tdee Kha: Hi! Free tips how 
you can teach yourself T
h
a
i and speak Thai at your nex
t visit to Thailand.
Sawatdee Kha: Hi! Free tips how you can teach yourself Thai and speak Thai at your next visit to Thailand.
The first thing to do when learning the Thai language is listening how Thai people speak English. You will notice a distinct Thai accent and "oddities" that you will need to incorporate when speaking Thai:
How to say hello in Thai? You will hear this Thai greeting when entering shops, restaurants… almost anywhere you go in Thailand:
If you hear Thai men talk on the phone only saying "khrab khrab khrab", they mean "yes, yes, yes".
If you want to act as an educated foreigner and not a drunk ‘farang‘ (foreigner as they say in Thailand), do pronounce
the local Thai beer Singha as "beer sing". Only farangs that don’t know better will say "singer".
The popular Koh Samui islands are pronounced like "Goh! Samui".
The most challenging part for westerners learning Thai is to get the tones right.
You surely have noticed the "strange singing" when you listen to Thai people talking. That’s because there are 5 tones: low, middle, high, falling and rising. Different tones on the same word will have different meanings:
Apart from tones, making the sounds of a word short or long could also change the meaning. Some western languages do have this oddity as well
It is very difficult to write Thai words using English letters. I did this on this page as a guide. Yet it is much better if you try and learn the Thai alphabet. It is not as difficult as it looks:
Chained Tree
This Thai alphabet shape resembles the image of a person Chained to a Tree, at the beach:
Teach yourself the Thai alphabet now in less than an hour for less than $20 using the above visual memory techniques. (with money back guarantee!)