Learn the Thai Alphabet

**jimbone** · 11-08-2009, 05:15 PM

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

**crispie** · 21-08-2009, 07:34 PM

Thanks! These resources are great

.

**English Noodles** · 22-08-2009, 03:39 PM

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.

**robuzo** · 22-08-2009, 05:55 PM

Originally Posted by 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.

That's an important point.

**pescator** · 22-08-2009, 09:09 PM

Originally Posted by English Noodles

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

**somtamslap** · 22-08-2009, 09:20 PM

Tones are over rated..fuck em.

**dirtydog** · 22-08-2009, 09:33 PM

Originally Posted by English Noodles

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.

**English Noodles** · 22-08-2009, 11:24 PM

Originally Posted by pescator

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.

**THORZEN** · 23-08-2009, 05:59 PM

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?

**notanameleft** · 23-08-2009, 09:18 PM

Originally Posted by 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?

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 Gok - แม่กก
-Go Gai ก, Ko Khai ข, Ko Kwai ค, Ko Rakang ฆ

Mae Gong - แม่กง
- Ngo Ngu - ง

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

Mae God - 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 Gom - แม่กม
- Mo Ma ม

Mae Gob แม่กบ
- Bo Baimai, Bpo Bpla, Po Pan, Fo Fun

Mae Geuy แม่เกย
- Yo Yak ย

Mae Geuw แม่เกอว
Wo Wan ว

examples:
กาน กาล การ กาฬ กาญ these words pronunce as kan/gan

บาด บาท บาต บาส บาถ these words pronunce as Baad

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

**English Noodles** · 23-08-2009, 09:33 PM

Originally Posted by notanameleft

pa yan cha na = พยัญชนะ means alphabet.

It means 'consonant'.

**notanameleft** · 23-08-2009, 11:15 PM

Originally Posted by English Noodles

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

**THORZEN** · 25-08-2009, 08:06 PM

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?

**dirtydog** · 25-08-2009, 08:31 PM

^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

**THORZEN** · 27-08-2009, 12:01 AM

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

**THORZEN** · 01-09-2009, 07:35 PM

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

**Sayers Pasty** · 01-09-2009, 10:02 PM

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..

**nigelandjan** · 02-09-2009, 12:17 AM

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

**CharleyFarley** · 02-09-2009, 01:37 AM

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 )

**dirtydog** · 02-09-2009, 02:04 AM

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

**CharleyFarley** · 02-09-2009, 03:59 AM

Nah, just posh

**THORZEN** · 02-09-2009, 08:37 AM

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.....

**robuzo** · 02-09-2009, 10:26 AM

Originally Posted by THORZEN

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.

**THORZEN** · 02-09-2009, 10:39 AM

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...?

**Turbomotive** · 07-09-2009, 03:06 PM

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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