Wanting to improve my pronunciation

[jan2557]

I've gotten to the point where I can speak (and understand) Thai at more than just a basic level, though I wouldn't consider myself fluent by a long shot. When using language that I've really assimilated (i.e., gotten the hang of), I can usually make myself understood. For what it's worth, I'm sometimes told that I พูดชัด

But I'm realizing more and more that when I speak I'm distorting a lot of the Thai sounds -- I think I'm anglicizing them to a certain extent. (Thai) Friends are sometimes helpful in pointing this out or giving me tips on how to improve, but there seem to be limits to the help they can give. Sometimes I'm just not sure of the mouth mechanics -- like how to move my tongue to produce a certain sound; I also think I'm sometimes running up against the limit of my ability to actually hear the differences between the sounds that I'm producing and the sounds that native Thais produce.

I've been thinking of maybe trying to get a tutor or language teacher who would know how to help me address these issues so I can lose (or at least lessen) my accent. Or maybe a speech therapist? Has anyone here tried this? I'm also not sure how I would go about finding someone like that.

Or any other advice? Anyone here find ways to improve their pronunciation?

[CaptHaddock]

Thais have such low expectations for the ability of foreigners to speak Thai, that frankly their compliments on our pronunciation don't mean a lot, unlike say, the French. As far as I can tell, if you manage to get any tone correct at all they'll say you พูดชัด. The only way to learn correct pronunciation is to have a qualified Thai teacher correct you as you make errors. There are few qualified Thai teachers. If you want to learn to speak correctly it is essential that you find such a teacher and have one-on-one instruction. Ordinary Thais won't try to correct you anymore that ordinary Americans will correct foreign speakers of English. In fact, one way to evaluate a possible Thai teacher is to note how often and consistently she corrects your errors in speech.

The main issue is the the tones, of course, but there are others: unaspirated consonants, long vowels, rhythm of speech, etc. As English speakers when we attempt to use discourse-level intonation changes, e.g. rising tone at the end of a sentence to indicate a question, it tends to render our Thai tones incomprehensible to the Thai listener. The Thai language has other means to express questions, emphasis, irony, etc. Learning these is a challenge.

[jan2557]

@CaptHaddock: Thanks; any suggestions on how to find a "qualified teacher"? I'm looking for someone who can point out to me when -- and how -- I depart from real Thai pronunciation, and who can give advice on what to do to get the pronunciation correct, inclouding, if need be, instructions on how to shape the mouth, etc. I'm looking to get into the details of how the sounds are made, and not just coast by on speaking clearly enough to be understood.

[starrdog]

I haven't used it, but the Cracking Thai Fundamentals/Jcademy guy (Stuart Jay Raj) apparently teaches ways to produce the proper sounds. Also on youtube over 30,000 hits come up when searching on "Thai pronounciation". I recommend recording yourself speaking and reading. At least it has helped me immensely. In some cases, what I thought I was saying and what I was actually saying were totally different. If you've got a good ear, you can probably correct many problems on your own while looking for a teacher to help.

[kokesaat]

I'm far from being a pro.....but believe I've got quite a good handle on pronunciation (wish I could understand as well). When I began learning to read, my village 'teacher' was the daughter of a primary school Thai language teacher. Her mother reinforced her school Thai lessons at home.

We swapped English/Thai lessons....2 hours each Thai/English, twice a week. Before we started working together, I asked her to be brutal with me.....especially on proper pronunciation. If I felt she was cutting me any slack, I'd ask her again to be tough.

With the exception of properly pronouncing the difference between a ต and ด, I feel pretty good about how things worked out.

She was not a formally schooled teacher (nor am I).....but I think our lessons worked out for both of us.

Good luck with your lessons.

[starrdog]

With the exception of properly pronouncing the difference between a ต and ด, I feel pretty good about how things worked out.

When pronouncing ด my tongue only touches the roof of my mouth, but when pronouncing ต my tongue touches the both the roof of my mouth and the back of my front teeth. Hope that helps.