I listen to beginner Thai videos on CZcams by changing the speed to 0.75. Not only is the Thai more understandable but I can follow the accompanying Thai script. At the market the vendors often speak non-standard Thai. When I asked for the price of something and I expected to hear "yi sip baht" but heard "sao baht" I was quite confused. I thought that I could order food at a "hole-n the wall" restaurant near our house by pointing at the picture on the wall of a dish, but the picture was decoration not what they served.
The tip about slowing down the CZcams videos was really good! I never thought about that at all! Thank you very much for letting us know! I haven’t not tried to buy anything at a Thai market yet. Let me know if you got any recommendations for market speech too.
In thailand there are many dialect languages. For "sao baht", it is a dialect language in northeasthern region (or Esan) of Thailand. I know that you may be confused by those dialect languages, but (in my opinion) if you knew that word, it would be better if you memorize or note those words whenever you heard from somewhere. It may be an efficient way to reduce your confusing.
As plasticlove9931 already explained : that is Esan language. As you learn Thai, it will be inevitable to learn some basic Esan vocabulary when you progress. It is all around you in daily life in Thailand. That will happen naturally bit by bit, it's not some special advanced lesson. No need for in-depth knowledge, just a limited number of the most common words. When talking at markets etc.. as a beginner : Imagine someone who just started to learn English tries to talk to an Irish, Glaswegian, Scouser,... at a market in London. Or to an Indian, Chinese,.. immigrant at that London market.... Even within your own language it may be extremely difficult to understand natural speech from a very different dialect. Some of the Thais you speak to at the market are not even Thai. Their Thai can be kind of butchered and then you as a beginner try to communicate with your own butchered Thai. There are many Burmese/Karen/Cambodian etc.. immigrants working and selling at markets. I can many times (definitely not always of course) pick them out because of their pronounciation or sometimes their looks. Their Thai will range from very decent all the way to barely understandable for real Thai - let alone for foreigners who just started to learn Thai. Not to discourage you : just to put it in perspective when communication fails, that it was never going to be easy and shouldn't lose motivation.
I tend to get annoyed by slowed down content because it sounds weird but perhaps at 0.75 speed its not too bad. Definitely something I need to work on as most native content in CZcams and movies is still too fast for me to catch.
For searching for native running speech on youtube : Search for that word in the script of that language to get videos related to that topic. For instance hot in Thai search for ร้อน (can copy paste if don't know how to write yet) and you can then pick a video which suits you, and then that word be used a lot. In the example of ร้อน you then have a different pronounciation (of the R soundl) depending if a professional presenter or an average person is saying it. In Khmer would then copy paste ក្តៅ and will get a video on the health benefits of drinking warm water etc... What I ALWAYS do right from the start is install the language keyboard on my tablet. It helps to learn the script, and you have to get familiar with typing in that language's script anyway. Useful to look up words in a dictionary also by typing it out.
@@Thailearninglifestyle I learnt some Khmer before, but at a very very basic level. Both some Cambodian Khmer and Surin Khmer. (Same same but different 😆 ) I start to learn a language whenever I some connection occurs. Even if just going on holiday for a week. For example when I planned a week to Korea, I quickly installed Korean keyboard and learned the script as much as possible (in case of Korean relatively easy) and basic words as soon as I booked my flight. Typically afterwards will start to forget most of it because don't use it until maybe I go again or some connection occurs. In the old days before mobiles and internet, I bought a dictionary as soon as possible when I arrived at a new country and all the time looked up all kinds of signs, menu items, etc.. Like Surin Khmer when I befriend someone from Surin, or when I went back to Cambodia started refreshing / relearning the basics. The past year I got to know some Cambodians in Bangkok so I started to learn Khmer again at a very slow relaxed pace. Problem is that it is a zero sum game. Whatever time I allocate to another language, I have to take away from something else , mostly at the cost of improving my Thai. Though at some point I think it is very useful to learn some basics of other languages spoken in Thailand. First of all to make a connection when you talk to Thai of different regions or immigrants in Thailand. I have and had friends of different ethnicities but communicate in Thai, and then some basic knowledge of their mother tongue makes a huge difference. Sometimes just throwing in a few words, a short sentence of their language in between the Thai language conversation. Or you can make a silly joke which relies on knowing a bit of their specific language. Especially regarding Esarn language : every Thai learner will at some point have to learn the most common words of Esarn (in reality this happens by itself), otherwise you can't consider it medium/advanced level Thai. Learning some basic Cambodian will also give some insight on how Thai vocabulary was influenced. Also interesting to see the commonalities of Cambodian - Lao - Burmese and Thai writing.
I can tell that you've already had a few people tell you that you should learn the Thai script right now at the beginning. I think it can be very valuable to learn at the beginning but your plan of getting the sounds and some other basics down first before coming back to the script does make some sense. When you do finally come to learn the Thai script it will be interesting to hear your reflections on whether you think this was the right approach or not. Most of the foreigners who speak Thai to a high level recommend learning the Thai script but I haven't heard them say that you absolutely need to learn it right at the beginning. The main reason for learning it earlier rather than later is that so you don't get confused by inconsistent transcription/phonetic scripts which hurt your ability to remember how to pronounce words. It sounds like you have a plan to deal with that by using the phonetic script from your textbook and sticking to that so I think that deals with that problem.
Yes! A lot of people have commented that I should learn the Thai script first. Now, I am starting to learn the script but I have already spent hours and hours of listening to Thai at first. The comprehensible input channels from Thailand that use the same approach as Dreaming Spanish discourage students from learning the script first as well. Their idea is that learning the alphabet without really knowing the sounds would just reinforce a bad accent. Language learning is complicated but if someone really is consistent and finish a decent program… they will get better at the language. I plan on documenting the journey and reflect. So we shall see!
I listen to beginner Thai videos on CZcams by changing the speed to 0.75. Not only is the Thai more understandable but I can follow the accompanying Thai script. At the market the vendors often speak non-standard Thai. When I asked for the price of something and I expected to hear "yi sip baht" but heard "sao baht" I was quite confused. I thought that I could order food at a "hole-n the wall" restaurant near our house by pointing at the picture on the wall of a dish, but the picture was decoration not what they served.
The tip about slowing down the CZcams videos was really good! I never thought about that at all! Thank you very much for letting us know!
I haven’t not tried to buy anything at a Thai market yet. Let me know if you got any recommendations for market speech too.
In thailand there are many dialect languages. For "sao baht", it is a dialect language in northeasthern region (or Esan) of Thailand. I know that you may be confused by those dialect languages, but (in my opinion) if you knew that word, it would be better if you memorize or note those words whenever you heard from somewhere. It may be an efficient way to reduce your confusing.
As plasticlove9931 already explained : that is Esan language.
As you learn Thai, it will be inevitable to learn some basic Esan vocabulary when you progress. It is all around you in daily life in Thailand. That will happen naturally bit by bit, it's not some special advanced lesson.
No need for in-depth knowledge, just a limited number of the most common words.
When talking at markets etc.. as a beginner :
Imagine someone who just started to learn English tries to talk to an Irish, Glaswegian, Scouser,... at a market in London. Or to an Indian, Chinese,.. immigrant at that London market....
Even within your own language it may be extremely difficult to understand natural speech from a very different dialect.
Some of the Thais you speak to at the market are not even Thai. Their Thai can be kind of butchered and then you as a beginner try to communicate with your own butchered Thai.
There are many Burmese/Karen/Cambodian etc.. immigrants working and selling at markets. I can many times (definitely not always of course) pick them out because of their pronounciation or sometimes their looks. Their Thai will range from very decent all the way to barely understandable for real Thai - let alone for foreigners who just started to learn Thai.
Not to discourage you : just to put it in perspective when communication fails, that it was never going to be easy and shouldn't lose motivation.
I tend to get annoyed by slowed down content because it sounds weird but perhaps at 0.75 speed its not too bad. Definitely something I need to work on as most native content in CZcams and movies is still too fast for me to catch.
For searching for native running speech on youtube :
Search for that word in the script of that language to get videos related to that topic.
For instance hot in Thai search for ร้อน (can copy paste if don't know how to write yet)
and you can then pick a video which suits you, and then that word be used a lot.
In the example of ร้อน you then have a different pronounciation (of the R soundl) depending if a professional presenter or an average person is saying it.
In Khmer would then copy paste ក្តៅ and will get a video on the health benefits of drinking warm water etc...
What I ALWAYS do right from the start is install the language keyboard on my tablet.
It helps to learn the script, and you have to get familiar with typing in that language's script anyway. Useful to look up words in a dictionary also by typing it out.
The language keyboard tip is good and searching on CZcams in the actual language as well! Thanks for sharing! You have learnt Khmer as well?
@@Thailearninglifestyle I learnt some Khmer before, but at a very very basic level.
Both some Cambodian Khmer and Surin Khmer. (Same same but different 😆 )
I start to learn a language whenever I some connection occurs. Even if just going on holiday for a week. For example when I planned a week to Korea, I quickly installed Korean keyboard and learned the script as much as possible (in case of Korean relatively easy) and basic words as soon as I booked my flight. Typically afterwards will start to forget most of it because don't use it until maybe I go again or some connection occurs.
In the old days before mobiles and internet, I bought a dictionary as soon as possible when I arrived at a new country and all the time looked up all kinds of signs, menu items, etc..
Like Surin Khmer when I befriend someone from Surin, or when I went back to Cambodia started refreshing / relearning the basics.
The past year I got to know some Cambodians in Bangkok so I started to learn Khmer again at a very slow relaxed pace.
Problem is that it is a zero sum game. Whatever time I allocate to another language, I have to take away from something else , mostly at the cost of improving my Thai.
Though at some point I think it is very useful to learn some basics of other languages spoken in Thailand.
First of all to make a connection when you talk to Thai of different regions or immigrants in Thailand. I have and had friends of different ethnicities but communicate in Thai, and then some basic knowledge of their mother tongue makes a huge difference. Sometimes just throwing in a few words, a short sentence of their language in between the Thai language conversation. Or you can make a silly joke which relies on knowing a bit of their specific language.
Especially regarding Esarn language : every Thai learner will at some point have to learn the most common words of Esarn (in reality this happens by itself), otherwise you can't consider it medium/advanced level Thai.
Learning some basic Cambodian will also give some insight on how Thai vocabulary was influenced.
Also interesting to see the commonalities of Cambodian - Lao - Burmese and Thai writing.
I can tell that you've already had a few people tell you that you should learn the Thai script right now at the beginning. I think it can be very valuable to learn at the beginning but your plan of getting the sounds and some other basics down first before coming back to the script does make some sense. When you do finally come to learn the Thai script it will be interesting to hear your reflections on whether you think this was the right approach or not.
Most of the foreigners who speak Thai to a high level recommend learning the Thai script but I haven't heard them say that you absolutely need to learn it right at the beginning. The main reason for learning it earlier rather than later is that so you don't get confused by inconsistent transcription/phonetic scripts which hurt your ability to remember how to pronounce words. It sounds like you have a plan to deal with that by using the phonetic script from your textbook and sticking to that so I think that deals with that problem.
Yes! A lot of people have commented that I should learn the Thai script first. Now, I am starting to learn the script but I have already spent hours and hours of listening to Thai at first.
The comprehensible input channels from Thailand that use the same approach as Dreaming Spanish discourage students from learning the script first as well. Their idea is that learning the alphabet without really knowing the sounds would just reinforce a bad accent.
Language learning is complicated but if someone really is consistent and finish a decent program… they will get better at the language. I plan on documenting the journey and reflect. So we shall see!