Learning Thai

[aurajchat]

The Tone in Thai language

For foreigners, the most confusing grammar in Thai language is ‘tone’. Basically, there are five tones as followed: 1. mid tone, represented by mid sign e.g ā. 2. low tone, represented by low sign e.g à. 3. falling tone, represented by falling sign e.g â. 4. high tone, represented by high sign e.g á. 5. rising tone, represented by rising sign e.g ă. These signs will help learners understood Thai tone correctly. Foreigners whom I used to coach can distinguish the sound and learn more Thai vocabularies.

[pasa-thai]

credit by poodthai.tumblr

[pasa-thai]

picture from link

[thelanguagecommunity]

For those who would like to learn Thai

http://www.thai-language.com/lessons -lots of lessons, reading exercises, and quizzes

http://www.thai2english.com/ -has guide to reading thai, grammar reference, and a tool for typing Thai.

http://www.linguanaut.com/english_thai.htm -phrases and vocabulary

http://learn-thai-podcast.com/thai-language/ -these are actually free samples of a larger thai course, but they are useful nonetheless. 

http://www.into-asia.com/thai_language/ -in the sidebar, you will find grammar, vocabulary and other notes on the language.

http://www.carla.umn.edu/LCTL/VPA/Thai/pages/home.htm -learning Thai with signs

http://learningthai.com/ -information for reading and speaking 

http://www.seasite.niu.edu/Thai/Beginning_Thai_I_review/index.html -basic lessons

http://www.thai-lessons.com/trivial_game.php -here’s a fun little quiz

And here’s some Thai music.

[thelanguagecommunity]

More Thai Things

http://womenlearnthai.com/ - lots of things to help learn Thai, reviews, culture, slang…

http://www.voathai.com/ - news, radio and TV

http://langhub.com/en-th/ - vocabulary, lessons, tutorials and much more!

http://www.learnthailanguage.org/ - video lessons on verbs, phrases, and culture

http://www.tu.ac.th/host/thaiarc/thai/introth.htm - alphabet, help on writing, and poetry with audio

http://thaiaua.yhoonchamlong.net/ - lots and lots of lessons

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Thai - wikibook

[useless-thailandfacts-deactivat]

Do you have any tipps on how to learn the Thai characters? I tried once but it kinda overwhelmed me and I gave up but I want to try again.

I’m not sure whether you’ll find it easier to group consonant alphabets according to the sounds? While Thai has 44 consonant alphabets in total, if group by the pronunciation you’ll see that there are less number of sounds than the written forms.

A - อ / B - บ / D - ด, ฎ / F - ฝ (low tone), ฟ (higher tone)  

G - ก (some people argue that it should be ‘K’ but I’ll stick with ‘G’(as in ‘Game’) to differentiate it from ค)

H - ห (low tone), ฮ (higher tone)

J - จ (’J’ sound as in ‘Job’)

K - ค, ฆ (’K’ as in ‘Koala’) / Kh - ข (like low tone of ค)

L - ล / M - ม / N - น, ณ

P - ป (’P’ as in ‘Peru), พ (’P’ as in ‘Panic’), ภ (sounds exactly like พ), ผ (the same ‘P’ sound as พ but lower tone)

R - ร, ฬ

Ch - ช, ฌ, ฉ(lower tone than the first two)

Ng - ง (think of the ‘ng’ in Bang)

S - ส, ศ, ษ (these three sound exactly the same just written differently), ซ (higher tone than the first three)

T - ต, ฏ (’T’ sounds as in ‘Turkey’)

Th(like Thai) - ท, ธ, ฒ, ฑ (these fours sounds the same) and ถ, ฐ (these two in lower tone than those four)

W - ว

Y - ย, ญ

There are two alphabets that you can forget them; ฃ and ฅ are not used anymore. Just get used to the consonants first, vowels and other alphabets can wait. Trying to learn everything at once can be overwhelmed because there are more rules, for example some consonant alphabets change sound when they becomes the final consonant in a word. 

Like หาร doesn’t pronounce as ‘Har’ according to the comparison list above that ร = R but in fact pronounces as ‘Han’ because the alphabet ร here changes to น(N) sound.

I kudo you for trying to learn Thai alphabets. :) Thai in written form is definitely not easy for foreigners especially since we somehow think it’s a good idea to have several written forms of the same character just to confuse the heck out of foreigners. =___=;;;

[ghostoffice]

actually i suggest learning them in order of frequency? like, learn the most common ones first

or maybe, even better (i wish i had done this), learn them by class, like high/mid/low, because its a pain to learn later!

also learn the easy (single) vowels straight away maybe, so you can read stuff and feel accomplished! โฉลกดี!!! (woah theres a ล there i had no idea :0)

[useless-thailandfacts-deactivat]

You’re right here, learning by class is how Thais learn in school as well. Except the problems here are that because I learned Thai as my first language, I have no idea whether there will be any kind of obstacle with people whose first language is English or something else to accomplice the same result. After all, it would be best to learn by that method if there is someone to provide examples of pronunciation of each class.

(and I don’t have a microphone on my computer, oh well D: )

Also I don’t know if teaching by repeatedly chanting kai-jik-dek-tai-dek-tai-bon-pak-oang would really help without audio guide…)….

[8milesfromhome]

Learning Thai - Food Names

Learning the Thai Language, Food Names

Picking up a few Thai names for particular foods can prove rather useful, just like learning Thai numbers, as we have discovered while being here.   Thai words are never spelt the same from one day to the next and pretty much everything has 2 or 3 alternative spellings, however getting the general idea and hearing the word pronounced helps dramatically.  I have listed some Thai words for foods and restaurant situations to assist with the culture adaptation when moving to or visiting Thailand and learning a new language. Ahaan – Food Ahaan Chow - Breakfast Ahaan Glahng Wan - Lunch Ahaan Yen – Dinner Ahaan Wahng – Snack

Keep reading

[pasa-thai]

Learn Thai 200 words to talk about everyday things

Based on Fun with Languages method

Verbs (infinitive)

be - เป็น [ bpen ], อยู่ [ yòo ], คือ [ keu ]

there is - มี [ mee ]

have - มี [ mee ], ทาน [ taan ]

do - ทำ [ tam ]

create - สร้าง [ sâang ]

cause - ทำให้เกิด [ tam hâi gèrt ]

go - ไป [ bpai ]

say - พูด [ pôot ]

speak - พูด [ pôot ]

know - รู้ [ róo ]

think - คิด [ kít ]

want - ต้องการ [ dtông gaan ]

like - ชอบ [ chôp ], เหมือน [ mĕuan ]

can - สามารถ [ săa-mâat ]

need - ต้องการ  [ dtông gaan ]

should - ควร [ kuan ], ควรจะ [ kuan jà ]

try - ลอง [ long ], พยายาม [ pá-yaa-yaam ]

feel - รู้สึก [ róo sèuk ]

work (also as a noun) - ทำงาน [ tam ngaan ]

learn - เรียน [ rian ]

understand - เข้าใจ [ kâo jai ]

get (meaning “obtain”) - ได้รับ [ dâai ráp ]

use - ใช้ [ chái ]

start - เริ่ม [ rêrm ]

eat - กิน [ gin ], ทาน [ taan ] (formal), รับประทาน [ ráp bprà-taan ] (formal)

see - เห็น [ hĕn ]

write - เขียน [ kĭan ]

give - ให้ [ hâi ]

sleep - นอน [ non ], หลับ [ làp ]

buy - ซื้อ [ séu ]

decide - ตัดสินใจ [ dtàt sĭn jai ]

find - ค้นหา [ kón hăa ], หา [ hăa ]

ask - ถาม [ tăam ]

meet (meaning to meet someone for the first time) - พบ [ póp ]

meet (meaning “meet up with”) - พบกับ [ póp gàp ]

take - เอา [ ao ]

Phrases

hello - สวัสดี [ sà-wàt-dee ]

goodbye - ลาก่อน [ laa gòn ]

My name is… - ฉันชื่อ….. [ chăn chêu ….]

“Nice to meet you.” - ยินดีที่ได้รู้จัก [ yin dee têe dâai róo jàk ]

yes - ใช่ [ châi ]

no - ไม่ [ mâi ], ไม่ใช่ [ mâi châi ]

okay - ตกลง [ dtòk long ]

please - ได้โปรด [ dâai bpròht ]

thank you - ขอบคุณ [ kòp kun ]

you’re welcome - ด้วยความยินดี [ dûay kwaam yin dee ]

sorry - ขอโทษ [ kŏr tôht ], เสียใจ [ sĭa jai ]

excuse me (to catch someone’s attention) - ขอโทษนะคะ [ kŏr tôht ná ká ]  (female)/ ขอโทษนะครับ [ kŏr tôht ná kráp ] (male)

well (as in “Well, I think that…”) - อืม [ eum ]

Really? - จริงหรือ? [ jing rĕu ], จริงเหรอ? [ jing rĕr ], เหรอ? [ rĕr ]

Conjunctions

that (as in “I think that…” or “the woman that…”) - ที่ [ têe ], ซึ่ง [ sêung ], อัน [ an ]

and - และ [ láe ]

or - หรือ [ rĕu ]

but - แต่ [ dtàe ]

though - ถึงแม้ว่า [ tĕung máe wâa ]

because - เพราะว่า [ prór wâa ]

therefore - ดังนั้น [ dang nán ], เพราะฉะนั้น [ prór chà-nán ]

if - ถ้า [ tâa ]

Prepositions

before (also as a conjunction) - ก่อน [ gòn ] after (also as a conjunction) - หลัง [ lăng ]

of - ของ [ kŏng ]

from - จาก [ jàak ] to - ถึง [ tĕung ]

in - ใน [ nai ]

at (place) - ที่ [ têe ]

at (time) - ณ เวลา [ ná · way-laa ], ในช่วงเวลา [ nai chûang way-laa ]

with - กับ [ gàp ]

about - เกี่ยวกับ [ gìeow gàp ]

like (meaning “similar to”) - เหมือน [ mĕuan ]

for (warning, this one has several meanings that you need to take care of)   - สำหรับ [ săm-ràp ]

Adjectives and adverbs

a lot - มาก [ mâak ] a little - เล็กน้อย [ lék nói ]

good / well - ดี [ dee ] bad / badly - เลว [ leo ], แย่ [ yâe ]

more (know how to say “more … than”) - มากกว่า [ mâak gwàa ] better (often irregular and not just “more good”) - ดีกว่า [ dee gwàa ]

most - ที่สุด [ têe sùt ]

enough - พอเพียง [ por piang ], พอสมควร [ por sŏm kuan ]

right - ถูกต้อง [ tòok dtông ] wrong - ผิดพลาด [ pìt plâat ], ไม่ถูกต้อง [ mâi tòok dtông ]

Adjectives

the, a (technically articles) - (”the” is neither here nor there in Thai), หนึ่ง [ nèung ]

this (also as a noun) - นี้ [ née ] that (also as a noun) - นั้น [ nán ]

all - ทั้งหมด [ táng mòt ] some - บาง [ baang ] no - ไม่มี [ mâi mee ]

other - อื่นๆ [ èun èun ]

any - บ้าง [ bâang ]

easy - ง่าย [ ngâai ] hard - ยาก [ yâak ]

early - เช้า [ cháo ] late - สาย [ săai ]

important - สำคัญ [ săm-kan ]

cool (as in “that’s cool”) - เจ๋ง [ jĕng ], เยี่ยม [ yîam ]

same - เหมือน [ mĕuan ]

different - แตกต่าง [ dtàek dtàang ], ต่าง [ dtàang ]

beautiful - สวย [ sŭay ]

Adverbs

very - มาก [ mâak ]

too (as in “too much”) - มาก [ mâak ]

also - เช่นกัน [ chên gan ], ยิ่งไปกว่านั้น [ yîng bpai gwàa nán ]

only - แค่ [ kâe ], เท่านั้น [ tâo nán ]

now - เดี๋ยวนี้ [ dĭeow née ]

here - ที่นี่ [ têe nêe ]

maybe - อาจจะ [ àat jà ]

always - ตลอดเวลา [ dtà-lòt way-laa ] often - บ่อยๆ [ bòi bòi ] sometimes - บางครั้ง [ baang kráng ] never - ไม่เคย [ mâi koie ]

today (also as a noun) - วันนี้ [ wan née ] yesterday - เมื่อวาน [ mêua waan ] tomorrow -พรุ่งนี้ [ prûng-née ]

almost - เกือบ [ gèuap ], เกือบจะ [ gèuap jà ]

still - ยังคง [ yang kong ]

already - แล้ว [ láew ], เรียบร้อยแล้ว [ rîap rói láew ]

even - แม้กระทั่ง [ máe grà-tâng ], ยิ่งไปกว่านั้น [ yîng bpai gwàa nán ]

Nouns

thing - สิ่ง [ sìng ]

person - บุคคล [ bùk-kon ]

place - สถานที่ [ sà-tăan têe ]

everything - ทุกๆสิ่ง [ túk túk sìng ], ทุกๆอย่าง [ túk túk yàang ] something - บางสิ่ง [ baang sìng ], บางอย่าง [ baang yàang ] nothing - ไม่มีอะไร [ mâi mee a-rai ]

time (as in “a long time”) - เวลา [ way-laa ]

time (as in “I did it 3 times”) - ครั้ง [ kráng ] ( put it after the numbers ex. 3 ครั้ง)

friend - เพื่อน [ pêuan ]

mother, father, parent - แม่ [ mâe ], พ่อ [ pôr ], พ่อแม่ [ pôr mâe ] or ผู้ปกครอง [ pôo bpòk krong ]

daughter, son, child - ลูกสาว [ lôok săao ], ลูกชาย [ lôok chaai ], ลูก [ lôok ] or เด็ก [ dèk ]

wife, husband - ภรรยา [ pan-rá-yaa ] (polite) เมีย [ mia ] (impolite), สามี [ săa-mee ] (polite) ผัว [ pŭa ] (impolite)

girlfriend, boyfriend - แฟนสาว [ faen săao ], แฟนหนุ่ม [ faen nùm ], แฟน [ faen ] (concisely)

breakfast - อาหารเช้า [ aa-hăan cháo ], มื้อเช้า [ méu cháo ]

lunch - อาหารกลางวัน [ aa-hăan glaang-wan ], มื้อเที่ยง [ méu tîang ]

dinner - อาหารเย็น [ aa-hăan yen ], มื้อเย็น [ méu yen ]

money - เงิน [ ngern ], ตังค์ [ dtang ] (colloquialism)

day - วัน [ wan ]

year - ปี [ bpee ]

hour - ชั่วโมง [ chûa mohng ]

week - สัปดาห์ [ sàp-daa ]

country - ประเทศ [ bprà-tâyt ]

city - เมือง [ meuang ]

language - ภาษา [ paa-săa ]

word - คำ [ kam ]

Internet - อินเตอร์เน็ต [ in-dtêr-nét ]

house - บ้าน [ bâan ]

office - สำนักงาน [ săm-nák ngaan ]

company - บริษัท [ bor-rí-sàt ]

Question Words

who - ใคร [ krai ]

what - อะไร [ a-rai ]

where - ที่ไหน [ têe năi ]

when - เมื่อไร [ mêua rai ]

why - ทำไม [ tam-mai ]

how - อย่างไร [ yàang rai ]

how much - เท่าไร [ tâo rai ]

Pronouns

I - ฉัน [ chăn ]

you - คุณ [ kun ]

she, he - เธอ [ ter ], เขา [ kăo ]

it - มัน [ man ]

we - พวกเรา [ pûak rao ]

you (plural) - พวกคุณ [ pûak kun ]

they - พวกเขา [ pûak kăo ]

If you’ve any question about the basic words, please don’t hesitate to ask me na ka :)