It's "tsch" not "sch" you no good...

This topic has caused many a debate in the world of Thai grammar and language. Like one of those all-too-common Asian government gang fights they pass off as legislation debates, the issue of how exactly we Westerners should pronounce Thai consonants and vowels is highly discussed and often argued.

I have my own thoughts, which I will share with you today. Please keep in mind that these are general suggestions, not intended to be taken as the absolute way. These ideas are meant to get you a little bit closer to sounding more natural when you speak Thai, and for me to learn as well. If you have any thoughts on the subject, please chime in.

Since we’re not trying to pass any new laws, let’s keep the fist-fighting to a minimum as I discuss five pronunciation tips…

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I was recently asked to write a guest post on the Thai language for another blog, and so I did.

You can read Learning to speak Thai: the ins and outs of Tackling the Thai language on the Expat Arrivals website. Please take a few minutes and visit their site to show your support.

Thanks!

A little while back I reviewed a certain Thailand travel guide that was less than stellar. In fact, the book pretty much pissed me off. You can read the review if you like (I’d certainly appreciate the page views), but all in all I wasn’t able to put my recommendation on it.

At the end of that review, however, I alluded to other books I would feel comfortable putting my name behind (for whatever that’s worth). Today I’d like to tell you about the travel guide I like the most. I read this book before my 2009 trip, lent it to my Mom before we went, and just gave my old copy to a friend who is planning on traveling with me to Thailand this year.

Since the first copy I bought they have gone through at least one revision, with another due to be released in August 2010. That they have gone through two revisions/updates in a year would normally seem suspect, but this guide is of such high quality I can only assume that they are adding information and detail rather than correcting mistakes.

I’m talking about the Eyewitness Travel Thailand guide by BK Publishing.

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Well, they announced the results of the Top 100 Language Blogs of 2010. Drum roll?

We came in at #31!

I am incredibly (and I mean incredibly) surprised at this. I was not expecting this at all; I wasn’t even thinking we were going to make it into the top 100, let alone the to 50. Thank you everyone who voted, and especially thanks to everyone who takes the time to visit and read my blog. Without you I would just be talking to myself and that’s only fun some of the time.

As I’m sure most of you know by now, pronouns such as ผม /pǒm/ and ฉัน /chǎn/ are used by males and females, respectively, as the word “I”. We also use the pronouns พี่ /pîi/ and น้อง /nɔ́ɔng/ for older and younger sibling and พ่อ /pɔ̂ɔ/ and แม่ /mɛ̂ɛ/ for father and mother. These should not be new to you.

However, quite often in Thai when one person is referring to him or herself, or when referring to someone else, these pronouns (and others) get used differently than the way we are used to in English.

Wanna find out how?

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ใคร

I sound so important when I use big words like “interrogatives.” Makes me feel all smart and stuff. In English we use the term “interrogative” as a grouping for words that ask the questions “who, what, when, where, why.”

Thai certainly has these words, but each of these interrogatives also comes with their own set of answers, and you don’t even have to learn a new word.

Let’s take a look at what I mean…

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Okay, so today we’ll continue with Part 2 of our Thai Tones review. Before we go further down the rabbit hole, here are the answers to yesterday’s “quiz”:


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I’ve been hearing a lot of people – both on and off the blog – talk about their difficulty in understanding and internalizing the tone rules for the Thai language. I admit that it did take several months before I felt truly comfortable with them, but rest assured it can be done.

So let’s start from the beginning.
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Phrasebooks are something of a necessary evil when traveling to a new place for the first time. Especially when the native language of the country you are visiting isn’t based on Latin characters, it’s very important to have a backup plan to get you where you need to go and make communication easier.

I’m a little bit surprised that there aren’t more Thai phrasebooks on the market. Considering the complexity of the language for the lay visitor I would think there was a larger market. Perhaps there is in Europe; in the U.S., however, there don’t seem to be many available.

Given the dearth of phrasebooks that seem to available, I picked up “The Rough Guide Phrasebook – Thai” to see if it would be something I could recommend to people who are looking for a book they can bring with them.

A phrasebook should, obviously, make it very easy for a visitor to communicate with native speakers. Does this book live up to that expectation?
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The Internet surely can produce some interesting things to look at, eh? Yes, it’s disturbing, I know. Disturbing as it might be, however, (I kind of find it amusing, actually) it also does a good job in illustrating today’s topic quite well.

(Don’t stare at this picture too long… eight years was long enough, for sure!)

Several of the vowels found in the written form of the Thai language are written in different ways depending on whether or not the syllable/word has a final consonant or not; they are written one way when there is no final consonant, but written another way when there is. I call this phenomenon “vowel morphing.”

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