Hello, Steemians! This is the continuation of my previous post on learning Thai, which you can read here.
Having established that, in my humble opinion, it is not necessary to travel to Thailand to learn Thai, let's have a look at some starting points.
Thai Language Guru
All Thai learners can feel very fortunate now cause just a few years ago one man has changed the way Thai language can be learned - his name is Stuart Jay Raj. He is a polyglot who specializes in the languages and dialects spoken in South East Asia and China. Stuart Jay Raj has a great youtube channel channel with lots of useful and insightful videos on learning Thai language. He also offers a comprehensive online Thai course. Last but not least, he has written a book which I consider to be the Bible when it comes to learning Thai. The content of it is just mind blowing! You will learn how to read Thai, how to learn Thai vocabulary and grammar and how to think like a Thai person. Watch an interview with Stuart Jay Raj and check out what an awesome bloke he is. This TEDx talk will give you some insights to his philosophy and methodology of learning Thai and other languages.
Youtube Thai Language Channels
Apart from Stuart Jay Raj's channel you will find a lot of other ambitious Thai language teachers who have been putting their content on youtube for quite a while now. This is probably what you might want to do at your first stage of getting acquainted with Thai language, or at least that's what I did before I ever set my foot in the Land of Smiles. The most popular Thai language youtuber is unquestionably Khru Mod. Her youtube channel has 31,860 subscribers and some of the videos have well over 100,000 views! It gives you an idea how popular learning Thai has become!
Thai TV Series and Movies
I wouldn't like to get into any copyright or legal issues here, but I'm pretty sure you know how to use proxy and VPN. Netflix and Iflix have quite impressive range of Thai movies and Thai TV series. It can be a good way to pick up some basic Thai words and phrases and get to know more about Thai culture, which is quite complex and might seem very enigmatic and confusing to a Westerner.
Online Teachers
Have you ever heard of italki. It's a cool website and community where you can find your language partners. This, basically, makes you learn a language free, in return for you giving lessons of your native language to your foreign language teacher! There are a few Thai persons there looking for language partners or offering Thai language online lessons for as little as 10 USD per hour.
Facebook Groups
Hopefully Steemit or other decentralized platform will replace Big Brother's eye at some point in the future, however you might still find it useful to connect with people sharing your interests. The biggest Thai language learning group out there is Farang Can Learn Thai. Lots of posts there, insightful comments (some by Stuart Jay Raj himself) and feedback on the member's progress and language dillemas. You can easily find Thai language online teachers on Facebook groups too.
Apps
Apps are a very convenient way to learn basics of Thai language. I have used WordPower and can definitely recommend this app for begginers. A clean and professional app, it's definitely a good way to learn a few hundred basic Thai words and phrases. Many more apps available for both iOS and Android, I am sure you will find some that one your needs.
Steemit
Last but not least, don't forget about Steemit and DTube! There is already quite a lot of content on learning Thai language, which makes me very happy. Check out a funny Thai lesson by 
These are some tips on where and how to start learning Thai language. In the the third part of Learning Thai Without Ever Going To Thailand you will find some practical guidelines on beginning your journey with learning Thai language. Stay tuned for more!
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The pictures used in this post come from pixabay.com and are labeled for reuse
Earworm