Lesson Learned

Here’s how not to study Thai language:

Carry around a pack of flashcards you made over a dozen years ago, pull them out once a day while riding the bus, quiz yourself, reward yourself for correct answers by retiring that card from the pack.

I’d been relying solely on this method of language study for about a year, when a Thai friend at work said (with unusual directness for this country), “Considering the number of opportunities you’ve had to get good at it, your Thai is really quite poor!” The truth stings.

Last year I studied with a tutor whose style I liked because, despite learning from him for over three months, I never knew whether or not he could speak English. He had a knack for being able to explain in Thai nearly anything we wanted to talk about, using a vocabulary that I could follow. It was as if he knew exactly which words I already knew.

Then Jip and I moved, going to his school wasn’t as convenient, and I convinced myself that I could do just as well on my own with the ancient flashcards. Gradually it hit me that I wasn’t graduating many cards from the pile. Words I thought I’d mastered yesterday were gone by tomorrow.

Last week I got a new teacher. During our three-times-weekly lessons, she supplies the English word if I ask her for it, but otherwise we only speak in Thai. I make new flashcard for each of the words she gives me. Lo and behold, I haven’t forgotten a single one. Words stick much better when you learn them because you need them.