Kruu Jaidee

A BEGINNER’S GUIDE

How to learn Thai: a beginner’s route

Learn Thai in this order: hear the five tones, learn polite survival Thai, pick up words from short conversations, speak out loud from the first week, and add the script once you have the sounds. Thai is tonal, has its own script and shares almost nothing with English, but it is very learnable in the right order; here is why each step comes where it does.

Start the first lesson free

THE ROUTE

  1. 1Sounds and tones
  2. 2Polite survival Thai
  3. 3Words in conversations
  4. 4Speak from week one
  5. 5Romanisation, then script
  6. 6How long it takes
  7. 7School, tutor or app?

Step 1: Start with the sounds and the five tones

In Thai the pitch of a syllable is part of the word. ไม่ Mâi, falling, is “no”; ไม้ Mái, high, is “wood”. Learn to hear the five tones apart before you worry about saying them: short listening rounds, often. Here are the five Thai tones, with audio. Speak Mandarin? See whether Thai is hard for Chinese speakers.

IN KRUU JAIDEE

The Tone Listening Test plays 50 words in real Thai voices and asks which tone you heard, without asking you to read Thai.

ONE SOUND, FIVE TONES

Midไมค์Maimicrophone
Lowใหม่Màinew
Fallingไม่Mâino, not
Highไม้Máiwood
RisingไหมMăi?question word

Step 2: Learn polite, survival Thai first

A handful of basic Thai phrases carries you a long way, and Thai rewards politeness. End most sentences with the polite particle, kráp or kà, and you can greet, agree, refuse and count. Learn each word with its tone from the start: สอง and สาม are both rising.

END MOST SENTENCES WITH

IF YOU ARE A MANครับkráp

IF YOU ARE A WOMANค่ะkà

YOUR FIRST SIX WORDS

สวัสดีsà-wàt-deehello; goodbye (polite)

ใช่châiyes, that's right

ไม่mâinot; no

ดีdeegood

สองsǒrngtwo

สามsǎamthree

Step 3: Learn words in conversations, not lists

A word sticks when you have heard it used. Learn short conversations and pick the words out of them, then review: the words you are about to forget should come back sooner. And learn both versions: the textbook to understand the structure, the everyday one to understand people.

IN KRUU JAIDEE

3,064 lines of conversation in the Thai people really use, and flashcard decks you build from the words you meet.

LESSON 1 · HELLO, AND THE POLITE WORD

Neighbour

สวัสดีค่ะSà-wàt-dee kàHello

You

สวัสดีครับSà-wàt-dee krápHello

Neighbour

ขอบคุณมากค่ะKòrp-kun mâak kàThank you very much

You

ไม่เป็นไรครับMâi-bpen-rai krápYou're welcome

Step 4: Speak out loud from the first week

Reading and tapping do not train your mouth. Say every new word out loud, repeat after a native voice, and hold short conversations as soon as you can. Check your tones when you speak, not only when you listen: it is common to hear a tone right and still say it flat.

IN KRUU JAIDEE

Kruu Jaidee, the AI teacher, holds a voice lesson on the page you are learning, and the Tone Trainer shows your tones as you speak. Rather write? Chat with her about a word or an exercise.

Kruu JaideeVoice lesson · Lesson 1, hello

Now you say it:สวัสดีครับSà-wàt-dee krápKeep the last word high.

Voice or chat, one switch at the bottom of every lesson

Step 5: Romanisation first, the script when you are ready

You do not need Thai script to start speaking: a romanisation (Thai in English letters) gets you speaking in days. Stay with one system, and learn the script once you have the sounds. A syllable’s tone follows from its consonant class, its vowel and its ending, and any tone mark, and menus, signs and messages are all in Thai.

IN KRUU JAIDEE

Every word shows the Thai, a romanisation you can switch off when you are ready, its meaning and a line for each syllable’s tone, in the looped letters textbooks print.

A WORD CARD

สวัสดีsà-wàt-deeHello; goodbye (polite)

Romanisation on: read it while your ear learns the sounds.

Step 6: How long does it take to learn Thai?

Longer than French or Spanish: the US Foreign Service Institute puts Thai among the languages that take an English speaker about 1,100 hours of classes to reach working proficiency. Basic, polite conversation comes much sooner. What matters most is steady practice: twenty minutes a day beats three hours on a Sunday.

FROM HELLO TO WORKING THAI

A few weeksGreetings, numbers, food, directions

About 1,100 hoursof classes to working proficiency

The US Foreign Service Institute’s figure for an English speaker.

Step 7: A school, a tutor or an app?

Each suits a different learner, and many people combine them: an app every day, and a class or tutor once or twice a week. If you choose an app, here is what a good app for Thai has to do.

A language schoolA structured course, a class and a timetable.Good if you live in Thailand and want the routine.

A private tutorReal conversation, and a person who knows you.At a cost per hour, at times you book.

An appPractise any time, as often as you like.Choose one that takes tones and speaking seriously.

On Kruu Jaidee: the course, topic by topic

Start with the first lesson, free

175 lessons, 1,137 words and the tone practice; the first 5 lessons are free. No card needed.

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