I would love to learn Thai and I also would love to be a foreign exchange student in Thailand (if anyone has information on that as well pls let me know). What apps should i download, what movies/shows should i watch, what songs should i listen to (i can never find really good Thai songs for some reason), what youtube videos/channels should i watch, and what learning thai books should i get, etc.
I started with learning how to read and write, which I assume is the case for 90-95% of learners. The rare occasion in which you find this subreddit before you start learning, there's a chance you start with comprehensible input first.
Most people probably start learning, then they seek support/community then they find this subreddit. But there's also a few who finds this subreddit first (like you can see in some of the latest posts on this sub).
Either way, the thing I wish I did different is to "really" learn how to read and write. Yes, I started with the script, but I never really learned it. I put it up to faith that it would eventually stick (BIG MISTAKE). I looked at words, tried to learn them, read, looked a lot. Used my cheat sheet, etc. This is how people go years without really learning it.
That was such a big mistake. There's so much boilerplate shit you just have memorize and learn super well before you can even start. Memorize the **** out of that shit!
What I should have done is that I should've just put it all into Anki. Everything. All the consonants, all the vowels, all the silent haaw heep combination, the tones, consonant cluters, smooth clusters, irregular clusters, regular clusters. Everything. You often hear there's 44 consonants and 32 vowels, but in my deck I have 60-70 vowels. It's actually not trivial to count the number of vowels in Thai. Some of it is logic with the smoothness of yaaw yaak and waaw waen. For me specifically, I want every combination and instant recognition. I don't even want to think. It should be fully automatic.
That is my recommendation. The full deck is gonna be in the range of 150-200 cards, will take you a few weeks to a few months to learn super well. But don't bother trying to read or do anything else with the script while you doing this. If you do 5-10 cards a day this will take you less than 10 minutes a day including reviews piling up. Use time and sleep and spaced repetition as your advantage. Don't try to cram this all in one day unless you wanna waste your time. Learning Thai is hard and for most people it's gonna be a life-time committment. You NEVER EVER suspend this deck btw. Maybe you could if you get to an upper intermediate level and you get enough exposure to Thai everyday.
The one thing you could actually do while you let time do it's thing with with the script (the deck above) is that you can start learning words, or start listening to comprehensible input. Again, don't even bother trying to read before it's all locked in from the previous step (unless you wanna waste your time). Start learning vocab, every now and then you'll recognize stuff from the deck and it will reinforce it even better from looking at the script. Or you could just do comprehensible input while waiting for the script to become automatic. Once it's automatic, you start reading syllables, words, and eventually sentences (start with a generator that splits the sentence), then eventually move on to sentences with no spaces.
PS: If you don’t want to contribute anything meaningful, maybe just don’t comment at all....
I feel like a lot of people underestimate how different Thailand is once you step outside the tourist bubble. Sure, if you stay in hotels, bars, and expat-heavy areas, English works fine. But the moment you deal with normal daily life, things change fast. Most people you interact with simply don’t speak much English, and if they do, it’s often very basic. That said, it definitely depends on where you live. In places like Bangkok or Pattaya you can get by much easier with English, but the further you move away from those areas, especially into smaller towns or the countryside, the more you’ll feel the language barrier.
That hits you in the most random situations. Getting something repaired, talking to a delivery driver, dealing with paperwork, even just asking simple questions in a local shop. You realize quickly that almost everything around you runs in Thai. Signs, announcements, conversations, all of it.
At that point, a lot of people fall back on workarounds. Pointing at things, using apps, or asking “do you speak English” ten times a day. It works just enough to survive, but it’s not really living. And translation apps don’t always handle tones well, which matters a lot in Thai because the same word can mean completely different things depending on how you say it.
Another thing people don’t talk about enough is how dependent you become. If you have a Thai partner or friend translating everything, your whole life runs through them. Simple tasks turn into group projects. And when they’re not around, you’re stuck again. It’s not just inconvenient, it limits your independence in a pretty fundamental way.
Socially, it’s even more obvious. You can sit in a room full of people, and everything is happening in Thai. Jokes, stories, small talk. You might catch a word here and there, but you’re not really part of it. Over time that gap adds up. You’re physically there, but not really included in what’s going on.
Learning Thai is not easy either, especially because of the tones and the writing system. But interestingly, the grammar itself is actually quite straightforward compared to many European languages. You don’t deal with conjugations or complicated tenses, so reaching a basic conversational level is more achievable than people think if they stick with it.
And from what I’ve seen, even a little bit of Thai changes everything. People respond differently, interactions become smoother, and you start to understand what’s happening around you instead of guessing. It’s basically the difference between being a long-term visitor and actually being part of the place.
Curious what other people’s experience has been with this, especially if you’ve actually lived in Thailand for a while. Did you manage to get by with just English, or did you eventually feel forced to learn Thai to handle daily life and social situations? Also interested in how people approached learning it and what actually worked versus what didn’t, so share your experience in the comments.
De retour après un gros travail sur mon application pour apprendre le thaïlandais, malgré les retours salé des anti IA. Je ne me suis pas laissé abattre car déjà je fais l'application principalement pour moi, donc en soit, si ça ne plait pas car ce n'est pas terminé, alors tant pis pour eux.
Mais je reviens quand même pour ceux qui veulent apprendre le thaïlandais, et qui n'ont pas les moyens de payer, j'ai mon application 100% gratuit et pas besoin de compte pour l'utiliser.
https://learn-thai-pi.vercel.app/learn
Depuis la dernière fois, j'ai quand même effectué au moins 60 mises à jours.
- Chaque exercice contient maintenant au moins 10 niveaux (pas obligatoire de les faires tous pour passer à la suite).
- Chaque niveau augmente de manière constante la difficulté jusqu'au niveau final qui est d'écrire soi-même pour valider ce qui a été appris précédemment.
- Des indices pour aider l'apprenant pendant sa progression.
- Des exercices d'entraînement on été ajouté pour juste s'entraîner de temps en temps mais je trouve que ce n'est pas le point le plus fort.
Le seul point noir pour l'instant est la voix de lecture pour lire le texte thaï que de j'utilise, elle est gratuite. Si vous êtes sur ordinateur (que je déconseille pour le moment) alors la voix vas être vraiment très nul, incompréhensible.
Si vous êtes sur Iphone, c'est le top pour le moment, intégrer l'application depuis Safari et ajouter le à votre liste d'application comme une véritable application.
Sur android, pas la moindre idée de la qualité pour le moment.
En attendant d'intégrer les voix dans l'application, j'utilise cette version gratuite pour l'instant.
Mais bon, pour profiter à fond de l'application, le mieux c'est sur votre téléphone plutôt que ordinateur, mais ça vas être mon prochain axe d'amélioration.
Pour terminer, et pour ceux qui vas rager, non l'application n'est pas terminé et je le présente quand même sur Reddit car ça me fait plaisir de partager mon travail gratuitement.
Non pas de création de compte, ni de paiement, c'est 100% gratuit.
Non je n'ai pas payé pour l'utilisation de l'IA aussi, j'ai un compte premium sans devoir débourser. (eh oh je ne suis pas riche).
Pour le reste, vos retours seront important pour l'amélioration de l'application, tant que vous savez vous montrer polie et que vous avez été éduqué pour parler calmement, alors je suis preneur.
I want to work on telling apart tones and similar sounds. Is there any website or method you can recommend? Or do you think should I just skip minimal pair training and it will come naturally with more listening? im at 370 study hrs
Been lurking here for a while and made an account to make a point - what’s with these clearly AI generated apps and websites for learning Thai? It feels like people’s are trying to make a quick buck without even knowing what they’re “teaching”
I don’t know if it’s this bad for other language learning communities however here it’s noticeable and I feel getting worse.
Has anyone else noticed this?
I finished reading แฮร์รี่พอตเตอร์กับศิลาอาถรรพ์!
For those of you who haven't tried it, reading Harry Potters in translation is a pretty effective language learning trick: they have a simple, direct, active style of writing, with lots of dialogue, the translations are usually fairly good, and the vocabulary gets gradually more complex as the books progress.
I've read HPs in English, French, Spanish, Finnish, Russian, and now Thai. I think Thai is somewhere in the middle in terms of difficulty:
Some things that helped a lot:
Finally, was this actually effective? I've definitely gotten a lot better at reading Thai Harry Potter, lol—at the beginning it probably took me an hour and a half to read a single page, now it's more like ten minutes. I'm definitely a lot better at reading the Thai script, though I'm still not at the point where I can seamlessly follow along with subtitles on Youtube videos, etc. I can't really remember now how long that took with Cyrillic, but I'm guessing I won't get that automatic comprehension with Thai until I've read at least a couple more books.
I’ve been trying to understand why Thai feels difficult for a lot of beginners compared to some other languages.
For me, it feels like:
Curious what other people found difficult or frustrating when they first started learning.
To all the non Thai people or people whose first language isn't Thai, how much time did it take for you to learn Thai? As someone who can grasp onto pronunciation really fast and memorize consonants and vowels quickly, how much time do you think approximately I would take to be able to at least hold a normal conversation in Thai.
สวัสดีครับ I've just started my Thai language learning journey, and I've got the script pretty much down pact, and I'm working on memorizing the tone rules for reading. I've noticed something about Thai, tho. Unlike Japanese, which has a plethora of sources (apps, websites, etc), Thai seems to be lacking...more specifically in the sense of structure based on level. I have found that Thai has the TPA T-Test which is similar to the JLPT in that there's separate levels such as T1 (beginner) but I'm having trouble on finding structured sources that teach by each level. Does anyone have any recommendations on where I should look? I'm the type of learner that needs structure, so that's why I was looking into the Thai equivalent of the JLPT so I have a sense of direction. All help is appreciated!
Hi everyone!
I'm starting my language journey in Thai, and I was wondering if you guys could share an interesting fact or fascinating thing you have found out about the Thai language during your time learning it. Any sayings, idioms etc. are also welcome.
I'm a bit of a language nerd and it would be fun to learn more about it from the learners' point of view! Thank you for sharing in advance 🌟
สวัสดีครับ
I want to ask the advanced speakers here and the natives and I want to share my theory about ก็... now this word has many meanings but I want to look at one meaning today. I will put now two sentences that have ก็
now I know ถ้า...ก็ are together but for me ก็ looks more like a comma to me. You can debate that its not a comma but the next sentence it surely looks like a comma
Second sentence: คนมีสมองใครอ่านก็ออก > (Anyone with a brain can read/understand it)
In this case, ก็ doesn't really have a "meaning" It’s a** structural bridg**e.
The Difference:
• In English/Western languages: We use a comma or a physical pause in our breath to show where one idea ends and the next begins.
• In Thai: Instead of just a silent pause, Thai uses a *small sound (ก็*) to act as a signpost.
It tells the listener: "Okay, that was the setup... here comes the result." It’s basically a verbal comma that keeps the rhythm of the sentence moving!
TL;DR: Don't always look for a translation for "kô." Sometimes it's just there to give the sentence its "shape" where English would use a pause.
It just crazy that no one came up with this when explaining ก็ in sentences. Maybe I am wrong but I just wanted to share this with people who struggle with ก็
Hey r/learnthai,
I’ve been teaching myself Thai over the past year and a bit and have reached what I’d say is a “B2” level of fluency whereby I can very comfortably have hours-long conversations with my Thai friends about any day to day topic or harder conceptual topic (barring the use of complex topic specific words) - My register and tone control is good enough to the point where I’ve had Thai people compliment on “He can fix his tone as he speaks” if I mispronounce.
However I feel like I’ve hit a plateau, my vocabulary knowledge now is at around 4000 words whereby any new words I learn now really don’t make a difference to what I can understand and consume, understandably as they’re less frequent words
But how can you get over the upper-intermediate plateau? Currently I’m watching more native content on instagram and youtube with Thai subtitles and saving words I don’t know fluently to a dictionary (even if I do *know* the word, I note if I still had to rewind and listen again). This kind of content is still hard for my ears to follow but any kind of graded content like Riam Thai’s advanced videos they are all too easy / I understand it all without subtitling.
I feel like way of studying is pretty tedious so I’m not sure if this is the best way to learn.
My aim is to improve my listening and speaking skill from here, any advice would be appreciated!
Hello friends. I just finished my first Thai grammar book. I don't pretend to have 101% command of absolutely everything yet, but I'm a bit lost because I'm looking for something that's the next level up in challenge. It seems like all the Thai resources are either "top 100 words" or absolute immersion. A bit confused as to where to go from here, and looking for some easy guidance. Would appreciate any help at all.
I'm at the very beginning of learning and trying to start with the alphabet, I try to hear to those letters again and again to understand the difference, but the moment they change word (like using a different word with the same letter) I can't understand the differences anymore. I know that part of it is just getting used to understand the differences by listening to things over and over, but what if I don't really hear the difference? Not hearing the difference ofc brings me to not being able to pronounce things correctly too
I'm a bit confused about the pitch contours of the different Thai tones, seems to be a bit conflicting information out there, specifically about the rising and falling tones.
So for the sake of this, imagine you have the numbers 1-5 to measure pitch. 1 is low tone/low pitch, and 5 is high tone/high pitch.
So to take an example, mid tone starts at 3 and ends at 3 for the entire length of the syllable (this is your normal speaking voice). (I've actually seen some sources say that mid tones actually goes a bit lower towards the end of the syllable? Down to like a 2.5 or 2.
Either way, so back to the rising tone. People say that the way to do the rising tone is kinda like saying "huh? ". Try to hum it. That is going to be a rising tone. For example, this is a rising tone word (plug this into google translate and listen) หาย.
Youtubers like BananaThai says that the pitch contour of a rising tone starts at 1 and ends at 5. She has a graph in this video for all the tones https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5POKltn6HqU
But if you go to 1 minute 20 seconds into this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BUE9i6N7q0 if you can't watch it, basically what is happening is that he's saying หมา (maa) with a rising tone, and doing a U-shape with his finger, kinda indicating the pitch contours I guess? Either way, this is more in line with how I hear rising tone. Like the way I hear and say "Huh?" doesn't start at 1 and goes to 5 like in the BananaThai video, it starts around mid tone, 3 or 2, goes a bit down, and then goes up to 5?
Likewise with the falling tone. So what is the correct way to do it? Also, I think during fast normal day speech, I wouldn't be surprised if it sounds like a rising tone word starts at 1 and goes to 5, but if you play it down, reduce the speed, or ask someone to speak slowly, I really hear it going down a bit first before rising. But I might be hearing completely wrong.
Hi! (Please excuse my English, I’m a French speaker so it’s not perfect).
Context: I live in Belgium and my native language is French. My husband was born in Belgium to Thai parents. He speaks Thai with them (as they don't speak French very well), but at home, we speak French.
I’m pregnant, and we want to teach Thai to our child since it’s the grandparents' language. However, I see a few challenges: first, my husband isn't perfectly bilingual. Since he has always lived in Belgium, his Thai is basic—mostly conversational. For example, he doesn't know 'baby vocabulary' like stroller or diaper. He also isn't used to speaking Thai at home; he only uses it with his family.
I'm looking for resources to help my husband teach Thai to the baby, such as picture books, talking toys (to learn colors, numbers, etc.), or audiobooks.
One more detail: My husband cannot read Thai, so he can't read a traditional Thai book to the baby. Do you have any ideas or suggestions?
I have been using a custom Gemini Gem to study Thai, and the results are excellent—especially the Thai voice! I wanted to share the link so you can try it too.
I’ve built this Gem to be a dedicated Thai Teacher. To make it accurate, I uploaded two high-quality sources: The classic 1964 Haas Dictionary (great for etymology and formal roots). A Modern Thai Dictionary for current daily usage.
How it works: Examples: For every word you paste, it provides 3 natural examples in Thai.
Testing: It will test your skills by asking you to translate 3 sentences from English to Thai. Voice: It works perfectly with Gemini’s voice mode if you want to practice listening.
Try it here: https://gemini.google.com/gem/18eCT32xoB7IEgUic9pDbDJJ2DvbWOJ1o
Note: If you are a beginner or busy, don't worry about translating everything—just chatting with it is a great way to explore the language!
This is one word I have been very confused about. I don’t even know what “english” word to use, much less the proper Thai word. As an individual from the US, we call it “gas” which is a dumb word to describe a liquid.
Translate points me to เบนซิน and แก๊สโซฮอล์ (gas so hall). I have heard people say gasohol and that seems common, but never เบนซิน. I am not sure if that is the right or common word that I should be using. Wonder if น้ำมัน is more common in general use for gasoline within the proper context? Or just referred to by the number?
-> Gas Station: When I drive up to a “gas” station in the car, I would say เก้า หนึ่ง เต็มถัง. This does feel right and common, but is it correct and the best thing to say? You don't even call it เก้าสิบเอ็ด right?
-> Bottles of Gas: I live in rural area and often fill my bike up with the glass bottles of gas from little stores... I have no idea what to call those at all. Usually just say นี้ สอง ขวด, I have no idea how to communicate that other wise, this is really hard when the bottles are far away from the person. What would be the correct way to communicate it?
-> Mechanic Shop: Took the car to shop once and they wanted to know what fuel it ran on, I don't recall the exact question... this lead to an intense confusion for a while until eventually it was understood using เก้า หนึ่ง. This feels like maybe เบนซิน could be the right word here since its more technical.
Ever since I watched Better Off Dead with the 2 Chinese guys who learned English by listening to Howard Cossell, I’ve wanted to pick an interesting Thai movie star to emulate as I learn Thai. Sort of like if I learned to speak english by watching Clint Eastwood or Al Pacino movies over and over again, until I’m ordering my burger with a distinctive raspy drawl or whatever.
So, are there any Thai film stars of the past, with a distinct speaking style, that everybody still knows and loves today? Bonus points if their movies are actually fun to watch!