Basic Thai language, and how to take it to the next level

If you’re moving to Thailand, or just visiting for a holiday, do you need to be able to speak any Thai to get by? We would say no - Thais are very patient and most tourist destinations are set up as just that - tourist destinations. That means your food menus will have English, the locals will speak somewhere between bad and a medium level of English, and you may even be served a knife and fork in restaurants (as opposed to a fork, a spoon, and some chopsticks - you’ll see what we mean when you arrive).

We have friends who’ve been in the country full time for 10-20 years and they still can’t speak more than a few words, they get by just fine, but…

If you plan to make Thailand your home, learning Thai will unlock experiences you won’t be able to find without it. As a long term resident you’ll be able to fit in with locals more easily, you’ll impress when you can read menus without English, you’ll have a much easier time connecting with romantic partners and friends, and besides, it’s just cool to be able to interact with another culture in their own language. Using both a mix of English and Thai will take you a long way.

Basics

The Thai language is spoken by approximately 70 million people.

Tonal language - Thai is a tonal language, which means that the pitch or tone used when pronouncing a word can totally change the meaning of the word. There are 5 tones in Thai: mid, low, falling, high, and rising. Sometimes a difference in tone can be very subtle to the untrained ears - this is one of the reasons Thai is so difficult to master.

Script & writing - There are 44 consonants and 15 vowels, though you can combine vowels with consonants to create more vowels (28 in total). Thai script can be particularly difficult to read as there are no spaces between words, spaces within the script indicate a pause or end of a sentence.

Dialects - The main Thai dialects are broken down into Central, Northern, Issan, Eastern, and Southern. The primary dialect is Central Thai. Dialects can vary so much that if you speak one, you may find it difficult or impossible to understand another. Central Thai is understood by everybody.

No plurals, tenses, or gender - Words don’t change their form based on how many of something you’re talking about, whether it’s masculine or feminine, or when something happens. In English we say “cat” for one cat and “cats” for more than one, but in Thai the word for cat stays the same whether you have one or ten. Instead, Thai uses other words in the sentence to give you clues about things like time and quantity. For example in English we may say “eating”, “ate” or “eat”, but in Thai the word for eat is “gin” and if you’ve eaten already it becomes “gin laew” - literally translated to “eat already”.

Highly contextual - Thai language is highly contextual, which simplifies learning the language in some ways, but can make it difficult at the beginning. Intricacies of body language and particles and tones used within sentences change the meaning of what’s being said quite a lot.

Politeness particles - As you learn Thai you’ll notice sounds and words said over and over again. These are specific particles added to words and sentences (varies by gender) which add a layer of politeness, softness or possibly “cuteness” to whatever is being said. The two main particles are ครับ (khrap) for men and ค่ะ (kha) for females. Understanding the levels of politeness when interacting in Thai is interestingly important and difficult to learn. It takes time listening in real conversations and social settings to begin to understand when it’s appropriate to speak politely and when it would just sound weird amongst friends.

Social hierarchy - Social hierarchy plays a big role in all interactions in Thailand, including which family you come from, your wealth, career, relationship, and maybe most importantly - age. As above, politeness particles must certainly be used, but that’s not quite enough. Your manner of speaking, body language and greeting should also follow - for example, beginning the conversation with a ไหว้ (wai).

Saving face - When the majority of Thais communicate, there’s an active effort to avoid confrontation. Related to the highly contextualized way of communicating, there’s often some ambiguity - so rather than saying a hard “no” directly, a Thai person may speak in a way that will lead you to a no, but without giving you direct rejection.

Schools, private tutors or self taught?

Schools aren’t the best way to learn Thai. With other students in the classroom who also need attention, who may be at a higher or lower level than you, and who aren’t the greatest speakers to listen to, you’ll progress more slowly than if you have a private tutor. The benefit of going to a school is obtaining an Education visa, and making friends.

The correct private tutor will be able to assess your current level and tailor lessons to fit your learning style, but also once you’re past the basics, they’ll be able to teach you subjects that you’re actually interested in to keep you engaged. Private tutors are also affordable, between 300 and 800 THB per hour.

While private tutors are better than going to a school, nothing seems quite as good as some form of immersion - putting yourself in a situation where Thai is your only option, switching back to English won’t help and you need to listen. I noticed that after I left Bangkok and moved to Chiang Mai, my level of Thai stopped improving, even with a private tutor. I no longer needed it.

If you want to learn quickly - total immersion in day to day life, plus a private tutor to help with grammar and your questions. It might be inconvenient to have total immersion every day - so try to plan trips to remote regions of the country, or date a partner who doesn’t speak your own language.