Reading Basic Thai

So, you can't read Thai, and when you look at the strange Thai script you know that it would be impossible to learn so it's not even worth trying. Right?

Wrong. Let me demonstrate. Take a quick look at the following and then attempt to read a few basic words.

า - this is a vowel that makes a long 'aa' sound - the kind of sound that a doctor would ask you to make if he was looking at your throat. In English it can be written as 'aa', 'ar' or 'ah' (as in Baht).

ห - this is a consonant that makes an 'h' sound.

ม - this is a consonant that makes an 'm' sound.

Take a few seconds to try to remember these three characters and the sounds they make. Next, using what you have just learnt, try reading a few simple words.

มา

This word says 'maa' and it's the Thai verb 'to come'.

หา

This word says 'haa' and it means 'to seek' or 'to look for'.

What about the next one?

ห้าม

It says 'haam' and it's a word that you see on many signs in Thailand. It means 'do not' do something.

Easy, wasn't it?

That's basic Thai. Hopefully, you read the words without needing any help even though two minutes ago you thought you were incapable of reading any Thai.

This level of Thai is incredibly easy and if you learn just a few more easy vowels and consonants you can start to read quite a lot of words. I have never been able to work out how someone can live in Thailand for 20+ years and not be able to read a word of Thai.

Tourist areas have quite a lot of written English, but outside of these places it is just Thai. Being able to read some basic Thai helps enormously if living in Thailand or visiting the country regularly.

Of course, it's not all easy. However, if you learn a few basics it then gives you the confidence to tackle more difficult aspects of the language.

What happens when you encounter the following word, which is also made up from the characters above?

หมา

In this word the 'h' consonant is only used for tone purposes. It makes no sound. It is a high class consonant and it therefore changes the tone of the word.

The 'maa' meaning 'to come' is pronounced with a mid-tone, but 'maa' with a rising tone means 'dog'.

This is one way in which tones of words are changed. Many Thai consonants make the same sound, but they are different classes. Different class consonants invoke different tone rules and change the tone of words.

Thai script also uses four tone marks which, in conjunction with the class of the initial consonant, dictate which tone should be used. The word above 'haam' uses the second tone mark. The first and second tone marks are used a lot, but the third and fourth tone marks appear very rarely.

The 'haa' above meaning 'to seek' has a rising tone, but when written with the second tone mark it has a falling tone and means 'five'.

ห้า

If you want to understand more about the tone rules, take a look at the tutorial that I wrote about the subject many years ago.

What happens when you see a word that starts with the following characters?

มหา

Another anomaly of Thai is that vowels are sometimes not written. With some Thai words (actually, quite a few) you need to know when to insert unwritten vowels. This is one of the most difficult aspects of written Thai.

ถนน - this is the Thai word for street.

The word consists of just three consonants - TNN. So, how is it pronounced? You need to know that a short 'ah' or 'uh' goes between the first and second consonants, and a short 'o' goes between the second and third consonants. It is pronounced 'tuh-non'.

This brings me on to the the many problems associated with Thai words being transliterated into English.

English makes no distinction in the written language between aspirated and unaspirated sounds. The 't' in 'take' and the 't' in sister make different sounds, but the same letter is used. Thai does differentiate and there are different consonants for aspirated and unaspirated sounds.

Whoever devised the transliteration system decided that an 'h' would indicate aspirated sounds. Therefore, the Thai word for street is transliterated as 'thanon'.

In English 'th' and 'ph' make very different sounds to 't' and 'p' and this causes confusion. This is why the presenter in a Lonely Planet podcast about Bangkok failed to pronounce Thonburi correctly. Had the confusing 'hi' not been used, his pronunciation would have been OK.

Transliteration also fails to differentiate between long and short vowel sounds. Vowel length is critical in Thai and if you get it wrong Thais will not understand you.

Transliteration systems use 'ham' for the verb 'to forbid' instead of the long 'haam'. This, of course, is totally wrong. Tramsliteration systems also tell you that the Thai for 'house' is 'ban' instead of 'baan' and Thais just won't understand you.

When you first start to learn to read Thai it all looks strange and unfamiliar. This can force learners out of their comfort zone and in order to feel more comfortable they look for resources where Thai words are written in English. This is a big mistake.

These transliteration systems are so bad that all they do is mislead people. If you want to learn to speak Thai, the best thing is to start learning to read Thai at the same time.

Back to the example I gave above about words beginning with the following characters:

มหา

With this combination of letters, which means 'great', it has an implied vowel and a short 'uh' is needed between the first and second consonants.

The Thai for 'university' is 'muh-haa-wit-tuh-yaa-luy'

If you want to start learning how to read, ignore the difficult aspects at first. Don't try to justify to yourself why it is too difficult to learn. Learn some easy stuff, grow your confidence, and then start to tackle the more difficult stuff.

Blogging Experiment

I have been living in Thailand permanently since November 2003 and writing about my life in the country since the end of 2005.  Up until now the process has been via a steam-powered blog on my own web site using basic HTML and Javascript.

Visitor numbers are low and in an effort to increase readership, along with getting my blog into the 21st Century and making maintenance easier, I am now experimenting with the Blogger platform.  Depending on how this goes I may switch to Blogger and turn the old blog off, or I may go back to how things were.

The old blog, with links to all archived posts, can be found here.

Phil UK Net Thailand Blog

Buying Eyeglasses in Thailand

My three year-old daughter is very active and often looks bored if she has no one to play with.  Recently, I've been trying to involve her with my activities and allowing her to 'help'.
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Yesterday, I was about to go upstairs to get my eyeglasses when she said that she wanted to get them.  So I let her.  When she returned, the frame of my glasses looked as if it had been through a mangle.  Oh, dear.
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It wasn't a huge disaster.  The glasses were quite old and needed replacing.  The lenses were badly chipped and whenever I propped them on my head to do close work they slipped off easily when I bent forward.  This morning I went to the part of town where there are several shops selling eyeglasses.
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Eyeglasses are a good example of something that can be bought in Thailand a lot cheaper than in the West.  However, as with anything in Thailand, there are some dos and don'ts.
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The first thing I would advise is to find a small, independent shop that can offer real discounts.  This is sometimes easier said than done.  The Top Charoen chain dominate the eyeglass retail market in Thailand and there are branches everywhere.  There is another chain called Beautiful Optical.  This is also owned by Top Charoen and prices are the same.
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These places 'claim' to offer a discount, but if an item is never sold at the pre-discounted price then it isn't discounted.  Their prices are high and if you ask for a real discount they refuse because they say the discount has already been applied, which it hasn't.
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Furthermore, claiming to offer a discount using a percentage figure that contains four decimal places is just pathetic.  I guess that this ruse was dreamed up by some bright spark MBA in the marketing department.

Once you have found the right shop, never agree to the first, second or third price that they give you.  Instead, look at what's on offer but then tell them that you are going to take a look around.  Firstly, the initial prices they give you are massively inflated and secondly, these shops tend to get very few customers.  As a customer, you actually have some buying power.

This morning I didn't want to pay a fortune.  I wanted a light, comfortable, sturdy frame and I find that the lenses that tint automatically in sunlight are useful in Thailand because it is so sunny.

Designer names mean absolutely nothing to me.  A designer name just increases the price without increasing the quality.  My only rule in Thailand is NOT to buy any eyeglasses with the brand name 'Percy' and walking around with 'Percy' on the side of my head all day.  This may be acceptable to a Thai, but not to an Englishman.

I found some titanium frames that fitted the bill and was told the price was Bt7,000.  The lenses I wanted were Bt1,800 - total Bt8,800.  Too expensive.  The shop owner noted my expression and told me that I could have the glasses for Bt6,500.

At this point I said I was going to look around other shops.  As I started to walk out of the shop she shouted Bt5,000.  I smiled, but said I was still going to look around.  As I walked towards the door the price fell miraculously to Bt3,500.

I could probably have played this game a little longer, but Bt3,500 didn't sound too bad and if customers run these small independent places out of business all that will be left is Top Charoen.  When that happens there will be no such thing as cheap eyeglasses in Thailand.

They told me that the glasses would be ready in half an hour so I went for a coffee at Starbucks.  Sure enough, I returned 40 minutes later and they were ready.  Now, I just need to make sure that my daughter doesn't get hold of them.

In big department stores and supermarkets in Thailand prices are displayed and these are the actual prices.  In many small shops prices aren't displayed, and even if they are they aren't the actual prices.  Haggling is still very much a way of life in Thailand at many small shops and markets.

You can pay a lot less for eyeglasses in Thailand than the Bt3,500 that I paid today.  I have a friend in Songkhla who goes to a small shop and pays around Bt700 for glasses that look perfectly reasonable.  There is no designer label and the basic lenses have no fancy coatings, but they still do the job.