Learn Thai

PRONUNCIATION GUIDE

VOWELS

a (–ะ) Sounds like ‘father’ (short sound)

aa (-า) Same as ‘a’ only drawn out longer

eu (อื or อึ) Denotes a sound that’s not used in English. Somewhat like an “ugh!” but with an ‘e’ sound thrown in

euh (เ-อ) Similar to the ‘eur’ in the Frenchman’s ‘chauffeur,’ or the ‘ur’ in ‘burn.’

eua (เอือ) ‘eu’ with an ‘aa’ sound added to it.

e (เ-ะ) Sounds like ‘set,’ ‘men,’ ‘left’ (short sound)

ay (เ-) A hard ‘a’ like ‘apex,’ or ‘pay’ (long sound)

i (อิ) Similar to ‘dip’ or ‘sip’ (short sound)

ee (อี) As in ‘seem,’ ‘peel,’ ‘seek’ (long sound)

o (โ-) Sounds like ‘open’

aw or au (-อ) As in ‘saw’

ai (ไ- or -าย) Like ‘pie,’ ‘fly’

ae (แ-) As in ‘bat,’ ‘fan,’ ‘tab’

oo (อู / อุ) As in ‘room’ or ‘spoon’

ew (อิว) Sounds like ‘pew,’ ‘few’

ao (เ-า) As in ‘how,’ ‘cow’

SYLLABLES

dt (ต) Represents a Thai syllable that’s sound is between the English ‘d’ and ‘t’—make a ‘d’ sound with your tongue behind your upper front teeth

g (ก) A hard 'g' as in ‘gas,’ ‘game,’ ‘gut’

ng (ง) As in sing, but often used at the beginning of words, unlike in English. This is a favorite of Ken’s. As any Thai schoolkid can tell you, the letter's name is 'ngaw ngoo.' Ngoo means 'snake,' as evidenced in its snake-like shape: ง

pb (ป) Represents a Thai syllable that’s sound is between the English ‘p,’ and ‘b’—it is an aspirated ‘b’

The Thai words listed in the following section are generally understood by Thai people – as differentiated from the many Thai people in the tourist industry who interact with foreigners. To compile a list of words that tourist industry workers—or those that regularly interact with English-speakers—would understand would be a giant patchwork endeavor, as some of those folks are nearly fluent in English.

Syllable emphases often change when an English word is adapted into Thai. In this first edition, we've chosen to forgo adding punctuation notation (that which designates emphasized syllables), partly because all the added symbols tend to complicate the text. Optimumly, the reader can get together with a Thai person to hear best how their words are pronounced.