Writing Thai

[TheLostShark]

Dear members,

 

My first post yay. My English is not my best language so forgive me for my mistakes.

 

I'm trying to learn thai. On most exercises i'm following right know i see words in western characters.

 

My question is, when i write down something like "Sawatdee khrap thee rak". Would a thai understand that? Or do they only write in Thai characters?

 

Greetings,

Rob

Edited September 3, 2009 by TheLostShark

[themosch]

The fact is that many Thais even can't read their own language in Thai as many drop out of school at 12y. So it will be even harder to find Thais that can read Thai language in phonetical English. IMO it's better to keep it in English or as your Thai school moves on in real Thai!

 

And forget the translator at google! I've used it to translate from Dutch into Thai and send this email to my favorite BG. She phoned me to translate the mail as the googletranslation in Thai wasn't good and correct!

 

So back to the school books and learning Thai language.

[TheLostShark]

Thanks for you're quick answer.

 

So, learing Thai has to be just about speaking it.

 

Its all clear now, thank you!

[Grumpy]

Thanks for you're quick answer.

 

So, learing Thai has to be just about speaking it.

 

Its all clear now, thank you!

 

Reading/Writing thai will help you in speaking it greatly, but the transliteration will not help you at all.

[aitch]

Lost Shark,

 

i agree with Grumpy and themosch.

 

"Would a thai understand that?" = no

"Or do they only write in Thai characters?" = assume they do

 

 

learn the Thai alphabet and the inherent tones.

 

transliteration helped me get started but i ditched it as soon as i realized that it could not help me really understand tones (after about 2 weeks). IMO writing/reading is much easier to learn than speaking/listening.

 

in your example i do not see anything to indicate the different tones > Sawatdee khrap thee rak

 

in Thai i see > สวัสดีครับที่รัก > sa (low) wat (low) dee (mid) khrap (high) thee (falling) rak (high)

 

 

here is something to get you started if you want to give it a go (left to right is the order you would see in a Thai dictionary):

 

http://www.quantumfighter.com/thai/

Edited September 4, 2009 by aitch

[herds]

I think quite a few thais would understand, depends on their background, most i've met have a grasp of the english alphabet at least, but chances are if they can read basic thai phonetically spelled words in the english alphabet they can probably read english words in english alphabet.

 

aitch - did you force the tones rules into your head, or just get them with time? I really struggled with that but practice seems to be working it out though I still have to do a little mental sort before speaking e.g. ท with long vowel ี + ่ = falling --> say it, but for a lot of words that I would use regularly I kinda know without thinking.

[aitch]

Hey there Herds,

 

I forced the tone rules. reading not a problem. speaking ? I'm right there with you. often find that i have not used the correct tone right after i have spoken the word. really frustrating.

 

when i decided to learn the alphabet, i bought a couple of those composition style books (perfect for a bus-subway commute) and just hammered away. couple weeks into it, the inside of my middle finger started to bleed and i had to put it down for a while. that is when i concentrated on the tone rules. when my finger wasn't so sore, back to the alphabet. turns out part of the problem was that the suspension (really lack there of) system on the bus was so bad i could not relax my hand to write in thai like i could writing in english. anyway, a cat caught me with it's claws real good on that same finger a week later and there i was back on the tone rules. i was really focussed at the time (when i write in english i still have to stop and think about the letter M beacuse my hand wants to write ม).

 

there is a recent interview with Terry Fredrickson on Catherine Wentworth's blog and his student advice flows pretty well with the OPs topic and the subsequent posts.

Edited September 8, 2009 by aitch

[luv.you.long.time]

Hey there Herds,

 

I forced the tone rules. reading not a problem. speaking ? I'm right there with you. often find that i have not used the correct tone right after i have spoken the word. really frustrating.

 

when i decided to learn the alphabet, i bought a couple of those composition style books (perfect for a bus-subway commute) and just hammered away. couple weeks into it, the inside of my middle finger started to bleed and i had to put it down for a while. that is when i concentrated on the tone rules. when my finger wasn't so sore, back to the alphabet. turns out part of the problem was that the suspension (really lack there of) system on the bus was so bad i could not relax my hand to write in thai like i could writing in english. anyway, a cat caught me with it's claws real good on that same finger a week later and there i was back on the tone rules. i was really focussed at the time (when i write in english i still have to stop and think about the letter M beacuse my hand wants to write ม).

 

there is a recent interview with Terry Fredrickson on Catherine Wentworth's blog and his student advice flows pretty well with the OPs topic and the subsequent posts.

 

I share your pain aitch. Im into my 4th week of alphabet tuition. Memorising is okay but is hard work. I've still to get to the bit where you put the consonant at the end of the word to find out what the new meaning is !!! WTF The alphabet is a great way to perfect the tones of a spoken word though.

[herds]

haha, i'm the same with ม i often hit "," a few times by mistake. I got a little app that shows a spectrum of tone when you speak into it, really helped me a couple months ago where I had big problems with high tone (without sounding like a eunich), with this I could compare my lines to that of a native speaker.

[Mohammad]

Reading newspapers, books, and magazines is one of the best ways to learn a new language. LangLearner has taken the liberty of collecting reliable and relevant content from foreign language news feeds.

Thank's!!

[Ajay75]

I didnt find the alphabet to bad to learn and managed to get it nailed in a couple of weeks through picture, story association with each letter to help me remember classes, vowels, tones, mai-toh, mai-eek and the other misc chars.

 

But my teacher has got me reading Thai in Jasmine font which is pretty difficult to recognise some of the words. Do any of you guys learn with this font?

 

@themosche - Funny you should mention Google translate as its recognised as a big joke. The Thai on it is terrible and always provides the wrong words and structure. Strange as I would have thought Google would have got this service nailed a bit better than they have.

[herds]

Not sure i've come across it, maybe though if it's a popular one. Probably a good idea to learn using different fonts and handwriting if you can get your hands on, as if you can read them then the regular fonts should look crystal clear.I remember being so thrown when looking at the easiest words in regular handwriting.

 

edit - the other one i have on my pc is JS Wansika

 

I remember at one point being very confused when I saw "s" in the middle of Thai words only a long time later figuring it out to be ร, the same with a backwards "c" and ว.

 

โชค ดี น่ะ

Edited October 27, 2009 by herds

[aitch]

edit - the other one i have on my pc is JS Wansika

 

I remember at one point being very confused when I saw "s" in the middle of Thai words only a long time later figuring it out to be ร, the same with a backwards "c" and ว.

 

โชค ดี น่ะ

 

The Billboard type font is JS Wansika ?

[herds]

nah, Wansika is like this:

 

[astralrecon]

very similer to temple thai writting

my friend got married to a thai lady and there names were in a strange thai letters

more flare to them,not text book letters

hard to make out the letters ,as not so clear,with the circle

google is not so good,english to thai and back

emails sound very strange,not make sense

i know thais speak backwards,from a english man point of view

how long has a thai kid got to learn thai at school

speak,read and write

must be a few years

hot there in class too

got thai kadmanee on p.c,use in office

seems to have a thai spell checker

as if i type any keys,as i not know what i am doing

some combinations it will not do

it seems to be following a thai gramer or rules

1 to 10 was easy to learn

copy thai words from a thai dictionary ok

get use to seeing words ,and spelt correctly too

as no gaps between the words,all end to end

mad

well the joy of learning ,one day i crack it

write my shopping list out in thai

my name in thai

i soldier on

[aitch]

Yes, that Wansika font gives me a headache just looking at it. scan for 'อย่า' (yah) or 'ระวัง' (ra-wang) and if i don't see those words, won't even bother with it.

 

Jasmine font is another story. Can someone post the alphabet here in the Jasmine font ?