Tips for Learning Thai Language
Introductory tips for what learning to speak Thai is all about, and how to do it in reasonable time. In future I will provide some useful phrases related to this forum. LOL.
Learn vocab and phrases useful to yourself relevant. What do you need to say at a food stall, shop, to the girl you want to fuck, about the service required in the MP. LOL.
Try to determine which words are extremely rude or foul language, so as not to use them at all, just like you would be wary to call someone a "c*nt" there are plenty of Thai words of varying degrees of crudeness. Better to be overly polite, than turn off the girl with very ugly way of using foul words. To a casual acquaintance, you can't use "hee" for pussy. It's too foul, probably even worse than "C*nt". Bargirls may use crude language but cannot expect to be able to copy their ugly phrases like "Ee dork", "ai sat", "ai Hia", "dtolae", "bpaak maa" etc.
Use it you must use the language you have learned so far, excepting the foul words. Talk to Thais who cannot speak English ideally.
When you understand the message you acquire the language. This is comprehension. You can't use words if the meaning is unknown or too vague to you.
You have to hear the language, not just read it. You have to learn to use muscles in your mouth to make the right new sounds. Language teaching that is too reading and writing oriented is no good. Forget about Thai script in the early stages. That can be learned latter quite easily. You learn to listen and speak first. Use Romanisation to write how words sound, for revision. Listen a lot. I watched Thai Soapies to listen to basic phrases so many times to get used to it at pace (this is for those past the real basics). You have to listen to things where you will understand at least a percentage of what is going on but 50% is good enough.
Have to be relaxed and curious. Don't worry for words not understood. I can also watch TV shows in German, as know the real basic words. Don't understand every word. No problem. Talk Thai to girls in the bar, MP, waitresses, etc. I see plenty of guys doing it, some with pronunciation a bit funny, but no worries.
Practice constructing phrases from words learned. Be happy to make mistakes.
Mostly Thais don't correct us, however be very accepting if your pronunciation is corrected. It is better to learn the right way to say it. Copy the mouth shapes of some Thai person saying the words or a video (or get teacher to demonstrate correct mouth movements).
Find a stickler to correct your mistakes but to allow you to make the mistakes. This is the official teacher.
Some teachers are very accepting of students making poor pronunciation, so that students enjoy the class more and feel they are achieving, however I am not really in favour of bad pronunciation being accepted too much. Pronunciation is your absolute keystone to the language and needs to be close to right at some point in the process. So don't delay to get your pronunciation corrected for too long. I hear of fancy people who learned several languages in just a few years, yet I can detect that their pronunciation is a bit off, for the languages I know something about. Maybe no one was correcting them sufficiently. No big deal. They can still be understood. Thais accept westernised pronunciation quite readily, but do strive to make your pronunciation as good as possible.
1000 words covers 85% of your Thai communication. 3000 words covers 98%.
If someone learned 10 new words per day (and revised 50 previously learned words or phrases; since a lot of repetition is required) it would be possible to acquire an 1800 word vocab in 6 months. That requires diligence and persistence. Normal persons will achieve much slower than that. Maybe took me 3 years to get to that. Learn simple basic words first, that are used so frequently. Make images in your mind for words.
Practice conversations in the shower, or when walking down the street talk to yourself (aloud), or with a teacher. You need drills to practise combining words into phrases. You won't know how the word sounds if don't actually say it out loud. Others will think you are mad. No problem. I used to practice while walking 2 km. To work. Ideally you need to practice and revise daily or as close to daily as possible.
Find a conversation buddy who cannot speak English at all well. This is a person who will have patience to try hard to understand, feedback how they understand what you said with correct Thai, will try to use basic easy words. This person takes the place of a parent teaching the child. LOL.
I spent many days early on, with a girl who could not speak English but was willing to speak Thai to me slowly and clearly. My Thai was forced to improve fast.
The "immersion" method does not really work. Some guys have lived in Thailand many years but still have not acquired much Thai because they are not being forced to communicate in Thai. You need to be conversing with Thais that cannot or will not use English. My GF cannot speak English to any great extent. So I am forced to use Thai regularly.
When making notes about Thai words or phrases, explain the meaning, a single English word is generally not enough to make the meaning absolutely clear.
There is a method of teaching Thai, called the natural method, where the teacher acts as a parent teaching a child, but speaks only Thai. I advise against this method. It takes too long to make any progress.
Tips for learning a Thai Dialect. Isaan
Thailand has quite a few Dialects:
Central normal Thai (with a written script). Best to learn Central Standard Thai since you will then be understood throughout Thailand and Laos. Laos people watch Thai TV.
Southern Thai. Some different words and different pronunciation, e. G. Song and Saam (for 2 and 3) are rising toe in Thai but a weird form of sing song falling tone in Southern Thai.
Northern Thai. Again some differing vocab and differing pronunciation to central Thai. I have seen Lanna script on sign posts but can't read it. LOL.
Isaan (Ee-saan) dialect (North Eastern). Has no official script however is considered to be close to Laos language (which does have a script differing from Thai script- but semi readable). Again pronunciation varies and has special vocab. Different provinces have slightly different pronunciation as well.
Khmer (Kha-main) is actually an ancient Cambodian dialect, not very close to Thai at all, so Thai speakers can only understand a few words that happen to be in common. Spoken in Surin and Sisaket. This Khmer dialect is not well understood by people living in Cambodia, and visa versa, since is not close to modern Cambodian.
Suay is another language spoken in some Isaan regions.
Other minority dialects. See [URL]http://www.thai-language.com/id/590101[/URL].
Learn Thai first. Then can get a list of the most common words used in the dialect.
E. g. [URL]http://www.thai-language.com/id/590082[/URL].
Paiboon publishes some books on Thai dialects, however I found the way they show tones to be inconsistent and confusing like the author was confused too. Still useful to get some common vocab.
There are also rules for Consonant and vowel replacements that the dialect uses. E. g. Isaan "hak" replaces "rak" (meaning love).
By immersion you can get used to the different way the locals pronounce Isaan words.
When Isaan word is essentially same as a Thai word, but with different pronunciation, I write a script that describes the pronunciation, which can use Thai script altered or Romanised script. There is no official Isaan script. Too much effort to learn Laos script I think.
Learn simple phrases in the regional dialect so when hear them will understand.
Try to hear the tone and other variations from normal Thai and copy the simplest stuff.
If locals speak in Isaan, can be better to answer in normal Thai unless very confident of getting it right in the Isaan way.
It is hard to find a good teacher for a regional dialect. In my experience the locals pronounce words automatically with little technical understanding of the tones, since there is no written language equivalent. Subtleties of tones are hard to hear for the inexperienced (including myself), since not same as normal Thai tones. It is hard to find a teacher that really understands the dialect tones on a technical level.
Be prepared to take a significant time of immersion to get used to local dialects and improved understanding. Age is a barrier that slows you down. Just accept that an old brain is a stubborn one, and a lot of repetition is needed. My Isaan ability improves very slowly.
Some Thai girls from Surin can speak English, Thai, Isaan / Laos, Khmer, and Suay. Quite surprising.
Some common dialects spoken in Thailand
[QUOTE=RickRock;2224855]There are more languages in Thailand than dialects. You've got:
Thai.
Lao (Isan).
Lanna (Northern Thai).
Pak Thai (Southern Thai).
Shan (Tai Yai).
Tai Lue.
<cut>
Vietnamese.
Mandarin.
Mon.
Hokkien.
And a few more!
Thai and Lao (which is also what the people in Isan speak) are mutually intelligible but considered separate languages. Lanna and Thai are mutually intelligible, but Lanna is often considered a dialect of Thai. These kinds of classifications usually have more to do with politics than practical reality. When Thailand was being formed there was a major push made to reclassify the subject people of the Siamese Empire as "Thais. ".
One interesting example is that the Thais called the Lanna language "Lao" when Lanna was an independent empire, but in reality Lanna is more closely related to Thai than to the Lao language!
The reality is that if you can speak and understand Thai / Lao / Lanna you can understand and be understood by Thai / Lao / Lanna.
You'll have a lot more problems with anyone speaking "Pak Thai" in the South. The say are instead of L and cut a lot of their words short, and there are many other differences too. The reality again though is that you wouldn't have any problem in practice, because Pak Thai speakers can also speak Thai!
The Thai's call the Shan people "Tai Yai" or "big Thai. " The people are related, overlap in geography and migrated along similar roots. Their languages are related scientifically speaking, but they're not mutually intelligible at all.
As a further matter of clarification: Northern Khmer (Khmer Surin) is absolutely not a dialect of Thai. It's a dialect of Khmer. Both are mutually intelligible. Northern Khmer is closer to the older form of the Khmer language and a few sounds are different, but otherwise Khmers from Surin, Buriram, Sisaket, Roi Et and the other parts of Thailand that have long been inhabited by Khmers can speak with their erstwhile compatriots from across the border with little problem. [/QUOTE]Ha ha. I am sure you have found out a lot more about languages used in Thailand than me.
I did not claim that Khmer spoken in Thailand was a dialect of Thai, only it is a dialect of Khmer spoken in Thailand (not spoken outside of Thailand I guess other than by modern migration of those speakers). I have noticed some words in common with Thai or close. I don't know if Suay exists outside of Thailand to any significant extent or not. I did not bother to list most languages spoken in multiple countries or primarily spoken elsewhere, otherwise we would be listing everything, and I did not claim to be totally comprehensive.
Southern Thai language is known as Phaasaa Phaak Tai, or Phaasaa Pak Tai, not really "Pak Thai" (never heard that at all). "Tai" (unaspirated without the letter H) means south, and "Phaak" is a region, but can be pronounced short "Pak" by the locals.
Yes I did not list all the mountain peoples languages, that are really quite numerous. I am not sure we need to include Vietnamese and Mandarin here as not mainly used in Thailand, but clearly and group of people descended from foreigners (or travellers) can speak any language they like, including English. I have met quite a few Philippinos working in Bangkok too, and heard Deutsch fairly frequently. I suppose was quite inconsistent for me to list Khmer and Suay since not Thai dialects, but I included them basically only because I experienced to hear them more frequently in Thailand and do not hear them any where else. I have heard Shan language in Mae Hong Son and did not understand much of it. Similarly used a hairdresser with Kaliang (Akha) staff and no clues what they were saying. I guess many guys have been to the southern Islands with Myanmar staff too.
I have known a Shan (Tai Yai or Thai Yai) girl for many years, she speaks Thai in a funny way, probably close to Lanna style, so I got used to her strange pronunciations of Thai words. I could semi understand her speaking to friends on the phone so had to guess that might not have been Shan language she was using, although there are at least some common words (with Lanna Thai - not sure just how much). She eventually learned to read and write Thai (as an adult), as her first written language, so her spelling is worse than mine. I communicate with another Laos girl whose Thai spelling is also worse than mine, but we get by.
Most Surin girls say they can't really communicate with real Cambodian girls and visa versa in Khmer language (the dialects are a bit too dissimilar). So I think "mutually understandable" is an exaggeration according to what the speakers tell me. The girl from "Boy Bpaet" told me it is much easier for her to communicate with Surin girls in Thai language and she indicated Surin Khmer was like an ancient Khmer dialect. Another girl from Siem Riep seemed to agree. She looks Thai so when I first met her and she wanted to speak English instead of Thai, I thought she was just "dutjarit" but later could see her Thai was not clearly pronounced. Don't know if that is completely true about being Ancient Khmer (is just what Cambodian girls believe or have been taught), but would make sense based on Isaan regions being part of the Khmer empire in the distant past hence the Khmer style temples in Buri Ram, Phi Mai, Sisaket, Surin, etc.
Thai has borrowed words from Khmer and from English, from Cantonese, etc. I was shocked to learn that I could understand a price quoted in Cantonese because the Thai numbers clearly got borrowed from Chinese. On other hand Vietnamese appears to have almost zero words in common with Thai, I was yet to find one.