I’m a native English speaker who speaks 13 foreign languages at an intermediate or better level, 6 of which are Asian. I speak Thai at an upper intermediate level. I’m not a linguist, but I’ve done lots of research on language learning and tried many different methods. Those are facts; everything that follows is merely my opinion. If you're in a hurry to start conversing, but you want to do it safely:
Before starting a regular conversation component of a language learning plan, you should learn 30 to 50 key sentences really well.
The sentences for Thai are below. Before you get to them though, I’d like to suggest how they fit into your learning plan:
1. Learn the writing system along with pronunciation here.
2. (after learning the writing system and pronunciation)
Learn 30 to 50 key sentences really well
Start a reading component
Start a listening component
Start a writing component
Start a grammar learning component
Start a vocabulary review component
3. (after learning the sentences really well)
Start a conversation component
Continue the other components
In 2., it’s good to do some writing to reinforce other skills. But you can spend less time at it than you spend doing the other components, or drop it completely by the time you get to 3., depending on how important it is to you. In 3., the next component to be finished will be grammar, and eventually you’ll be able to stop reviewing vocabulary too. That will leave you with conversation, reading and listening, which are the skills most language learners are after. I won’t get into more detail here - this is a very brief description of a language learning plan, presented merely to show you where the sentences fit in.
After learning the sentences, how do you start conversations?
Take a daily conversation class. I recommend using italki. The classes should be 100% Thai conversation, with no fixed topics. When the teacher says something you don’t understand, ask them to write it down. When you want to say something but don’t know how, ask the teacher how to say it and write it down.
After the lesson, curate a list of all unknown words and sentences, and put them in an SRS. I recommend Anki. The cards should be both Thai-English and English-Thai and include audio. The next day, do all your reps before class. When you start your reps, write the Thai answers out in a notebook. After writing at least five complete lines, you can put the notebook away and finish the rest of the reps without writing. Doing it this way takes care of your vocabulary and writing components at the same time.
If you do this every day, you should improve very quickly. The first 5 to 10 lessons should only be 30 minutes, because you are going to have a lot of things to write down, and you don’t want to get overwhelmed. When the number of new items becomes easy to handle, start taking 60 min lessons.
How to memorize the sentences:
There are many ways to memorize a list of sentences, but this is the way I’d do it:
a) Listen to the audio of the first sentence and repeat. Do it enough times to feel you are pronouncing it correctly, then move onto the next one. Do the same thing, then move onto the next one, etc.
b) Once you’ve done a group of three or four sentences, stop and hide the Thai. To hide items, you can either click them individually, or scroll to the top and use the "hide all" buttons. Glance at the English of the first sentence, and try to produce the Thai. Say it out loud with correct pronunciation. Play the audio to check. Do this for each of the sentences in the group. If any are incorrect, do all of them again, until you are able to produce the whole group correctly. Then do the next group of three or four. Do a total of 10 sentences the first day.
c) The next day review sentences 1-10 by hiding the Thai, glancing at the English, and making sure you can produce the sentences with the correct pronunciation. Then do steps a) and b) for sentences 11-20.
d) Repeat step c) for the next 10, for three more days or until you have all 50 sentences memorized. Remember to review all previous sentences every day. After that, come back every day and review all 50. The day that you can quickly, easily and correctly produce all sentences is the day that you are ready to start daily conversations.
สวัสดีครับ ผมชื่อลีโอ
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Hello, my name is Leo.
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คุณชื่ออะไร
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What's your name?
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เป็นยังไง
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How's it going?
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สบายดีมั้ย
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How are you?
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ผมสบายดี แล้วคุณล่ะ
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I'm fine. And you?
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ขอบคุณนะ
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Thank you na.
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ขอโทษ
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Sorry.
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พูดอีกครั้งได้มั้ย
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Can you repeat that?
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กินข้าวหรือยัง
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Have you eaten yet?
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แน่นอน
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Of course!
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ช่วยเขียนให้หน่อย
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Please write that for me.
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ผมมีคำถาม
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I have a question.
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แป๊บหนึ่งนะ
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Just a moment na.
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และอื่นๆ
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Etcetera.
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พูดช้าๆ หน่อย
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Speak slower please.
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"Dog" ภาษาไทยพูดยังไง
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How does one say "dog" in Thai?
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หมายถึงอะไร
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What does that mean?
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ไม่เป็นไร
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no problem; you're welcome; never mind
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เรียนภาษาไทยอยู่
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I'm learning Thai.
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ยังพูดไทยไม่เก่ง
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I don't speak Thai well yet.
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เรียนภาษาอังกฤษที่ไหน
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Where did you learn English?
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เรียนภาษาไทยออนไลน์
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I learn Thai online.
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เรียนภาษาไทยที่ประเทศไทย
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I learned Thai in Thailand.
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ชอบเรียนภาษาไทย
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I like learning Thai.
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อยากเรียนภาษาไทย
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I want to learn Thai.
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มาจากไหน
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Where are you from?
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มาจากอเมริกา
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I come from the USA.
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เคยไปอเมริกาหรือเปล่า
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Have you ever been to the USA?
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เคยไปไทยแล้ว
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I've been to Thailand already.
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อยากไปเที่ยวไทย
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I want to travel in Thai.
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อาศัยอยู่ที่ไหน
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Where do you live?
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อยู่ซีแอตเทิล
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I live in Seattle.
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ชอบอาหารไทย
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I like Thai food.
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อยากกินอาหารไทยแท้ๆ
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I want to eat real Thai food.
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เคยกินอาหารไทยมาเยอะแล้ว
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I have eaten a lot of Thai food.
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แล้วพบกันใหม่
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Until we meet again!
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ช่วยได้มากเลย
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That was very helpful.
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เลิกเรียนแล้วใช่มั้ย
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The class is over, right?
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บทเรียนนี้สนุกดี
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The lesson was fun.
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งานอดิเรกคือการเรียนภาษาและการท่องเที่ยว
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My hobbies are language learning and travel.
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พูดได้สองภาษา
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I speak two languages.
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มีงานอดิเรกอะไรบ้าง
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What hobbies do you have?
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กำลังนอนอยู่
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I was sleeping.
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มาจากจังหวัดไหน
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Which province are you from?
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มีลูกมั้ย
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Do you have kids?
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มีลูกกี่คน
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How many kids do you have?
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ทำงานที่นี่นานเท่าไหร่
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How long have you worked here?
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คุณเป็นคนไทยใช่มั้ย
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Are you Thai?; You are Thai, right?
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ว่ายน้ำเป็นมั้ย
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Can you swim?
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ชอบหมามั้ย
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Do you like dogs?
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