How to Learn to Read and Understand the Thai Language

Languages like Thai, Laos, Khmer and Burmese have their own unique alphabet. It may look daunting at first, but it's much easier than it looks, and even easier than Chinese or Japanese. This is because Thai actually is an alphabet, just as our abc's fit together to form words. You can learn the sound each letter represents, and form words. Just as we combine letters like c, a and b the Thai have คั and บ. It's a logical alphabet. Here are some tips to learning the Thai language.

Alphabet and Reading.
Learn the alphabet, and learn to read. Do not use phonetics; use the actual Thai alphabet. This is a very important step, but most western students get this wrong. Often Westerners learn based on conversation and phonetic transliterations, but never learn how to read. So in their mind they see the word book as nangseu, instead of: หนังสือ
This is a bad start. You'll never learn to read Thai, unless you start learning the alphabet from the beginning stages of your lessons.
You have to start at the beginning. You have to learn how to read, just as kids learn how to read their first language. Imagine learning Spanish without knowing how to read it? It would be much harder, and you'd be missing a third of the language's use. Reading is important. Reading the Thai language is especially important if you want to speak the language. If you only learn the roman transliteration, you'll never fully learn the Thai language.

Learn to Spell
Learn the names of each letter, so you can spell. Just as we know "a" and "b" are "aay: and "bee," and we can spell, deee oooo geee (dog), you need to learn the names of each Thai letter. I fought against this for many months, but later found it very useful. While traveling in Thailand, I would often ask someone how to say something in Thai, and it helped if they could tell me and then also spell it for me. This gave me a mental image, and I could remember the new words twice as fast.

Childrens Books
Get the books Thai children use to learn their words and letters. These are a great help. They contain pictures to match the simple words being introduced. Kids' books are a great help in your first year of Thai language learning. Later you can progress to short stories for children, and eventually young adult novels with easy vocabulary. Also look for books that Thai kids use to learn English, and just study them in reverse.

Easy Grammar
Thai grammar is easier than grammar in European languages. Multiple verb conjugations do not exist (unlike French), and the word order is straight forward. As long as you have all the words out there, you'll be in good shape. Most of the time you'll be right with subject followed by verb, then object. No complex word arrangement will stump you (as they do in German).

Pop Songs
A fun way to add to your vocabulary is to watch Thai pop and rock videos. The language in songs is usually simple and easy to follow. This is also a fun way to remember phrases. I'll always remember that "kit tung ter" means "I miss you," because of a popular Thai love song I always liked, which repeated that line in the chorus.

Tones
Westerners can't hear all the tones in the Thai language. We're just not tuned to hearing them, because we were taught a non-tonal language as babies. All European languages are non-tonal and don't care about the tone you use, just the word itself. In Thai, one word (such as mai) can have up to 5 different meanings depending on the "way" you say it, or the tone. Don't hurt yourself trying to master these tones, because you won't succeed. We Americans and Europeans simply can't hear them. It's OK, just do the best you can. People will understand you based on context clues. They can decipher your meaning from the words you do get right.

Fewer Words in Thai.
For many words in English where we have many synonyms, Thai has one or two. For example, there are about 15 ways to express fear in English (afraid, scared, frightened, etc), but the Thais have 2 words to mean fear. Those two manage to encompass all types of fears, so this makes your language lessons easier. You have fewer words to learn in order to be able to express yourself. See, it isn't all hard!

Conversation
Try to banter back and forth with some Thai friends. Talking helps to remember. Repeat everything that is said to you. If your conversation buddy asks you if you want to see a movie today, say "Would I like to see a movie today? Yes, I'd like to see a movie today." You're repeating a lot more than usual, but it will help you remember the words. Also look for word of the day sites online, and use them. Language learning can be fun, so enjoy it.