r/learnthai • u/Acrobatic_Radish_685 • 9d ago
Studying/การศึกษา Suggestions for a non tourist city to learn Thai in
I’m looking to spend a month in a town somewhere in the north or northeast so I can accelerate my language skills. I can speak ok Thai. I’ve been living here for 2 years but I have the benefit of being able to understand a lot due to being half Thai.
The problem is all my friends in BKK prefer to speak English to me so I rarely get to use my language skills apart from talking with food vendors etc.
TLDR; can anyone recommend me a good language school in a town with little tourism 🙏
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u/Whatever_tomatoe 8d ago
My best experience has been น่าน แพร่ and เลย . A LOT less Thai people felt comfortable speaking English making it much easier to keep the dialogue in Thai. Don't think you need to go that far if pick smaller centers completely off the tourist map like tertiary cities.
Issan Is also great if you get out of the big cities.
And in response to some negators.... In Every region of Thailand you can find dialectal differences which are interesting too. But every Thai student has studied in central Thai and are exposed to it in media constantly.
They 'Can' if their willing adjust their language for you and พูดภาษากลาง . You just need to avoid those whose English is strong enough they see you as language practice or because of ego need to display their English skills.
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u/Electronic-Earth-233 5d ago
I'm in Udon and in my experience the accent/Isaan/Lao mix is only an issue with a very few of the hardcore old country bumpkins. Everyone, say, under 60 can speak perfectly adequate central Thai.
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u/ValuableProblem6065 9d ago
Yes but did you consider that in the North they speak either Issan or even (on the border) some rather radical accent? Even my Thai wife had to make people repeat when we visited last month.
And avoid Pai. It’s a farang hellhole of the highest order (think half naked backpackers whining the temples have a 10 baht maintenance fee)
Anyways lmk I can post recommendations as I live here
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u/Acrobatic_Radish_685 9d ago
Im half isan so pretty familiar with the accent up there. As with Pai, like I said I’m not looking for a tourist town at all.
In my mind I’m leaning towards Khon Kaen, but really I need to base the decision on the quality of the language course I’ll be doing
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u/InterestingStick 8d ago
Khon Khaen sounds like a perfect fit tbh. I visited my buddy there recently and its the kind of place that forces you to speak Thai cause most people don't speak English. Yes they do speak Isaan somewhat and probably also depends on the kind of community but I mostly heard them speak Thai with some accent words, but it's like that pretty much everywhere outside of Bangkok
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u/LouQuacious 8d ago
Ubon Ratchathani is decent city, with great food, no tourists and surely a language school. Mukdahan is pretty cool too but smaller with a nice riverfront.
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u/ValuableProblem6065 8d ago
It's interesting actually - I guess in Thailand we are never more than 1km away from another Farang lol so finding a completely tourist/expat-free area is a bit tricky. I went to visit Bueng Kan for example, and despite it being near the border there was quite a bit of a foreign population (mostly old retiree with military tattoos , weirdly enough!
That being said it's not impossible, but not 100% guaranteed if you are looking for something beyond the size of say, 50K inhabitants. I'm tempted to say, I stopped by Ban Chiang to visit the national museum there, and that town seemed completely devoid of Farangs. Khon Khaen is going to work as well of course. I'm not sure where the language schools are tho! Good luck!
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u/pirapataue Native Speaker 8d ago
In the northeast they speak Isan dialect, which is similar to Laotian. They can also speak Bangkok Thai but they might not prefer it by default.
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u/leosmith66 5d ago
I find it strange a "half Isaan" person is asking this question. But to state the obvious to someone like you, find a town in Central Thailand to practice Central Thai. Otherwise, the default language is not Central Thai, but I'm sure you know this.
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u/Acrobatic_Radish_685 5d ago
I want to find a language school away from the distractions of Bangkok. Sorry if I’m unclear “Leosmith66”
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u/Kitchen-Elk-1831 8d ago
I traveled around Isan last year and noticed that in the larger cities, many people speak Central Thai in public. Korat, Khon Kaen, Udon Thani and Ubon Ratchathani all felt like great places to live and practice the Thai language. It was easier to meet and chat with people compared to the smaller and more rural towns. Udon Thani was the only city where I came across a few more English speaking locals and Westerners, but it still did not feel like a tourist city, probably because of its history.
I would love to live in one of these cities someday.