Weekly Logs since February 21st:
Overall, I am very pleased with the way my Thai language partner, Game, and I have worked collaboratively this semester. Despite some early confusion, we have been able to get on the same page and adopt an effective procedure for making the most of our two meetings per week. We got in the habit of adapting my language learning to relevant issues to our lives and current issues/cultural intricacies of Thailand. For example, before I left for a hockey tournament I learned the Thai vocabulary pertaining to Sports and Competition. And when Thai forces engaged in violent conflict with Cambodian forces over a border dispute, we learned the Thai vocabulary pertaining to the military and conflict.
One of my favorite activities was watching numerous Thai movies, sometimes with and sometimes without English subtitles. I would watch the movies on my own time then return to discuss specific phrases and/or cultural aspects that I did not entirely understand. As a result, I was able to better understand native Thai speakers and learn numerous new Thai phrases. Here is a list of movies I watched and reviewed with Game throughout the semester: OngBak 1 The Thai Warrior, OngBak 2 The Beginning, The Overture, Shutter, and Fan Chan. A perk to reviewing these movies is that many of them reveal the historical context in which they took place. For example, OngBak 2 helped me learn a lot more about the ancient Thai Kingdoms of Sukhoythai and Ayyuhtaya.
Our weekly meetings also helped me formulate the 5 Thai vocab words I learned each day. Game was able to provide me with certain similar word groupings that fall within the same family so I wasn’t just sporadically learning 5 random words per day. For example, there are numerous adjectives with the prefix “Key,” denoting a negative connotation. I used this understanding to learn: Key-Neo = Stingy, Key-Glua= Fearful, Key-Mao= Alcoholic, Key-Now= cold, Key-Ron = energetic, Key-Geead = Liar etc.
Game also has a background in linguistics and transliteration. Therefore, he was able to help me develop my random transliterations of Thai words into a more formulaic process.
We also took our learning past the weekly meetings by partaking in numerous language-learning activities. For example, we spent an afternoon cooking Thai Curry at my apartment. While cooking and eating I learned all of the relevant Thai vocabulary for what we were making, objects in the kitchen, etc. Game also came to a philanthropy fundraiser dunk-tank on the UR forum. He told me about a similar practice in Thai temples where young girls are dunked into the water. The phrase, “Sow Noi Thdok Nam” literally means, "young girl falls into water.” I was also introduced to other Thai students at the University of Richmond who I met with to ask about their past, tell them about my experiences in Thailand, and of course practice my speaking and listening skills.
All in all, I am very happy with my experience expanding upon my previous Thai language abilities. I feel that Game and I successfully completed all of the assignments of the class and utilized the flexibility of the course to learn a lot more.
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