Just Got My 1st Thai Keyboard

[BIG SPUDS]

Brought a thai keyboard to help me learn the script.

Trying to impress the GF with sending her a short letter in thai.

I am using word. I noticed that there is a spell check for some spanish and french.

Can one be loaded into the sytem for thai?

Is there any logic to how the keys are set up on a thai keyboard? looking for a symbol to spell a word is taking me for ever.

Any tips/advice appreciated.

Thanks BS

[Firefoxx]

If you have the Thai edition of Word installed, it has a built-in Thai spell checker.

You'll get used to the Thai keyboard, just like you get used to the English keyboard. There is a logic to the layout, with often used letters towards the middle and all the tones/super/subscripts down the center columns, but there are exceptions. Practice a lot, a good place is Thai chat rooms (or Thai online games), since you usually need prompt responses.

The Thai language forum of Thaivisa has some tips on typing Thai (sticky thread).

[Richard W]

If you have the Thai edition of Word installed, it has a built-in Thai spell checker.

You'll get used to the Thai keyboard, just like you get used to the English keyboard.  There is a logic to the layout, with often used letters towards the middle and all the tones/super/subscripts down the center columns, but there are exceptions.  Practice a lot, a good place is Thai chat rooms (or Thai online games), since you usually need prompt responses.

The Thai language forum of Thaivisa has some tips on typing Thai (sticky thread).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You may find this cribsheet useful. I've quickly converted it from Star Office, and it was for use with a UK keyboard. (It dates back to before I had Word or a Thai keyboard.) It ought to be converted to HTML. I found it very useful. The co-ordinates are laid out in a phonetic grid (akin to an incomplete periodic table) and then the vowels are in alphabetic order.

Kedmanee Cribsheet

 กd  ข-  ฃ#  ค8  ฅ~  ฆS  ง'
 จ0  ฉC    ช=  ซ:  ฌG               ญP
ฎE  ฏD  ฐ{    ฑR    ฒ<  ณI
ดf  ต9  ถ5    ทm    ธT  นo
บ[  ปx  ผz  ฝ/  พr  ฟa  ภ4  ม,
ยp  รi  ฤA  ล]  ฦ?  ว;
ศL  ษK  สl  หs  ฬ>  อv  ฮV
อะt  อัy  อาk	อำe	อิb  อีu  อึ7  อืn
อุ6  อู^  เอg  แอc	โอF	ใอ.  ไอw
อ็H  อ่j  อ้h  อ๊U  อ๋J  อ์N

Richard

P.S. If you click on the Kedmanee button in my Thai character entry program, you can use the grids there as an equivalent cribsheet. There are two Kedmanee buttons - one for a US keyboard and oen for a UK keyboard.

One other feature of the Kedmanee keyboards is that all the /s/ letters are together.

If you need to enter numbers, use the keypad!

Edited April 4, 2005 by Richard W

[Richard W]

Is there any logic to how the keys are set up on a thai keyboard? looking for a symbol to spell a word is taking me for ever.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The Kedmanee keyboard has 'logic' galore. Mechanically shifting is hard, so no common symbols are entered using the shift key. Remember the principle that tone marks and short vowels go in the middle of the keyboard.

What to do for our baby at the keyboard? First we'll burp you, or rather 'birpya': 'b' gives อิ; 'i' gives ร; 'r' gives พ; 'p' gives ย and 'y' gives อั. But Thai has another /y/, so 'P' gives ญ. As Sanskritists know, ณ goes with ร, so put it on the same key - 'I' gives ณ. (As Latinists know, 'y' is an extra vowel - so also is อั, reinforcing the logic.)

Now, in alphabetical order, it's อะ then อั, so thus on the keyboard - 't' gives อะ. In Pali Sanskrit ฑ becomes the /l/ of นาฬิกา. Songsters sing 'naarikaa', so let 'R' give ฑ.

Some logic is easy to see. บ is oft but a 3-sided box - so '[' for บ is clear. Give ]' a dangling tail, and behold a ล. Sara u is an inverted '6', so '6' for อุ. For English, shift makes big, so อู is 'shift 6', i.e. '^'. '๐' is like 'Q', so 'Q' on the left is for ๐. Thai ๑ is like '@', so yank it over there. ๒๓๔ follow on, taking 'shift 3', 'shift 4' and 'shift 5'. Finish the shifted top row with digits, so ๕๖๗๘๙ are 'shift 8' i.e. '*', 'shift 9' i.e. '(', 'shift 0' i.e. ')', '_' and '+'. Of ชีวิต a cat has ๙, so '=' for ช.

Write 'ng' quickly, you may get a 'ŋ'. Raise it and shrink it - apostrophe for ง. Alas, but a faint resemblance lets ';' give ว.

In English, final 's' is often found in clusters; likewise initial ห in Thai. As Grecians will tell you, initial /s/ gives /h/, so 's' yields ห. ส is like ล, so let 'l' give you ส. ศ is the other common /s/, so let 'L' give ศ. As Sanskritists know, /k/ leads to ษ (RUKI), so let 'K' give ษ. (Do I hear some cry ยักษ์?) To complete our cluster of sors, put ซ on the right - ':' yields ซ. Is ฆ snake-headedly sinuous enough to deserve 'S'? A rattler with built-in bell, perhaps.

'J' is for 'jot', so 'j' for little mai ek (อ่).

'J' is for 'join', in English a plus, so 'J' for mai chattawa (อ๋).

'H' is for 'half', so 'H' for อ็ yields half the length.

Mai tho is commoner by far, so 'h' for อ้ - use 'h' in the middle!

Mai tri accompanies them above, so 'U' for อ๊.

'D' is for 'deed', and ก for การ, so 'd' for ก. /d/ is displaced (to the right), so 'f' for ด. We need a hard working vowel, so 'g' in the middle for เอ. Then 'dfgh' scramble and shift to give us เด็ก (gfHd).

Does /f/ go 'fa'? 'a' is for for ฟ, but ฝ goes far right (in shape and position) and uses '/'. The other zigzagger on your lips is ผ - use 'z'.

To use 'D' for ฎ would be too simple! Displace to 'E' for ฎ, and let 'D' give ฏ. Likewise, displace to 'u' for อี.

A Russian script 't' looks like an 'm', so 'm' is for ท. /m/ is displaced, so ',' on its right for ม. Keep the pattern, displace 'n' (next is 'o'), so 'o' for น. And as for โ, can one not see that this is an 'F'?

Karan makes a consonant a big Nothing, so 'N' for อ์.

/ue/ is next to /u/ (think Wat Tuek spelt Wat Tuk), so '7' for short อึ. Long /ue/ (อื) is heavy, so drop down to 'n', a 'u' turned turtle.

Aye, what shall we use for ไ? Why 'w'! ใ turns its head to a dot, so '.' for ใ.

Ever noticed Indian names in 'Chh-'? That's just ฉ, a real big 'C'.

To begin with a vowel, Thai needs อ. Vowel begins with 'v', so 'v' for อ. ฮ is an enlarged อ, so make it big 'V'.

Remember SPQR, senatus populusque romanus? 'Q' is for 'and', so 'q' is for ๆ 'ditto'. While in matters Roman, 'k' likes its 'a' (e.g. kalendae 'calends' and 'k' itself), so let 'k' yield อา (lak khang). While า is OK, lakkhangyao is only for ฤ (exiled to 'A'), so hide the long one (ๅ) on '1'. ฃ and ฅ are not needed, so hide them on wandering '\'/'|'.

ภ phor samphao - looks like a job for '4'.

แ is like เ, Thai handwritten 'c' is like 'e' - so 'c' for แ.

The logic for ป is unknown - 'x' marks the spot! 'e' is a vowel looking for a job - let it yield อำ.

Punctuation is available - quote (QWERTY ") for a statement ('.')? To query (ไหม) use 'M'.

I might try thinking 'j0e' for '0' to yield จ, but that exhausts my memory tricks. For other symbols, scan the top row, then look at the two sides, and finally the bottom row. In the midst of this quad lurks a rare tree - 'G' for ฌ. Shade for hardworking 'g' for 'เ'?

Edited April 5, 2005 by Richard W