Watching Thai Dramas is a lot easier than watching Thai variety shows. But what if you are bored of watching Thai dramas? Would it be better to just take a break, or to switch to watch Thai variety shows?
Benefits of Watching Thai Variety Shows
Thai Variety Shows is a good alternative to cliché Thai Dramas
Sometimes Thai dramas have a very repeated pattern. There might be a screaming female villain. A gay couple. A high-so being an asshole. Throw in some violent punches and more screaming.
Whenever you have reached this jaded point, why not switch to watching Thai variety shows instead of taking a break altogether? The moment you stop consuming Thai media, especially when you’re not based in Thailand, it might just become a slippery slope for you to lose touch with the Thai language and culture altogether.
Also, in Thai variety shows, you’ll get to see the natural interactions of your favourite Thai celebrities instead of a scripted response. Take Bright-Win inbox for example, I wouldn’t have known how cool N’Bright is if I didn’t see him play all kinds of sporting activities 🤩🤩 (I told myself I was binging on the series to practice Thai speaking and listening. I was totally not lying to myself) 😂
Thai Variety Shows are more natural and give you a better idea of the Thai everyday life
Thai variety shows, as the name suggests, shows you how Thai people interact with one another in daily life settings. If you want to learn some local Thai slangs or see the everyday life in Thailand, Thai variety shows provide a way better exposure than scripted Thai dramas. You might even learn more Thai from watching Thai variety shows with English subs than watching Thai lakorns without English subtitles.
Interested to learn the Thai Language? Here’s what you can explore!
Practice your Thai speaking skills and learn how to use Thai to express everyday small talk.
A serious Thai learner aiming to master Thai reading and writing? Start off by learning to text in Thai!
Go for regular Thai classes. Use your SkillsFuture credits to offset your Thai Language course fees!
Cons of Watching Thai Variety Shows
Thais speak x3 faster in Variety Shows vs Dramas
If you are just a beginner, I highly recommend sticking to Thai dramas. Or if you want to self learn Thai from Thai media, Thai dramas will be the better option. This is because Thais speak A LOT faster in variety shows vs dramas 🤯🤯🤯 As if they are not speaking fast enough in dramas 🥺 It will be way harder to catch any Thai words you might actually know in Thai variety shows vs Thai dramas.
Many Thai Variety Shows do not have English Subtitles
It is a great pity that many Thai variety shows do not have English subtitles. Just take School Rangers for example – out of 250++ episodes, only about 10 of them have subtitles 😖I Can Hear Your Voice does not have subtitles as well. While this might be the perfect chance for you to listen to Thai and decipher, having a crutch/subtitles as an option always helps when you are confronted with a string of intelligible sentences.
Recommended Thai Variety Shows
So it is totally up to you whether you want to watch Thai variety shows or Thai dramas 😇 For those interested to watch Thai variety shows, you can check out:
- School Rangers
- Bright-Win Inbox
- Friend Drive
- Off Gun Fun Night
- E.M.S Earth – Mix Space
Yes, most of them are BL series as those are the ones with English Subtitles
You can also check out 5 Thai Dramas to binge watch here!
Get help with learning to read, write and text in Thai today! 🥰
About the author – see the About page for more information
Joanne Tan is an aspiring polyglot and has so far mastered English, Chinese and Thai languages. She first started learning Thai in 2015 before staying in Bangkok for 5 months, and then continued studying Thai up to Advanced Levels at the National University of Singapore. In 2017, Joanne was awarded ‘Advanced Thai Proficiency’ by the Sirindhorn Thai Language Institute of Chulalongkorn University. Today, Joanne freelances as a Thai tutor in Singapore and helps her Thai friends actively promote Thai culture.
