ศาลาชุมนุม

[Yveline]

Just want to say how much I appreciate this great site. I've tried learning Thai on and off since long time ago and never got anywhere due to the lack of resources. Now I found this website and I've found answers to many of my questions already. A big thank you to your good work.

[claude06thailand]

Welcome on this excellent site.
Many people are ready to help you, especially a few Thai natives who will answer any question when dictionaries haven't got a clue.
As Yveline could be a French name, I may help too...

[Yveline]

Thanks Claude. Unfortunately I'm not French. I do speak some French but not as good as I wish. I'm Chinese with a French sounding name, living in UK learning Thai. Just as multi-national as this wonderful website.

[claude06thailand]

Thanks for your answer, Yveline !
You seem to be multi-national indeed and you English is excellent.
As a Chinese, it will not be so difficult to learn Thai, I suppose.
I wish you much fun in learning.
Claude

[DonSena]

Thanks Claude. Unfortunately I'm not French. I do speak some French but not as good as I wish. I'm Chinese with a French sounding name, living in UK learning Thai. Just as multi-national as this wonderful website.

Thai does share at least a few of the distinctive features of Chinese. Both are tonal in their phonologies, and both use long verb-phrase structures in which the main verb is modified by serialized auxiliary verbs.

One difference is that, in Thai, aspiration of voiceless initial stops (and one affricate) is also a distinctive feature.

For example, /khaa^w/ 'rice, food' and /kaa^w/ 'advance, go forward/;
/thii/ 'time, instance', /tii/ ' to strike, hit'; and /dii/ 'good';
/phaa^/ 'cloth', /paa^/ '(older) aunt' and /baa^/ 'crazy, insane'; and
/chaam/ ' bowl, dish' and /caam/ ' to sneeze'

Overall, it shouldn't be too much of a challenge for you.

[Yveline]

คุณDonSena,
It's exactly as you said. Actually, when I first tried to learn Thai long long time ago, I was warned that we'll never be able to differentiate between ด and ต, and also บ and ป.
And even with a tonal language as my mother tongue, I find it very hard to tell the difference from High Tone and Rising Tone.
But since I'm not much of a perfectionist, I think I'll live with it. My goal is to be able to get by when I'm in Thailand, not much pressure really.

[zueyong]

Hello All,

i am new here. thanks for this great site providing a good resources for us to learn Thai in wasy way...

[Faiandwin]

Great site. Since in Thai pronunciation is everything, the bullhorn icon is the most useful tool for me ( especially since I'm tone deaf - and need a lot of listening practice). My frustration is that the bullhorn icon comes up a lot but in the end no sound emanates - only about 40% of the time. If there is no recording for the word then icon should not appear in my opinion- it a little frustrating - unless.....Am I doing something wrong?

[DonSena]

คุณDonSena,
It's exactly as you said. Actually, when I first tried to learn Thai long long time ago, I was warned that we'll never be able to differentiate between ด and ต, and also บ and ป.
And even with a tonal language as my mother tongue, I find it very hard to tell the difference from High Tone and Rising Tone.
But since I'm not much of a perfectionist, I think I'll live with it. My goal is to be able to get by when I'm in Thailand, not much pressure really.

On the difference between High Tone and Rising Tone:

The high tone starts quite high and continues to rise linearly (with time) to the point of vocal constriction.

The Rising actually tone starts below the normal speaking voice and (in a long syllable) plunges downward rapidly, and then gradually (with time) rises back toward normal speaking voice. Thus, the rising tone, on a graph of frequency verses time, has a curved contour. The falling tone has a similar, but symmetrically opposite, contour -- starting somewhat high, shooting slightly higher and then gradually falling toward normal speaking voice.

On the consonants you mentioned, there are these sets of three: ท /th/, ต/t/ and ด/d/ (of which the first two are voiceless);
and พ/ph/, ป/p/ and บ/b/ (first two voiceless).

Then there are these sets of two, in which all are voiceless:
ค/kh/ and ก/k/; and
ช/ch/ and จ/c/.

I'm fairly sure that /p/, /t/, /k/ and /c/ are in Chinese.

[r2d2]

Then there are these sets of two, in which all are voiceless:
ค/kh/ and ก/k/; and
ช/ch/ and จ/c/.

DonSena, give me a chance to clarify a since-long-burning-question at this place:

The ko kai as in gung:

Is the English /g/ voiced whereas the (initial) กอ ไก่ is voiceless?

Let's take e.g. gas and แก๊ส as a pair to clarify the question of a difference.