CityNews – Around 40 Chiang Mai expats attended a seminar held by a leading expert on language learning on Saturday.
Language-learning expert Benny Lewis talks to expats about learning Thai.
The free event at Sangdee Gallery featured Benny Lewis, who runs the language-learning blog fluentin3months.com and has won National Geographic’s Traveller of the Year award.
“I like to use my travels to encourage people to learn languages no matter where they go, and decided to hold a free event in Chiang Mai to inspire the expat community to learn Thai while they live here,” Benny said.
“My advice is very hands-on and encourages people to speak the language, make mistakes and learn from humans rather than books. By learning the local language, I have been amazed at how different my experiences have been from English speaking travellers.
“I’ve saved so much money, and met so many people that traditional travel would never have allowed. I’ve truly broken free of the restrictions of being a tourist. And I genuinely believe anyone else can do this. Today, I can speak 11 languages in varying degrees, but when I was 21 I only spoke English. If I can do it, anyone can!”