ศาลาชุมนุม

[melletonal]

I can sort of hear tones if I listen to single words spoken slowly and easily. But I'm looking to up my skill level to be able to hear them in sentences. I've been using Thai for Beginners and have created anki sentences for every sentence through unit 7. I've also written all the tones out for every word, but hearing the tones is another story. How did you go about getting this listening skill? Thanks!

[John]

I have the same struggle. When reading I can pronounce the tones but hearing them is different. I think you need to hear Thai on a regular basis to get the tones.

[zackxx]

As a native English speaker grasping with the concept of "tones" in the Thai language I found this 'radio tuning' analogy helpful:

Listeners of your spoken Thai will 'tune into' your 'frequency' when you speak Thai so keep your tones consistent, i.e. stop changing the frequency on your 'radio transmitter' making in difficult for others to tune in. The five Thai tones a Thai pronounces in their voice are consistent relative to each other. That's how Thais can understand a Thai man speaking with a deep voice and a Thai woman with a high pitched voice.

English speakers, and I suspect all languages, speak with tones but use them to convey emotion or other qualities rather than literal meaning as in Thai.

1) When a frustrated English speaker angrily shouts the word "WHY?" This is typically said with a falling tone. [ไหว้ ว่าย ไหม้ ไม่]
2) When a NZer says "aye?" or an Australian uses question intonation (AQI), is an example of a raised tonal inflection on the last word or syllable of a sentence. This is the rising tone in Thai. [ เอ๋ ไหม ]
3) Hearing someone shout from afar the word "STOP" and this will come close to a high tone in Thai. [สต๊อป ไม้ มั้ย]
4) Getting a clear difference between medium and low tones can be tricky. Typically the low tone is made deep down at the back your throat [ใหม่], whereas the trick with medium tones is to keep it 'monotone' without any inflection [มาย]

ไหมใหม่ไม่ไหม้ ใช่ไหม just remember not to shout all the time in Thai

After getting the mechanics of your throat, lips, tongue, teeth etc to move correctly to enable you to consistently pronounce these 5 tones correctly then its a matter on learning to read Thai script, learning the tone rules for each syllable, and hearing these words being spoken. Be warned however: not all Thais speak Thai according to the "rules" you have been taught, just as you or I don't speak English according to all the "rules". But you need a grounding in what is 'correct' so you can recognize what is slang, or an irregular tone used for emphasis.

[buckjoy]

I wear hearing aids, so I have an excuse......but here's what worked for me:
There's a seven volume set of books to help you read/pronounce called:
หักอ่าน ภาษาไทย แบบไหม่ isbn 974-06133-9-8, priced at about 100 baht each.
Each volume is about 120 pages and takes you through the various spelling/tone rules.
Because I like torture, I'd do 2 pages each day for my teacher with her simply saying "ผิด" if I mispronounced any of the four words on each row. I had to figure out which one/ones I mispronounced. It was slow going, but more than any other drills, this helped my reading and pronunciation.
For extra torture, I'd have her arbitrarily choose a word from one of the four columns. I'd try to spell it based on her pronunciation/tone and then find it in the book.
Nothing made my brain cells hurt as much as 15 minutes of this kind of practice.

I'd love to find mp3 recordings of these books....if anyone ever comes across them!

[Monera]

3 years ago I started listening to western songs, and it has made me a lot better at listening English. I used to feel so frustrated when I couldn't understand what they are talking about. But now I think it's really better than before. Music is my best friend,,* I don't know if it works for you too but for me it really works. I can catch the tone,stress,accent,etc. from what I hear. And the most important thing is that you have to do it often--listen to the native speakers and try to speak out loud follow them,copy their voice .That's what I do ; P Also watching to movies really helps

[pensive]

I listen to Thai songs and, you're right, with time the words become clearer. Although with Thai songs, it is sort of a different language, isn't it? Rising tones become high tones and all the tones are flat, that is, they don't glide up or down. But high is still high and low is low. A Thai relative has said that modern songs sometimes change the tone to fit the music but this does not seem to be the case with the songs I listen to.

[Monera]

A Thai relative has said that modern songs sometimes change the tone to fit the music but this does not seem to be the case with the songs I listen to.

haha+ keep at it !

[Paul LGN]

Listeners of your spoken Thai will 'tune into' your 'frequency' when you speak Thai so keep your tones consistent, i.e. stop changing the frequency on your 'radio transmitter' making in difficult for others to tune in. The five Thai tones a Thai pronounces in their voice are consistent relative to each other. That's how Thais can understand a Thai man speaking with a deep voice and a Thai woman with a high pitched voice.

[Teemeah]

I started doing the tone exercise on this page and I'm disapoointed I made so many mistakes, because I'm familiar with Chinese and it is also a tonal language but the Thai tones seem to be more difficult. I can perfectly identify rising and falling tones but i don't seem to notice any difference with mid-low-high. It's just not happening. Tones I identified as high were LOW. Maybe bacuase those were prounouned by a female speaker? Are there any pointers you can give on how to improve this? I'm clueless.

[lumdam]

... i don't seem to notice any difference with mid-low-high. It's just not happening. Tones I identified as high were LOW.

I have the same problem but I'm not too worried. Hearing one isolated syllable with zero context doesn't sound like a very common thing in practice. I prefer to practise hearing with complete sentences, and there I have much less trouble differentiating mid-low-high.

But I do find the web page very useful for practising the tone rules.