Thailand annually attracts more and more Russians who go there not only as tourists, but also for permanent residence. And many migrants are wondering how to learn Thai.
Why learn a language?
Before you ask yourself how to learn Thai, you need to decide why. Correct goal setting will allow you to quickly learn speaking and prevent discomfort from the language barrier. It could be:
- journey;
- business;
- migration.
How to learn a language?
If the goal is clear, then you need to start studying the lexical minimum. This concept was introduced by the Swedish polyglot Erich Gunnemark, who believed that in learning any language you need to master:
- lexical minimum (about 400 words);
- Phrase minimum
- grammatical minimum.
The same can be said about Thai - words and the phrase minimum must be learned thoroughly in order to answer without hesitation and hesitation. Practice shows that from 10 to 50 words can be learned per day.
Thai language features
Thai language has the following features:
- words are written together, only sentences are separated by spaces;
- there is no inflection, that is, there is no decline, conjugation;
- the function and meaning of the word determines its place in the sentence;
- the meaning of the word also directly depends on the tonality of the voice - a word spoken in a descending or ascending tone will have different meanings (in Thai there are 5 keys in all - descending, ascending, low, high and neutral);
- most of the words are borrowings from Sanskrit, Pali, Old Khmer, Chinese and English;
- the vocabulary is very rich - depending on the context and style of speech, concepts can be expressed in different words.
Based on the features, it is possible, of course, to learn Thai quickly and independently in a Russian-speaking language, but the process will have a number of difficulties. To avoid them, you first need to try to listen to Thai speech, communicate with native speakers and practice a lot. The Thai Language for Beginners course includes mastering the alphabet, using tones correctly and learning the lexical minimum.
Alphabet and Grammar
The Thai language alphabet is a mixture of 3 languages alphabets - Thai, Pali and Sanskrit. Total: 76 letters, some of which have the same pronunciation.
Grammar is the framework of any language, as it allows its speakers and foreigners to understand each other. But unlike Russian, there are no inflections in Thai , and the main thing here is the correct tone setting.
Thai language: verbs
The list is based on the most commonly used words in the English language.
List of required words: adjectives
| Thai pronunciation | Russian translation |
- Yay
- Lek
- He u
- Keng ren
- Newey
- Tong leo
- Naa
- Sunton
- Riap
- Vaan
- Bao
- Nak
- Kao
- Dec
- Soht
- Soong
- Dtam
- Yaaao
- San
- Yen
- Un
- Ron
- Gwaang
- Khep
| - Big
- Little
- Weak
- Strong
- Tired
- Hungry
- Following
- Beautiful
- Flat
- Sweet
- Easy
- Heavy
- Old
- Young
- New
- Tall
- Low
- A long
- Short
- Cold
- Warm
- Hot
- Wide
- Narrow
|
The necessary minimum words for the tourist
Thai language for tourists includes the words necessary for traveling around the country. When talking, you need to add at the end of the sentence: khrap (men) and kha (women). These words - an analogue of the Russian ending -te in the verbs, take, dine , etc.
- Savatdi / Lacon - Hello / Goodbye.
- Cop Kun - Thanks.
- Sabai di May - How are you?
- Whose arai - What is your name?
- Whose phom - My name is.
- Khotkot - Sorry.
- Di ty thi dai phop khun - Glad to meet you.
- Mi Khrai Phut Pahasa Angkrit (ratsia) - Does anyone speak English (Russian)?
- Is it thao paradise? - How much is?
- May Pyeong / Pheng maak - Inexpensive / Expensive.
- No Aray - What is it?
- Tai rup give me may? - Can I take a photo?
- Yu thi nai? - Where is?
- Tea / May Tea - Yes / No.
- Naam plo - Water.
- Ka fe - Coffee.
- Chha - Tea.
- Roon is Hot.
- Ian - Cold.
- Aroy maak - Very tasty.
- May Phet - Not spicy.
- I hit the check - Please, account.
If during the pronunciation you doubt the correctness of intonation, then you can use the translator with audio pronunciation, which can be downloaded in advance to your phone or tablet.
Thai Learning Resources
When learning a language, you don’t need to ignore the achievements of modern technology. These include everything related to the Internet:
Assistants in learning Thai are both sites devoted to grammar and vocabulary, and sites with music and films.
Youtube channels - a search query provides hundreds of answers for those who wish to learn Thai through user channels. But there are only a few leaders. Among them is the little girl Eve, who will teach the alphabet. On the next channel, you can go from letters to conversation and dialogs. On the Siam Sunrise school teacher’s channel, you can learn to read Thai in just 6 hours — these are 18 lessons of 20 minutes. The teacher Anatoly Borets promises to teach speaking without accent with the correct setting of tones.
Public and social media groups are another good way to learn Thai. The advantage of publics is that here you can share knowledge or, conversely, learn new things from other people studying the language. One of the popular publics in VK is called "Thai Language", which offers Thai materials, films, links and music in the original.
Applications on the phone and tablet. Learning a language is hard to imagine without digital materials such as audio, video, and vocabulary. Therefore, the developers do not sleep and create programs that facilitate the study of Thai. IPhone owners can download the L-Lingo application, which allows you to learn a language through pictures and audio with pronunciation from native speakers. You can verify success through tests. For owners of phones based on the Android OS, the Thai with Nemo application is suitable - 100 phrases, a dictionary, a phrasebook and a recording studio for working out the pronunciation will allow you to learn Thai without any problems.
There are many ways to learn a language. The main thing is to choose what is convenient for you and, having developed a plan, follow it daily.