My learning journey in Thai ~ 泰语不'泰'难嘛！

I first started learning Thai in 2010 after watching Thai drama <Plerng Torranong เพลิงทระนง>. I was attracted by Pii Plerng, played by Mario Maurer, who was handsome and attractive! I continued watching other Thai dramas such as <Prajan Lai Payak พระจันทร์ลายพยัคฆ์> and got to know more Thai artistes. My favourite Thai actor and actress are Mario and Aum :)

I was inspired and eager to learn Thai because I wanted to watch the dramas without having the need to read subtitles. Well, I was too ambitious back then. I bought second-hand Thai textbooks and self learnt through Youtube videos, I practiced listening to Thai music and watched more dramas. However, I felt that I could not understand Thai fully and unfortunately, I gave up learning.

Moving forward 13 years later to 2023, my work now requires me to deal with Thais and I realized the ability to speak Thai can help me greatly at work. I decided to pick up Thai language again, but not self-taught this time. Instead, I sought help from my tutor, Kruu Piroon, on Amazing Talker. After attending Kruu Piroon's lessons, I came to a realization that my method of learning 10 years ago was wrong. I had jumped into Thai as I was too ambitious to conquer the language and I did not focus on the foundation. Reading, speaking and writing are all important components to mastering a language, not forgetting the sentence structure, special vowels, tone rules and many more!

Under Kruu Piroon's patient guidance, I can now read and write Thai :) I can practice speaking Thai with Kruu without feeling embarrassed and it is in this protected environment which makes me want to learn more. I am being encouraged at every step and I am free to ask any questions I like in this private session. I am so proud of myself for starting this journey in Amazing Talker and I cannot wait to see my own improvement. Now, I have set a challenge for myself again : To watch Thai drama without subtitles! Good luck to everyone who is trying to pick up a new language, the first step is always the hardest so do not give up easily!

隔了10年再次学习泰语，很多感触。想当年学泰语时，因为过于心急要达到看泰剧不必看字幕都听得懂的程度，结果自己乱学一番，不但基础没有搞好还越学越乱。最终放弃学泰语。然而，现在因为工作上时常要与泰国人来往，让我发现到会说泰语的好处。我又重新学泰语了。可能因为这次也是真的要认真学泰语，所以在网上找了很多平台还有通过朋友推荐，最后选择了Amazing Talker的Piroon老师。不试还不知，上了体验课之后马上发现到自学和有老师教是完全不同的啊！

老师耐心地陪着我练好标准发音，教会我读写听还有每一次上课都不忘复习基本功，让我感到每次上完课都进步了很多。而且老师的配合度也超高的，只要我提出想学的她都能安排上，所以我上课总是很轻松自在又开心，因为教的都是我感兴趣我想学的。当然，我自己下课后也很认真的复习，每天都会练字。泰语字难写，但写久也就习惯了，而且会想要写的更漂亮。

我现在又为我自己设了新挑战 - 看泰剧时不用看字幕。真的希望有一天可以达到那种程度，也希望在我工作上会对我有很大的帮助。朋友们，祝我早日达成吧！话说，有没有人也和我一样，喜欢泰国明星马里奥和Aum的？

希望各位正在考虑学习或已经在学习（不管是哪个语言）的朋友，不要轻易放弃。学习语言不容易，但是克服了之后我们将会有很大的满足感，共勉之！