Thailand is the fourth largest country in Southeast Asia. And as the country's official language, Thai is spoken by nearly 68 million people. The language has its own script, which evolved from Indian scripts and is many centuries old.

The Thai script is a letter script. That is, it works like the Latin script. Words can be formed from consonants and vowel signs. Mastering the Thai writing system is a central goal of our Thai courses, along with learning communicative skills. I can say that all those who have attended Thai courses at the University of Passau and passed the corresponding exams can write and read Thai well to very well. And it might be appealing to some - aesthetically speaking - to learn a script that very few have mastered.

Learning Thai could be quite useful for your professional career. After all, Thailand has close ties with Germany. Germany is Thailand's most important trading partner within the EU. No wonder that many German companies and institutions are active in Thailand. Some of our former students work in all these companies and institutions in Thailand.

Even during your studies, there are good opportunities to complete internships in Thailand. And we try - where it is possible - to help all those who are interested.

Thai as a foreign language can be learned systematically - even in Thailand - only at a few universities. In Germany, Passau is one of these few locations, along with Berlin and Hamburg. Our university maintains partnerships with renowned universities in Thailand, e.g. with Thammasat and Chiang Mai University, so that there are also good opportunities for a semester abroad.

Since the demand is not so high, Thai courses at our university are smaller groups in which each participant can be intensively supervised. You do not need any previous knowledge at all. And the times of the basic course rarely overlap with other courses. Thai Basic 1.1, in fact, takes place on Wednesdays from 6-8 pm and Thursdays from 8-10 am. It is important to note that you can only start with Thai Basic 1.1 in the winter semester. The course is offered only once a year. You cannot start with Thai in the summer semester. Unless you have sufficient previous knowledge.

Thai courses are offered as follows:

Winter semester:              Thai Basic 1.1 (1st semester/1st course)

                                             Thai Basic 2.1 (3rd semester/3rd course)

Summer semester:           Thai Basic 1.2 (1st semester/1st course)

                                             Thai Basic 2.2 (3rd semester/3rd course)

For questions: chalit.durongphan@uni-passau.de