How do I become 'intermediate' Thai level?

Question

I am looking for someone to help me with suggestions to confidently / safely get into the intermediate Thai level and push into the expert level (which I am one year away from).

I studied Thai for 9 months, and on and off as a hobby for some years, and recently moved back to Thailand where I have been doing self-study casually for the last few months. I know the alphabet and can read fairly well and write out anything in Thai. I know lots of vocab and a number of verbs, but I feel my language skill lacks depth here. I can barely understand most written literature - e.g. a basic book for teenagers. Even these ones for young children I struggle with. But then there are times when I feel quite fluent and have definitely surpassed the beginner and elementary levels.

I think I just need to become really confident with another 100 (less common) verbs, and another 100 nouns - including some which are 'royal' or 'official' or 'business-related', etc. I know most of the common sentence structures a probably am nearing a vocab of 500.

I struggle with reading the news, etc. because often there are names of people that I find difficult to 'pick out' (because there are no capital letters - and spaces are only used between not-so-directly-related phrases, and not between words). Thai also uses lots of abbreviations/acronyms for months and all sorts which I find difficult to make out.

My goal is to be able to watch a film or something on TV and have a 80-90 % understanding. And to be able to make simple comments about it as well.

Answer 1

I find it is often easier to read familiar texts or watch familiar videos translated into your target language. If you can read Harry Potter or watch the Simpsons in Thai, for instance, you will find the language more comprehensible than what you find in original Thai works.

Answer 2

500 is a very low number when comparing with the CEFR scheme. That puts you in the A1 category (out of 6: A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2). It may be that you know more vocabulary, but if you do not then it should be difficult to read most books.

That said, I think reading is the key to increasing vocabulary. With Thai, there is formal and informal language, unfortunately, which complicates matters as reading/writing can tend to be formal (outside of Line chats) and listening/speaking is generally more informal with different words).

There are some bilingual children's books that would be a good place to start. My 2 and 4 year old sons read these (along with Thai-only and English-only books) and it helps provide some reference points. Go into a SE-ED store and you will find a ton of children's books, all quite cheap.

I agree with @k-man that it might be helpful to read something already familiar.

Answer 3

I lived in Thailand for 2 years and taught it for another year and a half. Focusing on tones is going to be most helpful. You need to be able to pronounce and use each tone on its on as well as combined with other tones. Improving this skill will increase your ability to be understood by native Khonthai and also pick up more thai daily.

One activity to practice this skill is shadow reading, following right behind a native speaker as they speak a phrase. Use recordings that you can rewind and listen to. Maybe even ask some native speakers if you can record them saying common phrases then parrot, parrot, parrot those phrases.