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[NATO]

Hello,
I'm confused about how to pronounce this, i hear "แ" both the pronunciations "ae" and "aahh" for this vowel.

I believe it to be pronounced "ae", like in Mae Sot, paeng, kamphaeng, faen. i also hear many thais pronunce it like this.

But then i read in books and on the internet, that it is pronounced "ah". Most notably the entire Thai for Begginner serious consistently states it is done this way. Also many of my friends back this up.

Which way is it pronounced?

[mangkorn]

If you are referring to "Thai for Beginners" by Benjawan Poomsan Becker, that is not correct. She clearly states that "แ" is pronounced "like the 'a' in 'sad'."

If your friends say "ah" as in "father," then you are asking the wrong people.

(Hmm... I hope that post was not a send-up; it almost seems to be.)

[NATO]

Thanks for the reply, so "ae" is the official way.

as far as "send up" im taking that as spamming or little bit of paiboon publicity.
I'll even take this the opposite direction, im not a complete fan of the series and would like to find an alternate. i have embarrasingly repeated alot of the mistakes commonly found in the software and cd's that accompany the set.

oh no, not me. im just brushing up on my reading skills over the holiday.

thank you greatly though, sincerly, my world is so much clearer now.

[mangkorn]

as far as "send up" im taking that as spamming or little bit of paiboon publicity.

If you would bother to research this forum just a tiny bit, you will see clearly that I am not here to engage in spam, nor have any remote relation to the publisher of any books.

I merely pointed out what is prominently stated at the beginning of the first book, in the "Guide to Pronunciation" section, "Long and Short Vowels."

Precisely what you should have read, and easily digested, immediately upon opening the book.

[Josh]

I think of it like the letters "ai" in the English word hair but a little bit more "open." Not sure if that helps you or not, but that's how I always think of it.

[NATO]

@mangkorn
I meant that i was inferring that you were implying that i was spamming. not you!
It is impossible to convey the tone of a conversation through just text, but i assure you i was being positive and gratefull, assuring both my good attentions and thanking you for your help.


@josh
exactly what i was looking for, that clearly defines the sound for me, and I can now read it with confidence.
maybe you should be out there writing books and software on reading thai!

[mangkorn]

Well, thanks for your clarification. But your reference to "little bit of paiboon publicity" would not make any sense in that regard, since you were trashing their product. It is not likely that I nor anyone else would mistake you for a Paiboon public-relations asset.

Cheers.

[Glenn Slayden]

Here are the approximate positions of the Thai vowels in the standard IPA vowel trapezoid.

Explanations of these sounds according to their position can be found in any phonetics textbook. For an introduction, visit Wikipedia.

thai-vowel-phones.png (31.37 KiB) Viewed 1657 times

[Richard Wordingham]

Here are the approximate positions of the Thai vowels in the standard IPA vowel trapezoid.

However, many of the pairs are not only distinguished by length, but also by height - unless that is English interfering with the pronunciation of Thais resident in English-speaking countries. They should therefore have different positions on the chart.

[mangkorn]

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