The Thai script – lesson 9
For those who regularly stay in Thailand or have Thai family, it is useful to have the Thai language to make it your own. With enough motivation, practically anyone of any age can learn the language. I really don't have a language talent myself, but after about a year I can still speak basic Thai. In the following lessons a short introduction with the commonly used characters, words and sounds. Lesson 9 today.
The Thai script – lesson 9
Lesson 9 today
The Thai script – the 9
| ญ | j |
| at | n |
| ษ | s |
| ศ | s |
| ถ | th (aspirated) |
1
| Word | Pronunciation | Show | Meaning |
| female | jǐng | s | female |
| บัญชา | ban-chaa | mm | order |
| merit | scrub | m | good deeds |
| ญี่ปุ่น | Jîe-pòen | dl | Japan |
Yǐng occurs in the word ผู้หญิง (phǒe-jǐng): person + female. So a woman! J A man is ผู้ชาย (phǒe-chaai): person+masculine.
You may know 'boen' from the word ทำบุญ (tham-boen): 'to make merit'. In Dutch we say 'acquire merits'. Acquiring more earnings through good deeds, such as making donations.
2
| You | ring | m | u |
| about | pra-moon | lm | approximately |
| post office | pray-sà-nie: | mlm | Post office |
| neophyte | no | m | young monk |
3
| treat | rák-sǎa | hs | care, treat |
| paper | krà-dàat | ll | paper |
| letter | ak-sǒhn | ls | alphabet, script |
| England | ang-krit | ml | English |
You hardly encounter the ฤ (male/ruh) in Thai. Some examples are อังกฤษ (ang-krìt, English) and ฤดู (rúh-doe:, season). Therefore, I will not discuss these signs further.
4
| center | sǒe:n | s | zero (0) |
| religion | sàat-sà-nǎa | s | religion, faith |
| live | aa-sǎj | ms | resident |
| Country | prà-theet | ld | country, nation |
| ANNOUNCE | talk | ll | disclosure |
If you can read or understand the word for 'nation' then you will probably also be able to read 'ประเทศกูมี': prà-thêet koe: mie: (land+me+has, my country has). This protest song from “Rap Against Dictatorship” went viral in late 2018.
5
| ask | thǎam | asked questions | |
| road | thà-nǒn | ls | street, road |
| Station | sà-thǎa-nie: | lsm | station |
| cheap | thòe: k | l | correct |
| car | pour | h | vehicle (with wheels) |
Without further addition, the Thai use the word รถ (rót) for car. For example, a train is รถไฟ (rót-fai, a vehicle on fire/electricity) and a bus is รถบัส (rót-bàt, transliteration of English loanword 'bus'). Train station is then สถานีรถไฟ (sà-tǎa-nie:- rót-fai).
Excercise:
Do you know of any other vehicles in Thai?
Recommended materials:
- The book 'the Thai language' and downloadable materials by Ronald Schütte. See: slapsystems.nl
- The textbook 'Thai for beginners' by Benjawan Poomsan Becker.
- www.thai-language.com
I would suggest, however, that you start by dividing the consonants into three groups, high, middle, and low, and learn the tonal rules from that division. This makes the tones indicated by phonetic tone signs (/\, /, \ and \/ for falling, high, low and rising resp.) much more logical and easier to remember.
Hi Danzig, yes you have a point. Linking the class is important. But my first priority was to get people to recognize the characters. Then they are no longer strange or graceful signs, but if you know how to link them to a sound, you can already read some short words (pronunciation and meaning may still be unknown). After that, the classes should come. These will be briefly discussed in lesson 12, although that will initially give many beginners a pointy head...
Dear blog members, where can I find all the lessons, please. Thanks in advance.
https://www.thailandblog.nl/category/taal/
There will be a total of 12 lessons. Lessons 1-10 to learn most common characters. Lesson 11 will be a review of the characters from lessons 1-10 with some brief additions. Lesson 12 is boring but important grammar (tone class rules). Then I want to send the whole thing as 1 single PDF file to the editors so that people can print it or read it all again on the computer.
Feedback is always welcome, so I can make corrections for the PDF.