Thai Language Lessons: Thai Vowels, Part 1

[tohaovershell]

Thai is so hard, ahhhg.

[llMichiyoll]

I'm Thai but I can remember just alphabet, I still can't remember the vowels all. Sometimes Thai people have a problem about spelling b/c the alphabets (the vowels as well) are very similiar.

[nereid111]

Aow! So so hard. How can I memorize those words. omg!

[myrddinistheshit]

how many distinct vowels are in thai?

[SataraYamori]

You might not be Thai, but this is the best resource I found on the Internet for learning Thai vowels. Thanks this really helped me.

[JntCp1139]

lol that guy is not even thai ;)

[FUSSYMUAYTHAI]

what about the poem with the 22 letters for the mids , i forgot the rules since i quit pasa thai 8 years already a feel much better for giving up ! yeah !

[xpaderom]

Once again, thanks very much. My second visit in two days. 

[xpaderom]

Wow man, that was fantastic! I mean, I don't know Thai well enough to know whether you're teaching it right or not, but you just put out a ton of extremely helpful material in a very clear presentation, and you did it for free! Thanks a ton! I'll be making regular use of your videos.

[Jackzzz7]

AWESOME!!!!! Thank you so much. This video is only full of clear, useful information for people wanting to learn the thai alphabet with good pronunciation and a deep understanding. keep it up

[aomenz]

เราจำสระไม่ครบทุกตัวจริงๆ T^T

ก-ฮ ท่องได้นะ แต่จะวนไปวนมาอยู่นั้นแหละ ไม่ลง ฮ ซักที

This is very difficult.

Who sells chicken eggs? = ใคร ขาย ไข่ ไก่? >> kai kai kai kai ?

[TunnLyTunnBam]

@aomenz O.O god

[dhaworth75]

Really great presentation! And I know that you are teaching to a non-Thai speaker, so I do not mind that you "bent" the rules a little so that you can explain it to English speakers. Thanks, this helped me understand much better.

[davidkeithbecket]

I can't imagine what youtube was thinking when they introduced play controls that jump in the way of the actual video, it's really annoying when you are trying to pause and read

[selenolic98]

your going way tooo fast! u shud give more time and explain how to remember these easily.! >.<

[Westerdd]

@selenolic98 there is a pause button! stop complaining!

[sgisi414]

@selenolic98 use the pause button

[jdh501]

@doowopit Yes, thank you. I mentioned the Lao script in my original comment here. Although the historical spellings in Thai are fascinating, it makes the language very difficult to learn.

[takforalt]

Well done but thai script it totally and needlessly complicated! I am not sure how to approach learning this language. 

[urahihChalotte]

I'm Thai but I think Thai language is hardest to learn. XD

[yudhiz89]

wow, thank you very much. this lesson is very comprehensive!

[jdh501]

What a complete MESS the Thai script is because of the historical and etymological spellings. They should simplify Thai the same way Lao has been simplified. These complicated obsolete spellings are certainly interesting for the field of historical linguistics (to determine which words were borrowed from Pali, etc.) but it makes learning this otherwise grammatically simple language into a major league pain. Don't the Thai people want their language to be easily accessible? Or is this deliberate?

[LokiTime]

@jdh501 it is deliberate. Thai government is well known for it preservation and wanted to preserve the language. Lessons like this is standard and mandatory in Thailand. Some of these vowels are hardly ever if not never used in daily basis, actually, Most of these vowels you will never get to use in daily basis.

we learned them because we had to not because we wanted it, we make jokes about it everyday on how nonsense some of these vowels are.

[jdh501]

@LokiTime It's not only the vowels. There are many duplicated consonants too. The Thai script could easily eliminate at least 12 redundant consonants. That would make the language more streamlined and dynamic. It would be a more powerful tool for communication as well. Also, too many silent letters in Thai. The same problem exists in English. The word "jan" for moon is spelled "jandr" because they kept the Pali spelling.

Oh well. :-)

[LokiTime]

@jdh501 yep... Government wanted it, not much we can do lol

[laoprideable]

In my opinion, there is only Luangprabang people can pronounce and identify the differences between "Ai mai ma lai" and "Ai mai muan" other groups have no differences in pronunciation

[ybastiand]

Job well done, congratulations.

[nellichoo]

This is very nice. I love you :*

[Alexmuthfield]

Be careful ก็ (9:20) Actually , it pronounces as like ก้อ with falling tone.

[surenanezz]

You said that the "oh" sound is inherent on consonants. The thai word for fall is tok. It was spelled using totao and kokai. If read in thai script, how can i distinguish if it's tohk or tohkoh in leu to what you said that OH sound is inherent.

[starmen500]

i know it seems hard to learn thai but believe me when get started you're find it easy

[inblank]

holly crap! 32 vowels? :S English only has 5 xD and you thought english was hard!

[smithyeoadam]

Can anyone help me is so hard help me please my fb is smithyeoadam@hotmail if anyone cane me in thai please thx I really like thai alot na but don't understand till now

[halohard191]

Thai language is very difficult only in grammar section , but it is very easy to speak you dont need any grammar to speak Thai just say anything you want to like " I'm hungry = i hungry , see no grammar at all :D

[wisteriamorykura]

Well, this Thai language lessons is very wonderful. You will help many people to learn our Thai language. It not easy, I know that. Your job is valuable.

[weedtilidiedude]

Ashoka, I am wondering about the "sara, ahh" at 2:30

The vowel look identical to the consonant "O ang", is there a rule for this or do they sound the same?

If I am reading, how would I know if it is the vowel or consonant?

[NGKW12]

I'm half Japanese and half Thai, but can't speak Thai because I speak Japanese only at home.

[chang155]

when you explain the difference between oben and closed sylbles, you should distinguish betwen stop closings an non stop closings. line in อาน or stoped in อาบ, because, how you probably know, it makes a differents for the tones

[davievalberg]

i got a headache now!!, but i keep practicing

[plathhs]

This might be the most difficult writing system I've tried to learn ever …

[tuktukLao]

YOU FORGOT THIS VOWEL " รร " I JUST WANT TO ADD ONE MORE FOR YOU. FOR EXAMPLES, ไม้บรรทัด - Ruler, บรรทุก - to carry, กรรเชียง to paddle back หรรษา- funny, enjoyable ........ so many words use this vowel.

[ITTOdesu]

we use ไ to write the word that come from other languages and we use ใ to write the real Thai word. that's why it has only 20 words that use ใ because if we have new word we're gonna use ไ.

ไทย...... is also come from another language.

[mallcorekidsdie]

best damn presentation i ever saw

[Coptersa007]

a little knowledge when you wanna talk to Thai people a little bit as following:

[but there's some mistakes in this]

"สวัสดี" means Hello :read by: Sa Wud dee

"ขอโทษ" means I'm sorry :Read by: Cho Toast

"ลาก่อน" means Godd bye Read by: La gorn

"อะไรวะ"means What The Hell Read by: A Rai Wa!! [with angry sound it'll be matching]

[dan2uk1]

This is a good explanation of the vowels, but it is far too fast for my brain to take it in.

But good video all the same, wish i knew Thai inside out like that.

[awesomerainbow]

Hey, Im thai and very surprised by ur accent!

U speak Thai very well!

I havent met any English Native speakers speaking our language better that u ;)

[TokyoBrando]

i'll just stick to my japanese lol..i like thailand and thai but too difficult..give me kanji anyday..good video tho :)

[Oedipus32]

thanks so much! Thai is so daunting at first but I know that if I learn how to read everything else will become much clearer! I really want to learn it so I can understand my boyfriend when he speaks hehe, and it's cute and fun to be able to talk to him especially since english has nothing like na kha!

[Oedipus32]

do the vowels have tones?

[Tiaimo]

@Oedipus32 This vid is the basic / foundation of thai words when i was five. ( ^.^ eiei) Normally, we have five tone in each word which means that we write it in different way to represent the actual vowels. If you know how to pronounces for all tones in one word, you can completed system of pronounciation.

Anyway, thank a lot for this vid that help the foreigner to know how to pronounce thai words.

44 letters + this vid + 5 tones = Thai language.

[MrSuttisan]

Good, but the guy is going pretty fast.

[Oedipus32]

@MrSuttisan pause it as you go along!

[UttRenier]

I found this too complicated, of all asian languages, tagalog is the easiest of all!

[SuperSayjinElite]

@UttRenier

I would say Korean is the easiest, Hangol is really easy to learn to read and write in and the phonics aren't too hard. I'd also say it's the most efficient least complicated of the ones I have studied. Chinese on the other hand, ESPECIALLY traditional when written, is only recommended for uber masochists!

[UttRenier]

@SuperSayjinElite yes but I am referring to number of vowels and consonants, Tagalog consists only of 15 consonant and 5 traditional vowels the a,e,i,o,u. And the alphabets are just the usual english alphabet, the usual ABC. in hanggul, they have some many letters and diphtongs which really takes time to master.

[Schatzsugar]

great vid :) 

[eminam3]

วีดีโอ นี้ดีจังครับ ดีครับที่ทำให้คนต่างชาติดู

[Saifistan]

Thank you so much for this :)

[AstraMaleeDao907]

<3<3<3 Great video. My mum had no time to teach me when I was younger so when I have the time I try to teach myself. You are amazing! Kawp koon mak ka!

[dujarfa]

great video, very good information!!

[Googamezaa]

OMG! I'm original Thai speaker and I don't remember when I study this I just speak Thai without thinking of this theory!!

[Googamezaa]

@Googamezaa But anyway, I 'm so glad that forieners are interested to study my language!

[balacyclan22]

a aa i ii u u screw this

[nickyvtown]

its sawa di kap if your a man sawadi ka if youre a woman

[nickyvtown]

pom mai kou jai kap

[JessVu]

the only Thai word i know is " swai di ka" = hello. i think =]

[Qurylenko]

easy

[neejhmoo88]

nice video :)

[omoshiroidayo]

俺は日本語ができます、もっと簡単だよ

[Somewin14]

That is Easy for me Because Here is My Language :Thai (ไทย)

[nate8910]

@Somewin14  คุณเป็นไทยเหรอ?

[Somewin14]

Yes sir!! ครับ

[forjustice]

@nate8910 It would be better to put "คน" (kon) in front of the nationality name such as "คุณเป็น คนไทย เหรอ? " now that would be better ^^

[forjustice]

@forjustice Oh !

1 more thing

"คน" (Kon) in english is mean "person"

[SomethingAudio]

Thank you fellow farang - Awesome! mai pen rai krup!

[xDhallelujah]

thanks so much!!

[itokonova1988]

..arrghhh...so hard o learn!!!

[badnerd182]

this video is great but it would ve been better with IPA =D thnx man we need more videos

[asimov231]

perfect, thank you, video poster

[Beatasom]

This lesson is really good! 5/5

But Thai language is very difficult!

[payasongbaliw]

@Beatasom yeah it feels difficult to us its simply because were not a thai people.... ^_^

[GALLILAO]

what the hell he going on about

[LordGuykage]

Wow. It's so in depth, but very good.

I'm Thai, but since I'm studying in the U.S. I don't even focus that much on the Thai grammar haha. This makes me feel bad.

[iceapisto]

Yeahhh there have just ONE tense in thai

so u not gonna confuse it .its so easy to speak thai language

[usr1011]

Thank you very much for taking the time to make this. However, I hope you don't mind if I point out an inaccuracy.

At 1:47, you give 3 examples of English words that have monophthongs (aka simple vowels). However, 2 of them, "go" and "ice", actually contain diphthongs. You could argue "go" either way because some linguists analyze its vowel sound as a monophthong and some as a diphthong. But, the vowel in "ice" is definitely a diphthong.

Other than that, keep up the great work, and thank you.

[rhaglen]

This is totally awsom! It's extremely clear, concise and the examples are good. I love it most because it just gives me this freshening up of my vowels when I need it quickly. Thanks for making this.

[delfiini99]

Hi!

Could you please clarify! In thai it is usually refered to open or closed syllables. Syllables ending with a short vowel are closed, โต๊ะ tó. Syllables containg a short vowel but ending with sonorant consonant are open, แข็ง khɛ̆ng. This is a meaningful classification when determing the tones in Thai.

Your classification is just the opposite. Phonetically closed or open vowels refer to the fact where about in the mouht the vowel is articulated, closed, mid or open.

[therandomsubscriber1]

im speechless you are so good

[Bnswat]

Thanks for highlighting, makes it easier for me to follow. Thanks for taking the time to do this.

[Domanter]

great video,,, some of the pronouciation is a bit off so in some words it's slightly wrong but in overall, i will give it 5/5

[durian555]

Awesome !!

[Oedipus32]

this is a great video!

Best one i've seen for vowels!

[samjamesjordan]

Very informative and concise video.

I just noticed the transliteration of the word 'ก็' is specified as 'gàw' but should probably be 'gâw' right?

Excellent work!

[ken12ken1]

nice video! I hv ever learn Thai at tls Thai language school. that school also good. they have course for conversation and course for Thai letter.

[servantisty]

Well done! ^_^

But let me give some lil comment

I think when pronoucing the short vowels, should make the tone lower lol

The pronoucing here is lil bit kind similar to high tone, but actually it needs to be low tone

[pakhavit]

Very nice guide. well done *-*

I'm Thai and I didn't know it's this hard LOL

So confusing isn't xD

[SirNistieZ]

im so agree with you,,

im also thai ,, =P

how to pronouce it might be difficult

but for the grammar, i dont think so,,there's only ONE tense in thai haha

love my language =)

[crouchtig]

Aren't the vowel sounds in "go" and "ice" also diphthongs...?

[ashoka10]

"Ice" may have been a poor choice, perhaps I should have used a short I such as "fit". However, the "O" in "go" is a vowel.

[waritgreen]

@crouchtig Lol i was bred and born in thai and I have no idea what you're talking about, I don't know what diphthongs are. What are they? Maybe I know them but I call it differently.

[inufan432]

OH GAWSH. I am so CONFUUUUUUUUUUUUSED. Im just gunna remain confused in Bangkok. -0-

[sutsuki445]

Man.... I need so much help :(

[koroke]

freaking awesome thx...btw you can't not translate the thai to english language at 100 percent due to the vowels. That's is why you see thai people with the long ass names, because you just can represent the names into english. So try to make it short and simple.....don't push english vowels try to get a 100 percent sounds, it's ridiculous.

[ThaiLaoMediacom]

I Am Saving Your Teaching in My PlayList....

"ASHOKA" I Rather learn from A Good student Rather than a Bad Master...

LHK.......^._.^ HungPang

[kareljicha]

Great job man! Thumbs up!

[berckbill]

i will have to watch over and over. I am getting it. thanks. I feel i can learn it eventually. I know english, so nothing can be harder that that. I am glad i was taught from birth until now to know english. My foreign friends have much trouble with english and ask good questions always. I still cannot explain spoken word "butter" sounds like "budder" . I feel that Americans will confuse most people from foreign lands with many words. I hope Thai is not the same with many dialects over .thanks

[guiguox]

out fucking standing job man. keep posting. I speak read and write thai but it's always useful refresh out knowledge now and then. tks again

[PeeteyP]

I love the Thai language- It's like a linguist sat down and invented the most difficult phonics and writing system possible.

These vids are very informative and succinct.

[SuperSayjinElite]

@PeeteyP

Haha, Thai is pretty hard as far as phonics go but Polish takes the cake 100%.

Polish is like a tongue twister language and extremely hard to even mime words after 50+ tries. 

[dklskov]

Thank you for your videos. I'm sure they're as helpful to many other people as they are to me.

[myonlyidentity]

ขอบคุณค่ะ

That's the only word i know and i still had to cheat to write it -_-" <--la-azy

[fosenteskotia]

This is so great. I only wish you went slower when listing them, so we can let the differences sink in. Still, the best explanation of Thai vowels I've seen

[ashoka10]

I had to go quickly to conform to YouTube's 10 minute limit - there was a lot of information to teach in this video, so I had to cram it all in.

[Marii26]

This is excellent, thank you very much. :)

[Lykurgosw]

thanks a lot

[hakrai1]

I don't understand anything. :S

[ibanezman1025]

Thank you for this! I'm learning Thai, and this is helpful in understanding the written part of the language which is a little confusing for me.

[AragornPae1]

Oh very good

เก่งมากเลยครับ

[battleaxebot]

I speak thai very well bcuz i live in thailand XD my home town too lol. My mom's thai but my dads american so i can speak both lol. ขอบคุณครับ สำหรับ วิดีโอ (Thanks for the vid im sure many people would need it!)

[brighjh]

Thanks a bunch for the post. I speak Thai fairly well, hints I'm married to a wonderful Thai girl.

I've been studying for the past year and a half. So now putting some book knowledge with my speaking ability is extra complimentary.

[yatta1990]

YOU ARE F*KING AWESOME!!!

WOW I think you put soo much effort into these videos

[harrypotter271828]

The "ย" is pronounced like "yo yak".

"ยักษ์"

The "ษ์" is like to be silent.

Right?

what is the use of the "อ์" symbol?

(อ is used for showing the symbol coz i can't only show the symbol)

[lov2us]

any consonant with karan,that thing, on it will not be pronounced

[Anakolov]

Also, the word 'ก็' DEFINITELY has a short sound.

In spoken language, it is usually (if not always) pronounced with a long sound. However, in the dictionary or some kind of poem (eg Thai sonnet) where sound length is specified, 'ก็' MUST be pronounced with a short sound.

[ashoka10]

There seems to be some debate about this - I've always pronounced it with a short sound when speaking, such as ก็ได้, but two dictionaries I have list it as sounding like กอ, and another, including thai-language.com list it as เกาะ.

[Anakolov]

In contrast, I usually pronounce it with a long sound. But the point I'm making is that in a poem or written language, it should always be short.

[lov2us]

strictly, it is a looooooong sound.

it's an exemption in some specific poems.

however,,,,,

we tend to pronounce it quickly sometimes

it's kind of wierd if you stress it too much

like when you stress the more important words

in English and shorten the others like 'to',for example.

similarly,,,,,

the word water 'num' should be pronounced by all means as num but everybody says 'naam'

which is totally wrong,but this has been accepted as correct. it's somewhat flexible in a spoken language.

[lov2us]

by the way if you pronounce kordai like kdai,it actually sounds like you are not willing to accept the condition but only do so dismissively.so don't shorten it too much

[Anakolov]

Short vowels : อะ อิ อึอ อุ เอะ แอะ เออะ โอะ เอาะ อัวะ เอียะ เอือะ (last 3 are dipthongs)

Long vowels : อา อี อือ อู เอ แอ เออ โอ ออ อัว เอีย เอือ (last 3 are dipthongs)

Extraordinary Vowels : อำ ( อะ + ม ) ไอ ใอ ( อะ + ย ) เอา (อะ + ว )

Very promising VDO though. Give me a shout if you have any problem learning Thai.

[Anakolov]

Your categorisation of Thai vowels seems a little 'westernised'. Strictly speaking, we only have 28 vowels. Those are 12 short vowels and their 12 counterparts of a longer sound, plus 4 'extraordinary' vowels. Your dipthongs and tripthongs ending with a ว and ย should simply be regarded as simple vowels with ว/ย as an ending consonant.

[ashoka10]

The reason I categorized the vowels in a westernized manner was to facilitate westerners learning them, hence my note in the video that they are not in dictionary order. Even vowels that are not really in the vowel system, such as อิว, อุย, and อวย are addressed to introduce them as vowel-like sounds. The purpose of this video is to help teach foreigners how to read Thai, not memorize dictionary order.

[Anakolov]

Yes, I'm aware of your purpose which is actually a good one for western learners, but I also hope that you are aware of the formal catagorisation.

[hippogo149]

good work

[jaokha]

cheer up! your videos are so good!

[swtasnprincess1]

Thanks! Where is Part 2?

[ashoka10]

Part Two is currently being worked on. Stay tuned, it should be up in a week or so.