With my annual trips to Thailand I've been struggling to learn a bit of Thai. I can say hello and goodbye, order a meal and get what I expected and do a few other things in Thai. However, Thai has 44 consonants and 32 vowels which makes it very difficult. Then, added to the difficulty, there are 5 tones which can change a word spelled the same way to five different meanings. If they used the same script we do it would be a bit easier to learn but they use a writing that has more in common with Sanskrit which I cannot read at all. A few years ago traveling in Malaysia I picked up some words because they used our alphabet.
So...Ill keep trying but have no hope that I'll ever become conversant. With my family at dinner, the only meal we all share, we have lively conversation with much laughter as they work on their English and me on my Thai. Poo and I sit with Thai/English and English/Thai dictionaries and point out words when all else fails. She did study English at the University but does not use it at work so she struggles with pronunciation and vocabulary. When I've communicated and idea to her, often with the aid of my dictionary, she then translates into Thai for her parents. Or, if one of them wants to say something to me and their English isn't adequate, she'll translate for me. We laugh a lot...at my pronunciation of Thai and at their attempts at English.
Wondering where I am? Bangkok for the weekend. (Saturday here.)
1 comment:
Wow! I had no idea that there were so many vowels and that it was a tonal language as well. Intensely hard. I applaud you for trying. Is there a Rosetta Stone for Thai? -Tracy
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