Tomorrow, Thursday, is my final exam for Module 4 at Union Language School.  Module 4, which I repeated, is the second half of the reading and writing program.  So, in theory at least, as I complete this module I have all the tools I need read and write Thai.  All that is left is to fukhat – practice.

Along the way I’ve had my misgivings about the school’s structure.  The instructors are very good, but the system hasn’t worked very well for me.  Essentially, I think the cart got ahead of the horse because I now know reading and writing but am far away from mastering the grammar and structure that were taught back in Module 2.  Taught, I might add, using the phoenetic language that was introduced in Module 1 and then started being replaced by Thai script in Module 3.

The net result: I can read a sentence and pronounce it reasonably well, but still not know what it really means.  Sure, I can identify many of the words, but don’t understand how they’re being used.

So after recognizing this “I don’t think this is working for me as effectively as I’d like it to” feeling for the past few months, I’ll finally take action and walk away from the school for a while.  Maybe forever.

In the meantime, so my investment in the language doesn’t melt away, I have hired a tutor to meet for twice-weekly, two-hour sessions.  She seems very good and I need to work with her to craft a way to go back and review the contents of Module 2, but to do it in written Thai rather than that nutty phoenetic language.

For all of you who are considering learning Thai (or any other language not written in Roman script): it may be tough at first, but learn the written language from day 1.  Do not, repeat do not, accept a phoenetic language as a substitute.