Language Lessons Continue

การเรียนภาษาไทย

As a part of our living and serving in Thailand, we continue to study Thai language three times per week.  We can both now read and write (at a primary school level) and converse comfortably in daily life and work.  We are doing basic interpreting of meetings from Thai to English - and loving every bit of it, but it does not come easily....

NASSA lists the Thai language in the top 10 of difficult languages to learn.  The Thai letters originate from Bali Sanskrit and are not in any way related to the English / European alphabet we use.  There are 44 consonants and 30 odd vowels and vowel blends.  Mix this in with 5 distinct tones that can totally change the meaning of a word and you can begin to see the challenge we face.  Many letters are pronounced as different sounds, depending on their place in a syllable. Vowels can be written to the right of, to the left of, above or below a consonant, or in a combination of these places.  Keep smiling as it gets more challenging.... There are tone marks above "some" of the syllables to indicate the tone in which that syllable should be pronounced.  Very helpful, but the same tone mark can indicate different tones depending on the letter it is written above.  Just to top it all off, many vowels are not written in, but of course we all know to say them and where these unwritten vowels will pop up.  My favorites are the consonants that after being said (usually at the end of a syllable) get re pronounced a second time as the first letter of the next syllable, but using a different sound for the second usage - and they often have one of those elusive unwritten vowels to accompany the confusion over the pronunciation. See the example below...


มูลนิธิ Moonluniti - the word for a foundation
This starts with an "M" sound ม with an  "oo" vowel under the "M" followed by an "L"  ล which, as the end consonant of this syllable is pronounced as "N".  The ล is then used again as the start of the second syllable, this time being pronounced as "L".  The second usage of this "L" is followed by an "u" vowel sound, which is not written in but needs to be pronounced. After that the third syllable begins with an "N" น. This is the more common of 2 N's that could be used here and has an "i" vowel mark above it. This is followed by a "T" sound ธ.  This "T" is one of 5 "T" letters in the alphabet - you just have to learn which is used where- and it has an "i" vowel above it.


Oh yeah, did I mention there is no break between the words.  Everything just runs on in a long string!