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If you're planning to stay longer in
Chiang Mai, you may wish to tackle the tonal
gymnastics of spoken Thai. Despite the
confusion of multi-tones to correctly
pronounce one of several similar sounding
words, the grammar is remarkably simple and
it's not difficult to quickly start
stringing sentences together.
The locals
will love you for it and are very
non-judgemental of pidgin language. Taking
Thai language courses is fun and you may
even want to impress your friends by
learning to read and write Thai with its 46
consonants and 32 vowels!
The American University Alumni
(AUA) school near Tapae Rd (73 Rachadamnoen Rd)
is one of the most popular and convenient
places to learn. Beginner courses last six
weeks and cost 3500 baht.
Tel. 053 - 278406
E-mail: cmlibrary@auathailand.org
The intensive course at
Payap
University (out of town to the
northeast) has highly recommended courses
lasting from 30 hours to full-time semesters
and costing as little as 3,000 baht.
Intensive Thai program, Academic Thai for
Non-native Speakers.
website:
http://lip.payap.ac.th
E-mail:
intthai@payap.ac.th
Tel. 053 - 851478
The Australia Centre
(south of Chiang Mai University), offers
private tuition in nice surroundings.
Chiang Mai Thai Language Centre
is a little farther down Rachadamnoen Rd and
offers short, inexpensive courses.
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