Learn Thai Podcast

Mother’s day is on the 11th of May this year (in western countries). Thailand celebrates their mother’s day on August 12, the Queen’s birthday. I (Jay) will send my mother some presents and will also do the same to Jo’s mother. To explain her what this is all about we made this little mother’s day card in Thai.

The text reads:

Happy Mother’s Day
To Mom ……,
Today is mother’s day in my country. Wishing you a day that is just as special as you are. Thank you for caring so much about us, for being a part of our lives, and may you always know we love you.

Until the 11th of May you can send us up to 100 words of text that you want us to translate to Thai for your Thai partner’s mother. Just head over to our Thai translation form and fill it out (and skip the payment after you have submitted the form). We will send you the translated text and a PDF card like the one above that you can print and send to your partner’s mother.

This is just a short update and one of our first vodcasts (video podcasts). We still have our old iPods that don’t support videos so it would be awesome if you could test it on your iPod if you have one of the more recent ones and can watch the video on it. Please contact us and let us know what iPod (or other mobile device) you have and how if it worked. Any suggestions how we can improve the video are of course welcome as well.

 

 Learn Thai Lesson: Emergencies (Video): Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

We hope you will never need these sentences but of course it makes a lot of sense to know them if you visit Thailand. But don’t worry, Thailand is not more dangerous than other countries. Just if something happens some basic phrases might make a huge difference.

We also created a PDF file for you to print with the transcript of this lesson and all important phone numbers you might need here in case of an emergency (for example phone numbers of the police, several hospitals, embassies and more).

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 Learn Thai Lesson: Emergencies [16:30m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

If you ever thought about learning Thai, this might be right for you. Listen to our Podcast below and help us by filling out this short survey.

*Update: We just completed all the technical work for the members area and are now producing content. If you want to get informed about the launch just subscribe to our newsletter.

 

 Premium Course [2:09m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The biggest problem for us foreigners who learn Thai is that we are not used to phonetic languages. In many Asian languages a word that is spoken with a different pronunciation can have a different meaning. In this episode we focus on the five different tones that are used in the Thai language. As an example we use the word “mai”.

Here are the different meanings and uses of the word:

The word mai:

• is used to form other words if you say it with a middle tone
• means “new” if you say it with a low tone
• means “no” if you say it with a falling tone
• is used at the end of a sentence to make it a question if you say it with a high tone
• means “silk” if you say it with a rising tone

We also have a podcast lesson for this that I will post tomorrow together with some more updates regarding the site and premium content.

 

 Learn to speak the five tones in Thai: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

We are going to move this site to another server in the coming days so don’t be surprised if we are unavailable for 1-2 days. Please subscribe to our newsletter and we will let you know as soon as we are going to launch our premium course.

In this lesson we explain how the podcast is structured and you can learn basics of the Thai language. Words and phrases in Thai that you will probably use every day like “Hello”,”Thanks”, “Sorry”… If you go on a vacation to Thailand for the first time these phrases will be great.

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 Learn Thai Lesson 1: Introduction and Basic Words and Phrases [10:32m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This lesson deals with dating related sentences. How you exchange numbers and ask your partner out or tell him/her some sweet things. Suprise your Thai sweety with some of these sentences. This lesson will be soon followed by another lesson that just deals with feelings.

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 Learn Thai Lesson 2: Dating and Sweet Things [15:10m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

One of the beautiful things in Thailand, besides the friendly people and the lovely beaches, is the yummy Thai food. In this lesson you will learn some helpful sentences that you can use when you eat out.

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 Learn Thai Lesson 3: Food and Drinks in Thailand [16:06m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Counting in Thai is pretty straight forward and if you know how to count from 0-9 and a couple of special case for numbers like 11 or 20 its easy once you get the system. When I arrived in Thailand I really wondered what all this Haa-sib, hok-sib and whatever sib means. It really helps to know the numbers. In the next three days we will release a learn thai shopping episode that you can put your new knowledge in action.

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 Learn Thai Lesson 4: Counting and Numbers in Thai [10:38m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Besides beautiful night markets and the huge busy weekend market in Bangkok, huge malls make Thailand a great destination for shopping. The variety of stuff that can be found is huge and in this episode you learn some expressions that will help you to bargain or get the product you desire in another size or color. Enjoy shopping in Thailand!

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 Learn Thai Lesson 5: Shopping in Thailand [12:13m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In this lesson you will learn the essential directions and how to get from A to B which is sometimes a bit lame in a city like Bangkok. Anyway the most important thing is probably to keep in mind that public transportation like MRT (subway) or BTS (skytrain) are the best ways to get around.

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 Learn Thai Lesson 6: Directions and Getting Around in a City [11:56m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In this episode you will learn about useful phrases for free time activities in Thailand. What’s going on tonight in Bangkok? Where is the next bar or supermarket? Well going to the supermarket in Bangkok might not be the best free time activity but we included several different destinations to make it better to understand.

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 Learn Thai Episode 7: Free Time Activities in Thailand [14:13m]: (Premium Content)

In this episode we talk about feelings and how you can express the most common feelings in Thai. You learn to tell others how you feel or ask them if they feel like that. Thanks for the great feedback for the last episodes. We really appreciate that and will try to improve this little Thai language course more in the future.

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 Learn Thai Lesson 8: Express Feelings in Thai [10:48m]: (Premium Content)

Thailand is reknown for the great Thai food, Thailand’s beautiful beaches and the huge variety of places to relax and chill out. One of the most relaxing and best things in this matter are Thai massages. Whether one decides to go for a traditional Thai massage during which the ladies from the massage parlour jump on you to bend and stretch you, or one goes for a more relaxed oil or bodymassage, everyone who knows how a good Thai massage can feel, gets addicted to it.

If you want to surprise your partner or just pamper yourself visit one of Thailand’s many spas and enjoy a full day treatment. Compared to other countries you will get an amazing service for little money.

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 Learn Thai Lesson 9: Getting a Thai Massage [9:39m]: (Premium Content)