Thai Writing, Reading and Pronunciation Guidebook...***** Some words with short vowel may pronounce...
Transcript of Thai Writing, Reading and Pronunciation Guidebook...***** Some words with short vowel may pronounce...
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Thai Writing, Reading and
Pronunciation Guidebook
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Preface
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Contents Introduction ......................................................................................... 1
1. Thai Alphabet/àk-soon-thai/ .......................................................... 2
2. Thai Vowel/sa-rà/ ........................................................................... 4
3. Tones/wan-na-yúk/วรรณยกต ............................................................ 5
3.1 Tones Markers and Classes of Alphabet ...................................... 7
3.2 Leading Consonant ...................................................................... 8
3.3 Effect of Class, Vowel Type and Final Consonant on Tone .......... 9
3.4 Overall Rules of Tones [W&R] ................................................... 12
4. Double Consonant/kham khûap klàm/ค ำควบกล ำ ........................... 14
5. Easy-Difficult Word /kham-yâak kham-ngâai/ค ำยำก-ค ำงำย ........... 16
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Introduction
Originally, the purpose of this guidebook is to introduce Thai
pronunciation for beginner, because some Thai consonant and vowel
may not exist in other language. Furthermore, Thai is one of tone
language, this means tone pronunciation affect to the word’s
meaning. It is necessary for beginners to understand these natures of
Thai.
In this guidebook, the list of Thai alphabet and vowel are
included. You can listen to its pronunciation though the given
YouTube link. Examples of word spelling and tone pronunciation with
its YouTube link are included.
Basic rules to start Thai writing and reading practice are also
included here. We will show [S&L] for article focus on speaking and
listening only, and [W&R] for article that useful for writing and
reading which is useful for long run learners.
Rules in this guidebook can be applied for most of Thai writing
and reading but, there are some exceptions of rules that have not
been explained in this guidebook. Thai learner should gain more Thai
writing and reading skill through experience.
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1. Thai Alphabet/àk-soon-thai/ อกษรไทย [S&L],[W&R]
Table 1 Thai Alphabet https://youtu.be/KzKBpUaFd-A
Symbol Name
Meaning Consonant
Class Thai Pronunciation Initial Final
ก ก ไก koo kài chicken k k mid
ข ข ไข Khoo khài egg kh k high
ฃ ฃ ขวด khoo khùat bottle
(obsoleted) kh - high
ค ค ควำย khoo khwaay buffalo kh k low
ฅ ฅ คน khoo khon human
(obsoleted) kh - low
ฆ ฆ ระฆง khoo rá -khang bell kh k low
ง ง ง ngoo nguu snake ng ng low
จ จ จำน joo jaan dish j t mid
ฉ ฉ ฉง choo chìng cymbals ch - high
ช ช ชำง choo cháang elephant ch t low
ซ ซ โซ soo sôo chain s t low
ฌ ฌ เฌอ choo chooe a kind of tree ch - low
ญ ญ หญง yoo yǐng woman y n low
ฎ ฎ ชฎำ doo cha-daa headdress d t mid
ฏ ฏ ปฏก too pa-tàk goad, javelin t t mid
ฐ ฐ ฐำน thoo thaan pedestal th t high
ฑ ฑ มณโฑ thoo mon-
thoo
Montho (a character
from Ramayana)
th, d t low
ฒ ฒ ผ เฒำ thoo phûu-thâo
elder th t low
ณ ณ เณร noo neen samanera n n low
ด ด เดก doo dèk child d t mid
ต ต เตำ too tào turtle t t mid
ถ ถ ถง thoo thung bag th t high
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Symbol Name
Meaning Consonant
Class Thai Pronunciation Initial Final
ท ท ทหำร thoo tha-haan soldier th t low
ธ ธ ธง thoo thong flag th t low
น น หน noo nuu rat n n low
บ บ ใบไม boo bai-máai leaf b p mid
ป ป ปลำ poo plaa fish p p mid
ผ ผ ผง phoo phûeng bee ph - high
ฝ ฝ ฝำ foo faa lid f - high
พ พ พำน phoo phaan phan ph p low
ฟ ฟ ฟน foo fan teeth f p low
ภ ภ ส ำเภำ phoo sam-phao
saliboat ph p low
ม ม มำ moo máa horse m m low
ย ย ยกษ yoo yák giant y y or - low
ร ร เรอ roo ruuea boat r n low
ล ล ลง loo ling monkey l n low
ว ว แหวน woo waaen ring w w low
ศ ศ ศำลำ soo saa-laa pavilion, sala s t high
ษ ษ ฤๅษ soo ruue-sǐi hermit s t high
ส ส เสอ soo suuea tiger s t high
ห ห หบ hoo hǐip chest, box h - high
ฬ ฬ จฬำ loo jù-laa kite l n low
อ อ อำง oo àang basin o - mid
ฮ ฮ นกฮก hoo nók-hûuk olw h - low
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2. Thai Vowel/sa-rà/ สระ [S&L], [W&R]
Table 2 Thai Vowel https://youtu.be/CMGcME5DQjE
Short Vowel Long Vowel
Symbol Phonetic Sound
Symbol Phonetic Sound
Original * Original *
-ะ a a -ำ - a: aa
- i i - i: ii
- ɯ ue อ - ɯ: uue
- u u - u: uu
เ-ะ เ - e e เ- - e: ee
แ-ะ แ - ɛ ae แ- - ɛ: aae
เ-ำะ - ɔ o -อ - ɔ: oo
โ-ะ ** o ou โ- - o: oou
เ-อะ - ɤʔ oe เ-อ เ - ɤ: ooe
เยะ - iaʔ ia เย - Ia iia
เอะ - ɯaʔ uea เอ - ɯa uuea
วะ - uaʔ ua ว -ว- ua uua
ำ - am am
ใ- - ai ai
ไ- - ai ai
เ-ำ - ao ao
ฤ - rɯ rue ฤๅ - rɯ: ruue
ฦ - lɯ ฦๅ - lɯ: luue
-รร - - an
- - aw
Note: [W&R]
* Some vowel changes its form when used with final consonant.
** When “โ-ะ” used with final consonant, the word is written by
initial consonant followed by final consonant instead (Ex “คน”).
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*** “ไ” and “ใ” have no difference in term of pronunciation. There is
no specific rule to select between “ไ” and “ใ”. It’s all about
remembering.
**** ฤ, ฤๅ, ฦ, ฦๅ are generally used in Thai poetry.
***** Some words with short vowel may pronounce like long vowel,
according to Thai’s favor. For example “น ำ” (water) is
pronounced náam instead of nám, “ไม” (wood) is pronounced
máai instead of mái.
The below table demonstrates the way that Thai student practice
word spelling.
Table 2.1 Example of Word Spelling [W&R]
https://youtu.be/zYw4493xHaI
Thai Element Spelling Pronunciation English
มนำคม ม + = ม moo-ii-mee
mee-naa-khom March น + ำ = นำ noo-aa-naa
ค + โ-ะ + ม = คม khoo-o-moo-khom
เสอดำว ส + เอ = เสอ soo-uuea-suuea
suuea-daaw leopard ด + ำ + ว = ดำว doo-aa-woo-daaw
แตงโม ต + แ- + ง = แตง too-aae-ngoo-taaeng
taaeng-moou watermelon ม + โ = โม moo-oou-moou
3. Tones/wan-na-yúk/วรรณยกต [S&L], [W&R]
Thai is a tone language. Words pronounced with different tones have
different meaning. There are 5 tones in Thai language including
middle, low, falling, high and rising.
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The graph below demonstrates how tones work.
Fig.1 Graph of Thai Tones
https://youtu.be/7ixm_Ho5yaA
Phonetic Tone Markers [S&L]
There are five tone markers in phonetic as shown in table below.
These tone markers are necessary for Thai speaking practice. You
should remember how to pronounce these tones in order to read Thai
phonetic and pronounce correctly
Table 3-a Phonetic Tone Markers
Tone Mid Low Falling High Rising
Phonetic Symbol -
Thai Tone Markers [W&R]
There are five tone markers for Thai writing. Simply, each marker
demonstrates tone just like its name but there is a little bit more
detail about rules of tones which will be explained in the later section.
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Table 3-b Thai Tone Markers
Tone (General) Mid Low Falling High Rising
Thai Symbol -
Rules of Tones [W&R]
In Thai writing and reading, there are 5 component affecting tone of
word.
1. Tone marker
2. Class of alphabet
3. Leading consonant
4. Type of vowel (short/long)
5. Final consonant
3.1 Tones Markers and Classes of Alphabet [W&R]
Simply, if tone marker mixed with specific class of alphabet, tone
pronunciation will become as below table.
Table 3.1 Effect of Class and Tone Marker on Tone
Marker Class
-
Mid Low Falling High Rising
Mid Class Mid Low Falling High Rising
Low Class Mid Falling High - -
High Class High Low Falling - -
Example 3.1 https://youtu.be/7ixm_Ho5yaA
Middle Class
ปำ ปำ ปำ ป ำ ป ำ paa pàa pâa páa paa
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ต ต ต ต ต tii tìi tîi tíi tǐi
Low Class
คำ คำ คำ khaa khâa kháa
ไร ไร ไร rai râi rái
High
ขำ ขำ ขำ khaa khàa khâa
ห ห ห huu hùu hûu
3.2 Leading Consonant [W&R]
Simply, if a leading consonant (except “ห”, “อ”) is put in front of an
initial consonant, the leading consonant will be pronounced with “a”
vowel with middle tone. If class of leading consonant is higher, the
initial consonant will be treated like the same class as the leading
consonant.
Example 3.2-a https://youtu.be/7ixm_Ho5yaA
อรอย a-ròoy delicious
ขนม ka-nooum snack
สระ sa-rà vowel
ทหำร ta-haan solider
คณต ka-níd math
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Some “low class” initial consonant with “ห”, “อ” leading consonant will
be treated like “high class”.
Example 3.2-b https://youtu.be/7ixm_Ho5yaA
หน nuu rat
หญำ yâa grass
ไหล lai to flow
อยำก yàak want
อยำ yàa don’t (ordering)
3.3 Effect of Class, Vowel Type and Final Consonant on Tone [W&R]
In addition of the previous section, type of vowel (short/long) and
type of final consonant (live/dead) also affect to tone. Without tone
marker, tone of word will follow the rule in table 3.3-a.
Table 3.3-a Effect of Class, Vowel Type and Final Consonant on Tone
Tone Pronunciation
Vowel Short Long
Final Consonant - Live Dead - Live Dead
Cla
ss Mid Class Low Mid Low Mid Mid Low
Low Class High Mid High Mid Mid Falling High Class Low Rising Low Rising Rising Low
Final Consonant [W&R]
There are two type of final consonant, “live” and “dead”.
“Live” means final consonant that your mouth closes not so tight.
“Dead” means final consonant that your mouth closes tightly.
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Table 3.3-b List of Final consonant
Type Final Alphabet
Dead
k ก, ข, ค, ฆ
p บ, ป, พ, ฟ, ภ
t ช, ซ, จ, ฎ, ฏ, ฐ, ฑ, ฒ, ด, ต, ถ, ท, ธ, ศ, ษ, ส
Live
m ม
n ญ, ณ, น, ร, ล, ฬ
ng ง
w ว
y ย
Example 3.3 https://youtu.be/7ixm_Ho5yaA
Middle Class
Short Vowel
จะ jà will
กน kin to eat
เปด pèd duck
Long Vowel
ตำ taa grandfather (mother side),eye
ปน piin to climb
ปก pìik wing
Low Class
Short Vowel
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ย yú to incite, to encourage
คณ khun you
รก rák to love
Long Vowel
ยำ yaa medicine
ยำย yaay grandmother (mother side)
ยำก yâak difiicult
High Class
Short Vowel
ผ pù to decay
หน han to turn
ขด khùd to dig
Long Vowel
ขำ khaa leg
ขำย khaay to sell
โสด sòoud be single
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3.4 Overall Rules of Tones [W&R]
Expanding rules of tones in section 3.3 by adding tone markers, overall
rules of tones is shown in table 3.4 below.
Table 3.4 Overall Rules of Tones
Tone Pronunciation
Tone Marker
Vowel Short Long
Final Sound - Live Dead - Live Dead
- Mid Class Low Mid Low Mid Mid Low
Low Class High Mid High Mid Mid Falling
High Class Low Rising Low Rising Rising Low
Mid Class Low Low Low
Low Class Low Falling Falling Falling
High Class Low Low Low
Mid Class Falling Falling Falling Falling Falling
Low Class High High High
High Class Falling Falling Falling
Mid Class High High High High High High
Low Class
High Class
Mid Class Rising Rising Rising
Low Class
High Class
Notice! There are 3 groups of word that its tone follows the rule of
section 3.1.
1. Word with short vowel and live final consonant.
2. Word with long vowel without final consonant.
3. Word with long vowel and live final consonant.
Note: Some the word which is originally English word, it may not
follow the rules in table 3.4
Some word with dead final consonant mat pronounced by high tone
Example 3.4-a https://youtu.be/7ixm_Ho5yaA
อพำรทเมนท a-pháad-mén apartment
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กำรด káad card
Some word may pronounced by falling tone.
Example 3.4-b https://youtu.be/7ixm_Ho5yaA
คอมพวเตอร khoom-phiw-tôoe computer
มอเตอร moo-tôoe motor
เทอรมนอล thooe-mí-nôon terminal
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4. Double Consonant/kham khûap klàm/ค ำควบกล ำ [S&L], [W&R]
“kham khûap klàm” is the word with double initial consonant, There
are 3 Thai character that used as second initial consonant including, ล, ร
and ว (similar with l, r, w). Two initial consonant are pronounced
almost at the same time, similar with English.
Example 4-a https://youtu.be/jzhuSgA0AZI
ใกล klây near
ไกล klay far
คลอง khloong canal
คร khruu teacher
กรอง kroong to filter
กรำบ kràap to prostrate
ครอบ khrôop to cover
ควำย khwaay buffalo
กวำง kwâang wide
ขวำ khwaa right side
There is an exception of using “ร” as the second initial consonant. If “ร”
follow “จ”, “ส”, or “ศ” as the second initial consonant, nothing is
happening with pronunciation.
Example 4-b https://youtu.be/jzhuSgA0AZI
จรง jing true, real
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สรำง sâang to build
สระน ำ sà-náam pool
If “ร” is used after “ท”, word will be pronounced “soo”.
Example 4-c https://youtu.be/jzhuSgA0AZI
ทรำย saay sand
ไทร sai banyan(a kind of tree)
ทรำบ sâap to know (polite)
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5. Easy-Difficult Word /kham-yâak kham-ngâai/ค ำยำก-ค ำง ำย
[S&L], [W&R]
This section is written from writer’s opinion.
When I was a little student in primary school, there is a sort of
vocabularies that I must remember how to write it called “difficult
word”. “Difficult word” is quite hard to remember/write for young
student. The opposite side of “difficult word” is “easy word”, much
more frequently used than difficult word. “Difficult word” can be
written by using simple method/character used for easy word writing
to show how the difficult word is pronounced. This means, if you are a
beginner for Thai, you should at least remember some character and
understand some basic writing method as explained above.
“Difficult word” may be written by a rule that should not be called a
rule, because it is applicable for only a few words. The better technique
to handle with “difficult word” is to remember it through a lot of
reading.
The words I consider it as “difficult word” when I was a student are
frequently involved with these thing.
Table 5.1 Alphabet in Difficult Words
Symbol
Name
Meaning
Consonant
Class Thai Pronunciation Initial Final
ฆ ฆ ระฆง khoo rá -khang bell kho k low
ฌ ฌ เฌอ choo chooe tree ch - low
ญ ญ หญง yoo yǐng woman y n low
ฎ ฎ ชฎำ doo chá daa headdress d t mid
ฏ ฏ ปฏก too pà tàk goad, Javelin t t mid
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Symbol
Name
Meaning
Consonant
Class Thai Pronunciation Initial Final
ฐ ฐ ฐำน thoo thaan pedestal th t high
ฑ ฑ มณโฑ thoo monthoo Montho, character
from Ramayana th t low
ฒ ฒ ผ เฒำ thoo phûu-thâo elder th t low
ณ ณ เณร noo neen samanera n n low
ธ ธ ธง thoo thong flag th t low
ภ ภ ส ำเภำ phoo sam-phao saliboat ph p low
ศ ศ ศำลำ soo saalaa pavilion, sala s t high
ษ ษ ฤๅษ soo ruue-sǐi hermit s t high
ฬ ฬ จฬำ loo jù-laa kite l N low
Note: There are 30 alphabets left for “easy word”.
Table 5.2 List of Final consonant in difficult word
Type Final Alphabet
Dead
k ก, ข, ค, ฆ
p บ, ป, พ, ฟ, ภ
t ช, ซ, จ, ฎ, ฏ, ฐ, ฑ, ฒ, ด, ต, ถ, ท, ธ, ศ, ษ, ส
Live
m ม
n ญ, ณ, น, ร, ล, ฬ
ng ง
w ว
y ย
Note: Final Consonant with strikethrough means it is used in “easy word”.
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Table 5.3 Vowel in Difficult Word
Short Vowel Long Vowel
Similar Symbol
Phonetic Sound
Symbol
Phonetic Sound Original * Original *
ฤ - rɯ rue ฤๅ - rɯ: ruue -
ฦ - lɯ ฦๅ - lɯ: luue -
-รร - - an run
ตวกำรนต tuaa-kaa-ran ()
“tua ka ran” has nothing on pronunciation of the word. It generally
used in Thai word that borrowed from foreign language.
Word with สร ศร ทร
As explained in section 4.
Example 5 https://youtu.be/lliAx8ktInk
This is the way I learn difficult word from student book when I was a
young student.
ปรญญำ อำนวำ(Read) ปะ รน ยำ (bachler degree)
parinyaa àanwâa pa-rin-yaa
บรรยำย อำนวำ บน ยำย (narrate)
banyaay àanwâa ban-yaay
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สรำงสรรค อำนวำ สำง สน (creative)
sâangsan àanwâ sâang-san
ธรรมชำต อำนวำ ท ำ มะ ชำด (natural)
thammachâad àanwâ tham-ma-châad
ช ำนำญ อำนวำ ช ำ นำน (expert)
chamnaan àanwâa chamnaan
สมภำษณ อำนวำ สม พำด (interview)
samphâad àanwâa sam-phâad
สญลกษณ อำนวำ สน ยะ ลก (symbol)
sanyalák àanwâa san-ya-lák
เกษตร อำนวำ กะ เสด (agriculture)
kasèed àanwâa ka-sèed