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Easy Thai: Learn to Speak Thai Quickly (Includes Downloadable Audio)
Easy Thai: Learn to Speak Thai Quickly (Includes Downloadable Audio)
Easy Thai: Learn to Speak Thai Quickly (Includes Downloadable Audio)
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Easy Thai: Learn to Speak Thai Quickly (Includes Downloadable Audio)

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Learn the basics of Thai quickly and easily!

Easy Thai is exciting and helpful for beginning Thai Language students and anyone who needs a functional day-to-day grasp of colloquial Thai. An excellent resource to learn Thai, its twelve chapters cover practical and useful conversation topics such as introductions, telling the time, directions, ordering food and shopping. Each chapter opens with a dialogue that introduces the new language in context and contains:
  • Vocabulary lists
  • Grammar notes
  • Sentence patterns
  • Exercises
  • Notes on culture and etiquette.
All dialogues, vocabulary lists, and sentence patterns are rendered in Thai script, romanized Thai, and English. In the comprehensive, concise introduction to Easy Thai, you will understand how to pronounce, read and write the Thai language. A bilingual dictionary at the end of the book gives translations for approximately 1,000 common words in both Thai and English. Downloadable audio provides sample conversations by native Thai speakers, helping you to practice authentic pronunciation.

Easy Thai contains everything you as a beginning language learner need to know about the basics of Thai, making you a more effective communicator from the very first lesson without having to resort to long, dull, expensive courses of study!
LanguageEnglish
Release dateFeb 24, 2015
ISBN9781462915262
Easy Thai: Learn to Speak Thai Quickly (Includes Downloadable Audio)

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    Book preview

    Easy Thai - Jintana Rattanakhemakorn

    EASY

    Thai

    EASY

    Thai

    Learn to Speak Thai Quickly

    Jintana Rattanakhemakorn

    TUTTLE Publishing

    Tokyo | Rutland, Vermont | Singapore

    The Tuttle Story: Books to Span the East and West

    Many people are surprised to learn that the world’s largest publisher of books on Asia had its humble beginnings in the tiny American state of Vermont. The company’s founder, Charles E. Tuttle, belonged to a New England family steeped in publishing.

    Immediately after WWII, Tuttle served in Tokyo under General Douglas MacArthur and was tasked with reviving the Japanese publishing industry. He later founded the Charles E. Tuttle Publishing Company, which thrives today as one of the world’s leading independent publishers.

    Though a westerner, Tuttle was hugely instrumental in bringing a knowledge of Japan and Asia to a world hungry for information about the East. By the time of his death in 1993, Tuttle had published over 6,000 books on Asian culture, history and art—a legacy honored by the Japanese emperor with the Order of the Sacred Treasure, the highest tribute Japan can bestow upon a non-Japanese.

    With a backlist of 1,500 titles, Tuttle Publishing is more active today than at any time in its past—inspired by Charles Tuttle’s core mission to publish fine books to span the East and West and provide a greater understanding of each.

    Published by Tuttle Publishing, an imprint of Periplus Editions (HK) Ltd.

    www.tuttlepublishing.com

    Copyright © 2015 Jintana Rattanakhemakorn

    All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior written permission from the publisher.

    Distributed by

    North America, Latin America & Europe

    Tuttle Publishing

    364 Innovation Drive, North Clarendon,

    VT 05759-9436, USA

    Tel: 1 (802) 773 8930; Fax: 1 (802) 773 6993

    info@tuttlepublishing.com

    www.tuttlepublishing.com

    Japan

    Tuttle Publishing

    Yaekari Building 3rd Floor, 5-4-12 Osaki

    Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 1410032, Japan

    Tel: (81) 3 5437 0171; Fax: (81) 3 5437 0755

    sales@tuttle.co.jp; www.tuttle.co.jp

    Asia Pacific

    Berkeley Books Pte Ltd

    61 Tai Seng Avenue #02-12,

    Singapore 534167

    Tel: (65) 6280 1330; Fax: (65) 6280 6290

    inquiries@periplus.com.sg

    www.periplus.com

    Indonesia

    PT Java Books Indonesia

    Jl. Rawa Gelam IV No. 9

    Kawasan Industri Pulogadung

    Jakarta 13930, Indonesia

    Tel: 62 (21) 4682 1088; Fax: 62 (21) 461 0206

    crm@periplus.co.id; www.periplus.com

    ISBN: 978-0-8048-4256-3

    ISBN: 978-1-4629-1526-2 (ebook)

    Library of Congress CIP data in progress.

    First edition

    18 17 16 15

    10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1      1411MP

    Printed in Singapore

    TUTTLE PUBLISHING® is a registered trademark of Tuttle Publishing, a division of Periplus Editions (HK) Ltd.

    Contents

    Introduction

    The Thai script

    Consonants, vowels, and tones

    LESSON 1: Greetings

    Greetings and introductions

    Asking someone’s name and nationality

    Talking about what you can and can’t do

    LESSON 2: Food

    Talking about food

    Ordering a meal in a restaurant

    Food, drink, and cooking vocabulary

    LESSON 3: Family

    Talking about family members

    Numbers

    Talking about occupations

    LESSON 4: What time is it?

    Telling the time

    Talking about daily routines

    LESSON 5: Yesterday and tomorrow

    Talking about past events

    Talking about future plans

    Leisure activities vocabulary

    LESSON 6: Shopping

    Shopping dialogues

    Everyday items, color, and size vocabulary

    LESSON 7: Directions

    Asking and giving directions

    Locations vocabulary

    LESSON 8: How are you today?

    Talking about feelings

    LESSON 9: Health

    Describing ailments

    Parts of the body

    Responding to advice

    LESSON 10: Describing people

    Describing appearances

    Describing personality

    LESSON 11: Communications

    Talking on the phone

    Using the Internet

    Talking to the bank teller

    Answer key

    Thai–English Glossary

    English–Thai Glossary

    How to Download the Bonus Material of this Book.

    1. You must have an internet connection.

    2. Click the link below or copy paste the URL to your web browser.

    http://www.tuttlepublishing.com/easy-thai-downloadable-cd-content

    For support email us at info@tuttlepublishing.com.

    Introduction

    The eleven lessons in Easy Thai contain everything the self-study learner needs for a quick, functional grasp of daily communicative Thai, without having to spend time attending language school or investing in expensive textbooks for formal study.

    Each chapter focuses on a practical situation the visitor to Thailand may experience, through the character of Jim, an American who is visiting Thailand to study. As you follow Jim’s adventures you’ll learn how to communicate in a variety of realistic scenarios— from introducing yourself to friends and colleagues and ordering food at a restaurant to asking for help with health problems and carrying out simple transactions at the bank.

    Key language for each new topic is introduced through a dialogue that presents new words and phrases in context. The dialogues are followed by a breakdown of key sentence patterns, simple grammar explanations, lists of related phrases and vocabulary, and practice exercises. An answer key for the practice exercises is provided at the back of the book. The accompanying audio contains recordings of all key dialogues, words, and phrases by native Thai speakers, so that you can practice correct pronunciation. A detailed pronunciation guide and information about the Thai script is also included on pages 8–11.

    Along with cultural notes in every chapter, and an appendix containing glossaries of useful vocabulary, this book has everything you need to not only survive in Thailand but to enjoy interacting with the Thai people you meet and develop rewarding relationships. Happy traveling!

    Jintana Rattanakhemakorn

    The Thai Script

    The Thai alphabet was created in 1283 by King Ramkhamhaeng and was probably derived from the Old Khmer alphabet. Thai has an alphabetic script with a few distinctive features – it has no spaces between words as well as no small and capital forms like the Roman alphabet. Each unit of the alphabetic script represents a sound.

    In this book, you are primarily learning conversational Thai, but Thai script is included so that you can start to become familiar with the language in its written form. In this introductory section you will find guidelines for the correct pronunciation of each Thai vowel and consonant. Throughout the book, each time a Thai word or phrase is used, romanized pronunciation is included, using the sounds below.

    The simplified set of instructions that follow will help the beginner in Thai, working alone, to achieve level of pronunciation sufficient for basic daily communication.

    Thai Consonants

    There are 44 consonant characters in Thai representing 20 consonant sounds. The following listing follows Thai alphabetical order. Of these 44 consonants, the two underlined are obsolete.

    ก ข ฃ ค ฅ ฆ ง จ ฉ ช ซ ฌ ญ ฎ ฏ ฐ ฑ ฒ ณ ด ต ถ ท ธ

    น บ ป ผ ฝ พ ฟ ภ ม ย ร ล ว ศ ษ ส ห ฬ อ ฮ

    Stop ending

    When these consonants appear at the end of a word, they are not voiced aloud.

    Vowels

    There are 18 single vowels in Thai, which appear singly or in combination. Thai vowels have two sounds: short and long.

    1. Short vowels

    There are nine short vowels and dipthongs:

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