Learn the Thai language with our video and audio lessons

In this lesson you will learn some Thai tongue twisters to train the use of the five tones. Each sentence has many words that sound very similar but have a different pronunciation. Try to repeat these sentences loud if you can or even better (and more fun) say them to a Thai person. We will now always post the transcript of a lesson together with the audio file (see the post below).

The next lesson will be about business Thai. So if you have any phrases in mind that are related to this topic (meetings, discussions…) and want them to be included in this lesson just email us!

We have been pretty busy working to get everything ready to launch our premium course and we are happy to say that next week we will definitely go live!

 

 Learn Thai Lesson: Tongue Twisters (Pronunciation Training) [6:16m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (Right Click & Save Target As)

The mp3 file for this lesson. Please click on the link below to get to the transcript of this lesson.

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 Learn Thai Lesson / Pronunciation Training: Tongue Twisters (Audio) [6:16m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (Right Click & Save Target As)

Mother’s day is on the 11th of May this year (in western countries). Thailand celebrates their mother’s day on August 12, the Queen’s birthday. I (Jay) will send my mother some presents and will also do the same to Jo’s mother. To explain her what this is all about we made this little mother’s day card in Thai.

The text reads:

Happy Mother’s Day
To Mom ……,
Today is mother’s day in my country. Wishing you a day that is just as special as you are. Thank you for caring so much about us, for being a part of our lives, and may you always know we love you.

Until the 11th of May you can send us up to 100 words of text that you want us to translate to Thai for your Thai partner’s mother. Just head over to our Thai translation form and fill it out (and skip the payment after you have submitted the form). We will send you the translated text and a PDF card like the one above that you can print and send to your partner’s mother.

This is just a short update and one of our first vodcasts (video podcasts). We still have our old iPods that don’t support videos so it would be awesome if you could test it on your iPod if you have one of the more recent ones and can watch the video on it. Please contact us and let us know what iPod (or other mobile device) you have and how if it worked. Any suggestions how we can improve the video are of course welcome as well.

 

 Learn Thai Lesson: Emergencies (Video): Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (Right Click & Save Target As)

If you learn Thai you should learn it like any other language and that means you should immerse yourself in it as much as possible. To do this it makes sense to use multiple sources of learning materials. Books that teach the Thai language are probably the first that come to your mind. Of course you have the drawback with books that you don’t hear the sound of the language or the book just comes with one or two CDs that cover a few passages of the book. Another problem of learn Thai books is that most of them use their own transliteration scheme which makes it harder for you to learn from different books as you first have to learn their transliteration scheme.

Nevertheless there are some books that are worth checking out. They will help you especially if you want to look up words or check on some Thai grammar rules.

1. Thai: An Essential Grammar (Routledge Grammars)
This is a great Thai grammar reference that has short explanations for almost all Thai grammar rules. It is (unlike many Learn Thai books) very well structured and it takes you just a minute to look something up. Highly recommended. Another benefit is that its pretty much available everywhere. No matter if you order from Amazon or pick it up and Kinokuniya at Siam Paragorn in Bangkok.

2. Lonely Planet: Thai Phrase Book
This Learn Thai book is a handy, cheap and small guide to common Thai grammar rules and full of phrases and a small vocabulary section. It is great if you just visit Thailand on vacation but also for serious learners of the Thai language. The grammar section is spot on and probably the most comprehensive you can find in any book. Because it is very compact and just a few pages it only lists essential rules.

3. Thai-English English-Thai Dictionary for Non-Thai Speakers
This dictionary is a compact and very beginner friendly dictionary that lets you search for english words and also for transliterations of Thai words. While you might want to take the Lonely Planet Thai Phrase Book on the road this dictionary has many common words and is also one of the few dictionaries that offer you to look up transliterations.

4. Colloquial Thai: A Complete Language Course
This book is a good work book to go through but the structure and index makes it hard to look things up.

5. Thai for Beginners
This is one of the most common and widely available Learn Thai books that will give you a good idea of what the Thai language is all about.

6. Thai for Intermediate Learners
The second book of the series with a bit more advanced phrases and some more information about grammar and the alphabet.

If you look for a workbook we recommend Colloquial Thai over Benjawan Poomsam Beckers books (No. 5 & 6) because it covers more details. If you just want to get an idea what learning Thai is all about have a look at Beckers books.

We hope you will never need these sentences but of course it makes a lot of sense to know them if you visit Thailand. But don’t worry, Thailand is not more dangerous than other countries. Just if something happens some basic phrases might make a huge difference.

We also created a PDF file for you to print with the transcript of this lesson and all important phone numbers you might need here in case of an emergency (for example phone numbers of the police, several hospitals, embassies and more).

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 Learn Thai Lesson: Emergencies [16:30m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (Right Click & Save Target As)

If you ever thought about learning Thai, this might be right for you. Listen to our Podcast below and help us by filling out this short survey.

*Update: We just completed all the technical work for the members area and are now producing content. If you want to get informed about the launch just subscribe to our newsletter.

 

 Premium Course [2:09m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (Right Click & Save Target As)

The biggest problem for us foreigners who learn Thai is that we are not used to phonetic languages. In many Asian languages a word that is spoken with a different pronunciation can have a different meaning. In this episode we focus on the five different tones that are used in the Thai language. As an example we use the word “mai”.

Here are the different meanings and uses of the word:

The word mai:

• is used to form other words if you say it with a middle tone
• means “new” if you say it with a low tone
• means “no” if you say it with a falling tone
• is used at the end of a sentence to make it a question if you say it with a high tone
• means “silk” if you say it with a rising tone

We also have a podcast lesson for this that I will post tomorrow together with some more updates regarding the site and premium content.

 

 Learn to speak the five tones in Thai: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (Right Click & Save Target As)

We are going to move this site to another server in the coming days so don’t be surprised if we are unavailable for 1-2 days. Please subscribe to our newsletter and we will let you know as soon as we are going to launch our premium course.

In this lesson we explain how the podcast is structured and you can learn basics of the Thai language. Words and phrases in Thai that you will probably use every day like “Hello”,”Thanks”, “Sorry”… If you go on a vacation to Thailand for the first time these phrases will be great.

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 Learn Thai Lesson 1: Introduction and Basic Words and Phrases [10:32m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (Right Click & Save Target As)

This lesson deals with dating related sentences. How you exchange numbers and ask your partner out or tell him/her some sweet things. Suprise your Thai sweety with some of these sentences. This lesson will be soon followed by another lesson that just deals with feelings.

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 Learn Thai Lesson 2: Dating and Sweet Things [15:10m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (Right Click & Save Target As)

One of the beautiful things in Thailand, besides the friendly people and the lovely beaches, is the yummy Thai food. In this lesson you will learn some helpful sentences that you can use when you eat out.

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 Learn Thai Lesson 3: Food and Drinks in Thailand [16:06m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (Right Click & Save Target As)

Counting in Thai is pretty straight forward and if you know how to count from 0-9 and a couple of special case for numbers like 11 or 20 its easy once you get the system. When I arrived in Thailand I really wondered what all this Haa-sib, hok-sib and whatever sib means. It really helps to know the numbers. In the next three days we will release a learn thai shopping episode that you can put your new knowledge in action.

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 Learn Thai Lesson 4: Counting and Numbers in Thai [10:38m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (Right Click & Save Target As)

Besides beautiful night markets and the huge busy weekend market in Bangkok, huge malls make Thailand a great destination for shopping. The variety of stuff that can be found is huge and in this episode you learn some expressions that will help you to bargain or get the product you desire in another size or color. Enjoy shopping in Thailand!

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 Learn Thai Lesson 5: Shopping in Thailand [12:13m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (Right Click & Save Target As)