Offered By	ANU College of Asia and the Pacific
Academic Contact	Ms Chintana Sandilands

With over sixty million speakers, Thai is the national language of Thailand and has a literary heritage extending back some 700 years. Lao is closely related; with about twenty million speakers it is spoken both in Laos and in north-eastern Thailand. The languages use similar writing systems.

The major in Thai consists of eight Asian language courses including (for beginners) Thai 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, 3A and one of the following: Reading Thai Sources; Modern Thai Prose; or Traditional Thai Literature. This sequence develops conversational fluency and leads to proficiency in written forms of Thai. Courses in Lao and Burmese are offered intermittently and may be counted towards a Thai major. Students are free to complement a Thai language sequence with courses relating to both South and Southeast Asia.

Students who have completed Thai 3A and who wish to undertake advanced Thai language studies have the option of enrolling in a wide variety of In-Country courses which vary in length from a few weeks through to one year. They are designed to allow students to pursue areas of particular interest while studying, researching or working in Thailand. A further option is available in the form of the Southeast Asian Frontiers course, which is an intensive short course focusing upon cross border communities in mainland Southeast Asia.

Requirements

The Asian Language major (Thai) may comprise courses from the Summary of Courses page and must include Thai 3A and either THAI3003 or THAI3006.

The information published on the Study at ANU 2010 website applies to the 2010 academic year only. All information provided on this website replaces the information contained in the Study at ANU 2009 website.