Living In Uk

[slippery when wet]

Hello all.

I would like to learn Thai but so far have only learnt a few choice phrases. I was just wondering what is the best method of learning thai by yourself?

I have heard that the best way is to learn the Thai alphabet first, is this true or ios thre a better method.

Thanks slippery

[issanpaul]

Hello all.

I would like to learn Thai but so far have only learnt a few choice phrases. I was just wondering what is the best method of learning thai by yourself?

I have heard that the best way is to learn the Thai alphabet first, is this true or ios thre a better method.

Thanks slippery

Lingauphone PDQ is a good start, available Waterstones about 20 quid (mind you was some years ago maybe have increased since then)

[Buzby]

I am still very much a beginner too and the general consensus, from people I have spoken to and the members of these forums, seems to be that you should try to get away from the transliteration of the language asap.

Have a look around this forum as there is plenty of advice and handy tips.

Here are a few links to some online resources.

http://langhub.com/en-th/component/option,...tpage/Itemid,1/

http://www.omniglot.com/writing/thai.htm

http://www.thai-language.com/default.aspx

http://www.learningthai.com/content/view/14/27/ 'Read with Manee' is really good.

http://www.its4thai.com/ Has 20 free lessons.

All the best and good luck

[undercover]

The best advice I can think of is you must REALLY listen to the way they pronounce the word. ask them to repeat the word and REALLY listen. many farang repeat what they think they have heard and wonder why they are not understood

[WujouMao]

i was too looking at one point to start learning some thai. start from the basics like primary kids seems like a good idea. as we in the western world, our letters are ABC etc and spoken, ai, be, si

so for thai, i'm confused. i have got the thai alphabet trainer v.1.1 and also looked on wiki for help.

the 1st letter of the thai alphabet is ก . that i can handle. but next to that is ก ไก่ which means chicken. so we have gone from 1 letter too 3 letters. what am i learning? the alphabet or names of things?

[JimShortz]

i was too looking at one point to start learning some thai. start from the basics like primary kids seems like a good idea. as we in the western world, our letters are ABC etc and spoken, ai, be, si

so for thai, i'm confused. i have got the thai alphabet trainer v.1.1 and also looked on wiki for help.

the 1st letter of the thai alphabet is ก . that i can handle. but next to that is ก ไก่ which means chicken. so we have gone from 1 letter too 3 letters. what am i learning? the alphabet or names of things?

You're learning the alphabet, but each letter has a name (usually a short word containing that letter). The first letter of the alphabet is gor gai; gor is how you pronounce the letter, whilst gai (meaning chicken) is the name of that letter. It makes a lot of sense once you realise that there are, for example, qiuite a few t's in Thai. When spelling a word out loud it is necessary to name each letter so that the person writing knows exactly which letter you mean.

Have you visited www.learningthai.com a very good place to start finding out more about the language?

Good luck with your learning journey. I'm enjoying mine!

[WujouMao]

someone gave me a link to learnthai.com. it all nice and simplified. 3 colours to show whether its low, middle or high tone [green, orange and red] not that i'm asking if they've made a mistake and all, as its their own language, but on lesson 1, consonants. the last character ฮ นกฮูก its green, but they describe it as a high tone, pronounced as H.

i havent the guts to email them about this, so can any tell me if they have made a mistake, and which is it meant to be, low or high tone

[HYENA]

I have pimsleur Thai but I'm realizing associating with the majority race (non Thai) the dialect is different. I'm thinking of making my own cd for speaking real Thai not book Thai.

[meadish_sweetball]

The Lao dialect continuum varies throughout the entire area (both in Isaan and Laos), and in younger generations, is considerably more influenced by Standard Thai.

If you start on an Isaan project, make sure you research these differences first, or you may end up with having produced a Roi Et phrasebook.

[tgeezer]

someone gave me a link to learnthai.com. it all nice and simplified. 3 colours to show whether its low, middle or high tone [green, orange and red] not that i'm asking if they've made a mistake and all, as its their own language, but on lesson 1, consonants. the last character ฮ นกฮูก its green, but they describe it as a high tone, pronounced as H.

i havent the guts to email them about this, so can any tell me if they have made a mistake, and which is it meant to be, low or high tone

No one is answering because you say high,mid and low tone, the consonants are in classes. ฮ is low class. นกฮูก would be pronounced 3rd, 2nd,= High, falling, following the tone rules.

[subseasteve]

I can speak enough to get by I used to live in Phuket for three years and could only say darling and how much, but since I got away from that place I found a small village where I am the only farang and my Thai just took off, I had no choice but to learn, not one person could speak english, and here I was tryting to build a boat.

Got to put your self in the deep end, only way to comunicate is in thai you will learn fast.