We just finished our introductory level to Thai language course at the Y. Thai is not an easy language to learn. It has sounds that just don't exist in English, like the "pb" sound, not quite "p", not quite "b", or the "dt" sound. Once again, not quite "d", not quite "t". Then there's that vowel sound, the grunty one that sounds like someone constipated sitting on the toilet trying to push it out... ouuau... I don't even know how to transcribe it.

Thai is also a tonal language, so if you pronounce a word in the wrong tone, you're saying a completely different word. For example, "yaa" means medicine but if you pronounce it in the wrong tone, instead of eating your bitter medicine, you've eaten your bitter grandma. The verb to ride is "khii" in Thai, but pronounce that wrong and instead of saying you like riding horses, you've just said you like horse poop.

So, 30 hours of group lessons later, fluent we ain't, but the classes have been fun. We're starting to get used to those blank stares we get from locals when we practice our Thai asking for directions, or for the price of things at the market. But every once in a while, they actually understand us and rattle the answer back, leaving us to give them blank stares in return.