuses me. But I’m starting out by learning the pronunciation, like I did with Japanese. I hope to fast-forward that process with Thai though, since I was obsessed with subbed anime for years before I actually started my studying of Japanese. But I’m immersing myself int heir popular music, as well as watching a drama. Golf & Mike give me strength. Wish me luck~

When I was little the Miss Universe pageant was held in Bangkok, Thailand. Being half Thai, I remember being so excited that I could understand the Thai words to the opening song. I sat, eyes glued to the screen, as the beautiful ladies in traditional Thai dress sang in unison, “Sawadee, sawadee, it’s how you say ‘hello’ in Thailand!” Going to Thailand was always such a great adventure when I was little. I would play with the village children, fish in the Chao Phraya, and sleep in the hammock underneath the house. My knowledge of the Thai language was fluent for a child, who has little use for sentence structure and is mostly concerned with being able to order the right color ice-cream (see-chom-poo, pink). However, when I started school in the US, I had little use for “gor-gai, khor kai” and “neung, sorng, sarm” when there was A-B-C and 1-2-3’s to be learned.

Now, here I sit, almost twenty years later, embarrassed at my shallow knowledge of my mother’s native language. Yes, I know a few clips and phrases, daily commands and questions, “brush your teeth,” (bang fun) “are you hungry?” (hew mai?), but while I understand enough to get by, I’m frightfully awkward when it comes to speaking Thai or gasp attempting to hold a conversation.

Soon will come a time that I’ll have to travel back to Thailand to visit my ailing grandmother (Ma Ga). What will I do if I go and can only utter “Karin luck Ma Ga tao fah” (Karin loves grandma a lot)? I’m too embarrassed to think that my final conversation with my grandmother will be limited and meaningless.

I am learning to become fluent in Thai to speak to my grandmother, honor my mother, and as a gift to myself.

while my husband and i were doing a bit of nature walking today i spent some time practicing; trees, leaves, branches, roots, flowers, and body parts. i think even more than vocab i need to work on proper word order though.