Just curious if anyone has found any good resources for basic phrases and studied up a little before their trip(s)?

I've got no real expectation of becoming conversationally enabled by January, but so far it seems a few polite phrases and questions have been useful in past trips elsewhere, at least as an icebreaker. Having a few words of Romanian garnered some smiles, but those may have just been stifled chuckles at my pronunciation.

Could the same be said of Cambodia or Thailand? Would the effort be appreciated? I'd just like to be able to offer a hello or goodbye, ask directions to a taxi or well, other places...

And finally, could anyone offer a suggestion on good resources for beginner's language? Audio CD's preferably. Thai seems reasonably easy to find, Khmer more difficult. We may be a bit off the beaten path in Cambodia, so thought this might make the effort a little more important.

I'd appreciate any advice from out there.

Cliff

Hi I bought the Rosetta Stone Thai cdrom...has photos, native speakers, lets you record your voice and judges how close you are etc...if nothing else, i know how to say "the little boys are jumping off the table"

hi
I think speaking a few words of Thai makes a big difference in how people will treat you and I think they'll appreciate your efforts.

The Lonely Planet phrasebook is very useful - but I don't think there's any audio.
Colloquial Thai book is OK - but more for long term use rather than a holiday.

This website may give you further info:
http://www.learningthai.com/index.html

good luck

LOL. I used rosseto stone (thai) myself and it ended up being kind of useless in the long run, but I did learn most of my number, colors and some animals..

Thai is a tonal language so make sure you get it correcto or you'll be luckiy too get some chuckles.

I went to our local public library and they had several different learning programs -- cd's and audio tapes. I learned a few basic phrases in Thai, and it wasn't difficult at all. You just repeat what you hear. Even the tones are easy enough to duplicate. However, there is not a chance in the world I would understand what someone is saying back to me -- unless it's hello, good-bye, thank you, etc.

My vocabulary in each language is usually limited to hello, goodbye, thank you etc. Sometimes I'll pick up a few other words along the way. I tend to do this in each country so try to prompty forget them when I leave a country so I don't get mixed up in my new location! I know my grasp of the local language is never as good as their grasp of English. I have memories of learning my numbers in Spanish before a trip to Mexico. When I would respond in Spanish to the waiter's request for my room number, he'd always repeat it back to me in English to make sure he understood. The same thing happened when I memorized the numbers brfore a trip to Egypt...

Thanks everyone. I don't mind the chuckles, will probably earn them, in fact. As long as no one is throwing any thing sharp.

I doubt too that I'd understand any eloborate replies, just want to make a good effort. Kathie, I'm sure it'll be gone from my head before the plane lands homeside, although I still do remember some of my old phrases along the way. Nothing to do with kids or tables though. lol. That seems useful, in sort of a stop 'em in their tracks with a puzzled look sort of way.

I figure if pressed, everybody speaks mime. Shoot, we had a guy come out of an abandoned castle in this tiny little village in Romania and wave us through the fence and gave us a 2 hour tour of the ruins in nothing but gestures and hand waving and it was great. He was the caretaker and didn't get to see a lot of people and it was probably the best tour I ever had. But it was nice to be able to say hello properly and thank him for his time.

So, we have some lines on Thai. The learning thai site looks like a reat start, so thanks for that.

Anyone ever tackle Khmer? Say, if we were in Pursat and wanted to work out a trip to the floating village at Kompong Luong (so goes the plan at this point)?

I am currently listening to Pimsleur Thai CD's. So far I am comfortable saying hello, thank you, I understand, a little and Are you an American. I am just on my first cd out of many so I expect to be able to say and understand more by the time my trip comes along in Feb.

Like Kathie, I think that learning a few basic phrases and words pays off with the smiles you will receive for the attempt to speak the native language.

I have really liked all the Pimsleur cd's I have bought for other languages as well.

Good luck!

I've used Pimsleur also - to learn Mandarin. The only problem with Pimsleur - the first ten lessons or so focused on meeting someone in a bar and asking them if they would like to go back to your place for a drink! H-m-m-m. I don't think I will ever use that! Otherwise, I found the program very good. Even my tutor was surprised at the amount I had learned on my own, including pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary. I'm sure their Thai program is quite good also -especially if you would like to meet someone in a bar and ask them if they would like to go back to your place for a drink...

I should have thought of Pimsleur. I used theirs for the Romaniam actually and I think it's funny. They did the same pickup lines on those CDs. "Would you like a drink at my place?"

They're pricey, but I like the way they repeat, and sort of wean you off of the translation

I started evening classes in Thai a couple of years ago and found it increased my enjoyment of travelling around Thailand immensely. Being able to converse in Thai not only improved the cultural experience but is sometimes essential in more remote places. Also, speaking Thai upon check-in can often lead to a room upgrade!

The course book we used was "Teach Yourself Thai" which also includes a couple of CD -This is a UK publication but you could probably buy from Amazon. The other programme I have used is the Linguaphone (I think it is called Easy Thai or something similar) this comprises 4 CDs + a book and is probably best if you are studying alone without a tutor and balances the speaking practice with listening which IMO is the more difficult to grasp.

The one I am using for our trip later this week to Thailand and Cambodia is "Travel Talk Thai". It is one CD and a small thin booklet. It has been great to hear the sounds and repeat. I loaded the CD into my mp3 player and can take it with the small booklet on the trip with me. It focuses not on grammer or anything formal but on useful phrases for a traveler. I got it from Amazon. I am also taking a Lonely Planet phrase book. There is one for just Thai and another one for a number of SE Asian languages combined in one book. The advantage of the Lonely Planet book is that it includes Thai (or Khmer) script as well as phonetic spellings (the Travel Talk Thai includes only phonetic spellings) so you can use the book to show someone what you mean.

Thanks everyone. Think I'm going to try one of the small ones this time and then, maybe move up to a full course like Pimsluer. The travel talk seems like a good way to nail down a few key phrases anyway. Sounds complicated enough with the tonal part not to be likely to get very much further before January.

Thanks all for the advice. And if anyone comes across this who <i>has</i> found some decent stuff on Khmer, let me know.

this sad report just came out a week ago. thailand randed 8 out of 10 in ASIAN nations in english profisiancy. they ranked behind laos and combodia.. So from studies and my personl thailand is one of the hardest places in the world too visiit when it comes too comunicatred ((n English) with the locals.

NOT one single person has passed the collage english exam in 3 years.. Anyways I guess heads are going too role now.. and IT&quot;S ABOUT TIME&gt;
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yes I wish I did study english in thailand I could of won the national spelling bee.

ogry, lol. you win the national spelling bee? rotf. btw, i wonder where us ranks among english speaking nations in siamese proficiency?