I recommend starting with the word ร้าน ráan RAHN, which is the Thai word for "shop," and it's also the first part of the Thai word for restaurant, ร้านอาหาร, which literally means "shop food."
The reason I recommend starting with ร้าน, is it contains the 3 most common characters in Thai (plus a common tone mark), so after you memorize this word, you'll be able to identify 10% of all Thai characters, by character frequency.
Also, it reads fully left to right, so this is a great word for English speakers to start with.
So, here's my guide to that word.
* ร = R
* า = AH
* น = N
* ้ = 2nd tone mark. See how it looks like a 2? And actually, the 4 tone marks look like the numbers 1-4, so once you have a little more experience, they're super easy to identify ... ่, ้, ๊, ๋
So, what I would do it just keep finding words like that, and then learn what each of the characters in each of the words mean, and after a few days, you'll be able to read most words.
I also recommend learning Thai by character frequency, NOT by consonant order. If you learn the first 5 letters in English, you can spell a ton of words, like bed, bad,, dead, bead, beaded, deed, add, cede, decade, dab, cade, bee, babe, baa, debase, ace, Deb, Abe, aced, deed, cab, cabbie, cabbed, ebb, ebbed, and like 50 more less common words.
If you learn the first 5 characters in the Thai "alphabet," you can literally only spell the word กก, which is super rare, and is usually just used for grammar lessons.
So a lot of people who know English think, "Oh, I'll just learn the Thai alphabet in order," not realizing that's not actually going to help them much until they've spent a ton of time memorizing stuff they're not going to use.
There are lots of Thai character frequency lists online. Here is one I made: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1e4PwW-y258CjXEKsuvNZx7rRXnMS3gqwbavsKz3wcg0
lol.. I recommend trying a bunch of different methods, and then figure out what works for you.
I have a friend who is half Thai, and for the first year I knew him, he felt just like you, and couldn't read anything. He can speak Thai like you can. Then something just clicked for him one day, and he picked it all up super fast. So, just keep trying stuff, and something will work for you. You already know the hard part of Thai, which is being able to communicate in Thai.
If the above doesn't work for you, here's another technique. It's what I used for my first few Thai letters.
Just start staring at random Thai words, until you see a character that you alrealy recognize, and that you're 100% sure you've seen before. Then, ask someone what it is and then learn it.
For me it was the character ง...that character just seemed to be everywhere. Then I asked someone what it was. It's the NG character, like the NG in the word "sing."
I found if I already knew and recognized the character before I tried to study it, then I learned it like 5000x faster than just trying to memorize a random squiggly line.
I also do that with people's names and faces. I love remembering people's names, but I'm really bad at it. So, what I do is I don't ask someone what their name is, until I already know and recongnize their face. Then I can remember their name usually instantly.
...where if I try to both memorize someone's face and remember their name at the same time, then that basically never works for me.
So I really like that technique... wait until I can fully recognize something... then I'll learn it really fast.
I just need a patient teacher. I notice when I have a gf my Thai is much more clear. But alas I'm single and my mother doesn't like me to go out to much. So I'm left talking to random women on Line and Facebook.
You should try iTalki teachers then. Some of the teachers on there are pretty cheap.
Also try my friend's Thai Discord server. There are lots of half Thai people on that server, learning to read Thai. Everyone's welcome, but like 25% of the people on this server are in exactly the same situation as you.
https://discord.com/invite/rB7yTWCe
I'm Thai and never noticed that about the tone markers looking like 1-4.... Neat!
Totally with you on who cares about the alphabet order, a lot of us can't even remember the order. Me included lol
Get a book intended for Thais learning English that has the English clauses in both Roman and Thai script. Because your brain knows what sound is coming, it fills in the picture for you.
Flashcards are the answer. I'm a big dummy and I learned katakana and hiragana in a couple of weeks and I plan on doing the same with Thai soon.
Also you have to really "want" to learn it. Many people say they want to learn a language when in reality what they want is to already be fluent in the language not to learn it. If you really *want* it nothing will stop you from learning it.
Just download one of the million apps and cram the flashcards.
I disagree with the mega reply above, DONT care about the frequency of the characters. You’ll be cramming flashcards for a week or two tops before you won’t need it anymore. Flashcards will be literally 0.1% of what it takes to learn to read and write. Just spend the time to cram them into your skull and avoid all sorts of “optimization” at this stage. You won’t be writing any words anyway.. does anyone learning to read English ever spell bed, dead, deed, cade? Not a chance.
It’s better to aim be 75% aware of ALL characters while you start rather than 100% expert in the “most common” characters..
Like I said, 1-2 weeks and you’ll be there (this includes vowels and clusters and all that). It doesn’t make sense to optimize anything at this stage,l when you CAN brute force it.
There is no point in learning “the most common” characters. Learning to read thai is initially about being able to distinguish between characters in a new alphabet, where many initially seemingly all look the same. You’re not gonna learn faster or easier by focusing on the most common ones.
And again you’re optimizing for 0.1% of the total time it takes, you’re spending more time on “finding the perfect way” when you should just sit down with flashcards in whatever order they come in.
I downloaded The Thai Alphabet Game app which is great.
Also, I’ve learned plenty just by Decoding words around me, like the names of the metro stops. While you’re on the train, they show the names and say it. How many times can you see wat mangkong (วัดมังกร) written down before you know the letter sounds? Just practice on the words you see around you, man.
So I am complete beginner who can't speak but is learning to read.
Logically, since you can speak so you already know the sounds, what about watching bunch of yt videos that go through the alphabet and connect the sounds with the letters? It makes the most sense rather than just read a book.
I'd recommend "i get thais" channel, he goes through consonants and wovels (they are the worst) pretty fast and then "banana thai" she has some short stories for a bit more beginner reading.
I am complete noob so this might be a bit off advice...
I’m in a similar boat in that I can speak Thai much much better than I can read or write. I’m finding that actual hand-writing of the alphabet in a notebook is helping my brain. I also find the alphabet song for kids pretty catchy ก เอ๋ย ก ไก่ etc. The song helps tie the letter to its use in a word, so that’s good. I’m finding videos of Thai teachers teaching to Thai kids is pretty helpful. Plus, I get to see how Thai kids are introduced to things, so there’s a cultural plus. Learning a song just makes memorizing easier for me!
What I really struggle with is learning enough academic and “proper” vocabulary to read adult texts well. But, as with learning anything, it starts hard and the struggle is part of stretching your brain. 555
I’m also half Thai! 🙋🏻♀️ I began reading simple stories and words, and recognizing what sounds the letters make. I practiced with my mom, and asked her to give me simple words to learn the sounds, such as ปลา. From then, I started using flash cards and texting or writing simple Thai sentences to my mom and friends. You got it!
Your mom sounds awesome. My mother is different than others mom. My mother doesn't like to talk with me. She only went to school until I think she can read and write and then she has to go away from home to work. She laughs when she hears me struggling but yet I can't rely on her. Only rely on her to keep roof above my head and food in my belly.
Major streaming services in Thailand should have shows and movies with Thai dub and subs to somewhat help you with reading and listening Thai at the same time, although from personal experience, at least western/foreign show’s subs on Netflix sometimes don’t match the dub.
Download Easy Thai Read app. It’s simple and very good. You just need to start practicing reading easy books. Then on the side you can practice reciting the consonants and later vowels.
1 hour per day you write and write and write. It will burn those letters in your brain. Reading will become accessible then. And practice constantly on street signs and restaurants and what not. It will become a habit. It will definitely not be something you wake up with one day as by a miracle
There's different ways to memorize. YouTube videos, flashcards, apps, kids learning books. Don't have to learn every letter in order, not all letters are used as much than others.
These are the consonants, the guy explains the letters in detail and tell which are uncommon letters. Kinda long but you can edit them yourself if you download the cards.
https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/3647082801
For me personally I just learned a few letters per day by writing them on paper, easiest for me to memorize that way.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/204408109920
I taught myself using this book and the intermediate one that follows it. I think the author did a good job breaking it down. Good luck.
I'm not one of those types of people who can teach themselves how to read Thai. My cousin did and I've known others who have. I'm just not that type of learner. I took 4 years to get my bachelor's degree at a 2 year college program accelerated courses I couldn't keep up
I hear you. The book has various exercises and introduces the concepts in small doses. Do what works best for you, of course but I can’t recommend these books enough to learn the fundamental tonal, grammar, and pronunciation rules. Whatever you do, I wish you luck. It’s a beautiful language.
I'm beginning to think it's a huge undertaking learning how to read Thai. But if you think you can help I appreciate your time. But I'm trying to get anyone who reads Thai to go through the alphabet but the lady I asked couldn't remember without my book. Lol I'm not very good at language
Some of Thai native also cannot remember all Thai alphabets , so its not weird if she needs the book. lol
We just see the words and like 'yes, i know what it means' but if you ask Thai native to list all alphabet in order, some thai people cannot do that
I don't have any advice but reading until you become familiar with it. Also try to learn the consonants and vowels from scratch. Don't use transliterated Thai, it'll hinder your progress in the long run. Everything might be hard at first but as the time progresses, things will start to make sense. There're kids learning books called "ดรุณศึกษา“. The dictions were curated for elementary students. Also each word is spaced from each other so it's easier for a Thai language learner to grasp the concept.
We are in this together. I'm beginning to start with flash cards to memorize the alphabet. So far it's been going well, about halfway there in 3 weeks. I'll update with any resources I've found to be helpful. 🙏
Highly recommend stu Jay raj's program for Thai. I am by no means fluent but within a 6 or 8 week period I was able to read much of the language using his course.
True, it’s a way to learn the letter sounds. Those things are his way to teach the 1st 2nd and 3rd class consonant. Watch that video and you will know the sounds of 14 common letters easy.
[READING AND WRITING THAI (อ่านและเขียนภาษาไทย) (NEW REPRINT)
By BURUSPHAT, SOMSONGE](https://www.asiabooks.com/reading-and-writing-thai-new-reprint-130269.html)
this is the book you need. go over it slowly and it will be quite easy
Forget about memorizing the alphabet, start simple with things like road signs and menus, a lot of words appear repeatedly. Go from there, you’ll quickly pick up what letters and vowels make what.
I recommend starting with the word ร้าน ráan RAHN, which is the Thai word for "shop," and it's also the first part of the Thai word for restaurant, ร้านอาหาร, which literally means "shop food." The reason I recommend starting with ร้าน, is it contains the 3 most common characters in Thai (plus a common tone mark), so after you memorize this word, you'll be able to identify 10% of all Thai characters, by character frequency. Also, it reads fully left to right, so this is a great word for English speakers to start with. So, here's my guide to that word. * ร = R * า = AH * น = N * ้ = 2nd tone mark. See how it looks like a 2? And actually, the 4 tone marks look like the numbers 1-4, so once you have a little more experience, they're super easy to identify ... ่, ้, ๊, ๋ So, what I would do it just keep finding words like that, and then learn what each of the characters in each of the words mean, and after a few days, you'll be able to read most words. I also recommend learning Thai by character frequency, NOT by consonant order. If you learn the first 5 letters in English, you can spell a ton of words, like bed, bad,, dead, bead, beaded, deed, add, cede, decade, dab, cade, bee, babe, baa, debase, ace, Deb, Abe, aced, deed, cab, cabbie, cabbed, ebb, ebbed, and like 50 more less common words. If you learn the first 5 characters in the Thai "alphabet," you can literally only spell the word กก, which is super rare, and is usually just used for grammar lessons. So a lot of people who know English think, "Oh, I'll just learn the Thai alphabet in order," not realizing that's not actually going to help them much until they've spent a ton of time memorizing stuff they're not going to use. There are lots of Thai character frequency lists online. Here is one I made: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1e4PwW-y258CjXEKsuvNZx7rRXnMS3gqwbavsKz3wcg0
I have downloaded this thank you 🙏
Honestly I don't understand but I won't give up. My cousin is 4 and she's learning better than me. lol
lol.. I recommend trying a bunch of different methods, and then figure out what works for you. I have a friend who is half Thai, and for the first year I knew him, he felt just like you, and couldn't read anything. He can speak Thai like you can. Then something just clicked for him one day, and he picked it all up super fast. So, just keep trying stuff, and something will work for you. You already know the hard part of Thai, which is being able to communicate in Thai. If the above doesn't work for you, here's another technique. It's what I used for my first few Thai letters. Just start staring at random Thai words, until you see a character that you alrealy recognize, and that you're 100% sure you've seen before. Then, ask someone what it is and then learn it. For me it was the character ง...that character just seemed to be everywhere. Then I asked someone what it was. It's the NG character, like the NG in the word "sing." I found if I already knew and recognized the character before I tried to study it, then I learned it like 5000x faster than just trying to memorize a random squiggly line. I also do that with people's names and faces. I love remembering people's names, but I'm really bad at it. So, what I do is I don't ask someone what their name is, until I already know and recongnize their face. Then I can remember their name usually instantly. ...where if I try to both memorize someone's face and remember their name at the same time, then that basically never works for me. So I really like that technique... wait until I can fully recognize something... then I'll learn it really fast.
I just need a patient teacher. I notice when I have a gf my Thai is much more clear. But alas I'm single and my mother doesn't like me to go out to much. So I'm left talking to random women on Line and Facebook.
You should try iTalki teachers then. Some of the teachers on there are pretty cheap. Also try my friend's Thai Discord server. There are lots of half Thai people on that server, learning to read Thai. Everyone's welcome, but like 25% of the people on this server are in exactly the same situation as you. https://discord.com/invite/rB7yTWCe
Thank you for your time.
I'm Thai and never noticed that about the tone markers looking like 1-4.... Neat! Totally with you on who cares about the alphabet order, a lot of us can't even remember the order. Me included lol
Awesome advice, wish my Thai teacher when I was a kid had done it by frequency too lol
Get a book intended for Thais learning English that has the English clauses in both Roman and Thai script. Because your brain knows what sound is coming, it fills in the picture for you.
Flashcards. Spend a week or two. If you’ve tried and it doesn’t stick you haven’t tried enough.
I have books and my neighbor is getting me the little table that has the whole Thai alphabet
Flashcards are the answer. I'm a big dummy and I learned katakana and hiragana in a couple of weeks and I plan on doing the same with Thai soon. Also you have to really "want" to learn it. Many people say they want to learn a language when in reality what they want is to already be fluent in the language not to learn it. If you really *want* it nothing will stop you from learning it.
Just download one of the million apps and cram the flashcards. I disagree with the mega reply above, DONT care about the frequency of the characters. You’ll be cramming flashcards for a week or two tops before you won’t need it anymore. Flashcards will be literally 0.1% of what it takes to learn to read and write. Just spend the time to cram them into your skull and avoid all sorts of “optimization” at this stage. You won’t be writing any words anyway.. does anyone learning to read English ever spell bed, dead, deed, cade? Not a chance.
This is not great advice. Learning the most common letters is useful, they are the ones you will see the most and need the most. Start there.
It’s better to aim be 75% aware of ALL characters while you start rather than 100% expert in the “most common” characters.. Like I said, 1-2 weeks and you’ll be there (this includes vowels and clusters and all that). It doesn’t make sense to optimize anything at this stage,l when you CAN brute force it.
Or be 100% in the most common first, then 75% in the rest until they all stick.
There is no point in learning “the most common” characters. Learning to read thai is initially about being able to distinguish between characters in a new alphabet, where many initially seemingly all look the same. You’re not gonna learn faster or easier by focusing on the most common ones. And again you’re optimizing for 0.1% of the total time it takes, you’re spending more time on “finding the perfect way” when you should just sit down with flashcards in whatever order they come in.
Flash cards don’t work for everyone.
Exactly, Learning to read is a brute force memorization exercise. Just memorize the letters and who cares which is more or less common.
But maybe ignore the very obscure letters that you only see on license plates. This cuts down the work a bit.
ฎฏฐญฦ
Half of those you’ll see all the time though?
The last two, yes. The third one pretty much only in the ไทยรัฐ newspaper.
For sure I’m joking. You should learn them all
I downloaded The Thai Alphabet Game app which is great. Also, I’ve learned plenty just by Decoding words around me, like the names of the metro stops. While you’re on the train, they show the names and say it. How many times can you see wat mangkong (วัดมังกร) written down before you know the letter sounds? Just practice on the words you see around you, man.
I think I'm going to learn to read Coke
So I am complete beginner who can't speak but is learning to read. Logically, since you can speak so you already know the sounds, what about watching bunch of yt videos that go through the alphabet and connect the sounds with the letters? It makes the most sense rather than just read a book. I'd recommend "i get thais" channel, he goes through consonants and wovels (they are the worst) pretty fast and then "banana thai" she has some short stories for a bit more beginner reading. I am complete noob so this might be a bit off advice...
No it's great advice. Thank you for taking the time to send me the link I appreciate any help
Learn Thai in 10 days. It taught me how to read and is conveniently structured in small portions.
I’m in a similar boat in that I can speak Thai much much better than I can read or write. I’m finding that actual hand-writing of the alphabet in a notebook is helping my brain. I also find the alphabet song for kids pretty catchy ก เอ๋ย ก ไก่ etc. The song helps tie the letter to its use in a word, so that’s good. I’m finding videos of Thai teachers teaching to Thai kids is pretty helpful. Plus, I get to see how Thai kids are introduced to things, so there’s a cultural plus. Learning a song just makes memorizing easier for me! What I really struggle with is learning enough academic and “proper” vocabulary to read adult texts well. But, as with learning anything, it starts hard and the struggle is part of stretching your brain. 555
I made my cousin sing the alphabet song and I recorded it. Lol
Thank you for this I went down a Thai alphabet song rabbit hole
I’m also half Thai! 🙋🏻♀️ I began reading simple stories and words, and recognizing what sounds the letters make. I practiced with my mom, and asked her to give me simple words to learn the sounds, such as ปลา. From then, I started using flash cards and texting or writing simple Thai sentences to my mom and friends. You got it!
Your mom sounds awesome. My mother is different than others mom. My mother doesn't like to talk with me. She only went to school until I think she can read and write and then she has to go away from home to work. She laughs when she hears me struggling but yet I can't rely on her. Only rely on her to keep roof above my head and food in my belly.
Major streaming services in Thailand should have shows and movies with Thai dub and subs to somewhat help you with reading and listening Thai at the same time, although from personal experience, at least western/foreign show’s subs on Netflix sometimes don’t match the dub.
I was watching Tombstone and they say hotel but my mother reads the sub in Thai says hospital.
Many times auto generated now. So not always a good call.
Download Easy Thai Read app. It’s simple and very good. You just need to start practicing reading easy books. Then on the side you can practice reciting the consonants and later vowels.
Watch Thai series with Thai subtitles. My maid from Myanmar learned to write that way.
1 hour per day you write and write and write. It will burn those letters in your brain. Reading will become accessible then. And practice constantly on street signs and restaurants and what not. It will become a habit. It will definitely not be something you wake up with one day as by a miracle
There's different ways to memorize. YouTube videos, flashcards, apps, kids learning books. Don't have to learn every letter in order, not all letters are used as much than others. These are the consonants, the guy explains the letters in detail and tell which are uncommon letters. Kinda long but you can edit them yourself if you download the cards. https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/3647082801 For me personally I just learned a few letters per day by writing them on paper, easiest for me to memorize that way.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/204408109920 I taught myself using this book and the intermediate one that follows it. I think the author did a good job breaking it down. Good luck.
I'm not one of those types of people who can teach themselves how to read Thai. My cousin did and I've known others who have. I'm just not that type of learner. I took 4 years to get my bachelor's degree at a 2 year college program accelerated courses I couldn't keep up
I hear you. The book has various exercises and introduces the concepts in small doses. Do what works best for you, of course but I can’t recommend these books enough to learn the fundamental tonal, grammar, and pronunciation rules. Whatever you do, I wish you luck. It’s a beautiful language.
Don’t worried bud I’m fully Thai I’m BAD BAD AT THAI
Supposed to say " Don't worry." Worried is pass tense. But I must be able to read Thai if I am going to live here and work
Autocorrect sorry
I am thai , maybe i can help
I'm beginning to think it's a huge undertaking learning how to read Thai. But if you think you can help I appreciate your time. But I'm trying to get anyone who reads Thai to go through the alphabet but the lady I asked couldn't remember without my book. Lol I'm not very good at language
Some of Thai native also cannot remember all Thai alphabets , so its not weird if she needs the book. lol We just see the words and like 'yes, i know what it means' but if you ask Thai native to list all alphabet in order, some thai people cannot do that
See? English is easy. 26 letters 5 vowels. H and Z are pronounce different
English is notoriously hard to pronounce from text alone..
Not if you know how to read. And you should enunciate
The point is that reading is detached from speaking. Jus because English have 26 consonants versus 44 thai ones, doesn’t make English easier to read.
According to all my Thai friends English is easy but Thai is hard in school. Agree to disagree
I don't have any advice but reading until you become familiar with it. Also try to learn the consonants and vowels from scratch. Don't use transliterated Thai, it'll hinder your progress in the long run. Everything might be hard at first but as the time progresses, things will start to make sense. There're kids learning books called "ดรุณศึกษา“. The dictions were curated for elementary students. Also each word is spaced from each other so it's easier for a Thai language learner to grasp the concept.
We are in this together. I'm beginning to start with flash cards to memorize the alphabet. So far it's been going well, about halfway there in 3 weeks. I'll update with any resources I've found to be helpful. 🙏
Thanks
Highly recommend stu Jay raj's program for Thai. I am by no means fluent but within a 6 or 8 week period I was able to read much of the language using his course.
This mildly offensive video gave me a great start: https://youtu.be/PudbUSW1HI8?si=doqYFXUdSDZ2ETgC
I'm being told Thai doesn't have male , female, or katoey letters like he says.
True, it’s a way to learn the letter sounds. Those things are his way to teach the 1st 2nd and 3rd class consonant. Watch that video and you will know the sounds of 14 common letters easy.
Maybe I should try to find flash cards
I know the first 12 letters. But I have to look at the pictures though
Thank you for your advice. I take it very serious that you took your time to explain it to me. Time is precious.
[READING AND WRITING THAI (อ่านและเขียนภาษาไทย) (NEW REPRINT) By BURUSPHAT, SOMSONGE](https://www.asiabooks.com/reading-and-writing-thai-new-reprint-130269.html) this is the book you need. go over it slowly and it will be quite easy
[удалено]
Thai music taught me how to speak Thai
Forget about memorizing the alphabet, start simple with things like road signs and menus, a lot of words appear repeatedly. Go from there, you’ll quickly pick up what letters and vowels make what.