A Complete Idiot Start To Learn To Read Thai

[TommyDee]

Ok, I am not a COMPLETE idiot, but as far as thai reading or the tones is concerned i am the ultimate starter. I had looked at varius cd, dvd and book course and even school but they were either way to demanding, to fast or to complicated. So last week i started the couse that is advertised all over this website. you know the one, " read thai in seven minutes" or very similar. in fact if you open pretty much any thread.. its there, trying to coax you into buying it.

First I opened the link and of course gave my email address ( a false one) to get in and take a peak.

within a few mins I was hooked. wow can it really be that simple?

Like a lamb to slaughter i entered the credit card details a few days later and decided that.. if it works or not, it was gonna become a project for me.

first of all, TRULY, I have no involvement with the people that sell it or made it, i am simply " the guy" who coughts up the dough to try to begin to understand the language of my hosts. I have been told numerous times that unless you can read it, you cant talk it. within the first few days I suddenly realised that that is so true. See you have to UNDERSTAND the rudiments of the grammar of a language before you can speak it. Thai is almost a code more than a language. to read it requires more of a decoding than a translation, and is similar in some ways to a sudoku puzzle.

Today is Day 5 of studying. I have studied for about 5 hours. I am at the very beginning. I can read about 7 consanants and 7 vowels. I play a game in the traffic with the car number plates, trying to recognise the letters. it actually works and beats the boredom of the traffic lights being at a constant red. I am doing tone exercises and have a daughter who smirks at me because I have a kids writing book from the 7 which is labelled 3+ years.

I have goals,

to be able to know all the alphabet in 3 months

to be able to read ( not necessarily understand) within 6 months

to be able to speak with the correct ones and inflections within 6 months

to no longer get the "huh" or screwed up face look when I attempt to talk thai to thais

will it work? who knows. but i am gonna give it one hell of a try. I am gonna use it as a feature later on the radio too. I consider myself one of the 90% of wannatalks who have a smattering of words with 0 tone understanding, no reading ability ( I stand at the toilets in the country waiting to see if a man or woman goes left or right so i dont end up in the wrong stall) and the guy who has tried and failed to talk thai with a "thai" only to find that they choose to speak Lao.

Onward and upwards Tommy. IF anyone is interested in the outcome I will post as I progress, if not. well it will be my secret

regards

tommy d

Edited August 16, 2011 by TommyDee

[craigt3365]

I would love to hear your progress!

Signed,

A Lazy Farang

P.S. You give me inspiration!!!!!

[TommyDee]

I would love to hear your progress!

Signed,

A Lazy Farang

P.S. You give me inspiration!!!!!

[sbk]

Moving this to Thai language forum where I am sure you will get loads of support and similar experiences.

[beano2274]

What is the name of the software? And what books are you using?

Am a complete numbnuts when it comes to learning Thai, I learned German up to an advanced level in one year, but Thai seems to scare me to death.

Maybe it was because a previous GF had the nickname Phet (Diamond), but I said it like spicy and everyone laughed

it made me feel less confident.

[Wallaby]

Good on you Tommy, definitely keep us informed of progress. If you can do it I will follow suit.

[craigt3365]

What is the name of the software? And what books are you using?

Am a complete numbnuts when it comes to learning Thai, I learned German up to an advanced level in one year, but Thai seems to scare me to death.

Maybe it was because a previous GF had the nickname Phet (Diamond), but I said it like spicy and everyone laughed

it made me feel less confident.

Or they thought you were calling her a duck (also Phet!).

[sbk]

Don't let a bit of laughter get you down, I have always taken it to be good hearted and kept on slogging on. I like the idea of reading license plates except, well, seems a bit dangerous if moving! Although I guess if you are stuck in Bangkok traffic you won't be moving too fast.

A friend of mine also suggested reading menus. Additionally, se-ed bookstore has childrens books in English and Thai, its meant to teach Thai kids English vocabulary but it works great in reverse too.

[Jebhead]

See you have to UNDERSTAND the rudiments of the grammar of a language before you can speak it.

Firstly, i wish you the best of luck. However i have to disagree with above, i am sure there are many BM here who speak fluently without ever having had lessons or looked at a book. It all depends on how involved it is in your lifestyle, if you're amongst the locals on a daily basis at work, you will soon learn the spoken language.

Having goals is good but some it may take months, others years to learn.

Kids are great to learn from.

That's my 2 cents...

JH

[Crushdepth]

I learned to read Thai from a book. Took me about 3 months to get good enough to read signs and menus, but it is quite handy. To progress beyond that you really need to expand your vocabulary though. Speaking Thai is a different issue, but being able to read will help you a lot in figuring out the correct pronunciation.

[beano2274]

I learned to read Thai from a book. Took me about 3 months to get good enough to read signs and menus, but it is quite handy. To progress beyond that you really need to expand your vocabulary though. Speaking Thai is a different issue, but being able to read will help you a lot in figuring out the correct pronunciation.

What book did you use?

[Jebhead]

I learned to read Thai from a book. Took me about 3 months to get good enough to read signs and menus, but it is quite handy. To progress beyond that you really need to expand your vocabulary though. Speaking Thai is a different issue, but being able to read will help you a lot in figuring out the correct pronunciation.

3 months, that's very impressive, can you advise what book (s) you used and recommend. I could imagine how easy it would be to read Thai, even the basics and am very interested in this.

Thanks

JH

[ozzieovaseas]

One of the best guys to get inspiration from here (Tod Daniels) still seems to be absent from the forums nowadays, so i hope he will not mind me passing the ball and pasteing the table below that he came up with in an earlier thread. ( at least i think it was from Todd)

I find stuff like this handy anyway as it seems the more many and varied sources you can learn different things from the better

the 21 different consonants:

6x T ; ฐ, ฑ, ฒ, ท, ธ, ถ

5x K ; ข, ฃ, ค, ฅ, ฆ

4x S ; ซ, ศ, ษ, ส

3x P ; ผ, พ, ภ

3x Ch ; ฉ, ช, ฌ

2x D ; ฎ ด

2x Y ; ญ ย

2x N ; ฌ น

2x H ; ห ฮ

2x L ; ล ฬ

2x F ; ฟ ฝ

2x dt ; ต ฏ

1x G ; ก

1x ng ; ง

1x J ; จ

1x B ; บ

1x bp ป

1x M ; ม

1x R ; ร

1x W ; ว

1x Silent ; อ

There are only 9 middle consonants; ก จ ด ฎ ต ฏ บ ป อ These are very easy to remember as it's all of the G's, J's, D's, dt's, B's and P's, plus the silent consonant. I already had the relationships between the G and J, the D's and dt's, the B's and P's in my head so I only had to remember 4 important points to learn all 9 middle consonants.

High consonants are these 11; ข ฃ ฉ ฐ ถ ผ ฝ ส ษ ศ ห These are much trickier to learn but once you have done then by deduction you already know that whatever is left after this are the 24 low consonants.

[bifftastic]

See you have to UNDERSTAND the rudiments of the grammar of a language before you can speak it.

Firstly, i wish you the best of luck. However i have to disagree with above, i am sure there are many BM here who speak fluently without ever having had lessons or looked at a book. It all depends on how involved it is in your lifestyle, if you're amongst the locals on a daily basis at work, you will soon learn the spoken language.

Having goals is good but some it may take months, others years to learn.

Kids are great to learn from.

That's my 2 cents...

JH

However you do it, you will understand the rudiments of grammar before you can speak

That may be from a book, it may be from listening or reading online or hearing people speak.

Most likely a combination of everything.

Whatever works, go with it

[Tonto21]

Hi 'TommyDee' I know what you mean, I've been here in Thailand for a bit now and had several failed attempts at learning to talk Thai. 4 weeks ago I tried a new approach and started to learn to read and write it; with a-jaanLah……..I love it! Fantastic, credit to my teacher, I am a bonehead! I've now learnt the consonants, vowels and tone rules….I am now at the 'transfer tonerules' stage, (all very well but I still make a noise like a dogs squeaky toy when you stand on it when attempting to read a Thai word) I am full of pride, my teacher says I'm reading Thai a pre-school level……..Then smiles, and laughs....At me!….Ha ha!

I also do the number plate thing, and I carry a small bag with all the consonants and vowels on squires of cardboard on one side and what

they are on the other. If I get a spare moment I 'whip-it-out' and do some home

work.

If I may make one suggestion, don't learn the consonants in order they are laid out……Learn them in their class order……..Middle, High and low, it will save you some grief in the long run because of the tone rules.

Keep it up, and yes I also have been told on many occasions that learning to read and write will very much enhance and help you speak better Thai.

Again good luck.

Edited August 17, 2011 by Tonto21

[RickBradford]

A couple of observations about reading Thai:

1) To learn to read, you have to read, not necessarily absorb a vast number of 'rules' of Thai orthography. That implies building up your vocabulary at the same time. I have been criticised for this approach, but it seems to me to be quicker to become familiar with and learn words like เศรษฐกิจ or อย่างงงงวย rather than memorising rules as to where to interpose vowels or word boundaries.

2) Try to learn at a level slightly above where you feel you are at the present -- just throwing yourself in at the deep end (reading the Thai constitution, for example) is likely to be dull and discouraging for a beginner. Cartoon books (Doraemon, for example) are a good start, the newspapers represent a significant step up.

[dean999]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nlw4NJdnNE

I have learn't about 30 letters so for. I watched the vid i have posted and it makes me quite frustrated. But I thought i would post it cause tonto21 talked about tone rules. Its a good vid for that.
My wife is teaching me and my progress is starting to get a lot slower, because i think i will never get the hang of the tone rules and changing letters ect. I suppose i thought i would be doing a lot better than i am and am getting fed up.

[dean999]

What we need is a Thai version of this. Start from about 43 seconds. Might keep me more focused.

[Tonto21]

i

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nlw4NJdnNE

I have learn't about 30 letters so for. I watched the vid i have posted and it makes me quite frustrated. But I thought i would post it cause tonto21 talked about tone rules. Its a good vid for that.

My wife is teaching me and my progress is starting to get a lot slower, because i think i will never get the hang of the tone rules and changing letters ect. I suppose i thought i would be doing a lot better than i am and am getting fed up.

'dean999'…..Mate, I'm not surprised you get confused, I think to get an understanding of this clip you would need, maybe 4 or 5 1.5 hour lessons and a shit load of revision. Plus Thai G/F, wife's …….bless them, the problem there is because they are Thai we think they have all the answers. To start with they are not language teacher, nor do they understand what you're going though. My G/F is an educated woman……But she drive me <deleted> nuts when I askher a simple question, her answer just don't cut it. Not her fault……You need agood teacher mate.

Don't give up, learning the grammar rules, they are easy…….Itthe putting them it to together…."live, dead' final stop, middle, high or low class consonant. I'll say it again….Learn the consonants in class order. Start with Middle, and then high, finally low. Start there, then the vowels and tone rules.

Personally I couldn't make head or tail of the written Thai language from a book, now with a teacher, (one I get on with, we click) "hey, look at me, I'm learning to read and write Thai"

Happy hunting.

Edited August 17, 2011 by Tonto21

[dean999]

i

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nlw4NJdnNE

I have learn't about 30 letters so for. I watched the vid i have posted and it makes me quite frustrated. But I thought i would post it cause tonto21 talked about tone rules. Its a good vid for that.

My wife is teaching me and my progress is starting to get a lot slower, because i think i will never get the hang of the tone rules and changing letters ect. I suppose i thought i would be doing a lot better than i am and am getting fed up.

'dean999'…..Mate, I'm not surprised you get confused, I think to get an understanding of this clip you would need, maybe 4 or 5 1.5 hour lessons and a shit load of revision. Plus Thai G/F, wife's …….bless them, the problem there is because they are Thai we think they have all the answers. To start with they are not language teacher, nor do they understand what you're going though. My G/F is an educated woman……But she drive me <deleted> nuts when I askher a simple question, her answer just don't cut it. Not her fault……You need agood teacher mate.

Don't give up, learning the grammar rules, they are easy…….Itthe putting them it to together…."live, dead' final stop, middle, high or low class consonant. I'll say it again….Learn the consonants in class order. Start with Middle, and then high, finally low. Start there, then the vowels and tone rules.

Personally I couldn't make head or tail of the written Thai language from a book, now with a teacher, (one I get on with, we click) "hey, look at me, I'm learning to read and write Thai"

Happy hunting.

I totally agree about the Thai g/f, wife comment. I ask my wife a question and she frustrates me more. My wife must really hate me sometimes. I'm learning Thai, giving up smoking at the same time. She must hate answering my questions. I do try to make up for it after though and she understands. Good job really.

I am working in Belgium at the mo and finding a Thai teacher would be impossible here. There are no Thai shops where i am, let alone Thai teachers; so i have to rely on my wife.

Thank you for the advice. I will take it up and learn the middle, high and low order of each. I nearly know all the words now (reading and writing them), I'll just start saying them in there class group.

Thank you again.:jap:

[keo]

You can learn to read without learning the tone rules. I didn't learn the tone rules, just tried to memorise the tone of each word. Over time I can now work out the tone of new words quite accurately, somehow!

[dean999]

One of the best guys to get inspiration from here (Tod Daniels) still seems to be absent from the forums nowadays, so i hope he will not mind me passing the ball and pasteing the table below that he came up with in an earlier thread. ( at least i think it was from Todd)

I find stuff like this handy anyway as it seems the more many and varied sources you can learn different things from the better

the 21 different consonants:

6x T ; ฐ, ฑ, ฒ, ท, ธ, ถ

5x K ; ข, ฃ, ค, ฅ, ฆ

4x S ; ซ, ศ, ษ, ส

3x P ; ผ, พ, ภ

3x Ch ; ฉ, ช, ฌ

2x D ; ฎ ด

2x Y ; ญ ย

2x N ; ณ น

2x H ; ห ฮ

2x L ; ล ฬ

2x F ; ฟ ฝ

2x dt ; ต ฏ

1x G ; ก

1x ng ; ง

1x J ; จ

1x B ; บ

1x bp ป

1x M ; ม

1x R ; ร

1x W ; ว

1x Silent ; อ

There are only 9 middle consonants; ก จ ด ฎ ต ฏ บ ป อ These are very easy to remember as it's all of the G's, J's, D's, dt's, B's and P's, plus the silent consonant. I already had the relationships between the G and J, the D's and dt's, the B's and P's in my head so I only had to remember 4 important points to learn all 9 middle consonants.

High consonants are these 11; ข ฃ ฉ ฐ ถ ผ ฝ ส ษ ศ ห These are much trickier to learn but once you have done then by deduction you already know that whatever is left after this are the 24 low consonants.

I have highlighted one I have changed, because he put chor choe ฌ, when it should of been nor nen ณ.

[Tonto21]

One of the best guys to get inspiration from here (Tod Daniels) still seems to be absent from the forums nowadays, so i hope he will not mind me passing the ball and pasteing the table below that he came up with in an earlier thread. ( at least i think it was from Todd)

I find stuff like this handy anyway as it seems the more many and varied sources you can learn different things from the better

the 21 different consonants:

6x T ; ฐ, ฑ, ฒ, ท, ธ, ถ

5x K ; ข, ฃ, ค, ฅ, ฆ

4x S ; ซ, ศ, ษ, ส

3x P ; ผ, พ, ภ

3x Ch ; ฉ, ช, ฌ

2x D ; ฎ ด

2x Y ; ญ ย

2x N ; ฌ น

2x H ; ห ฮ

2x L ; ล ฬ

2x F ; ฟ ฝ

2x dt ; ต ฏ

1x G ; ก

1x ng ; ง

1x J ; จ

1x B ; บ

1x bp ป

1x M ; ม

1x R ; ร

1x W ; ว

1x Silent ; อ

There are only 9 middle consonants; ก จ ด ฎ ต ฏ บ ป อ These are very easy to remember as it's all of the G's, J's, D's, dt's, B's and P's, plus the silent consonant. I already had the relationships between the G and J, the D's and dt's, the B's and P's in my head so I only had to remember 4 important points to learn all 9 middle consonants.

High consonants are these 11; ข ฃ ฉ ฐ ถ ผ ฝ ส ษ ศ ห These are much trickier to learn but once you have done then by deduction you already know that whatever is left after this are the 24 low consonants.

Ok, can someone explain how learning the consonants in this way is of any use?I feel at best knowing the above may win you a ‘cheese’ on ‘TrivialPursuit’ one day.

I may well be wrong, but to me learning this does little to help read and write Thai. Knowing for example there are 6 T's, does very little for you. You can't just put a T any where you like when reading or writing Thai.

The consonants are in classes and knowing which class a consonants is in, is one way to determine the tone.

6x T ; ฐ…..High Class. ฑ, ฒ, ท, ธ, ถ………Low class

5x K ; ข…….High class. ฃ, ค, ฅ, ฆ……..Low class

4x S ; ซ…….Low class. ศ, ษ, ส…..Highclass

3x P ; ผ……High class พ, ภ…….Low class…And so on.

I would really appreciate someone explaining to me, why this is useful. Isee it as a distraction and a waist of learning time and resources.

Edited August 19, 2011 by Tonto21

[dean999]

One of the best guys to get inspiration from here (Tod Daniels) still seems to be absent from the forums nowadays, so i hope he will not mind me passing the ball and pasteing the table below that he came up with in an earlier thread. ( at least i think it was from Todd)

I find stuff like this handy anyway as it seems the more many and varied sources you can learn different things from the better

the 21 different consonants:

6x T ; ฐ, ฑ, ฒ, ท, ธ, ถ

5x K ; ข, ฃ, ค, ฅ, ฆ

4x S ; ซ, ศ, ษ, ส

3x P ; ผ, พ, ภ

3x Ch ; ฉ, ช, ฌ

2x D ; ฎ ด

2x Y ; ญ ย

2x N ; ฌ น

2x H ; ห ฮ

2x L ; ล ฬ

2x F ; ฟ ฝ

2x dt ; ต ฏ

1x G ; ก

1x ng ; ง

1x J ; จ

1x B ; บ

1x bp ป

1x M ; ม

1x R ; ร

1x W ; ว

1x Silent ; อ

There are only 9 middle consonants; ก จ ด ฎ ต ฏ บ ป อ These are very easy to remember as it's all of the G's, J's, D's, dt's, B's and P's, plus the silent consonant. I already had the relationships between the G and J, the D's and dt's, the B's and P's in my head so I only had to remember 4 important points to learn all 9 middle consonants.

High consonants are these 11; ข ฃ ฉ ฐ ถ ผ ฝ ส ษ ศ ห These are much trickier to learn but once you have done then by deduction you already know that whatever is left after this are the 24 low consonants.

Ok, can someone explain how learning the consonants in this way is of any use?I feel at best knowing the above may win you a 'cheese' on 'TrivialPursuit' one day.

I may well be wrong, but to me learning this does little to help read and write Thai. Knowing for example there are 6 T's, does very little for you. You can't just put a T any where you like when reading or writing Thai.

The consonants are in classes and knowing which class a consonants is in, is one way to determine the tone.

6x T ; ฐ…..High Class. ฑ, ฒ, ท, ธ, ถ………Low class

5x K ; ข…….High class. ฃ, ค, ฅ, ฆ……..Low class

4x S ; ซ…….Low class. ศ, ษ, ส…..Highclass

3x P ; ผ……High class พ, ภ…….Low class…And so on.

I would really appreciate someone explaining to me, why this is useful. Isee it as a distraction and a waist of learning time and resources.

I read an explanation in another post a why'll ago. Basically they were saying, you could use that to learn the sounds quicker, but not the whole word. So rather than learning one whole letter Khor Khai, you would just learn the first part Khor and which other words start with Khor. Someone being very lazy, i think.

Its not about sound class.

I'll try and find the proper explanation.

Link - explanation

Edited August 19, 2011 by dean999

[Tonto21]

One of the best guys to get inspiration from here (Tod Daniels) still seems to be absent from the forums nowadays, so i hope he will not mind me passing the ball and pasteing the table below that he came up with in an earlier thread. ( at least i think it was from Todd)

I find stuff like this handy anyway as it seems the more many and varied sources you can learn different things from the better

the 21 different consonants:

6x T ; ฐ, ฑ, ฒ, ท, ธ, ถ

5x K ; ข, ฃ, ค, ฅ, ฆ

4x S ; ซ, ศ, ษ, ส

3x P ; ผ, พ, ภ

3x Ch ; ฉ, ช, ฌ

2x D ; ฎ ด

2x Y ; ญ ย

2x N ; ฌ น

2x H ; ห ฮ

2x L ; ล ฬ

2x F ; ฟ ฝ

2x dt ; ต ฏ

1x G ; ก

1x ng ; ง

1x J ; จ

1x B ; บ

1x bp ป

1x M ; ม

1x R ; ร

1x W ; ว

1x Silent ; อ

There are only 9 middle consonants; ก จ ด ฎ ต ฏ บ ป อ These are very easy to remember as it's all of the G's, J's, D's, dt's, B's and P's, plus the silent consonant. I already had the relationships between the G and J, the D's and dt's, the B's and P's in my head so I only had to remember 4 important points to learn all 9 middle consonants.

High consonants are these 11; ข ฃ ฉ ฐ ถ ผ ฝ ส ษ ศ ห These are much trickier to learn but once you have done then by deduction you already know that whatever is left after this are the 24 low consonants.

Ok, can someone explain how learning the consonants in this way is of any use? I feel at best knowing the above may win you a 'cheese' on 'TrivialPursuit' one day.

I may well be wrong, but to me learning this does little to help read and write Thai. Knowing for example there are 6 T's, does very little for you. You can't just put a T any where you like when reading or writing Thai.

The consonants are in classes and knowing which class a consonants is in, is one way to determine the tone.

6x T ; ฐ…..High Class. ฑ, ฒ, ท, ธ, ถ………Low class

5x K ; ข…….High class. ฃ, ค, ฅ, ฆ……..Low class

4x S ; ซ…….Low class. ศ, ษ, ส…..Highclass

3x P ; ผ……High class พ, ภ…….Low class…And so on.

I would really appreciate someone explaining to me, why this is useful. Isee it as a distraction and a waist of learning time and resources.

I read an explanation in another post a why'll ago. Basically they were saying, you could use that to learn the sounds quicker, but not the whole word. So rather than learning one whole letter Khor Khai, you would just learn the first part Khor and which other words start with Khor. Someone being very lazy, i think.

Its not about sound class.

I'll try and find the proper explanation.

Link - explanation

Thanks 'dean999' I see what's being said, I understand, but feel it's a long winded way of doing it. After all, one would have to learn the characters to put the relevant sound too, why not just learn the character and sound/letter…IE; ก gaw gai…(g) middle class consonant……and be done.

OK, I know we are all different, but one think I've learnt so far, there are no short cuts to learning to read and write Thai, you have to get all the basics sorted, and lots of repetition work.

Edited August 19, 2011 by Tonto21

[dean999]

One of the best guys to get inspiration from here (Tod Daniels) still seems to be absent from the forums nowadays, so i hope he will not mind me passing the ball and pasteing the table below that he came up with in an earlier thread. ( at least i think it was from Todd)

I find stuff like this handy anyway as it seems the more many and varied sources you can learn different things from the better

the 21 different consonants:

6x T ; ฐ, ฑ, ฒ, ท, ธ, ถ

5x K ; ข, ฃ, ค, ฅ, ฆ

4x S ; ซ, ศ, ษ, ส

3x P ; ผ, พ, ภ

3x Ch ; ฉ, ช, ฌ

2x D ; ฎ ด

2x Y ; ญ ย

2x N ; ฌ น

2x H ; ห ฮ

2x L ; ล ฬ

2x F ; ฟ ฝ

2x dt ; ต ฏ

1x G ; ก

1x ng ; ง

1x J ; จ

1x B ; บ

1x bp ป

1x M ; ม

1x R ; ร

1x W ; ว

1x Silent ; อ

There are only 9 middle consonants; ก จ ด ฎ ต ฏ บ ป อ These are very easy to remember as it's all of the G's, J's, D's, dt's, B's and P's, plus the silent consonant. I already had the relationships between the G and J, the D's and dt's, the B's and P's in my head so I only had to remember 4 important points to learn all 9 middle consonants.

High consonants are these 11; ข ฃ ฉ ฐ ถ ผ ฝ ส ษ ศ ห These are much trickier to learn but once you have done then by deduction you already know that whatever is left after this are the 24 low consonants.

Ok, can someone explain how learning the consonants in this way is of any use? I feel at best knowing the above may win you a 'cheese' on 'TrivialPursuit' one day.

I may well be wrong, but to me learning this does little to help read and write Thai. Knowing for example there are 6 T's, does very little for you. You can't just put a T any where you like when reading or writing Thai.

The consonants are in classes and knowing which class a consonants is in, is one way to determine the tone.

6x T ; ฐ…..High Class. ฑ, ฒ, ท, ธ, ถ………Low class

5x K ; ข…….High class. ฃ, ค, ฅ, ฆ……..Low class

4x S ; ซ…….Low class. ศ, ษ, ส…..Highclass

3x P ; ผ……High class พ, ภ…….Low class…And so on.

I would really appreciate someone explaining to me, why this is useful. Isee it as a distraction and a waist of learning time and resources.

I read an explanation in another post a why'll ago. Basically they were saying, you could use that to learn the sounds quicker, but not the whole word. So rather than learning one whole letter Khor Khai, you would just learn the first part Khor and which other words start with Khor. Someone being very lazy, i think.

Its not about sound class.

I'll try and find the proper explanation.

Link - explanation

Thanks 'dean999' I see what's being said, I understand, but feel it's a long winded way of doing it. After all, one would have to learn the characters to put the relevant sound too, why not just learn the character and sound/letter…IE; ก gaw gai…(g) middle class consonant……and be done.

OK, I know we are all different, but one think I've learnt so far, there are no short cuts to learning to read and write Thai, you have to get all the basics sorted, and lots of repetition work.

Thats what i tell people aswell. About short cuts. You will end up being confussed and wrong.

[Richard W]

High consonants are these 11; ข ฃ ฉ ฐ ถ ผ ฝ ส ษ ศ ห These are much trickier to learn but once you have done then by deduction you already know that whatever is left after this are the 24 low consonants.

You can also learn the classes by lining up the letters from ก to ม in alphabetical order as 5 rows of 8 characters, with gaps:

(1) For the missing consonants for the /g/ and /j/ sounds (what are commonly presented as /g/ and /j/ would actually be /gk/ and /jch/ if consistent notation were used)

(2) Where the three high consonants for /s/ would go (the order is the same, but vertically rather than horizontally).

(3) Two gaps because there is only one low consonant for /s/.

You will then find that consonants in the same column have properties in common, such as tone class.

For an encore, you could then line up the next four letters in a ninth column.

[Tonto21]

Well, it's clear we all tend to have different approaches to learning Thai. As we are talking about the consonants, I'll tell you how I learnt them.

First I learnt the middle class. I started by writing each character one by one in order and say aloud as I wrote them…Then visualizing them and repeating them,and so on. No problem learnt the middle class in about two days, now the high class.

Boy did I struggle leaning the high class, it would not go in, took me near a week to get them.

Then I had to learn the low class….This looked a daunting task, as I had struggled with the high class consonants.

Then I remembered hearing a of learning technique, 'association'

You may have heard of it, if not this is how it works; I make a connecting story tread.Low class consonants.

ค, Kaw Kwaai, (a buffalo stood in a field)

ม, Kaw Ra-kang, (a bell around the buffalo's neck)

ง, Ngaw ngoo, (near the buffalo in the grass is a snake)

ช, Chaw Chaang, (there is an elephant stood there as well)

ซ, Saw So, (the elephant is chained to a tree)

ฌ, Chaw ga-cheuh, (the tree, the elephant is chained too)

And…….so on, when making up the thread, visualize the story. As another example, Low class; I will take this image to the grave with me and it took less than a minute to memorize…….A monkey driving a speed boat, wearing a gold ring while flying a kite with a picture of an owl on it! There are 5 characters there……ร ล ว ฬ ฮ.

Start with writing the first character and start you own story in your head,write 2 or 3 characters then go back to the start and re-write the characters re-telling the story again, keep adding 2 to 3 characters at a time, keep re-enforcing by going back to the start. It is very important that you visualize the story you're telling!

Using the above method it took less than an afternoon, I'd say no more than a hour sat at my desk, I'd do 10 minutes, then get up and do something else….Then back again, another 10 minutes, and so on.

This worked so well for me; maybe it will work for anyone who is struggling with remembering the consonants.

Good luck. :jap:

Edited August 20, 2011 by Tonto21

[Richard W]

I'd just like to add, that although there is the 5 by 9 periodic table of the consonants, as with chemical elements it makes sense to learn the commonest consonants first. I would however recommend that the learner be made aware of the two functionally equivalent ways of creating new consonants from old, namely adding a dent or stretching the end.

[JulietLima]

Tommy, I strongly recommend you to pursue your Thai learning in this way: learning to speak, read, and write at the same time. You cannot pronounce correctly Thai words otherwise. I did learn Thai in three months, by myself. I have seen many farangs learning Thai with transliteration. The result: they don't make the difference between มา (maa), ม้า (maa'), หมา (maa~). Finally they have an incomprehensible conversation (if conversation there is), after 10 years.