Studying Dentistry in Thailand?

[alexandra1]

I'm a young girl who's going to start studying Dentistry in a Spanish university (Spain is where I currently live).

I've always wanted to study and live abroad. Thailand is probably my favorite option by far.

I've visited Thailand 5 times - enough for me to love the country, its culture and its people. My father is also married to an Isaan Thai lady and she treats me as if I was her own daughter.

I've heard that Medicine and Dentistry in Thailand are very good. I've done some research on where I could study Dentistry for a short period of time and I've found that Chulalongkorn University and Mahidol University in Bangkok are the only options I have. I think that they don't offer international programs (that is, taught in English).

I have been a fluent speaker in both Spanish and English since I was very little (as my mother is Spanish and my father is English) and I've been studying Thai alone for a while using Teach yourself Thai by David Smyth. I feel that I could eventually learn Thai!

Would the language barrier be too big, in the case I don't find an international program in Dentistry? Is it worth going to Thailand to study Dentistry? Am I right about the university options that I have?

I'd really like to make sure that I make the right decision before leaving my country!

[Marie]

I'm a young girl who's going to start studying Dentistry in a Spanish university (Spain is where I currently live).

I've always wanted to study and live abroad. Thailand is probably my favorite option by far.

I've visited Thailand 5 times - enough for me to love the country, its culture and its people. My father is also married to an Isaan Thai lady and she treats me as if I was her own daughter.

I've heard that Medicine and Dentistry in Thailand are very good. I've done some research on where I could study Dentistry for a short period of time and I've found that Chulalongkorn University and Mahidol University in Bangkok are the only options I have. I think that they don't offer international programs (that is, taught in English).

I have been a fluent speaker in both Spanish and English since I was very little (as my mother is Spanish and my father is English) and I've been studying Thai alone for a while using Teach yourself Thai by David Smyth. I feel that I could eventually learn Thai!

Would the language barrier be too big, in the case I don't find an international program in Dentistry? Is it worth going to Thailand to study Dentistry? Am I right about the university options that I have?

I'd really like to make sure that I make the right decision before leaving my country!

I am not too sure if your motivation can prevail over the difficulty of having to undertake a medically-related course in a foreign language like Thai. Even if you're doing self-study in Thai, I don't believe that suffices. That may mean your initial year will be spent in learning the language first. I wouldn't want to grapple with the difficulty of learning a foreign language and at the same time struggle with a highly technical major like dentistry. Academic performance might suffer.

I am also not sure if Thailand excels in the field of dentistry, or better than other countries where this course is taught in English or Spanish.

I would consider those factors. But you know yourself better. Good luck!

[kfchugo]

I think marie has given you good advice. If you want to practice dentistry anywhere but Thailand, you would find that a degree qualification from a University/College in say the USA, Great Britain, Australia, Canada etc would be far more prestigious internationally than one from Thailand.

[paul_au]

Try Perth in Australia, they teach in English and have direct flights to Thailand that take around 7 hours, it's closer to Thailand than Great Britain Canada or the USA

[yy]

In that case, try SG then - only two hours from BKK by air Can easily get 2way tix for under S$200 if by budget air and book early... Also has option of bus or train to BKK, but takes longer (but won't save much by bus or train).

N taught completely in English and internationally recognized.

[paul_au]

In that case, try SG then - only two hours from BKK by air

I guess the odds of getting a university lecturer who speaks broken English in Singapore is 99% in Sydney 90% and in Perth just 35%.
I would travel the extra 5 hours to get some one who you can actually understand the language.
Perth is your best bet.

[yy]

I don't know how you define broken English, but SG's medical school is definitely not a place I will consider as teaching in broken English.

Then again, of course, everyone is open to their own interpretations.

One thing, though, that strikes me as strange is that there is a suggestion to the OP to fly 7 hours each way and at least 3 times as much of S$200 per trip to see her beau when she is planning to see him at least every weekend.

[kelwts]

I guess the odds of getting a university lecturer who speaks broken English in Singapore is 99% in Sydney 90% and in Perth just 35%.
I would travel the extra 5 hours to get some one who you can actually understand the language.
Perth is your best bet.

Paul .. Not to sure where you get your numbers from but I'm definitely sure you probably made them up .
Why is it that you always have to degrade someone before giving any comments .

[paul_au]

Paul .. Not to sure where you get your numbers from but I'm definitely sure you probably made them up .
Why is it that you always have to degrade someone before giving any comments .

If you look at the post I said (I guess), it's not an accurate statistic, but what is referred by experts as an educated guess, which means I could be out by 10%.
If you look at the amount of academics which come from an ethnic background in australia where English is a second language, (I guess) 99% of these people would speak broken English and only 1% would speak fluent English, having said that, even the children of some of these kids speak with a broken English accent and they were born in Australia.
I prefer to have some one who can teach me in fluent English, because once they start teaching me in broken English I have so much trouble trying to decipher what they are saying, I miss out on learning segments of the lecture.
However if you can understand broken English better than fluent English your welcome to that lecturer.

[yy]

I think I must have been having deja vu during those times in the past when I heard/watched on TV variety shows Caucasians speak in such a fluent Mandarin that literally put me to shame (including one recent SGChinese TV kids' sitcom involving a farang boy as one of the lead characters). And now, I have figured out that all those articles and stories about farangs speaking perfect Thai are all myths and frauds. Good to know early Another Thailand scam perhaps?