"new" Thai Character Style

[RDN]

I don't know whether to call this is a "font" or just a "style". But I often see products advertised using a "font" that is not the classic Thai font.

For example, the Thai character "raw reua" is shown as "S", and another letter (not sure which) looks like a back-to-front "C".

Can anyone give me a link to more information about this character style?

Thanks.

[meadish_sweetball]

I don't know if any such link exists, but here's my advice:

1. First learn the rules for reading Thai in the basic textbook style properly,

2. Make sure you acquire a large enough vocabulary to be able to read fairly quickly. Write a lot - because it forces you to get into the habit of thinking about where the vowels are and which letters are used in which word... if you know some Sanskrit, like Richard, then you can often figure out which high 'S' should be used, but for those of us that do not have the time or the inclination, the only way is practice...

Once you have learned what the 200 most common words look like, you will be able to increase your reading speed significantly, and eventually you will only get stuck on new Pali/sanskrit derived words.

3. Try to figure out alternative fonts and reading people's handwriting.

I still have difficulties with some fonts despite the fact that I have been able to read Thai for over five years. IMO, you are just causing yourself unneccessary pain in the beginning by trying to learn these fonts prematurely.

If you want to practice with sign fonts despite my advice, try this link

http://www.seasite.niu.edu/Thai/signs/signa.htm

You may need to install fonts in your computer to be able to read the Thai in this site, as they do not use the standard Internet Explorer Thai... You can download the fonts here: http://www.seasite.niu.edu/seasite.htm

The general start page for Thai can be found here: http://www.seasite.niu.edu/Thai/guide.htm

Good luck!

[meadish_sweetball]

Arrrrggh. Bedtime for me.

RDN, sorry about my advice above, just go straight to the site I recommended you - I thought you were Oliver, couldn't quite understand why he would want to go straight from the very basics into advanced fonts. Now everything is little bit clearer, and I will go to bed. Anyway, the Thai section of Seasite is really worth exploring, they have a lot of material, and more is being added.

Cheers,

Meadish

[RDN]

Arrrrggh. Bedtime for me.

RDN, sorry about my advice above, just go straight to the site I recommended you - I thought you were Oliver, couldn't quite understand why he would want to go straight from the very basics into advanced fonts. Now everything is little bit clearer, and I will go to bed. Anyway, the Thai section of Seasite is really worth exploring, they have a lot of material, and more is being added.

Cheers,

Meadish 

Thanks Meadish! I got the link to "SEAsite" in another post in the language forum and I was going to have a good browse later. But I have been wanting to learn these new character styles ever since I tried to buy "Breeze" washing powder, and all I could find was something labelled "USA" .

Cheers - RDN

[Richard W]

For example, the Thai character "raw reua" is shown as "S", and another letter (not sure which) looks like a back-to-front "C".

Can anyone give me a link to more information about this character style?

If it's any help, one of the fonts like this that you might have on your PC is LilyUPC. However, it's not obscure as the variant used on a magazine I have in front of me, ชีวิต Maya / ชีวิตรัก.

[RDN]

For example, the Thai character "raw reua" is shown as "S", and another letter (not sure which) looks like a back-to-front "C".

Can anyone give me a link to more information about this character style?

If it's any help, one of the fonts like this that you might have on your PC is LilyUPC. However, it's not obscure as the variant used on a magazine I have in front of me, ชีวิต Maya / ชีวิตรัก.

Thanks RichardW, I just tried typing Thai characters using the on-screen keyboard after changing the language bar to Thai, and changing the font in Notepad to LilyUPC. I got those new style characters OK, and determined that the backwards "C" is a "waw waen", "ว".

Now to create a conversion table....

[yim noi]

I think you mean you want a font comparison chart:

http://www.learningthai.com/thaifonts.html

[RDN]

I think you mean you want a font comparison chart:

http://www.learningthai.com/thaifonts.html

Perfect! Thanks so much, yim noi.

[Totster]

I think you mean you want a font comparison chart:

http://www.learningthai.com/thaifonts.html

Yim Noi... that's very helpful for me too .. good link

totster

[RDN]

Yim Noi... that's very helpful for me too .. good link

totster 

Sawasdee krup, Totster. So, is your name Denny?

Oops, not "Denny", but "Danny"!

Edited September 8, 2004 by RDN

[Spee]

Can anyone give me a link to more information about this character style?

If you want hard copy, the dictionary mentioned in an earlier post, from Benjawan Poomsan Becker, also has several pages dedicated to commonly used thai fonts.

[RDN]

Can anyone give me a link to more information about this character style?

If you want hard copy, the dictionary mentioned in an earlier post, from Benjawan Poomsan Becker, also has several pages dedicated to commonly used thai fonts.

Thanks - I'll have a look in SEED tomorrow!

Edited:

Found it - excellent!! Exactly what I was looking for - a 'must' for everyone still learning the alphabet and increasing their vocabulary.

Edited September 10, 2004 by RDN