#  >  > Living And Legal Affairs In Thailand >  >  > Learn Thai Language >  >  Learn the Thai Alphabet

## dirtydog

If you spend hours each day staring at this gif there is a slight chance you might learn in what order the Thai alphabet comes in and what the letters look like, if you left click on it it will take you to a page that will show you how to pronounce the letters, when I get time I might even add some wav or wmv files so you can hear how each Thai letter is pronounced, or you could right click on it and save it to your pc.

Has anybody got any of those kiddie books with the dots for Thai letters showing where to start writing them and that, those would probably be a good idea to upload.

*Online Thai Keyboard
**English to Thai text translator*


*Thai Alphabet*

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## dirtydog

The first video to learn Thai has been completed, I think 4 letters per video is the best bet as Thai is so damn hard to learn.

So we got *
ko kai (chicken)
kho khai (egg)
kho khuat (bottle)
kho khwai (water buffalo)*

So in 11 days time everybody should have learned the Thai alphabet, probably...

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## dirtydog

Of course we have to have a youtube learn Thai version  :Smile:

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## dirtydog

The next 4 letters of the Thai alphabet.
*kho khon (person) 
kho ra-khang (bell) 
ngo ngu (snake) 
cho chan (plate)



*

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## dirtydog

The Thai letters in this video are as follows.
*cho ching (cymbals)
cho chang (elephant)
so so (chain)
cho choe (bush)



*

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## dirtydog

The Thai letters in this video are as follows.
*yo ying (woman) 
do cha-da (headdress) 
to pa-tak (spear) 
tho san-than (base)



*

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## dirtydog

The Thai letters in this video are as follows.
*tho nangmon-tho (Mandodari) 
tho phu-thao (elder) 
no nen (novice monk) 
do dek (child)*

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## dirtydog

The Thai letters in this video are as follows.
*to tao (turtle) 
tho thung (sack)
tho thahan (soldier)
tho thong (flag)*

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## dirtydog

The Thai letters in this video are as follows.    
* no nu (mouse)
*
*bo baimai (leaf)*
*po pla (fish)*
*pho phueng (bee)*

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## dirtydog

The Thai letters in this video are as follows.
*fo fa (lid)
pho phan (tray)
fo fan (teeth) 
* 
* pho sam-phao (sailboat)*

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## dirtydog

The Thai letters in this video are as follows.
*mo ma (horse)
yo yak (giant)
ro ruea (boat)
lo ling (monkey)*

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## dirtydog

The Thai letters in this video are as follows.
*wo waen (ring)
so sala (pavilion)
so rue-si (hermit)
so suea (tiger)*

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## dirtydog

The Thai letters in this video are as follows.
*ho hip (chest)
lo chu-la (kite)
o ang (basin)
ho nok-huk (owl)*

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## dirtydog

Once you are getting the hang of the Thai alphabet and know the majority of the letters then this is the next video, this is the whole lot of 44 Thai consonants in one go.

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## a. boozer

D.D. This is a great idea. Only wish that my addled old brain would let me memorize things!

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## robuzo

Thanks, DD.  My 3-year-old is learning the alphabet- he was doing OK with the usual stuff (posters, etc.), but really enjoys this.

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## dirtydog

> Only wish that my addled old brain would let me memorize things!


Thats why I done them in blocks of 4, 1 block a day and in 11 days you would have learnt the whole Thai alphabet, 20 minutes in the morning and 20 in the evening and you should have it down pat  :Smile:

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## SEA Traveler

DD,

    forgive the old times question here....  does the pronunciations of the Thai alphabet symbols as noted in above frames with the anglesized alphabet also represent the English words in ()???

     good tool though.  thanks for posting.

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## dirtydog

Use this as an example.
*so suea (tiger)
*suea translated into English means tiger*.
*

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## dirtydog

Some pictures showing what Thai letters and vowels sound like.

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## Fabian

So have you started to learn them, DD?

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## dirtydog

hmmm, I can just about read Thai, but a menu is about as far as I would take it.

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## bobbysan124

Great idea.  Very helpful.

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## robuzo

> hmmm, I can just about read Thai, but a menu is about as far as I would take it.


How about road signs (town names, etc.)?  That can be helpful.

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## Bagwain

Thanks Dirty Dog I can learn some real Thai instead of just Bar Talk!!! :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):  :Smile:

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## jimbone

thanks for posting the alphabet...i am bound and determined to learn this language..either by speaking or reading it. Damn my small brain.

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## crispie

Thanks! These resources are great  :Smile: .

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## English Noodles

Completely pointless learning the Thai alphabet in order, there is no reason to.

What you should learn is the letter classifications and which letters belong to which classes, it's not only easier than learning the alphabet in order, it also actually serves a purpose, ie. understanding tone values.

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## robuzo

> Completely pointless learning the Thai alphabet in order, there is no reason to.
> 
> What you should learn is the letter classifications and which letters belong to which classes, it's not only easier than learning the alphabet in order, it also actually serves a purpose, ie. understanding tone values.


That's an important point.

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## pescator

> Completely pointless learning the Thai alphabet in order, there is no reason to.


Unless one wants to look up a new word in a dictionary  :Smile:

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## somtamslap

Tones are over rated..fuck em.  :Smile:

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## dirtydog

> Completely pointless learning the Thai alphabet in order, there is no reason to.


I have been rethinking the English alphabet, I think vowels should be first, then after the vowels the alphabet should be listed in order of most used letters, stuff like xz can just be dumped as they are only a few words and those words aren't that important.
aeiouybcdf etc.

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## English Noodles

> Unless one wants to look up a new word in a dictionary


All Thai dictionaries have the Thai alphabet in order running down the edge of each page.

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## THORZEN

Thank you for all your help for learning the Thai Alphabets. But I get stuck with what they call "pa yan cha na" so I have trouble reading. Any advice?

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## notanameleft

> Thank you for all your help for learning the Thai Alphabets. But I get stuck with what they call "pa yan cha na" so I have trouble reading. Any advice?


 
pa yan cha na = พยัญชนะ means alphabet.
to read this word, only alphabets and vowels are not enough. you need to know the group of final alphabetical sound too. This is different from group of tones.

There are 8 groups. Alphabets in the same group have the same final sound which i make it *bold*.

Mae *G*o*k* - แม่กก
-Go Gai ก, Ko Khai ข, Ko Kwai ค, Ko Rakang ฆ

Mae Go*ng* - แม่กง
- Ngo Ngu - ง

Mae Go*n* - แม่กน
- No Nu น, Yo Ying ญ, No Nen ณ, Lo Ling ล, Ro Rue ร, Lo Jula ฬ

Mae Go*d* - แม่กด
Do Dek ด, Dtor Dtaw ต, Dtor Bpatak ฏ, Do Chada ฎ, To Tung ถ, To Tong ธ, To Tahan ท, So Suea ส, So Sala ศ, So Rusee ษ, 

Mae Go*m* - แม่กม
- Mo Ma ม

Mae Go*b* แม่กบ
- Bo Baimai, Bpo Bpla, Po Pan, Fo Fun

Mae Geu*y* แม่เกย
- Yo Yak ย

Mae Geu*w* แม่เกอว
Wo Wan ว


examples:
กาน กาล การ กาฬ กาญ these words pronunce as ka*n*/ga*n*

บาด บาท บาต บาส บาถ these words pronunce as Baa*d*

*It's pretty complicated, but not too hard to learn*

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## English Noodles

> pa yan cha na = พยัญชนะ means alphabet.


It means 'consonant'.

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## notanameleft

> Originally Posted by notanameleft
> 
> pa yan cha na = พยัญชนะ means alphabet.
> 
> 
> It means 'consonant'.


 
ok, it means consonant alphabet.\

สิงหาคม = sing ha kom = august

ส  ห  ค are pa yan cha na
ง and ม are ตัวสะกด ( 2 of the groups i mentioned above)
the rest are vowels

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## THORZEN

Appreciate the help, but I still have trouble trying to read, is there an easier way to learn to read THAI? speaking is not a problem, I find reading IS. how do I get over this problem?

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## dirtydog

^I think you have to stick to learning with one font first, I see Thai fonts that I can barely make out one letter in a line  :Sad:

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## THORZEN

Thanks for all your advice. I will give it a try and see how I fair

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## THORZEN

Can anyone recommend any books that will guide me to read THAI please. 
Still having trouble with trying to read.  :Stupid:

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## Sayers Pasty

I bought a few books for infants learning to read and write thai,theres no point jumping in at the deep end,then went on youtube for the sounds and worked my way up from there.PRACTICE every day on your own then with a thai for an hour or two once a week.get all the consonants out the way, then vowels, then all the tone rules but thats a few months away.dont rush.it will just get frustrating, i started to learn to read thai about a year ago and now can sound out just about any word..

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## nigelandjan

Thanks for all that BUT to make it easier I have just changed my name to chicken ,, its a lot easier to write in Thai ,,,,,than Nigel

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## CharleyFarley

Everybody here spells my name as "Jhon" even the bank.

And my wife of course still can't spell it correctly.

What is so difficult about spelling Jon. ( rhetorical )

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## dirtydog

^No idea charley, why would you tell them your name is Jon then charley? You on the run?

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## CharleyFarley

Nah, just posh :Smile:

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## THORZEN

I don't think the writing part is that difficult if you can read the dam sentence. But reading the sentence wrong will mean a different thing altogether! Sign.....OK will keep going..can't do much more than that.....

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## robuzo

> Can anyone recommend any books that will guide me to read THAI please. 
> Still having trouble with trying to read.


That's the kind of thing a good teacher can really help with.  If in Thailand I would recommend signing up for a reading/writing course at one of the better schools- I had a good experience at the Thonglor school.  They will push you to take the conversational course with transliterated Thai, but be firm.  You will of course pick up vocab and, more importantly, a lot of pronunciation help doing the reading/writing course with a teacher.

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## THORZEN

Thank you for the recommedation, but I am running all over so much. I signed up at a AUA for the THAI classes at one time, but did not manage to complete the whole course, due to my travelling. 

That's was why I was asking for some other way to see IF I might be able to do it myself when I am on my way somewhere...?

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## Turbomotive

My key moment was discovering the structure of the Thai alphabet in rows and columns like the periodic table. This also tells you what classes the consonants are. I think this comes from the Thai alphabet's Indian ancestor and thus also gives clues on Sanskrit transliterations. (eg. b u d dh a, dh is the Thai letter "tor tong") Finally, it enables memorization of the Thai consonant order, enabling you to consult a dictionary. (Alternatively, you could sing the Thai kid's song, "gor oei, gor gai" but that just puts letters in groups of 4 and gives no insight)

Basically each row is a point of articulation. that is where you put your tongue in your mouth to make the sound. See, for each row, the point of articulation moves forward.

Ist row velar (back of the throat) (gor gai --> ngor ngu)
2nd row fricative alveolar (front top of palate) (jor jan --> yor ying)
3rd row alveolar, fancy letters (dor chada --> nor nen)
4th row alveolar, ordinary letters (dor dek --> nor nu)
5th row labial (lips) and labio dental (lips and teeth) (bor baimai --> mor ma)

The neat table structure breaks down here, what's left is, in order

the 4 liquid semivowels (yor yak, ror reua, lor ling, wor waen)
the three high class Sor - (sala, reusee, seua)
the last four - hor heep, or ang (the vowel marker) lor jula and hor nokhook.

So build your table and look at the columns, some of which contain more than one letter. 

1st column - voiced stops which are all MIDDLE CLASS (ie take all 4 tone markers)
2nd column - unvoiced stops (1) - HIGH CLASS
3rd column - unvoiced stops (2) - LOW CLASS
4th column - nasals - LOW CLASS (unpaired - take leading hor heep to mark tone)

of the leftovers you just have to remember - 
yor ror lor wor - LOW (unpaired - take leading hor heep to mark tone)
sor sor sor - HIGH
hor heep HIGH
or ang - MIDDLE
lor jula, hor nokhook - LOW

There's another table to remember the tone rules, if anyone is interested.

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## THORZEN

There's another table to remember the tone rules, if anyone is interested.[/quote]

Yes please do share

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## taxexile

"thai for beginners", by benjawan poomsan becker, will teach you how to read and pronounce correctly, but you will need a native thai speakers help at first to demonstrate correct pronunciation.

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## THORZEN

Can I get that at Asia Books?

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## THORZEN

Found softwares which can be downloaded into hand phones, great stuff, now I can carry a walking dict with me wherever I go, got one which translate other languages too, not only Thai.

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## a. boozer

> Found softwares which can be downloaded into hand phones, great stuff, now I can carry a walking dict with me wherever I go, got one which translate other languages too, not only Thai.


Thorzen: Where did you find this software? Any links would be much appreciated.

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## THORZEN

Got my friends who have these softwares to load them. there are software shops at Fortune town or any other Centers that might have them too. Try asking around, I am sure they have them. 

There are translation softwares which are available if you are using an iphone, or other phones using window.

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## XTC

i have prblems with putting the vowels in the correct place, there is no logic in it

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## Kesha0

this kinda hard..but i am welling to learn Thai language..

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## DrB0b

This is the song Thai children sing in school when learning the alphabet. The Thai equivalent of our ABC song. I've found it very useful, it's also fun to sing along with my kid. This and "head and shoulders, knees and toes" are his favourite school songs.




gor er-ee gor gai
kor kai nai lao
kor kuat kong rao
kor kwai kao naa
kor kon keung kung
kor ra-kung kang faa
ngor ngoo jai glaa
jor jaan chai dee
chor ching dtee dung
chor chaang wing nee
sor soh laam tee
chor ga-cher koo gun
yor ying soh paa
dor cha-daa suam plun
dtor pa-dtug hoon hun
thor thaan khao maa rorng
thor naang mon-tho naa khao
thor phoo thao dern yorng
nor nen mai mong
dor dek dtong ni-mon
dtor dtao lung dtoong
tor toong baek kon
tor ta-haan ot-ton
tor tong kon ni-yom
nor noo kwuk kwai
bor bai mai tup tom
bor blaa dtaa glom
por peung tam rung
for faa ton-taan
por paan waang dtung
for fun sa-art jung
por sam-pao gaang bai
mor maa keuk-kuk
yor yuk kee-o yai
ror rua pai bai
lor ling dtai rao
wor waen long yaa
sor saa-laa ngiap ngao
sor reu see nuat yao
sor seua dao ka-nong
hor heep sai paa
lor joo-laa taa pa-yong
or arng neuang nong
hor nok-hook dtaa dtoh


ก เอ๋ย ก ไก่

ข ไข่ในเล้า

ฃ ฃวดของเรา

ค ควายเข้านา

ฅ ฅนขึงขึง

ฆ ระฆังข้างฝา

ง งูใจกล้า

จ จานใช้ดี

ฉ ฉิ่งดีตัง

ช ช้างวิ่งหนี

ซ โซ่ล่ามที

ฌ กะเฌอคู่กัน

ญ หญิงโสภา

ฎ ชะฎาสวมพลัน

ฏ ปะฏักหุนหัน

ฐ ฐานเข้ามารอง

ฑ มนโฑหน้าขาว

ฒ ผู้เฒ่าเดินย่อง

ณ เณรไม่มอง

ด เด็กต้องนิมนต์

ต เต่าหลังตุง

ถ ถุงแบกขน

ท หทารอดทน

ธ ธงคนนิยม

น หนูขวักไขว่

บ ใบไม้ทับถม

ป ปลาตากลม

ผ ผึ้งทำรัง

ฝ ฝาทนทาน

พ พานวางตั้ง

ฟ ฟันสะอาดจัง

ภ สำเภากางใบ

ม ม้าคึกคัก

ย ยักษ์เขี้ยวใหญ่

ร เรือพายไป

ล ลิงไต่ราว

ว แหวนลงยา

ศ ศาลาเงียบเหงา

ษ ฤาษีหนวดยาว

ส เสือดาวคะนอง

ห หีบใส่ผ้า

ฬ จุฬาท่าผยอง

อ อ่างเนืองนอง

ฮ นกฮูกตาโต

A chicken
The eggs are in the rice grainhouse
The bottles are ours
Buffalo goes to the field
A serious person
The bell alongside the wall
A fearless snake
A well-used plate
handbells struck loudly
The elephant runs away
Chain the elephant
Two cher trees
A pretty girl
Put the dancer's crown on her head
The javelin wants to kill
The pedestal supports
Mrs. Montho has a white face
The old man walks with a stoop
The novice monk does not look
The children must invite
The turtle with a humped back
The bag for carrying things
The patient soldier
Our favourite flag
Mice running everywhere
Leaves above each other
The fish with round eyes
Bees making their hive
The strong lid
The ornate tray stands alone
Very clean teeth
The ship is sailing by
The horse chomping at the bit
The giant with big teeth
The boat rowing past
The monkey climbing the coat rail
The ring dipped in chemicals
The quiet and lonely pavilion
The long beared forest hermit
The star tiger ready to kill
The box of clothes
The fighting kite is ready to attack
The ordered bowls
The big eyed owl

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## DrB0b

> Is there any website where I can hear the words. 
> 
> Thanks in advance.
> 
> Jess


Yes. The one linked to in the post above. Youtube. Click on the video.

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