One of the way to learn Thai is to master its writing system! A little bit of history, Thai script was derived from Old Khmer script, a type of alphasyllabary writing system. Okay. Enough of facts. Let us have fun learning basic and mostly encountered Thai consonants!
ก - ก้องภพ, กันสมาย
G/K - Kongpope, Gunsmile
This letter is sounding between K and G. That is why in Roman transliteration, it is written either with G or K. The K shouldn't be aspirated like in English. If it were aspirated than that was another sound in Thai! Okay?
ม - เมย์
M - May
This is direct and easy. But please don't confuse with the letter below... 😉
น - นิว
N - New
Yup... no problem with this.
ง - เงิน
NG - Ngern
Many westerners find it difficult to pronounce this as the beginning letter. This sound is present in English. Even English has the Ng sound. Just pronounce Singer and left the Si. You will get Nger... Yeay! You manage to pronounce it! For Asian, mostly won't have problem with this. Sabaai...
ย - ยูรี
Y - Yuri
This one is a clear cut Y especially for foreigners, like me. However, when you heard in rapid spoken Thai, sometimes the sound could be heard as J like in jeans. But just stick with clear cut Y. And sometimes, foreign words started with J will be spelt with this letter in Thai. E.g. Jelly --> Yeli
ว - ไวท์
W - White
W - what else should I say? Ngai (Easy) isn't it?
จ - จิรกิตติ์
J - Jirakit
This letter, do NOT pronounce it like the hard J for example fridge. Pronounce it like CH in chimpanzi without aspiration. Especially for those who speak Bahasa, it is not the J like in Jaman. More similar to J in Hanyu Pinyin Mandarin.
ฮ - อาทิตย์
Ø - Arthit
This is a letter with no sound. It serves as a carrier for words that begin with a vowel. Like above, Arthit. So, the vowel needs a carrier consonant to function. Sometimes, this letter served as a tone marker e.g. in อยู่ (to be in a place).
#Aspiration happened when you pronounce a consonant and you can feel a gush of air coming out from your mouth. But in Bahasa, they didn't aspirate their consonants except for H, KH and foreign consonants.
So that were all easy consonants where one sound equate to one letter only. In the upcoming lessons, I will introduce one sound with multiple characters or those consonants with similar pronounciation and shapes. Until then, Sawatdee Khrap.
Give back your feedback on the lesson so I can improve myself! 💟
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Learn Thai 101 Via Thai BL/Yaoi
Non-FictionThis is a compilation of lessons on learning Thai language from Thai Yaoi series or films or even songs. This is a basic guide to help you to pick up Thai language easier and in the fun way! Disclaimer: I am not a native speaker of English and Thai...
