Script Or Letter Names

[JohnIrish]

I am learning the Thai language.... and want to learn the letters (Script). I have serched this forum but I cannot find an answer to this question.

Is there a purpose to learn the names of the letters or can I just learn the Class, sound, and sound as a final consonant?

I have one book that tells me I do not need to know them.. but of course other books make a point to learn the name for consonants. Also... there is the famous Alphabet Thai song.

I remember (well kinda) learning english as a child. A is Apple etc. But... I NEVER associated A with apple! I guess it helped with the initial sound. So, if I learn the thai letter associated with the english letter... then why do I need to learn the name?

For vowels.... the sound is given and the name mostly ignored. So why would the consonts be different?

I am not looking for a shortcut but if there is no point then why bother?

thanks!

[Oswulf]

So, if I learn the thai letter associated with the english letter... then why do I need to learn the name?

Unfortunately, Thai has many different letters associated with the same sound, so there's no 1:1 correspondence Thai:English letters.

Knowing the names of the letters is essential if you're going to be able to spell out a word in Thai. If you can't pronounce a word perfectly and your listener doesn't understand, it's very helpful to be able to spell it out.

There aren't that many letter names to learn, and learning the names can help (a little bit) in learning the class of the letter. (For example, the first part of the letter name is pronounced with a rising tone for all high class consonants.) I think the effort is worth it, even for a beginner.

[withnail]

You certainly don't need to know the names of them to start to learn to read Thai, or indeed their order in the alphabet. If your vocabulary is quite small then arguably it isn't your first priority as learning all the names will take up a lot of time and learning to read and pronounce them properly is more challenging than learning their initial sound.

http://www.learningthai.com/books/manee/index.html is a good place to start learning to read, and it doesn't involve learning their names. I started here and when I became more confident began learning the names. If you have a Thai person help you using a children's Thai alphabet book you will soon start recognising the names even if you can't yourself produce them.

Edited June 26, 2006 by withnail

[Richard W]

Unfortunately, Thai has many different letters associated with the same sound, so there's no 1:1 correspondence Thai:English letters.

Prefixing 'high', 'low', and 'spare low' will sort out most of the apparent redundancy. Other adjectives will dispose of the rest. So:

ko kai = 'k'

kho khai = 'high kh'

kho khuat = 'obsolete high kh'

kho khwai = 'low kh'

kho khon = 'obsolete low kh'

kho rakhang = 'spare low kh'

ngo ngu = 'ng'

...

so so = 'low s'

...

so sala = '(palatal) [high] s'

so ruesi = '(retroflex) [high] s'

so suea = '(dental) high s'

The parenthesised -()- words relate to the Sanskrit pronuciation, not the Thai. The words in square brackets -[]- are redundant.

Knowing the names of the letters is essential if you're going to be able to spell out a word in Thai. If you can't pronounce a word perfectly and your listener doesn't understand, it's very helpful to be able to spell it out.

It will also enable you to quote a car registration number!

[steveromagnino]

It will also give you a fairly useful vocab of many words straight away, most of which are actually useful.

The better you speak the less you need the names. And vice versa.

I'd say learn 'em, then you can hang out with the kiddies and sing the song too.

[meadish_sweetball]

I recommend learning them as it will help you learn new words quicker. Sooner or later you will have to do it, so why not sooner?

[Oswulf]

If you're seriously daunted by the prospect of learning 44 consonant names (or 42 if you ignore the obsolete characters), it might be a good strategy to concentrate on the 28 regular consonants (i.e. those used to write native Thai words, as opposed to loan words from other languages such as Sanskrit, Pali and English).

Edited June 28, 2006 by Oswulf

[JohnIrish]

Thanks for the answers...

I have started learning the names. Unfortunately, I did have a thai teacher but she moved to another city. I went to a Thai resturant and simply asked if anyone would teach me to speak Thai. It was a very good experience but now I am left without a teacher. I may have to try some other thai places.

I am focusing now on using different CD's and the internet to get the sounds of the letters. I will be in Thailand in about a month and will certainly find help there.

thanks