You just need to make sure it is lower than your low tone pitch and higher than your high tone pitch. However, adjusting from a mid-tone to a different tone in a sentence can be a challenge so don’t think you can get away with not learning it completely.Īs mentioned before, the mid-tone is very much just like your regular talking voice in English. As such, you probably won’t need to spend too long practicing the mid-tone. It mostly involves speaking normally, trying to avoid changing the pitch in the middle of the word. The mid-tone can be seen as a neutral tone. An example of a Thai word that uses the low tone is ไข่ ( khai), which means ‘egg’. For many people, this would generally be a lower pitch, and so can be seen as the low tone. Alternatively, it can also be pronounced with a very slight falling tone too, though again starting at a pitch lower than normal.Īn English equivalent would be the ‘uhhh’ sound we make when we are thinking. For this, it is simply a case of saying the word in a slightly lower pitch than you normally speak with. The low tone is the first one we will be looking at. There are a total of 5 tones in the Thai language, consisting of low, middle, high, falling, and rising. Essentially, tones impact the pitch of a word based on the type of tones it uses. The tones can be identified from the Thai script, thankfully and when transliterated into English, 4 tone marks are often included to differentiate them. Every word has an associated tone that you must learn in order to pronounce it correctly and be understood. Tones are important in Thai pronunciation as any change of the tone will change the meaning of the word, leading to unintended consequences. In case you didn’t know already, Thai is a tonal language. This word means vowel and doesn’t work as an acrophonic like the consonants. As a side note, when the vowels are written out, they are usually said with the word ‘sara’ ( สระ ) before the vowel itself. Vowel length plays a big part in their pronunciation and so you should take some time to recognize which group each vowel belongs to. They are generally split between long and short vowels, based on how long you say the vowel sound. There are a total of 32 Thai vowels, but only 28 are frequently used. Vowels in Thai are a bit different from English. This would be like saying ‘F as in Fire’ in English. This system is known as acrophonic, where the words start with the corresponding consonant sound. To help with the pronunciation of Thai consonants, there is already a commonly used system in place. While the majority of these sounds should be familiar to English speakers, there are some sounds that are less so. There are 2 that are only used for writing archaic languages and words. Yes, that is a lot but it is worth noting that not all of them are in use today. In the Thai language, there are a total of 44 consonants. If you push to get it right from the beginning, you will face fewer problems later on, which can save you a lot of time on your journey to learn Thai. In all seriousness, focusing on your pronunciation of Thai will help both you and the person you are speaking to. Some can lead to pretty awkward situations as well or just be inconvenient. The use of tones can change the meaning of a word, even when they are spelt the same or otherwise pronounced similarly. Then there are the tones to contend with. If you practice this skill more, then you will get better and maybe you will only have to repeat yourself twice rather than three or four times. It can feel quite embarrassing to have to repeat yourself multiple times in order to be understood, but that is also all part of the process of learning Thai pronunciation. However, these people are few and far between, especially outside of the tourist areas. Sure, there are many people who are used to talking with foreign speakers and so have a better ability to understand those who do not use the correct pronunciation. The importance of pronunciation is obvious: if you are not speaking clearly, then you will likely not be understood. While this may appear daunting at first, all in all, Thai pronunciation is not particularly difficult to master once you pass the initial learning phase. The Thai script is unique however, so it can take some time to learn to properly read and write in the language. The spelling of Thai words is the ultimate key to revealing how to say each word and which tone to use. In addition, there are the tones that must also be learnt. This includes a number of diacritics, the concept of initials and finals, as well as the infamous unaspirated consonant sound that is unheard of in the English language. There are the Thai consonants and vowels, of which there are over 50 characters to learn. There are many different elements that come together to form the pronunciation of Thai.
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