A Complete Idiot Start To Learn To Read Thai

[Anyse]

I have not seen one REFERENCE yet! I am using its4thai.com to learn how to read Thai and it is a very good program and inexpensive. 2 courses and 60 lessons that make you work! Also, at http://howtolearnthai.com/thai-alphabet-flash-cards/, you can get cards for BOTH the vowels and consonants at, I think, $6US, each. I bought 2 sets of each as I am doing some wierd things with mine that require 2 sets. I take out the consonants and vowels that I am learning at its4thai.com and work with them. I do not want to have to rely on any transliteration system to learn to speak or read Thai as such a crutch only inhibits learning the language more directly and more quickly.

If anyone is interested in "teaming up" to learn Thai reading and writing, I would be happy to do so as it would give us practice and work in learning better. My name is Anyse and I live in Phuket.

Edited August 21, 2011 by Anyse

[fancyking]

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!).

[fancyking]

For me to speak thai long time but to read thai just with in 3 hours I swear

[leosmith]

I did learn Thai in three months, by myself.

So you didn't talk to anybody? What level did you learn Thai to in 3 months? Could you read and understand novels and newspapers? Could you understand the news and movies?

[tgeezer]

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

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

With the greatest respect to everybody, don't do this. Try to forget the English as soon as possible.

Write it like this;

คอ ควาย ko kwai . "A buffalo stood in the field" is the picture - you are supposed to hear ควาย and see a buffalo.

ฆอ ระฆัง ko ra'kang' . You are now supposed to see a bell in your minds eye, don't say 'bell' if you can avoid it.

Later you will not see the English ra'kang either.

In order to do this it is best to use the children's book กอ ไก่ , try to understand the little rhyme which goes with the letter .

There is plenty to achieve in this one little book.

The problem with this approach is it seems that you cannot express your innermost thoughts quickly enough.

Edit: I have just looked at my ก ไก่ and the mine says คอ ควาย เข้านา and shows a buffalo pulling something in a field. เข้านา has to be interpreted it means enter field, I think it shows that the animal enters fields for a purpose rather than อยู่ไนนา, in other words does'n't live there in the field. Or it could mean that ควาย and นา should be thought of as a pair.

My ระฆัง is ข้าง-ฝา beside-wall and is the sort of bell you might find in a temple, there is brickwork behind it so I suppose it means wall in the sense of partition.

NB. The words should not have ' -' between them, I do it to distinguish between words.

Look at all the things learned there, noun preposition noun.

Hope that I am not boring you.

Edited September 4, 2011 by tgeezer

[KunMatt]

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.

Yeah it was me that originally wrote this text. I just found that approach worked for me because this way I only have to remember a few points, instead of each letter seperately being which class. Other people no doubt use different methods or patterns.

It only worked for me because I had learned the alphabet first (took about a week) and then later decided I should learn the class rules. It was only through this process I found I could then associate the letters to a class, i.e. I knew all of the alphabet already and in my head the letters ก and จ, ด and ต ฎ and ฏ, บ and ป, all have a relationship to each other like they are paired, so I just had to remember that G/J, D/dT and B/bP plus the silent are all middle consonants. 4 things to remember to know all of the Middle consonants. Same sort of thing for the Highs and everything left over that I haven't mapped out in my head must be low which is lucky because it is also the majoritory of the letters!

Similarly I just found a way of remembering what was easiest for me on the Tone Rules chart attached

For tone marks I just remember that ่ and ้ are the same tone for middle and high consonants. So just two things to remember there.

๊ and ๋ are quite rare only ever used for middle consonants, figure out your own mnemonic for remembering them but for me ๊ looks like a bong, and bongs get people high so that is always used for a high tone. ๋ looks like a volume increase symbol on a remote control which increases/rises the sound, so this is always used to a rising tone.

So that just leaves learning what tone ่ and ้ make when used with low consonants.

I'm really in no position to try and teach anyone anything, just sharing the silly ways I remembered the Thai alphabet and tones. I remember another thread where (I think Todd Daniels again) was talking about the mnemonics he uses for the word and it's tone, i.e. Tiger jumps up, Shit falls down, etc, when I get better at Thai I will use this method too!

[TommyDee]

OK... MY UPDATE...

I USE HIGH SPEED THAI..

Firstly I delayed the start as my daughter was here for the summer and we didnt have time, I have three sources of learning;

1..High speed Thai, advertised all over Thaivisa

2.. my book which my daughter wet herself laughing at because it says 3 yrs and up on the cover

3.. a few well spoken thais who understand their language

the good parts about the course; they use a system called ANKI which provides you with daily tests and reminders based on your personal learning level, very clever and well thought out, well pronounced and explained. you wake up to a growing list of reminders and tests that appear on your screen. from day one you are building a vocabulary and learning letters. I have always had a problem with tones, as many of us have. the lessons are NOT good to start with because once again they are dependant on oral examples, but then I came to a page with a graph which has, for the first time ever, explained the tones perfectly. using it I am getting better.

Like a child I am now recogniising letters and can read simple words ( very simple), I also use car number plates in the traffic as a reminder too. I have learned the reasons why "what you hear in thai conversation is NOT what they are saying" and in the first day I found out why I have problems with repeating what they say in real life.

I have been a little naughty twice and tried to skip ahead ( I always know better ) only to find that that doesnt work. an example was that I thought learning all the vowels first was a cool idea. its not. the rules of reading and grammar need to be carefully adhered to otherwise you will end up with a pile of letters that you can read individually but in practice cannot comprehend as a word or sentence. I am also finding out that the Thai language is more a code than a language when written, it needs to be decoded to read it.. and that explains why local nationals take ages to read what we think is a simple sign or advert. the fact that there are numerous FONTS used in advertising DOESNT HELP, in fact I am choosing to ignore all but the basic fonts right now.

I dont have thai in my pc, but an example of their learning style is the same as children here..and it works.. you dont forget!!!!! ( example.. Gor Gai has a "g" sound.. Dtor Dtek has Dt sound). its a challenge to learn and remember as you get older but the thing is that you can go at your own speed.

The Bad parts

firstly..ME I am lazy and dont have a lot of time, I have to make myself work on this daily! If i had classes i would be obliged to keep up and attend.

the EBook ( pdf file) is a pain to manage. I could print it out if I wanted to print a ream of pages and probably will but in the PC you cant make notes and mark pages. I have to keep a list on the desk.. ( example.. I am up to page 43.. have a look at this on page 23). Its not terrible but takes a lot to get used to.

Conclusion so far:

I have about 25 letters down pat and know how to use them, where to look for them and in which order to read them. My knowledge of grammar and word order is increasing and each lesson amazes me. I have to forget all other languages and concentrate ONLY on Thai, not look for similarities but build from the ground up. I am not going to be finished quicly, this is a very progressive course and well presented. It can be lonely studying alone, I have thai friends i can practice on. I am on page 43 of over 1000 pages so expecting to be finished in a few months is futile, this is a long term deal.

Comments: Some folk are orals, some visuals, meaning that some of us like to read and learn, some like to hear and learn, some are, like me, a bit of both. I would like to have had an oral version of the book, that would make it a lot easier. but so far.. this is THE one for me

cheers

tommy

[Richard W]

So that just leaves learning what tone ่ and ้ make when used with low consonants.

I'm really in no position to try and teach anyone anything, just sharing the silly ways I remembered the Thai alphabet and tones.

My trick for tone marks on low consonants was to remember that the tones that were there were the same sequence as mid but with one missed out, so:

Mid class: mid, low, falling, high, rising

Low class: mid, falling, high (and then no more)

As for high consonants, it helps to remember that they are like mid except for live syllables with no tone mark.

[Tonto21]

Tone rules, just like everything to do with learning to read and write Thai, do it slow and methodical, take time to learn how to use the tools first, no short cut, (short cuts will come back and bite you in the ass)

I have attached a tone rule chart, (I have memorized) this along with learning what consonants are Mid, High, low and live or dead, take time to learn tone….Very important.

You will know when you have the tones down when you can look at a Thai syllable and know the tone before you form the sound of the syllable in your head. Sure you have to do reams and reams of marking tones, but it does work……..Then when the ground work is done…….you can start learning Thai.

I love learning to read and write Thai more than trying to speak it.

Good luck to us all!

Thai Tone Rules.docx