The Centre for Thai Studies, Chiang Mai University is the leading institution for Thai language courses in Northern Thailand. All the courses are taught by professional instructors on the beautiful main campus of Chiang Mai University.
Chiang Mai University is located at the base of Doi Suthep - the tallest mountain in the city district rising to over 1650 metres above sea level. Chiang Mai University is a self contained campus which is very green and scenic campus with its own lake, waterfall and other decent facilities including:
As a prospective Thai language student of the university, you will have access to some of the finest facilities in Chiang Mai for the duration of your study with Chiang Mai University Language Institute.
All the Thai language courses including: 1-year Thai Language and Culture course plus the Conversation Thai classes will be operated from the Language Institute faciility at Chiang Mai University. Language Institute is a modern language training facility at the heart of the campus, located opposite the Faculty of Agriculture and only a stones throw from the main athletics stadium. Prospective Thai language students will benefit from some of the finest facilities on campus, including:
All students who enrol for classes at the Language Institute will be eligible to use any of the facilities on campus. For more information, please contact a member of the Centre for Thai Studies at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Language Institute Chiang Mai University offers the highest quality tuition from the most experienced instructors in Chiang Mai. From the first day of our course, students start to speak Thai. Whatever their ability, they are encouraged to use Thai as much and as often as possible. This even includes during ’coffee break’ times when it is common to hear students talking to each other not in their native language but in Thai. Indeed, with students coming from such a diverse range of countries, Thai becomes the common language of conversation at school.
In the classroom we use materials and lessons that not only increase students vocabulary and knowledge of Thai modes of speech, but also incorporate interesting and valuable insights into Thai culture, traditions and customs.
As students progress through the course, homework assignments take on increasing importance. These too are designed to both reinforce the classroom lessons and to provide opportunities for the student to gain confidence in expressing themselves through the medium of Thai.
In our Communicative courses, we will romanization of Thai to help students grasp the fundamental basics of Thai. As this is a short course, students will develop their speaking and listening skills rapidly through drilling, in class exercises, role plays and group exercises. Group dynamics plays an important part of the learning process, for this reason we ensure that everyone who starts the course together finishes the course together; our teaching method encourages peer teaching, for students to practice and interact with one another.
We will use a number of different resources to assist with learning, whether it is use of the television or radio to help students improve their listening skills, or even newspapers and magazine to assist them with their reading and writing skills, we are confident that by the end of the course you will have benefited greatly by coming to study with the Language Institute Chiang Mai University.
Learn Thai with professional and experienced instructors at Chiang Mai University. Located at the base of one of Chiang Mai's most famous temples known locally as Doi Suthep.
Chiang Mai University provides the ideal setting for you to begin your voyage into learning Thai and developing your understanding about its beautiful culture. Students will be enrolled at the Language Institute Chiang Mai University's modern, multipurpose language training facility.
Our 1-Year Thai Language and Culture course offers students a unique perspective of being able to learn a language as well as being able to develop an understanding about Thai culture concurrently. We use an activity based learning approach which reinforces language acquisition. Our dedicated team of experience instructors will guide you and ensure that you maximize your usage of Thai language.
In addition to our certificate in Thai Language and Culture program, we offer our introductory 15-day Survival Thai courses, aimed at developing and improving accuracy when speaking in Thai - this focus has a strict emphasis on speaking and listening skills only.
For westerners learning the language it is convenient to use Romanized Thai at the beginner (also known as 'transliteration'), but it should be noted that this method is no more than a learning aid. There are a number of different systems of Romanizing Thai, each with its advantages and disadvantages. The ones used in the Communicative Beginner Courses should only be used as an approximation representation to the Thai sound. The most effective strategy is to learn pronunciation from recording and to memorize Thai script spellings rather than Romanized spellings. We start using Thai scripts on day one of the Certificate in Thai courses. Treat Romanization system as a crutch and aim to discard it as quickly as possible.
All our courses have been approved by the Board of Directors, Language Institute Chiang Mai University. We welcome any prospective applicant to come and sample our program before enrolling.