@John *********

Since Covid the language schools offer online classes.

@Charles *********

I don't want to speak about the details of volunteer visa since I have not done one myself.

Nothing stops you from learning Thai on a volunteer visa... /shrug

@Charles *********

No volunteer visa is still completely valid. I know plenty of people on them right now

@Charles *********

Most of the ED stamps are 2 months. You book your next appointment a day or two before the prior one ends

@Charles *********

First time on an ED visa.

@Wylie ******

Also if you're booking your immigration appointment online they really don't have a lot of time to give out language proficiency tests.

I think this is just some shit they say to scare the tourists who want to stay for a year.

@Wylie ******

I've heard rumors of this for a decade. Never met someone it happened to. I've never seen it happen when i was sitting at immigration and it's certainly never happened to me.

@Charles *********

That's interesting. They told me only 12 months. Maybe I misunderstood. Also 12 months to 3 years is not correct since the first course is only 4 months long

@Charles *********

2 hours a week won't get you shit unless you're some kind of language savant.

Spanish is literally the easiest language on Earth for an English speaker to learn so I wouldn't use that as a gauge. It shares words, shares some grammar, shares an alphabet... none of which is true of Thai.

Thai is hard and if you want to speak it you'll need to make it a very big part of your life. Daily practice, for sure.

I would say minimum 1 hour of serious study per day, but even that will be pretty slow. I'd want 2-4 hours of serious study every day if you want to pick up the language before your ED visa expires

@Charles *********

as far as "a waste" it depends on what you are in the school for. If you want the visa to enjoy Thailand for a year then it's not at all a waste not to practice. It's a good use of time. But if you want to speak Thai and all you do it attend one 2-hour class a week? LOL yeah it's going to take you 200 years