Reading & Writing Thai

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parrot
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Re: Reading & Writing Thai

Post by parrot » January 5, 2017, 12:18 pm

No question about it, I learned to read Thai thanks to Maani and gang. Back when I was just beginning with those books, I liked to boast, "I can read Thai"....albeit lesson one of มานี มานี มี ตา กา กา มี ตา.....but still, I was reading and I didn't have to learn the alphabet first (although I can use a Thai dictionary, I found there was no need to recite the Thai alphabet....the way we do the English one).
The greatest joy I get out of reading Thai is being able to understand all the signage along the highways or in the stores or menus. For me, it was and still is very liberating.
I was fortunate to have a good teacher (she wasn't a formal teacher but her mother was and taught her children all the rules). When it came time to learn tones (only after 20 or so Maani lessons), she was able to help me crack the tone-code.........I tried Becker's books alone, but couldn't decipher the tones on my own.
All that said, while I'm able to do most anything I want on my own (banks, gov offices, restaurants, etc), I get lost if I'm not in control of the conversation. That's okay.......I can chalk that up to my hearing aids if I need an excuse.



d p meijer
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Re: Reading & Writing Thai

Post by d p meijer » January 5, 2017, 4:13 pm

it is a joy reading / learning with the Maani stories . they keep me interested and am Always looking to be able to start with the next one in the book .
tone code is no problem any more for me . thanks to the Becker book and the guidance of my fabulous teacher .
in the beginning i thought i would never learn to speak thai using the right tones . but i understand the code, the logic and system and now i can use it in the right way.

like said , it is such fun to be able to read signs , messages and write in thai .

i think mastering the thai alphabet , knowing the thai names , was and is for me important when learning thai.

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parrot
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Re: Reading & Writing Thai

Post by parrot » January 5, 2017, 4:41 pm

Sometimes my teacher would go easy on me.....but then I'd find myself not understood when speaking with others downtown. Example: part of my phone number is 213. I'd be at a bank or store and the clerk would ask for my phone number.......they'd often write down something other than the 1 in the number.
I confronted my teacher......she reminded me of the clinched teeth/nasal way of saying words with ึ. Problem solved.

The best advice I could give to someone wanting to learn Thai....reading/writing....would be to stay away from any transliterated books. Unlike Chinese, there's really no surefire way to transliterate Thai....even the government can't seem to agree on it.

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Laan Yaa Mo
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Re: Reading & Writing Thai

Post by Laan Yaa Mo » January 7, 2017, 12:11 am

You should find learning Lao easy. I picked it up quickly first by learning to read destinations on bus signs, and then through conversations with local people. I can get by in banks, hotels, restaurants etc. with a basic understanding of how to read, write and speak Lao. It is useful in Isaan too.

As a sidenote, Isaan did not exist until the 1950s when the government stopped calling the people in this region Lao and invented 'Isaan'. This was to educate the 'Lao' people that they lived in Thailand, and their loyalty should be in that direction and not to Viang Chan.
You only pass through this life once, you don't come back for an encore.

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parrot
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Re: Reading & Writing Thai

Post by parrot » January 7, 2017, 2:52 pm

Yesterday while returning from the Nongwahsaw market, I noticed a sign alongside the highway.....ตัดผมชาย - หญิง. Just what I was looking for and only a km from my home.
I stopped by today to test it out.........perfect. 100 Baht for a scissor cut.
It's the sort of thing I'd never have known about if I couldn't read a bit of Thai.
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parrot
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Re: Reading & Writing Thai

Post by parrot » January 9, 2017, 5:36 pm

When you see the word ห้าม you usually think about things that your mother might have told you........don't put your elbows on the table, don't talk with your mouth full, don't get that girl pregnant!, etc.

It's not much different in Thailand.....although there's a very short phrase that you'll see from time to time.......ห้ามพลาด that is more of an invitation than a prohibition.

Anyone? Anyone want to take a stab at the tone(s) of those two words (without looking it up)?

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can123
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Re: Reading & Writing Thai

Post by can123 » January 9, 2017, 7:02 pm

I don't think there is any guessing involved. Without the tone mark the first syllable would be a rising tone. With the tone mark, it becomes a falling tone.

The second has a low class consonant, no tone mark and a long vowel and is a falling tone.

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Re: Reading & Writing Thai

Post by parrot » January 9, 2017, 7:47 pm

Falling tone, falling tone. Right. พลาด has a falling tone, not really because of the long vowel, but because of the long vowel together with a dead consonant at the end . At one time (while learning consonant classes, tones, etc), I knew all the rules by heart. Over the years, though, I can no longer recite the rules, but still know how they work. It's sort of like knowing that you spell the past tense of stop stopped and not stoped without knowing why it's that way. At least for me.

What I can remember is that when I was learning all the tones/consonants/vowels/rules, I wished my brain was running on 8 cylinders rather than 4.
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can123
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Re: Reading & Writing Thai

Post by can123 » January 9, 2017, 7:52 pm

The vowel length is important because if the vowel was short the tone would have been a rising one.

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parrot
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Re: Reading & Writing Thai

Post by parrot » January 9, 2017, 8:03 pm

can123 wrote:The vowel length is important because if the vowel was short the tone would have been a rising one.
yep!

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Re: Reading & Writing Thai

Post by can123 » January 9, 2017, 8:44 pm

I'm very pleased to have mastered my tones. It's very easy and has only taken me fifteen years.

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Re: Reading & Writing Thai

Post by parrot » January 10, 2017, 9:25 am

ห้ามปราม = don't miss it!

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