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Thai
language school in Thailand???
Q. Where can I
find Thai language school that teach writing and reading Thai
not only speaking? I speak Thai fluently, I just can't read or
write it!

Asked by Eln K - Tue Mar
4 08:17:14 2008 - - 2 Answers - 0 Comments

Yahoo Answer Search: Thai language,
Fri Mar 7 20:44:14
2008

Thai (ภาษาไทย, transcription: phasa thai, transliteration: p̣hās̄ʹāthịy; IPA: [pʰāːsǎːtʰāj]), is
the national and official language of Thailand and the mother tongue of the Thai people, Thailand's dominant ethnic group. Thai is a member
of the Tai group of the Tai-Kadai language family. The Tai-Kadai languages are thought to have
originated in what is now southern China, and some linguists have proposed links to the Austroasiatic, Austronesian, or Sino-Tibetan language families. It is a tonal and analytic language. The combination of tonality, a complex orthography, relational markers and a distinctive phonology can make Thai difficult to learn for those who do not
already speak a related language.

Contents

1
Languages and dialects

2
Script

2.1
Transcription

2.2
Transliteration

3
Grammar

3.1
Adjectives and adverbs

3.2
Verbs

3.3
Nouns and pronouns

3.4
Particles

4
Phonology

4.1
Tones

4.2
Consonants

4.3
Vowels

5
Vocabulary

6
References

7
Bibliography

8
See also

9
External links

Languages and dialects

Standard Thai, also known as Central Thai or Siamese, is
the official language of Thailand, spoken by about 65 million
people (1990) including speakers of Bangkok Thai (although the latter is
sometimes considered as a separate dialect). Khorat Thai is spoken by about 400,000 (1984) in Nakhon Ratchasima; it occupies a linguistic position somewhere
between Central Thai and Isan on a dialect continuum, and may be considered a variant or dialect of either.

In addition to Standard Thai, Thailand is home to other related Tai languages, including:

Isan (Northeastern Thai), the language of the Isan region of Thailand, 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).

Nyaw language, spoken mostly in Nakhon Phanom Province, Sakhon Nakhon Province, Udon Thani Province of Northeast Thailand.

Galung language, spoken in Nakhon Phanom Province of Northeast Thailand.

Lü (Tai Lue, Dai), spoken by about 78,000 (1993) in northern Thailand.

Northern Thai (Lanna, Kam Meuang, or Thai Yuan), spoken by
about 6 million (1983) in the formerly independent kingdom of Lanna (Chiang
Mai).

Phuan, spoken by an unknown number of people in central
Thailand and Isan.

Phu Thai, spoken by about 156,000 around Nakhon Phanom Province (1993).

Shan (Thai Luang, Tai Long, Thai Yai), spoken by about 56,000
in north-west Thailand along the border with the Shan States of Burma (1993).

Song, spoken by about 20,000 to 30,000 in central and northern Thailand
(1982).

Southern Thai (Pak Dtai), spoken about 5 million (1990).

Thai Dam, spoken by about 20,000 (1991) in Isan and Saraburi Province.

Statistics are from Ethnologue
2003-10-4.

Many of these languages are spoken by larger numbers outside of Thailand.
Most speakers of dialects and minority languages speak Central Thai as well,
since it is the language used in schools and universities all across the
kingdom.

Numerous languages not related to Thai are spoken within Thailand by ethnic
minority hill tribespeople. These languages include Hmong-Mien (Yao), Karen, Lisu, and others.

Standard Thai is composed of several distinct registers, forms for different
social contexts:

Street Thai (ภาษาพูด, spoken Thai): informal, without polite terms of
address, as used between close relatives and friends.

Elegant Thai (ภาษาเขียน, written Thai): official and written version,
includes respectful terms of address; used in simplified form in newspapers.

Rhetorical Thai: used for public speaking.

Religious Thai: (heavily influenced by Sanskrit and Pāli) used when discussing Buddhism or addressing monks.

Royal Thai (ราชาศัพท์): (influenced by Khmer) used when addressing members of the royal family or
describing their activities.

Many Thais can speak at only the first and second levels, though they will
understand the others.

Script

Main article: Thai alphabet

The Thai alphabet is derived from the Khmer alphabet, which is modeled after the Brahmic script from the Indic family. The language and its alphabet are closely related
to the Lao language and alphabet. Most Laotians are able to read and understand Thai,
as more than half of the Thai vocabulary, grammar, intonation, vowels and so
forth are common with the Lao language. Much like the Burmese adopted the Mon
script (which also has Indic origins), the Thais adopted and modified Khmer
script to create their own writing system. While the oldest known inscription in
the Khmer language dates from 611 CE, inscriptions in Thai writing
began to appear around 1292 CE. Notable features include:

It is an abugida script, in which the implicit vowel is a short /a/ in a syllable without final consonant and a short /o/ in a syllable with final consonant.

Tone markers are placed above the consonant just before the vowel sound of
the syllable.

Vowels sounding after a consonant are nonsequential: they can
be located before, after, above or below the consonant, or in a combination of
these positions.

Transcription

There is no universal standard for transcribing Thai into the Latin alphabet.
For example, the name of King Rama IX, the present monarch, is transcribed
variously as Bhumibol, Phumiphon, phuuM miH
phohnM, or many other versions. Guide books, text books and
dictionaries may each follow different systems. For this reason, most language
courses recommend that learners master the Thai alphabet.

What comes closest to a standard is the Royal Thai General System of Transcription (RTGS), published by
the Thai Royal Institute only in Thai at [1]. This system is
increasingly used in Thailand by central and local governments, especially for
road signs. Its main drawbacks are that it does not indicate tone or vowel
length. It is not possible to reconstruct the Thai spelling from the RTGS
transcriptions.

Transliteration

The ISO published an international standard for the transliteration of Thai into Roman script in September 2003 (ISO 11940) [2].
By adding diacritics to the Latin letters, it makes the transcription
reversible, making it a true transliteration. This system is intended for academic use and
is hardly ever used in Thailand for the common public.

Grammar

From the perspective of linguistic typology, Thai can be considered to be an analytic language. The word order is Subject Verb Object, although the subject is often omitted. The
Thai pronominal system varies according to the sex and relative status of
speaker and audience.

Adjectives and adverbs

There is no morphological distinction between adverbs and adjectives. Many words can be used in either function. They
follow the word they modify, which may be a noun, verb, or another adjective or
adverb. Intensity can be expressed by a duplicated word, which is used to mean
"very" (with the first occurrence at a higher pitch) or "rather" (with both at
the same pitch) (Higbie 187-188). Usually, only one word is duplicated per
clause.

คนอ้วน (khon uan, IPA: [kʰon uan ]) a fat person

คนอ้วนๆ (khon uan uan, IPA: [kʰon uan uan]) a very/rather fat
person

คนที่อ้วนเร็วมาก (khon tee uan raew mark) a person who
becomes/became fat very quickly

คนที่อ้วนเร็วมากๆ (khon tee uan raew mark mark) a person who
becomes/became fat very very quickly

Comparatives take the form "A X กว่า B" (kwa, IPA:
[kwaː]), A is more X than B. The superlative is expressed as "A X ที่สุด" (thi sut, IPA:
[tʰiːsut]), A is most X.

เขาอ้วนกว่าฉัน (kao uan kwa chan) S/he is fatter than I.

เขาอ้วนที่สุด (kao uan thi sut) S/he is the fattest (of
all).

Because adjectives can be used as complete predicates, many words used to
indicate tense in verbs (see Verbs:Tense below) may be used to describe
adjectives.

ฉันหิว (chan hiw) I am hungry.

ฉันจะหิว (chan ja hiw) I will be hungry.

ฉันกำลังหิว (chan kamlang hiw) I am becoming hungry. or I
am hungry right now.

ฉันหิวแล้ว (chan hiw laeo) I am already hungry.

Verbs

Verbs do not inflect (i.e. do not change with person, tense, voice, mood, or
number) nor are there any participles. Duplication conveys the idea of doing the verb
intensively.

The passive voice is indicated by the insertion of ถูก
(thuk, IPA: [tʰuːk])) before the verb. For example:

เขาถูกตี (khao thuk ti, IPA: [kʰǎw tʰuːk tiː]), He is hit.
This describes an action that is out of the receiver's control and, thus,
conveys suffering.

To convey the opposite sense, a sense of having an opportunity arrive, ได้
(dai, IPA: [daj], can) is used. For example:

เขาจะได้ไปเที่ยวเมืองลาว (khao cha dai pai thiao mueang lao, IPA:
[kʰǎw tɕaʔ dâj paj tʰîow mɯːaŋ laːw]), He gets to visit Laos.

Note, dai (IPA: [daj] and IPA: [daːj]), though both spelled ได้ ,
convey two separate meanings. The short vowel dai (IPA: [daj]) conveys an
opportunity has arisen and is placed before the verb. The long vowel dai
(IPA: [daːj]) is placed after the verb and conveys the idea that one has been
given permission or one has the ability to do something. Also see the past tense
below.

เขาตีได้ (khao ti dai, IPA: [kʰǎw tiː dâːj]), He is/was allowed
to hit or He is/was able to hit

Negation is indicated by placing ไม่ (mai, not) before
the verb.

เขาไม่ตี, (khao mai ti) He is not hitting. or He doesn't
hit.

Tense is conveyed by tense markers before or after the
verb.

Present can be indicated by กำลัง (kamlang, IPA:
[kamlaŋ], currently) before the verb for ongoing action (like English -ing
form), by อยู่ (yu, IPA: [juː]) after the verb, or by both. For
example:

เขากำลังวิ่ง (khao kamlang wing, IPA: [kʰǎw kamlaŋ wiŋ]), or

เขาวิ่งอยู่ (khao wing yu, IPA: [kʰǎw wiŋ juː]), or

เขากำลังวิ่งอยู่ (khao kamlang wing yu, IPA: [kʰǎw kamlaŋ wiŋ
juː]), He is running.

Future can be indicated by จะ (cha, IPA: [tɕaʔ], will)
before the verb or by a time expression indicating the future. For example:

เขาจะวิ่ง (khao cha wing, IPA: [kʰǎw tɕaʔ wiŋ]), He will
run or He is going to run

Past can be indicated by ได้ (dai, IPA: [daːj]) before
the verb or by a time expression indicating the past. However, แล้ว
(laeo, :IPA: [lɛːw], already) is more often used to indicate the past
tense by being placed behind the verb. Or, both ได้ and แล้ว are put together
to form the past tense expression, i.e. Subject + ได้ + Verb + แล้ว. For
example:

เขาได้กิน (khao dai kin, IPA: [kʰǎw daːj kin]), He ate

เขากินแล้ว (khao kin laeo, IPA: [kʰǎw kin lɛːw], He (already)
ate or He's already eaten

เขาได้กินแล้ว (khao dai kin laeo, IPA: [kʰǎw daːj kin lɛːw]),
He (already) ate or He's already eaten

Nouns and pronouns

Nouns are uninflected and have no gender; there are no articles.

Nouns are neither singular nor plural. Some specific nouns are reduplicated to form collectives: เด็ก (dek, child) is often repeated as
เด็กๆ (dek dek) to refer to a group of children. The word พวก
(phuak, [pʰûak]) may be used as a prefix of a noun or pronoun as a
collective to pluralize or emphasise the following word. (พวกผม, phuak
phom, [pʰûak pʰǒm], we, masculine; พวกเรา phuak rao, [pʰûak
raw], emphasised we; พวกหมา phuak ma, (the) dogs) Plurals
are expressed by adding classifiers, used as measure words (ลักษณนาม), in the form of noun-number-classifier
(ครูห้าคน, "teacher five person" for "five teachers"). While in English, such
classifiers are usually absent ("four chairs") or optional ("two bottles of
beer" or "two beers"), a classifier is almost always used in Thai (hence
"chair four item" and "beer two bottle").

Subject pronouns are often omitted, while nicknames are often used where English would use a pronoun.
There are specialised pronouns in the royal and sacred Thai languages. The
following are appropriate for conversational use:

Word

RTGS

IPA

Meaning

phom

[pʰǒm]

I/me (masculine; formal)

dichan

[dìːtɕʰán])

I/me (feminine; formal)

chan

[tɕʰǎn]

I/me (masculine or feminine; informal)

khun

[kʰun]

you (polite)

thaan

[thâan]

you (polite to a person of high status)

thoe

[tʰɤː]

you (informal), she/her (informal)

rao

[raw]

we/us, I/me (casual)

khao

[kʰǎw]

he/him, she/her

man

[mɑn]

it

phuak khao

[pʰûak kʰǎw]

they/them

phi

[pʰîː]

older brother, sister (also often used loosely for older
cousins and non-relatives)

nong

[nɔːŋ]

younger brother, sister (also often used loosely for
younger cousins and non-relatives)

luk phi luk nong

[luːk pʰiː luːk nɔːŋ]

cousin (male or female)

Particles

The particles are often untranslatable words added to the end of a
sentence to indicate respect, a request, encouragement or other moods (similar
to the use of intonation in English), as well as varying the level of
formality. They are not used in elegant (written) Thai. The most common
particles indicating respect are ครับ (khrap, IPA: [kʰráp], with a high
tone) for a man, and ค่ะ (kha, [kʰâ], with a falling tone) for a woman;
these can also be used to indicate an affirmative.

Other common particles are:

Word

RTGS

IPA

Meaning

cha

[tɕaʔ]

indicating a request

จ้ะ, จ้า or จ๋า

cha

[tɕaː]

indicating emphasis

ละ or ล่ะ

la

[laʔ]

indicating emphasis

si

[siʔ]

indicating emphasis or an imperative

na

[naʔ]

softening; indicating a request

Phonology

Note: This page or section contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See Help:IPA for a pronunciation key.

Tones

There are five phonemic tones: middle, low, high, rising and falling. The table shows
an example of both the phonemic tones and their phonetic realization, in the IPA.

Tone

Thai

Phonemic

Phonetic

English

high

/náː/

[naː˧˥]

aunt/uncle(younger than your parents)

mid

/nāː/

[naː˥˧]

a paddy

low

/nàː/

[naː˧˩]

(a nickname)

rising

/nǎː/

[naː˨˩˧]

thick

falling

/nâː/

[naː˥˩]

face

Consonants

Thai distinguishes among three voice/aspiration patterns for plosive
consonants:

unvoiced, unaspirated

unvoiced, aspirated

voiced, unaspirated

Where English has only a distinction between the voiced, unaspirated /b/ and
the unvoiced, aspirated /p/, Thai distinguishes a third sound which is neither
voiced nor aspirated, which occurs in English only as an allophone of /p/,
approximately the sound of the p in "spin." There is similarly an
alveolar /t/, /tʰ/, /d/ triplet. In the velar series there is a /k/, /kʰ/ pair
and in the postalveolar series the /tɕ/, /tɕʰ/ pair.

In each cell below, the first line indicates International Phonetic Alphabet
(IPA), the second indicates the Thai characters in initial position (more
letters appearing in the same box have identical pronunciation).

Bilabial

Labio-
dental

Alveolar

Post-
alveolar

Palatal

Velar

Glottal

Nasal

[ m ] ม

[ n ] ณ,น

Plosive

[ p ] ป

[ pʰ ] ผ,พ,ภ

[ b ] บ

[ t ] ฏ,ต

[ tʰ ] ฐ,ฑ,ฒ,ถ,ท,ธ

[ d ] ฎ,ฑ,ด

[ k ] ก

[ kʰ ] ข,ฃ,ค,ฅ,ฆ

[ ʔ ] อ

Fricative

[ f ] ฝ,ฟ

[ s ] ซ,ศ,ษ,ส

[ h ] ห,ฮ

Affricate

[ tɕ ] จ

[ tɕʰ ] ฉ, ช, ฌ

Trill

[ r ] ร

Approximant

[ j ] ญ,ย

[ w ] ว

Lateral
approximant

[ l ] ล,ฬ

ฑ can be pronounced as [tʰ] or [d] depended on Thai words.

The glottal plosive is implied after a short vowel without final, or the
silent อ before a vowel.

Vowels

The basic vowels of the Thai language, from front to back and close to open,
are given in the following table. The top entry in every cell is the symbol from
the International Phonetic Alphabet, the second entry gives the spelling in the
Thai alphabet, where a dash (–) indicates the position of the
initial consonant after which the vowel is pronounced. A second dash indicates
that a final consonant must follow.
Monophthongs of Thai. From Tingsabadh
& Abramson (1993:25)

Front

Back

unrounded

unrounded

rounded

short

long

short

long

short

long

Close

/i/ -ิ

/iː/ -ี

/u/ -ุ

/uː/ -ู

Close-mid

/e/ เ-ะ

/eː/ เ-

/o/ โ-ะ

/oː/ โ-

Open-mid

Open

/a/ -ะ, -ั

/aː/ -า

The vowels each exist in long-short pairs: these are distinct phonemes forming unrelated words in Thai,[1]
but usually transliterated the same: เขา (khao) means he or she, while
ขาว (khao) means white.

The long-short pairs are as follows:

Long

Short

Thai

IPA

Gloss

Thai script

IPA

Gloss

/aː/

/fǎːn/

'to slice'

/a/

/fǎn/

'to dream'

/iː/

/krìːt/

'to cut'

/i/

/krìt/

'dagger'

/uː/

/sùːt/

'to inhale'

/u/

/sùt/

'rearmost'

/eː/

/ʔēːn/

'to recline'

/e/

/ʔēn/

'ligament'

/pʰɛ́ː/

'to be defeated'

/pʰɛ́ʔ/

'goat'

/kʰlɯ̂ːn/

'wave'

/kʰɯ̂n/

'to go up'

/dɤ̄ːn/

'to walk'

/ŋɤ̄n/

'silver'

/oː/

/kʰôːn/

'to fell'

/o/

/kʰôn/

'thick (soup)'

/klɔːŋ/

'drum'

/klɔ̀ŋ/

'box'

Diphthongs of Thai. From Tingsabadh
& Abramson (1993:25)

The basic vowels can be combined into diphthongs. Tingsabadh
& Abramson (1993) analyze those ending in high vocoids as underlyingly
/Vj/ and /Vw/. For purposes of determining tone, those marked with an asterisk
are also classified as long:

Long

Short

Thai

IPA

Thai

IPA

/aːj/

ไ–, ใ–, ไ–ย

/aj/

/aːw/

เ–า

/aw/

/iːa/

/ia/

/iw/

/uːa/

/ua/

/uːj/

/uj/

/eːw/

/ew/

/ɛːw/

/ɯːa/

/ɤːj/

/ɔːj/

/oːj/

Additionally, there are three triphthongs, all of which are long:

Thai

IPA

/iow/

/uɛj/

/ɯɛj/

For a guide to written vowels, see the Thai alphabet page.

Vocabulary

Other than compound words and words of foreign origin, most words are monosyllabic. Historically, words have most often been borrowed
from Sanskrit and Pāli; Buddhist terminology is particularly indebted to these. Old Khmer has also contributed its share, especially in regard to
royal court terminology. Since the beginning of the 20th century, however, the
English language has had the greatest influence. Many Teochew Chinese words are also used, some replacing existing
Thai words.

Thailand also uses the distinctive Thai six hour clock in addition to the 24 hour clock.

References

^
Tingsabadh
& Abramson (1993:25)

Bibliography

Higbie, James and Thinsan, Snea. Thai Reference Grammar: The Structure
of Spoken Thai. Bangkok: Orchid Press, 2003. ISBN
974-8304-96-5.

Nanthana Ronnakiat, Dr. (นันทนา รณเกียรติ, ดร.) Phonetics in Principle
and Practical. (สัทศาสตร์ภาคทฤษฎีและภาคปฏิบัติ) Bangkok: Thammasat
University, 2005. ISBN
974-571-929-3.

Segaller, Denis. Thai Without Tears: A Guide to Simple Thai
Speaking. Bangkok: BMD Book Mags, 1999. ISBN
974-87115-2-8.

Smyth, David. Thai: An Essential Grammar. London: Routledge, 2002.
ISBN
0-415-22614-7.

Tingsabadh, M.R. Kalaya &
Arthur Abramson (1993), "Thai", Journal of the International Phonetic
Association 23 (1): 24-28

See also

Thai numerals

External links

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Thai language
edition of the encyclopedia, the free encyclopedia Thai language edition of the dictionary, the free
dictionary/thesaurus the quotations has a collection of quotations related to:
Thai proverbs

Thai phrasebook in Travel

Ethnologue
write-up on Thai

Thai-language.com
Dictionary, forums, and reference material

Thai2english.com
Also gives sound-alike words with different tones

Slice-of-Thai.com:
Consonant/vowel flashcards + detailed pages on Thai tone/vowel/consonant
sounds, with spectrogram program to visualize your own voice

IPA
and SAMPA for Thai

Websters
Thai-English Dictionary

Thai
Particles (Large list of Thai particles with explanations and example
sentences).

Online
Keyboard for Thai

Free Thai
Audiolearning Course (Free English - Thai audiofiles with translations of
words and phrases to several different topics)

Spacing
in written Thai

Thai
phrasebook for Smartphones

Volubilis
Dictionary (Free multilingual Thai dictionary : Thai - Romanized Thai -
English - French ~ 26,000 entries)

Categories: Languages of Thailand | Tai-Kadai languages | Thai language | Tonal languages | Isolating languages

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