r sound in Thai

[hioctane]

So I am just starting to learn Thai... Many times BMs say that girls say loom vs room and falang vs farang because they can't pronounce the r sound. I just started some beginner lessons (Thai Pod 101) and I hear plenty of words with a r sound in it.. What's the deal? 

[Loong]

I don't believe that I have ever met a Thai that cannot pronounce "R" sound.

It is the Thais with roots in Laos that tend to replace it with "L".

I have no idea why so often, in English words like "room", they pronounce it "loom"

I can only imagine that when they hear an "R" sound, it registers as an "L" somewhere in their brain.

So often if you try to get an isaan person to repeat a word such as "school", they will say "schoon". The Thai letter "L" at the end of a word is pronounced as an "N", but it makes no sense to me unless when I say "school", they actually somehow hear "schoon".

Same thing with "noodle", "nooden".

[Sizzler]

I don't believe that I have ever met a Thai that cannot pronounce "R" sound.

It is the Thais with roots in Laos that tend to replace it with "L".

I have no idea why so often, in English words like "room", they pronounce it "loom"

I can only imagine that when they hear an "R" sound, it registers as an "L" somewhere in their brain.

So often if you try to get an isaan person to repeat a word such as "school", they will say "schoon". The Thai letter "L" at the end of a word is pronounced as an "N", but it makes no sense to me unless when I say "school", they actually somehow hear "schoon".

Same thing with "noodle", "nooden".

+1 dont forget footbun and apun 555

[Nando9999]

In Aus I have met girls from Songkhla and Chon Buri who study English who cannot for the life of them pronounce R.

 

Alai,Aloi,Falang,Loom. I was trying to get Ms Songkhla to say "Aaarrrr" but the closest she got was Aaahhh.

 

It confuses the hell out of me because if she is trying to teach me something in Thai(im a terrible student, about the only thing I picked up first go was dtao nom) which has an L sound im never sure if it is meant to be an L or if its an R and she just cant say it!

[Tarl]

Thai people have no problem pronouncing R. They can all do it but the ones from Isan choose to pronounce it as a L which is how it is pronounced in their Laos-Isan language.

[mmaaarrrkkk]

Maybe its an English to Asian language thing? East Asians have the same problem when trying to lead engrish words but have no problem with their own language with the R sound.

[sagitarius123]

They don't have a problem saying manfarang (potato)

 

Strange innit?

[mmaaarrrkkk]

They don't have a problem saying manfarang (potato)

 

Strange innit?

I don't think its strange. The thais are also wondering why falangs cant pronounce their five tones.

[just hanging]

lawn    rawn.......both work although only one is right

I don't think its strange. The thais are also wondering why falangs cant pronounce their five tones.

 

I can pronounce them, but cant hear them or remember them     A long sentence is my only hope

[plahgat]

There is no R letter in the Lao Alphabet, but there is both a L and a R letter in the Thai Alphabet,

still some Thais have problems with it, usually the ones of Lao descent.

 

Thai words/syllables can only end with a wowel sound, or the hard consonants K,P,T, or the soft consonants M,N,Ng.

 

Hence some consonants are pronounciated differently at the end compared to the beginning of a word!

 

L,R,Y will be pronounciated as N as a final consonant

CH,J,S will be pronounciated as T as final consonant

 

Plahgat

[hioctane]

I don't believe that I have ever met a Thai that cannot pronounce "R" sound.

It is the Thais with roots in Laos that tend to replace it with "L".

I have no idea why so often, in English words like "room", they pronounce it "loom"

I can only imagine that when they hear an "R" sound, it registers as an "L" somewhere in their brain.

So often if you try to get an isaan person to repeat a word such as "school", they will say "schoon". The Thai letter "L" at the end of a word is pronounced as an "N", but it makes no sense to me unless when I say "school", they actually somehow hear "schoon".

Same thing with "noodle", "nooden".

 

 

There is no R letter in the Lao Alphabet, but there is both a L and a R letter in the Thai Alphabet,

still some Thais have problems with it, usually the ones of Lao descent.

 

Thai words/syllables can only end with a wowel sound, or the hard consonants K,P,T, or the soft consonants M,N,Ng.

 

Hence some consonants are pronounciated differently at the end compared to the beginning of a word!

 

L,R,Y will be pronounciated as N as a final consonant

CH,J,S will be pronounciated as T as final consonant

 

Plahgat

Thanks for the clarification! I am just learning and clearly hear a lot of words with an R sound.  Since a lot of TG in Patts are from Isaan, will they understand my Thai with Rs? lol

[Loong]

Unless they are very elderly, all Isaan people should understand Thai.

Bangkok Thais will often not be able to fully understand ( or pretend not to) Isaan Thais

[Bek]

As far as I can see in TV, it's not only people originating from Isaan that skips the r-sound. For instance I believe kap/kup should be krap/krup, but you very seldom here the r.

 

My girlfriend tell me it's difficult for her to make the r-sound, but it's bullshit, she is just lazy. I often catch her saying "ka" with a small r-sound - like khraa. Same with khao/khrao - she is just not aware of it.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[misteregg]

Thai people have no problem pronouncing R. They can all do it but the ones from Isan choose to pronounce it as a L which is how it is pronounced in their Laos-Isan language.

This and they are just lazy.

If you accentuate a rolled "r" en you speak you sound very high-so and from Bangkok.

I do this all the time in the bar an the girls laugh at me.

"Oh, Khun Phil you come from Bangkok Na"

[Tarl]

This and they are just lazy.

If you accentuate a rolled "r" en you speak you sound very high-so and from Bangkok.

I do this all the time in the bar an the girls laugh at me.

"Oh, Khun Phil you come from Bangkok Na"

Hahaha so true. It is interesting listening to the girls chat to other girls in Bangkok, they suddenly start pronouncing the R quite clearly.

[hioctane]

I didn't realize there are many different dialects of Thai. I guess I am learning the main Bangkok version.

[plahgat]

I didn't realize there are many different dialects of Thai. I guess I am learning the main Bangkok version.

Central Thai, Northern Thai, North-Eastern Thai and Southern Thai are the main big dialects.

All schoolchildren though will learn the Central Thai dialect.

 

 

Plahgat

[earicome]

Many Thai ladies on the six have managed to get there tongue around the R's quite well in my experience

[MCRX]

I always thought it was because their R is softer then our R and L is harder. Same with their K/G and B/P. So they sound very similar. In English it would be like V/W. We can distinctly hear the difference between win and vin but they can't.

[hioctane]

I am learning the Central Thai dialect.. There are a lot of rolling Rs.

[ekku]

I don't believe that I have ever met a Thai that cannot pronounce "R" sound.

It is the Thais with roots in Laos that tend to replace it with "L".

I have no idea why so often, in English words like "room", they pronounce it "loom"

I can only imagine that when they hear an "R" sound, it registers as an "L" somewhere in their brain.

So often if you try to get an isaan person to repeat a word such as "school", they will say "schoon". The Thai letter "L" at the end of a word is pronounced as an "N", but it makes no sense to me unless when I say "school", they actually somehow hear "schoon".

Same thing with "noodle", "nooden".

 

 

Thai people have no problem pronouncing R. They can all do it but the ones from Isan choose to pronounce it as a L which is how it is pronounced in their Laos-Isan language.

 

This is getting confusing. "their Isan language" means what? When they speak Isan or when they speak Thai?

 

I understand the Thai r sound is usually an h sound in Isan. For example, the Thai words รัก เรียน ร้อน are ฮัก เฮียน ฮ้อน in Isaan but when they speak Thai they can use the l sound just like other Thai speakers. You don't really hear the Thai r rolled a whole lot unless you watch TV. My guess is that rolling it requires more effort and... then we apply the least effort principle and so on.

 

Personally I never roll the r unless I'm reading out loud something official, like Thai names or announcements.

[ekku]

I don't believe that I have ever met a Thai that cannot pronounce "R" sound.

It is the Thais with roots in Laos that tend to replace it with "L".

I have no idea why so often, in English words like "room", they pronounce it "loom"

I can only imagine that when they hear an "R" sound, it registers as an "L" somewhere in their brain.

So often if you try to get an isaan person to repeat a word such as "school", they will say "schoon". The Thai letter "L" at the end of a word is pronounced as an "N", but it makes no sense to me unless when I say "school", they actually somehow hear "schoon".

Same thing with "noodle", "nooden".

 

 

Thai people have no problem pronouncing R. They can all do it but the ones from Isan choose to pronounce it as a L which is how it is pronounced in their Laos-Isan language.

 

This is getting confusing. "their Isan language" means what? When they speak Isan or when they speak Thai?

 

I understand the Thai r sound is usually an h sound in Isan. For example, the Thai words รัก เรียน ร้อน are ฮัก เฮียน ฮ้อน in Isaan but when they speak Thai they can use the l sound just like other Thai speakers. You don't really hear the Thai r rolled a whole lot unless you watch TV. My guess is that rolling it requires more effort and... then we apply the least effort principle and so on.

 

Personally I never roll the r unless I'm reading out loud something official, like Thai names or announcements.

[hioctane]

This is getting confusing. "their Isan language" means what? When they speak Isan or when they speak Thai?

 

I understand the Thai r sound is usually an h sound in Isan. For example, the Thai words รัก เรียน ร้อน are ฮัก เฮียน ฮ้อน in Isaan but when they speak Thai they can use the l sound just like other Thai speakers. You don't really hear the Thai r rolled a whole lot unless you watch TV. My guess is that rolling it requires more effort and... then we apply the least effort principle and so on.

 

Personally I never roll the r unless I'm reading out loud something official, like Thai names or announcements.

Standard Thai, also known as Central Thai or Siamese, is the official language of Thailand, spoken by about 25 million people (1990) including speakers of Bangkok Thai (although the latter is sometimes considered as a separate dialect).

 

Isan (Northeastern Thai), the language of the Isan region of Thailand, is considered by some to be a dialect of the Lao language, which it very closely resembles (although it is written in the Thai alphabet). It is spoken by about 15 million people (1983).

 

http://www.101languages.net/thai/dialects.html

[Tarl]

This is getting confusing. "their Isan language" means what? When they speak Isan or when they speak Thai?

 

I understand the Thai r sound is usually an h sound in Isan. For example, the Thai words รัก เรียน ร้อน are ฮัก เฮียน ฮ้อน in Isaan but when they speak Thai they can use the l sound just like other Thai speakers. You don't really hear the Thai r rolled a whole lot unless you watch TV. My guess is that rolling it requires more effort and... then we apply the least effort principle and so on.

 

Personally I never roll the r unless I'm reading out loud something official, like Thai names or announcements.

I was meaning the Isan peoples own languange.

 

Strangely yes the "r" is a h in some of their words as you say like rian (study) in thai is spoken with a rolling r but when spoken in isan is with a h. No idea why sometimes the R becomes a H but it more often is pronounced as an L.

[hioctane]

I was meaning the Isan peoples own languange.

 

Strangely yes the "r" is a h in some of their words as you say like rian (study) in thai is spoken with a rolling r but when spoken in isan is with a h. No idea why sometimes the R becomes a H but it more often is pronounced as an L.

They speak a dialect (variation) of Thai.