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| Ryan: Welcome back to All About Thai, lesson 4. In this lesson, we’ll show you how easy it is to start speaking Thai. |
| Rawinporn: We will be focusing on pronunciation. |
| Ryan: We’ll give you tips on how to perfect your pronunciation. |
| Rawinporn: The Thai language uses a non-Roman script. |
| Ryan: Exactly! For people who are learning Thai as their second or third language, it’s easier to get a hold of the sounds if we transcribe them into the Latin alphabet first. |
| Rawinporn: In the Thai language, there are 44 consonants… |
| Ryan: And 21 vowels. That’s a lot! |
| Rawinporn: I know! There are many consonants with the same pronunciation as in English. However, many differences exist. |
| Ryan: We’ll guide you to help you pronounce Thai correctly. |
| Rawinporn: Let’s start with Thai consonants with the same pronunciation as in English. |
| Ryan: -b, -d, -f, -h, -kh |
| Rawinporn: -l, -m, -n, -s, -w, and -ch |
| Ryan: Can you give us some examples? |
| Rawinporn: For example, the -kh sound, Khun Ryan. |
| Ryan: The -ch sound. For example, Chiang Mai, the name of the province in the northern part of Thailand. |
| Rawinporn: Exactly! Now, let’s have a closer look at Thai sounds that have different pronunciation than in English. |
| Ryan: First, -bp. |
| Rawinporn: -bp. When we transcribe in the Latin alphabet, we normally use the letter -p. |
| Ryan: The -bp sound is a harder sound than -p in English. It’s more like between -p and -b sounds. So, we’ll be using -bp in the lesson notes to distinguish this letter from the English -p. |
| Rawinporn: For example, let’s take the sport ping-pong or “table tennis” in English. Thais would say bping-bpawng. |
| Rawinporn: bpuuen |
| Ryan: means “gun.” |
| Rawinporn: bpiin |
| Ryan: means “climb up.” |
| Rawinporn: bpiin khǎo |
| Ryan: means “climb up the mountain.” Next, we would pronounce the -ph sound in Thai as -p in English. |
| Rawinporn: For example, phîi chaai |
| Ryan: means “elder brother.” |
| Rawinporn: phîi-sǎao |
| Ryan: means “elder sister.” |
| Rawinporn: We transcribe the -ph sound into the Latin alphabet as P-H. |
| Ryan: -dt |
| Rawinporn: The -dt sound is a harder sound than -t in Englisgh. It is more like between the -t and -d sounds. For this letter, we write it as -dt in our notes to distinguish it. It is very similar to -t as in “sixty.” |
| Ryan: For example? |
| Rawinporn: dtôn-mái |
| Ryan: means “tree.” Next, the -th sound. |
| Rawinporn: -th. thá-hǎan means “soldier.” It sounds just the same as -t in English, but when transcribe it into the Latin alphabet, we use the letters -th. |
| Ryan: The -h indicates that it includes an aspiration or puff of air when it is sounded. THe previous sound was non-aspirated. You can tell the difference by holding your hand in front of your mouth as you say each one to feel the breath. Try it. Repeat after khun Rawinporn. |
| Rawinporn: -dt, -th |
| Ryan: Did you feel the difference? The next sound is the -g sound. It has a harder sound than the -g in English. It’s more like between the -g and -k sounds. |
| Rawinporn: For example, gài. |
| Ryan: means “chicken.” |
| Rawinporn: gin |
| Ryan: means “eat.” The next one is the -j sound. It has a harder sound than -j in English. |
| Rawinporn: For example, jèp. |
| Ryan: means “hurt.” |
| Rawinporn: dì-chǎn jèp |
| Ryan: It means “I’m hurt.” |
| Rawinporn: jai |
| Ryan: means “heart.” Next is the -r sound. When you pronounce this sound, you need to roll your tongue a little bit. |
| Rawinporn: -r. The word ruuea. |
| Ryan: means “boat.” |
| Rawinporn: dì-chǎn châawp ruuea, |
| Ryan: means “I like boats.” |
| Rawinporn: Last but not least is -ng sound. This one is maybe the most difficult for Westerners. |
| Ryan: -ng |
| Rawinporn: Yes, -ng. The word nguu |
| Ryan: means “snake.” phǒm mâi châawp nguu. |
| Rawinporn: dì-chǎn mâi châawp nguu. |
| Ryan: Means “I don’t like snakes.” Whoa, sounds scary to me! |
| Rawinporn: I know. Next, we’ll talk about intonation. Maybe this sounds scarier than -ng, but believe me, everyone can do it. |
| Ryan: Let’s try the intonation together. |
| Rawinporn: Well, there is no stress on Thai words. Instead, Thai is a tonal language. There are five tones; mid, low, falling, high, and rising tone. |
| Ryan: Can you give us some examples? |
| Rawinporn: khaa has five tones. These five different tones have five meanings. |
| Ryan: Just like in the previous lesson, we’re going to give you the word one time at natural native speed. Then we’ll give you the English translation. Let’s start with the mid tone. |
| Rawinporn: khaa |
| Ryan: “to be stuck to” |
| Rawinporn: low tone, khàa. |
| Ryan: "Galanga" |
| Rawinporn: Falling tone, khâa |
| Ryan: khâa means "to kill" |
| Rawinporn: High tone, kháa. |
| Ryan: "to sell" |
| Rawinporn: Last one, rising tone, khǎa. |
| Ryan: khǎa means "leg.” |
| Rawinporn: nùeng khǎa |
| Ryan: “one leg” |
| Rawinporn: sǎawng khǎa |
| Ryan: “Two legs.” khaa in Thai is just the same between singular and plural! |
| Rawinporn: So easy! |
| Ryan: That’s right. About our pronunciation lesson, please keep in mind that listening and repeating is really the key to improving your pronunciation. Listen to and copy native speakers as much as you can. |
| Rawinporn: sà-wàt-dii khâ. |
| Ryan: sà-wàt-dii khráp. |
Comments
HideHello everyone! Pronunciation is an important topic for both beginning and advanced students alike, so we think everyone can learn something from this lesson!
Hi Christopher Davis,
For certain lesson series, the lesson notes and the lesson transcript would be identical, hence we only have the notes in such cases. Please download the Lesson Notes file.
Kind regards,
Levente
Team ThaiPod101.com
Wow.
Why didn't you do a transcript for these lessons???
Hello Bjoern,
Thank you very much for your comment. I'm here to answer a comment and question as an experienced Thai language tutor. I'm not a writer for those lessons. The writer is American,he compare sound with English letter not way it pronounce in Thai. He is already correct.
-bp Harder sound than -p in English. The Thai -bp is more like between the -p and -b sounds.
-dt Harder sound than -t in English. Thai -dt is more like between the -t and -d sounds. It is very similar to -t as in "sixty."
Language is to practice and listen from native speaker and try to copy. Hope that’s help. Please let us know if you have any future questions about Thai language. I will be so glad to helps. We wish you have a good progress with your Thai.
Have a nice day.
Parisa
Team ThaiPod101.com
Hello Parisa,
Thank you formloser answer.
You should change your lesson then. Because in the lesson you say: -dt is harder than -t and -bp is harder than -p which is wrong as you just confirmed...!!
Hello Bjoern,
Thank you very much for your comment. Really sorry to hear that it hard for you. "dt" ตอ เต่า sound in Thai language is a sound between -d and-t and it harder than when you say only "d" in ดอ เด็ก
Hope that’s help. Please let us know if you have any future questions about Thai language. I will be so glad to helps. We wish you have a good progress with your Thai.
Have a nice day.
Parisa
Team ThaiPod101.com
-dt, should this not been harder than -d but softer than -t so somewhere between -d and-t. In the lesson you say it’s harder than -t but between -d and -t which seems to be awkward.
Same goes for -bp
Hello Ace,
Thank you very much for your comment and question. This ˆ is a falling tone symbol. Hope that's help. Please let us know if you have any future questions about Thai language. I will be so glad to helps. We wish you have a good progress with your Thai.
Have a nice day.
Parisa
Team ThaiPod101.com
I've been learning Thai for more than a week and I'm not sure if the symbol ^ is used as a rising tone or falling tone. Everywhere is giving me unsure thoughts which may mess up my pronunciation.
Hello Aleksi,
Thank you very much for your comment and share your story. We are so glad to heard. You have a good chance to try out your pronunciation, get your best out of your visit. Thai is not easy, it the matter of practicing with a native. Don't forget to share with us after you come back. We would love to hear about it. Please let us know if you have any future questions about Thai language. I will be so glad to helps.
Have a nice day.
Parisa
Team ThaiPod101.com
I am studying thai to go to thailand and see my thai fiancé`s family. Cant wait to try my pronounciation with them since none of them speak english :D
Hello Alexandra,
Thank you very much for your comment. For your question, we use our own way of romanization which is a little different from Phiboon or Mary Haas. It's easy to master. Please let me know if you have any future questions. I will be so glad to help.
Have a nice day.
Parisa
Team ThaiPod101.com
hi! I just wanted to ask, what type of Romanisation do you use on thaipod101. As far as I know, there are a few of them. The one by Phiboon or the one by Mary Haas. Which one do you use here?
Hello Migx,
Thank you very much for your comment. We really appreciated that. I wanted to cheer you up. Yes, Thai pronunciation and the writing system are hard but if you practice often, it will become easier. If you need any help with Thai language. Please feel free to ask here. I will be glad to help you.
Have a nice day.
Parisa
Team ThaiPod101.com
Thai grammar is easily for some sentences but the pronunciation and the writing system are hard :sob:
Hello fred!
Thank you for posting!
Yes, of course every language is hard in the beginning, but I am sure you will get it eventually!
Just continue practicing!
Please let us know if you have any questions, and we will try to help you as much as we can!
Engla
Team ThaiPod101.com
This is so hard :disappointed:
Hi Simon,
Thank you for sharing your experience with us :heart::thumbsup:
We appreciate your advice.
Feel free to ask and comment as often as you wish.
Cheers!
Laura
Team ThaiPod101.com
I'm fortunate enough to be able to read and write Thai which makes life a lot easier. I would recommend to anyone who is learning Thai to not bother with the romanisation and just learn the Thai consonants and vowels as soon as possible.
By learning to read and write Thai it will help your pronunciation a lot because some of the sounds (especially vowel sounds and tones) can not be written in English. So please, read and write as soon as you can and you will be clearer in your speech and easier to understand. :smile:
Thank you Steve for your comment! :smile:
Elena
Team ThaiPod101.com
I am grateful for the ability to record myself and have a teacher review!:smile: