Tones From Reading Thai Script.

[soundman]

I have been wondering for a long time how to, & have noticed from the posts of the more advanced students of Thai language on this forum that there is a way to recognise the tone of a Thai word by reading the way it is written.

I can read the words just fine, however have been learning the intonations through practice in the field.

Any tips to get started on learning this process?

Thanx for any advice.

Soundman.

[soundman]

Just a big thankyou for a PM from DavidHouston for pointing my nose in the direction of some very handy information concerning learning of Tones.

And to clear up some confusion about reading Thai script, from my point of view I have been learning a word through everyday speaking, then writing it down - so allready know the tone before learning the written version.

2. The web contains some excellent instruction on how tones emerge from Thai spelling. See, for example, http://www.thai-language.com/?ref=tones. There are also some excellent books which teach tones. One set of small books I highly recommend for practice is the series, ภาษาไทยแบบใหม่. (New Method of Thai Language). There are four volumes in the set which takes the student through basic pronounciation drills. Each book is only 50 baht.

Cheers,

Soundman.

[mangkorn]

I think the best way is to get all the tone rules together, and then make a chart according to way that you yourself would recognize them easily - and make it really big, and post in on your wall(s) where you will see it often during the day. Soon enough, it will all register in your mind.

I split a page in half, one side for rules with tone marks, the other without. Then three blocks for the consonant classes (with live and dead syllables) for each side. Learned it all in a couple of days, like riding a bicycle...

But find your own scheme that suits you best. It's not as difficult as it looks - assuming, of course, that you've already memorized the consonant classes. (There are some easy methods for doing that, also.)

Good luck.

[garro]

Hi soundman a few years back I made a small index card with all the tone rules on it.

It is very worn out now but it has been a great help.

I don't need to use it so much now.

I abbreviated everything to a code I could understand for example;

High consanants

ขฃฉฐถผฝศษสห

-่ low

-้ falling

HC+ งนมยว or Long vowel= RT

HC + กดบ or short vowel = LT

RT = rising tone

LT = low tone

I did this for all the consonant classes.

่Use the card on every word you see and eventually you will internalise these rules and not even need to think about them.

Edited October 1, 2007 by garro

[realthaideal]

Great tips guys. I too am wanting to refine my Thai learning as I've just learned to speak and read on my own. I tend to get tones right, at least relatively to each other, and do business in Thai. But lately either my ear has hit a new level of accuracy, or my tongue has gotten off track. I want to finally memorize the tone rules keep my speech clean. Reading each person's insights into their own learning process really helps me plot my own scheme for processing it. Though some of it seems rote memorization, I want to intellectually understand the reasons for the tones as much as that can be done. Any additional conceptualizations of this is alot of help. Danke.

[taxexile]

i use the system that splits syllables into either alive or dead.

this is the system used by benjawan becker in "thai for beginners" , which is the best book i have come across for learning reading.

a syllable that ends with a short vowel or stop final is always dead syllable.

a syllable that ends with a long vowel or sonorant final is always an alive syllable.

then , in the absence of tone marks the tone rules are as follows. (with my mnemonics for remembering)

mid consonant . alive syllable = mid tone MAM

mid . dead = low tone MDL

high . alive =rising tone HAR

high . dead =low tone HDL

low . alive = mid tone LAM

low (short vwl) . dead = high LDeSH

low (long vwl) . dead = falling LDeLF

the tone rules with tone marks just have to be remembered , again i use silly mnemonics to help.

it should be noted (as an example of true thai logic) that a high class consonant can never give a high tone , and a low consonant can never give a low tone.

Edited October 1, 2007 by taxexile

[soundman]

Thanx to the contibutors on this thread.

I have the information I need to get started. Now just to develop my own learning / remebering system.....

Cheers guys,

Soundman.