The pronoun rao used as "I"

[Tod-Daniels]

Well you certainly an astute bunch of posters!!

I'll take any of the terms you used; maverick, unconventional, non-conformist, etc. Perhaps I "march to the beat of my own drum", although walking with a cane, maybe I should say I "hobble to its beat" instead.

Surprisingly I am also quite shy too! I know my demeanor; the way I speak or carry myself doesn't come off shy in the least. There are many times I'm reluctant to speak or engage Thais in Thai because I'm not confident about my ability in their language. My lack of confidence has held back my Thai language progression more than any other aspect of learning. .

I'm also photo-phobic; meaning I go outta my way NOT to be in pictures that people snap where ever I happen to be. Usually I'll cover my face with my hand while at the same time "flipping the bird" to people who point cameras in my direction.

Still a "rare" photo of me is on the site where I review Thai language schools in Bangkok. It’s in a new section where I write about my observations on learning the Thai language. I recently wrote an article called "Breaking down the "Wall 'O Whyz" when learning Thai";
http://womenlearnthai.com/index.php/...learning-thai/
The owner of the site Catherine Wentworth thought it'd be good to "show" the man behind the words, and took a pic of me in front of the Thai books at Kinokuniya in Paragon. That's about as good of a pic that's out there of me in internet land. Although my face is hidden by my cap.

Now, seeing as I wear a KISS hat and t-shirt every day (not the same t-shirt, I have over 100 of them) and walk with a cane which looks more like a club, I'm easily identified, yet rarely recognized.

Even though I often come across like an a**hole; if you see me on the street, do say hi. My "bark is worse than my bite", in fact I don't bite at all!!

Many people have asked me why I'm so "hard on the Thais" regarding the cultural things of theirs which I don't agree with, yet on the other hand promote the learning of Thai and try to help people all I can? The short answer is "I dunno".

Take care all. . .

Note 2 Modz: if linking to that post is a violation of forum rules just remove it. Sorry for the blatant self promotion. . I couldn't figure out how to just post the pic of the banner. ..

[Marie]

I'll take any of the terms you used...

Tod, thanks for explaining about yourself and letting us to get to know you better.

I recently wrote an article called "Breaking down the "Wall 'O Whyz" when learning Thai";

I fully admit that I am guilty of asking why questions...asking why got in the way of my learning way more than it provided any real help...I suggest anyone wanting to undertake this language, take that “WHY” word right out of your vocabulary from the get go. Knowing why won’t help you, it only seems like it does at the time. Accept that Thai is different from your native language. Accept that it’s written like it is and that it ain’t gonna change in our lifetime. If you wanna speak, understand, read and write Thai, the faster you break thru the “wall ‘o whyz” the faster you’ll get there.

I believe that it’s really not that important of a factor and actually can be an impediment to learning...

Tod, I am glad you added this:

Again, these are only my opinions and I realize they may run counter to yours. That doesn’t negate either of our views on the subject, it just shows how different we all are.

For indeed, there are many types of learners, and I happen to be one who learns better by asking WHY! It's not to question the reason, it's not to argue with it, it's not to mock it. I just find it helpful to understand how things relate to one another, and this case, how Thai relates to English as I think in English. That process helps me disengage quickly from thinking in English and slide to Thai frame of mind more fluidly.

For that matter I suspect rote learning works best for children but may not be the best approach for adults who most probably have had acquired one or more languages earlier in life. Because of their previous exposures to other languages, they may have questions which if allowed to remain unresolved may serve as a stumbling block to learning. That's the nature of adult learners--as opposed to children who are almost like blank slates.

That's why for me I learn better from teachers who know not only Thai but also English, so they can answer satisfactorily my WHY questions. I have a low frustration threshold. When serious frustration sets in it's hard for me to move on until that is cleared up. One of the best self-study references on learning Thai I have ever used is an old book by Gordon Allison, who 's a British who had a mastery of the Thai language. His approach was to explain things from the point of view of an English-speaking learner. He could brilliantly point out the differences between English and Thai, when necessary, which I found most helpful in grasping the peculiar nature of Thai.

But as you said, we are all different.

[Tod-Daniels]

Sorry this is; OFF TOPIC:
Marie; I do realize as adults we’re almost "programmed to learn things differently". I think that's why rote learning doesn't work really well for adults. I also think that's why someone will say XXX Thai language school is great, yet when another person attends it, they don't find the methodology or the way they are “presented" the Thai language meshes with the way they learn or acquire knowledge. That’s why I tell everyone to go to as many different schools as you can before you invest a satang’s worth of your hard earned baht into Thai language classes.

On the subject of how adults acquire knowledge, one of my biggest arguments against methods which purport to teach a language like children learn them; mostly thru passive observation/listening is: children are compelled to learn that way only because they're kids and can't talk yet! They have no previous language or life experience to compare things with. Often the first coherent questions children learn after they get rudimentary communication down is in fact the question; "WHY?"

I fully accept that people ask why, and I am guilty of asking almost every permutation of the “why question” as it pertained to Thai. The thing is; once I found out the reason Thai has six characters which make a "T" sound (ฐ, ฑ, ฒ, ท, ธ, ถ) was to show by the disparate characters what language the words came from (either ancient Thai, Cambodian, Pali, Sanskrit, etc), I also found out it didn't really help me speak any clearer or learn Thai any faster.

I do think it can sometimes help to point out the difference between your native language and Thai to make things click faster for adult learners. However, I've sat thru classes taught only in Thai (without word one in English spoken in the room) and seen the results which those classes yield. A great majority of those students came away with some really clearly spoken and properly structured Thai. So I can say, there certainly isn't any real reason to teach "why" for people learning Thai.

I think most ALL of the "learning process" no matter the method you use boils down to "internal motivation". I've met some halfheartedly motivated foreigners here who've studied Thai for a couple years now, yet can barely string six Thai words together coherently. Conversely, I've met foreign students here who were motivated to the n-th degree. These people after studying Thai just a coupla months were speaking something which sounded a LOT like Thai to my foreign ears! To me it boiled down to motivation more than methodology.

As I said in the beginning of the piece; I wrote the article because the group of Thai teachers I meet with said it was easily the biggest impediment they had to "over-come" or "work around" in their endeavor to teach Thai to foreigners. I thought it had value and thought I'd write about it. . .

I always throw in that "caveat" about what I say being my own experiences and observations, because what I ain't is a linguist or a teacher! I'm just a "not all that smart" American guy living here. One who's tryin' his best to speak something that sounds close enough to Thai for Thais to understand what I'm saying. Of course that's the same reason I started reviewing Thai language schools in the first place, because there wasn't anything about the different schools, their methods, etc.

Anyway, now you guys know more about me here than my relatives back in the US. Of course they were the ones who for the first two years I was here thought I lived in Taiwan, insteada Thailand. At least you all know I’m in Thailand .

[djaidee]

Still a "rare" photo of me is on the site where I review Thai language schools in Bangkok. It’s in a new section where I write about my observations on learning the Thai language. I recently wrote an article called "Breaking down the "Wall 'O Whyz" when learning Thai";
http://womenlearnthai.com/index.php/...learning-thai/

In fact I recovered the Photo of you 1 week ago on the mentioned Website and was thinking about posting the Link here; but I wanted to ask you first as I didn't knew if you want to be recognized by people
Good to see that you posted it yourself now.

In the Photo I see a Book on the Bookshelf called "Tod's Thai" - I wonder what it is really about and where you can purchase it (besides Kinokuniya), maybe you can give us some Extra-Informations Tod.
Do they ship abroad?

[Marie]

Hahaha! So they thought you were in Taiwan!

I think most ALL of the "learning process" no matter the method you use boils down to "internal motivation". I've met some halfheartedly motivated foreigners here who've studied Thai for a couple years now, yet can barely string six Thai words together coherently. Conversely, I've met foreign students here who were motivated to the n-th degree. These people after studying Thai just a coupla months were speaking something which sounded a LOT like Thai to my foreign ears! To me it boiled down to motivation more than methodology.

I fully agree that motivation plays a big part in pushing someone to learn- or do anything to achieve their goal, for that matter! "Intrinsic motivation" is a driving force coming from within that propels one to attain a certain goal. As you said, it is an "internal process". And so I am not quite sure if, in terms of its role in making people acquire knowledge, it should be placed in the same sphere as a teaching method, which is an outside intervention (normally done by a teacher). As it were, the two do not seem to lie in the same dimension. Ideally every learner should be sufficiently internally motivated to undertake the lessons- but an effective teaching method matched to the student's learning style would greatly facilitate the acquisition of learning.

Having said that, I am impressed with your advanced skills in Thai language and wish to take this opportunity to thank you very sincerely for your many helpful posts that enlighten many of us. Please keep them coming! :-)


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[Tod-Daniels]

"djaidee": that "phantom book" is not a real book at all! It was just a way Catherine could show my face thru some creative photo-shopping. I got so many emails, I finally asked her to take the "book" out of the banner. I guess she didn't do it yet. So to put the question to rest; NO, I most definitely don't have a book published about learning Thai!!

I'm just a guy who's really motivated to learn the language.

My biggest regret is that I didn't undertake learning Thai right after I washed up on these shores 7 years ago. Instead I "wasted" the first 3 years tryin' to compel the Thais I interacted with to speak English (a fruitless endeavor if there ever was one!). If I’da buckled down and started learning right away, I’d be wicked good at Thai instead of just “so-so” at it.

Anyway, that's me in a nut-shell. . .

Tod Daniels (who, one last time for the record: does NOT have a book out about learning Thai)

Take care all. .