#  >  > Living And Legal Affairs In Thailand >  >  > Learn Thai Language >  >  Manee & Friends - learn to read Thai

## rawlins

Due to having almost nothing to do at work this trip offshore I finally got round to attempting to learn the Thai script. I think I have actually started to get to grasps with it 5 weeks after starting to go through these free online lessons:

*Manee and Friends*

They are based around a book that was used in Thai primary schools back in the 80's.

If anybody wants to learn to read and write Thai, I would recommend giving it a go.

It is part of this site which has got lots of other resources as well as 'Manee & friends': *Learn Thai the Easy Way!*

It has taken a couple of notebooks up, lots of repetition as I went through, reviewing previous lessons before moving on to the next, but has been well worth the effort in the end... I still have lots to do, like making the many tone rules sink in and need to stick at it with lots of practice time.. 

But 5 weeks ago I couldn't read signs like this which would help in a baht bus price argument:



Not used to other fonts though - can't make out the letters here:



This one would be useful to spot in amongst the floods:



Give it a go if you have the time... and it's free.
 :Smile:

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## Chairman Mao

Good on ya.

I find reading Thai really adds to the quality of life here.

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## Davis Knowlton

OP: Good plan. I spent a year in full-time Hindi study, one student/one teacher/6 hours a day/6 days a week. I found that the spoken language came much faster once I had the written language down. Although Hindi is not a tonal language like Thai, it still has some tones which are much easier to grasp if you understand the written language.

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## BobR

Thanks for posting that link, it's the best tool I've seen.

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## Chairman Mao

benjawan poomsan becker is well recommended by all.

A range of books beginning with:



Around 300b in most bookshops here. They also have activities etc on the net.

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## FarangRed

> OP: Good plan. I spent a year in full-time Hindi study, one student/one teacher/6 hours a day/6 days a week. I found that the spoken language came much faster once I had the written language down. Although Hindi is not a tonal language like Thai, it still has some tones which are much easier to grasp if you understand the written language.



नमस्ते मेरे दोस्त

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## Bettyboo

^ why are you writing Arabic?
(or is it DD?)




> benjawan poomsan becker is well recommended by all.
> 
> A range of books beginning with:
> 
> 
> 
> Around 300b in most bookshops here. They also have activities etc on the net.


^ I bought that about 11 years ago... Yeah, it has worked wonders for me... Now, where's that Foodbyphone menu, I want a pie!

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## Davis Knowlton

^Not Arabic - Hindi. But it's been so many years since I studied/used Hindi (almost 30) that I would have to dig out my old books before being able to translate it. That year of Hindi was one of the longest of my life - but it was a  job requirement and they paid for it. Even though I had lived/worked in both Sri Lanka and Bangladesh earlier, I didn't realize until I got to India that Hindi is about the least useful of their 50-some official languages - used only in and around New Delhi. Bengali and Tamil are far more useful, or English if you are down south in Tamil Nadu. Pretty much a wasted year.

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## Chairman Mao

> I would have to dig out my old books before being able to translate it.


_Hello, my friend._ 

The first thing most Indians come out with.

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## Bettyboo

> ^Not Arabic


It was a little joke... You bloody Americans are not very good with humour!

Anyways, I thought it was Sanskrit, which shows what I know (not a lot...  :Smile:  ) when it comes to any languages other than English and Double Dutch.

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## jizzybloke

> benjawan poomsan becker is well recommended by all.
> 
> A range of books beginning with:
> 
> 
> 
> Around 300b in most bookshops here. They also have activities etc on the net.


 
I've got that it's sat right beside me, one day i'll get around to opening it!  :Sad:

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## armstrong

yeah I think I have that book too....   never used it...

I impress everyone around me when I point at a number plate and proudly say 'that's from Bangkok'.    Struggle somewhat when it isn;t the BKK tag though.

although I have learnt the 'b' and 'ahh' sounds in the last few weeks just from the advert up at the top of the page..

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## rawlins

> benjawan poomsan becker is well recommended by all.
> 
> A range of books beginning with:
> 
> 
> 
> Around 300b in most bookshops here. They also have activities etc on the net.


Yeah... Good books them.

I went through them and their CDs a while back but was just writing it all down phonetically.

Now that I have tried to learn Thai script I will dig them out again and go through the lessons properly.

The main thing that has made we try to learn again is that I have a 2 year old going to kindergarten which has a English / Thai program and I want to stay one step ahead of her... Think she might be teaching me it before long though.

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## Yemen

Mao- I though the first thing Indians cam out with was " you need suit".

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## Davis Knowlton

Sorry Betty - obviously not at the top of my game yesterday.

Mao - How did you do that? Former mistress was an Indian princess?

BTW: Sanskrit is an ancient (dead) language primarily used in the Hindu religion (much like Latin). Most Hindi is derived from Sanskrit. Written Sanskrit and Hindi are pretty much the same.

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## Chairman Mao

Something like that.

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## natalie8

This is my first time opening this thread and I'm glad I did. Thanks rawlins! It's so true that learning the written helps a great deal with speaking and understanding. In my first few months in BKK, I lived in a non English speaking area. I taught myself to read brand names and signs.

Then I graduated to items on a menu so that I knew I was ordering the right thing. About a year later, I picked up Benjawan Poonsam Becker's book. Someone mentioned license plates. I did this too. It feels great when you figure some of them out.

I think I'll go on the Manee and Friends site every so often to keep fresh. The only thing I regret not doing is learning the alphabet with its representations, but that can easily be done at any time.

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## pescator

> Not used to other fonts though - can't make out the letters here:


Rawang rot suan.  ระวังรถสวน

Beware of crossing cars.

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## can123

> The only thing I regret not doing is learning the alphabet with its representations, but that can easily be done at any time.


 


Yes, quite right, it can be done at any time. It's only taken me about nine years and I still make mistakes.

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## RickThai

I bought a Thai dictionary software a couple of years ago, that allows you to type in a word in English or Thai that gives you the definition, correct pronuciation, and spelling. It contains a Thai alphabet utility that also shows "alternate" scripts (like those commonly used in newspapers and signs. 

It's really helpful for learning to read billboards and stuff. Now if I can only remember the name??

I'll get back on this.

RickThai

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## RickThai

> I bought a Thai dictionary software a couple of years ago, that allows you to type in a word in English or Thai that gives you the definition, correct pronuciation, and spelling. It contains a Thai alphabet utility that also shows "alternate" scripts (like those commonly used in newspapers and signs. 
> 
> It's really helpful for learning to read billboards and stuff. Now if I can only remember the name??
> 
> I'll get back on this.
> 
> RickThai


It's called "Talking Dictionary for Windows PC". It is published by Paiboon (I think).
Anyway I have found it a great help (mostly to show me how bad I am at pronouncing Thai words!)


Regards,

RickThai

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