If you are planning on staying in Thailand for a while then it’s a good idea to make an effort to learn to speak Thai. Yes you can get by without speaking it, the old western favorite of talking loud, pointing and getting money out generally does the trick. But we are better than that, are we not? Not to mention feeling at home; it’s hard to feel at home in a country when you do not speak the language. If you are planning on staying a while, learn a little Thai – You might enjoy yourself.

Not to mention other benefits learning Thai brings. Such as paying a better price for goods or being allowed to stay in Thailand on an ED visa, providing you study a certain amount of lessons in a year. I will write another post on this topic alone at some point.

Hows does joining a language school in Thailand work?

It’s simple.. Rock up at some schools and say Hello, do you have any information on learning Thai please? If they do not understand you, probably not a good school for you. You can call or email schools before visiting but actually seeing the inside of the school and how the staff act first hand is the best way to tell if the school is right for you.

How do I find a good language school in Thailand?

I like Googlin’ and that’s my preference. Most good schools should have an online presence. It’s always good to go looking for reviews or pictures of Thai language schools online.

Another great source of schools can just be keeping your eye’s open as you walk around. Especially in Bangkok, most of the major streets such as Silon Road and the big shopping centers like Siam Paragon will have companies offering language courses in Thai. If you spot on, you could just go home and hope you find it on Google or walk straight in and see what they have.

How much does a Thai language course cost?

The prices really range depending on what you want. If you want a few lessons a week and to pay as you you go, you could pay only a few dollars a lesson, if you want a full course from a well established school that will help you with an ED visa you could spend any where between a few hundred dollars to a thousand. I believe some universities offer great long term, full time courses.. I’ve not looked into this much, but these generally cost a few thousand USD from what I remember.

My girlfriend and I joined a school called Language Express located in central Bangkok. It was the most expensive we found. It’s for 200 lessons within 1 year, all books included and they help you get an ED visa.

We found cheaper courses offering the same package, but the location of this one is great and their building facilities a great, so we decided a positive environment justifies the cost. It cost us 34,000 Baht in November 2012, which is around £700 or $1100 U.S dollars.  I wrote a review of Language Express Bangkok, you can read it here.

Have you attended a language school or Thai course in Thailand? If so, we’ve love to hear your thoughts on what you experienced. Either add a comment to this post or drop us an email if you want to write a full post on here, with full credit of course.

Cheers,
Happy