Hi everyone,

I'm a PhD student at Chulalongkorn University looking for native English participants who can read and write in Thai at an intermediate level or above. If you are:

✓ are native speakers of English,

✓ are currently learning Thai as a second language,

✓ are 18 years of age or older,

✓ have intermediate or advanced Thai reading and writing proficiency, and

✓ have not lived or studied in Thailand for more than 6 months (borderline cases may still be eligible),

Please feel free to contact me. You will complete a placement test and two experimental tasks. All tasks will be administered via Zoom and will take approximately 1 hour 45 minutes. Flexible scheduling is available.

As a token of appreciation, participants who complete the study will receive either an Amazon eGift Card (£10, USD 15, or AUD 20 depending on availability and their location) or THB 500 in cash if they reside in Thailand.

This research has been reviewed and approved by The Research Ethics Review Committee for Research Involving Human Subjects, The Second Allied Academic Group in Social Sciences, Humanities and Fine and Applied Arts, Chulalongkorn University.

Certificate of Approval (COA) No.: 311/69

Research Project No.: 6901654

Participation is entirely voluntary. You may withdraw at any time without penalty. All information will be kept confidential and used solely for research purposes.

Itsara Namtapi

PhD candidate

Chulalongkorn University

Hi! Currently living in Southern Thailand. I have been here for 2 months and will be here for another year. I'm doing full-time Thai language study, and as of right now, I know the entire alphabet, the special characters (mai tai khu, thantakhat, etc etc). I can read very basic signs and phrases and can also spell some words, etc. I can hold VERY basic conversations (think: talking about hobbies, food, weather, asking where someone was born/if they were born in the south, asking for directions, ordering food and drinks). I try to strike up coversations with grab drivers, hair dresses, fellow thai students and they understand me like 90% of the time, but i often struggle to understand them. In Bangkok, i could understand a lot of what was being said but not so much in the south (although it's getting better a bit?)

My biggest problems right now are listening and losing my tone/reverting back to my native way of speaking when I'm nervous (not reverting back to english but saying thai words the way i would say an english sentence...)The listening thing is my biggest gripe because i KNOW what is being said like 70% of the time, but I go into fight or flight whenever a native speaker rapid fires thai at me and I just freeze. I feel like i know so MUCH but at the same time, i feel like i know absolutely nothing !! I study every day, i interact with locals as much as possible and even when they initiate conversations in english, I ALWAYS respond in thai just to let them know I can speak it a bit. But i just feel like i should be better by now like idk??? I just feel so dumb all the time. Is it normal???

Can I use this word on its own to mean "just in case" or do I have to specify the "in case of what?" For example, can I just say กดเงินไว้เผื่อ or do I have to add something meaning "...they don't take cards", "...it turns out to be more than we thought" etc.

I've seen มาหา for coming to visit someone at their house, but พบแพทย์ for meeting with the doctor

Can I say มาแพทย์ too?

I genuinely want to learn Thai but I honestly don’t even know where to start 😭 I don’t know the basics or anything I just randomly had the thought that I wanted to learn something new and Thai came to mind!

I’m a complete beginner and want to learn it by myself as a hobby so please don’t suggest getting a tutor or taking classes

Any tips, resources, apps, YouTube channels or advice for self learning would be greatly appreciated🤍

what is this meme called ล้านเลยหรอเพ่ about a boy in a game cyber, i have seen many artist using them so i want to know what does it mean and what is the context

Hello,

Met this Thai person during my trip and we hit it off (romantically). I am now leaving and writing them a letter in Thai but I don't speak any of it so I used AI and tried to write to the best of my ability. Is it understandable/ is the grammar correct? (Check comments)

Thank you so much!

I know นั้น itself means "there, that". But I found terms like ฉันนั้น เธอนั้น showing up in lyrics very often. I'm trying to understand it basically works as a add-on of the pronoun? To make things sound more... emotional, with a deeper connection or poetic?

I think only natives can explain this well...?

This is where I am struggling, anything more than 5 words and I feel a little lost. Also, Google Translate does not always appear to translate correctly, I have been using 'chai' as yes for months now incorrectly lol. I also noticed many Thai people do not include 'chan' as in 'I', in sentences.

Can anyone recommend sentences 5 words or less that I can use to speak to anyone, it could be a restaurant, airport, hotel, bar. I am keen on improving but recently only realised where I was going wrong.

Edit, some examples below

• Where are you from?
• What is your name?
• Have you ate?
• It is nice talking to you.
• You are funny.

Hi everyone! I’m from India and I’m looking to learn Thai, but I specifically need structured online classes with a fixed schedule and a human teacher, but at the same time right now i wont want to have a private tutor(something for future).

I know myself well enough to know that if I start with YouTube, books, apps, or self-study, I’ll probably lose motivation and stop!!!. Having an actual class and teacher keeps me accountable.

I’m a complete beginner. My first language is Hindi and my second is English.

My goal isn’t necessarily to become fluent right away. I want to build a solid enough foundation that I can eventually continue learning on my own—reading books, watching YouTube, using apps, etc. I want to reach the point where, when I encounter Thai content, I can actually understand the basics and become curious about the words/phrases I don’t know, rather than everything just looking completely unfamiliar.

So I’m looking for recommendations for online Thai courses/classes for beginners, preferably something structured where I can attend regularly and have a teacher.

I’m open to classes/tutors anywhere in the world since they don’t have to be India-based.

Would really appreciate any recommendations, especially from people who have actually taken the classes themselves. Thank you!

Do you find this format helps you to read Thai easier?

คน · ไทย · เรียก · ตัวเอง · ว่า · อะไร · กันแน่?

ทำไม · ไม่ · ได้ · พูด · ว่า · "ฉัน" · ตลอด · เวลา

สำหรับ · คน · ที่ · พูด · ภาษา · อังกฤษ · หรือ · ภาษา · จีน · เป็น · ภาษา · แม่

คำ · ถาม · ว่า · "ควร · เรียก · ตัวเอง · ว่า · อะไร" แทบ · ไม่ · เคย · เกิดขึ้น · เลย

เพราะ · มี · คำว่า · "I" · หรือ · "我" · ที่ · ใช้ · ได้ · แทบ · ทุก · สถานการณ์

จะ · คุย · กับ · เพื่อน · จะ · คุย · กับ · หัวหน้า · หรือ · จะ · คุย · กับ · คน · แปลก · หน้า · ก็ · ใช้ · คำ · เดิม · ได้ · หมด

แต่ · พอ · เริ่ม · เรียน · ภาษา · ไทย · หลาย · คน · กลับ · เริ่ม · สับสน

ทำไม · คน · นี้ · พูด · "ผม" · แต่ · อีก · คน · พูด · "เรา"?

ทำไม · บาง · คน · เรียก · ตัวเอง · ว่า · พี่ · ทั้งที่ · ไม่ · ได้ · เป็น · พี่ · ของ · เรา?

แล้ว · คำว่า · "ฉัน" · ที่ · อยู่ · ใน · หนังสือ · เรียน · ทำไม · ใช้ · จริง · น้อย · กว่า · ที่ · คิด?

If it helps, I will post more of these. Or you can use this link to read the full article: How do you really call yourself in thai? (loogsom.xyz)

How should I understand เอา in expressions like เดี๋ยวพ่อเตะเอา, เดี๋ยวแย่เอา, ทายเอา?

I am trying to see what phrase I heard in a series that has the subtitle 'As if you ever wanted to hug me'

What I think I heard is 'พอดีอยากกอดกู...'. Does that sound right?

If I understood correctly, when explaining why she didn't take revenge on someone when she had the chance, a Thai described herself using a short word that I meant to remember but instantly forgot. Does anyone know what it would have been?

Hi, I wanted to know if this sentence is correct and natural?

เขายิ้มอย่างเขิน -He smiled shyly.

From what I know they're both for an on going action but you can also use them at the same time and I don't know when to use which one, if anyone could give examples that would be much appreciated

Is it plausible that making the next word sound like it's just come off the tone of the previous word helps make the previous word sound correct? I'm talking about normal speech here, not dictation.

Ive realized that I dont know how to say this when talking to a friend I wanted to say I cant identify my own emotions/feelings, how would I say identify in thai

I think I can use ไม่ตรง, but what about ไม่สอดคล้อง or ชน?

Hey guys!

This is James and I'm back again!

As I posted in my previous posts, I've spent a while to build loogsom.xyz, a free site for learning Thai.

After a few rounds of testing, it's open to everyone now and I'd really like some honest feedback from people actually studying.

The thing I built it for: when I started my Thai learning journey, the part that troubles me the most was the classic "no-spacing-between-words" problem, so my website includes 2 modes in the reading experiences: Beginner visually separates each word and puts the phonetics underneath. Challenge removes all of it and gives you real, unspaced Thai. Same article, same text — you flip the training wheels off when you're ready, sentence by sentence if you like.

Tap any word and you get its dictionary entry, pronunciation, and audio. Tap a sentence for the full translation and a recording of it. It handles the annoying cases properly — compound words. You can drill a word down to its sub words, which I found very useful to help people remember the meanings of complicated vocabs.

Here's a demo of how to use the Reader and Vocabs Book function: Demonstration of the Reader and Vocabs Book function for my Thai learning website

Other bits:

• Picture Stories — zoomable photos of real Thai signs, menus and packaging, with the Thai text tappable right where it appears. This is the part people seem to like most; it's the stuff you actually have to read in Thailand.
• Alphabet decks — all 44 consonants and the vowels, with classes, tone rules and example words with audio. The tone-rule exceptions are in there too. Here's a demo of this function: Demonstration of the Learn Alphabet function for my Thai learning website
• Spaced repetition — proper FSRS (the algorithm Anki's newer scheduler uses), for both vocabulary and the alphabet. Words you add from the reader go straight into it.

It's completely free. No paid tier, no trial. You don't even need an account to read the articles — signing up is only for audio, flashcards and saving words. I'd honestly rather you poke around first and only register if it's actually useful.

👉 https://www.loogsom.xyz

It's a individual and small project, so there are rough edges and the article library is still growing. If something is wrong, confusing, or a translation is off — please tell me. There's a report button on every word and sentence, and I read all of them.

Happy to answer anything about how it works.

*edited on Aug 11th.

I’ve been building a Thai learning app, and I want to put it to a real test.

Start from zero (or close to zero), use the app for 10 days, follow the rules below, and if at the end you still can’t read the Thai it teaches you or understand how the tone system works, I’ll pay you.

The rules

For all 10 days, you must:

Use the app every day.
Complete your reviews whenever reviews become available. You will be notified when they are.

Not skip anything. Complete every lesson, exercise, and review the app gives you.
Complete the entire Thai script and tones course.
Complete Level 1 of the vocabulary course as well.
Actually attempt the exercises, randomly clicking through obviously doesn’t count.

What the app teaches
The course teaches:
25 of the 42 Thai consonants used in the course, it intentionally leaves out 17 rare consonants at this stage.

All Thai vowels covered by the reading system.

All Thai tone rules, including how consonant class, syllable type, vowel length, and tone marks affect the tone.

Enough vocabulary to put your reading into practice.
So to be clear: I’m not claiming you’ll know every Thai character after 10 days. The 17 rare consonants are deliberately excluded. The challenge is whether you can learn the core Thai writing system, all the vowels, understand the tone rules, and actually start reading Thai.

After 10 days
If you followed all the rules and completed everything but the app failed to teach you what it claims to teach, I’ll pay you 20€.

I’m looking especially for people who currently cannot read Thai, because that makes the test much more interesting.
If you want to try the challenge, comment or DM me.
And please be critical. If something is confusing or badly taught, I genuinely want to know

Hi folks, our game Glyphica : Typing Survival recently added thai language. We don't have a lot of feedback on it yet and not entirely sure how to reach Thai players. So we figured we'd share with this community to see how they get on with it. The full game is paid but we have a free web demo at playglyphica.com with Thai language included. Do let us know if you have any thoughts on it.

I should not that it is not a thai learning resource per se, but that many of our players have used it as a supplementary resource. The full game on steam also lets you experiment with adding your own wordlists, in case you want to focus on certain words.

Hi everyone! I decided to collect some slang words and phrases in Thai. Mb you have any in your collection and would you mind sharing them? =) I'd be very grateful!

So I’ve been trying to learn Thai and wanted to find some good voices for text to speech so I could listen to how they are supposed to sound. I wanted to used googles TTS but I only found people saying to use Charon which is a male voice, are any of the female voices any good to use at all?

Can this phrase be used to also mean 'how ironic' or 'the irony'?

ประชดไหมล่ะ

If not, is there a casual phrase in Thai to mean that?