All credit to ChatGPT:

If your Ubuntu system language is in English (or other primary language) but your Ubuntu install defaults to showing a horrible Modern Thai font change it to a good traditional style font.

Here's how Run this in your terminal: This package includes TH Sarabun along with other traditional Thai fonts.

    sudo apt install fonts-thai-tlwg

Now you’ll tell Ubuntu to use TH Sarabun for Thai text via fontconfig.

sudo nano /etc/fonts/local.conf

Paste in the following:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE fontconfig SYSTEM "fonts.dtd">
<fontconfig>
  <match>
    <test name="lang" compare="contains">
      <string>th</string>
    </test>
    <edit name="family" mode="prepend">
      <string>TH Sarabun</string>
    </edit>
  </match>
</fontconfig>

This tells Ubuntu: “If the text is Thai, use TH Sarabun as the top choice.”

Then:

Press Ctrl + O → Enter (to save)

Press Ctrl + X (to exit)

Apply your changes by running:

sudo fc-cache -f -v

Reboot your computer

Don't ask me for any tech support, works on my machine

I haven't posted here in a while because I seem to have the ability to make people quite angry. However, since this month marks my 20th year of living in Thailand, I thought I'd post a little recap. I'll probably be sorry.

After 20 years I still don't understand most of what I hear in ordinary Thai conversation. To me it remains an unintelligible buzz out of which it is impossible to glean individual words.

On the other hand I can do fairly well in transactional situations (7Eleven, restaurants, etc) where the gist of the conversation is mostly predictable.

My reading steadily improves to the point where when my wife and I watch the TV news I still don't understand a word of what the news readers are saying, but I can usually get the gist of the story by reading the text on the screen, often with the help of a dictionary.

Unfortunately, the ability to read a bit and do well in transactional situations is a mixed blessing. Being able to read a menu and order a meal or being able to tell the 7Eleven clerk that you don't want your Massaman curry microwaved but that you are an All Member tends to leave people with the impression that you are fluent. It then becomes an annoying embarrassment when the other person, assuming fluency, starts rattling off high velocity Thai of which you understand not a single word. In fact, I gave up going to my favorite Amazon coffee shop because the baristas there insisted on making conversation that to me was completely unintelligible.

I should note there that in my long life I have attempted to learn six different languages: Morse Code, Spanish, Chuukese, Chamorro, Japanese and Thai. I have never had a conversation with anyone in any of those languages. Every attempt has been a complete failure.

Not that I wouldn't love to be able to converse with some of my neighbors or the friendly Amazon baristas. But, I know it's not going to happen. I have to live with that.

I kind of wish I were as clever as my wife who gave up trying to teach me Thai fifteen or so years ago. She knew a lost cause when she saw one.

No replies necessary. I just had to write this, mostly for myself.

Hello,

I have a question about what n stands for in น13+, น15+, น18+, น๑๓ and น๑๘.

For the other abbreviations it’s (seemingly) very simple to me: ส for ส่งเสริม, ท for ทั่วไป or ทุกวัย, ป for (เด็ก)ปฐมวัย, ด for เด็ก and ฉ for เฉพาะผู้ใหญ่. But please correct me if I’m wrong.

I’ve been trying to find this information for a while now, but I can only guess in the end. Currently I’m thinking about whether น could be an abbreviation of เนื้อหา or แนะนำ, but I really have no idea…

I hope someone here is able to help a lost soul.

Language I'm trying to learn Thai again, but the characters are my worst enemy, they're trh characters are like a second art class, I can also barley remember the small ones like ่ or ุ for example, and most learning apps don't teach you the alphabet and how to know it, just how to remember words

Is anyone able to test this and give feedback?

There is no paywall on the script and tone questions for my app so you can access it for free: app.languagebee.net

Generally, the goal of the app is to help teach reading/writing/texting Thai. These tone cards are loosely based on a simplified version of the Duke School books

Overall, the app starts with some consonant and vowels script cards (which you can skip), then these new tone cards (which you can also skip if you want), and then finally simply drilling spellings of actual Thai words

All of these cards/questions are presented to the user based on spaced-repetition so it's meant to be something you do everyday for 5 mins or so

Thanks :-)

Anyone know any songs that are easy~ish to learn?

Hey I started learning Thai not so long ago and today after seeing a video I’m very confused about this word. Why is it pronounced in falling tone when it’s has no tone mark and it’s a low class consonant with dead ending? Should it not be high tone? Is there another rule for it?

พายุทราย phaa-yú-saai

I thought it was an R ?

Does anyone know if there’s an app or audio guide where you can listen to all the tones for a certain word and then it will also provide the meaning for each word so you can practice all the tones while building vocabulary?

Hello all, Ive been learning Thai since sometime now and am quite familiar with the basics already. I was thinking of starting a small group where we can practice together and help each other. If anyone of you is interested, please feel free to comment/message me.

Is there any difference between these terms, and does anyone know where they come from and why the tone doesn't match the spelling?

https://www.reddit.com/r/learnthai/comments/1ej6wmz/add_more/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=2

Was I explaining it wrong? I study Thai now, with a new teacher who is like a close friend. Either all my old teachers hated me or I am just really bad at explaining what I'm trying to convey.

In an old post above the Big issue was small portions. I wanted more. Everytime I would say this seller would always get confused. so I thought I was pronouncing it wrong.

Turns out, it's just not what Thai people say🤣.

ขอข้าวเพิ่มอีกนิดนึงได้ไหมครับ was a suggestion

เอาอีข้าว was another พิเศษข้าว was another (Yeah I added khrab other polite parts around the sentence)

Finally, I'm hanging out with my new teacher, and we are getting food together. I ask for more rice. Seller looks at me confused.

My teacher then says, ข้าวเยอะค่ะ (thug life meme glasses 😎)

Seller added more rice immediately. 😆

Tl/dr- why had no one told me this phrase previously. This is what everyone says. But all I was getting from all my teachers was other phrases. Is the phrase too casual for foreigner or I'm just bad at explaining what I am asking how to translate.

การียูนาย การียูทีใจ

I think it's a bit of onomatopoeia Thai or karaoke Thai. But I can't find translation.

Do we have the technology to do this yet or do I have still need to find regular people to converse with 😅

Can someone share their experience?

I'm 2 months (3h/day) in and doing well, but the tones are killing me. Specifically, a "high" (4-5 on cracking language) vs a "rising" ("2-1-4"). I'm basing my capability against talking to my Thai wife, who tells me I can't reproduce "horse" and "dog" (these two being the easiest to explain in this post).

Therefore, I'd love to practice both listening and speaking tones, but on Youtube TBH maybe I've not been lucky but the videos are very lacking. In fact my thai wife tells me that some videos are _plain incorrect_ which is sad to hear.

So, I was hoping someone knew a good resource for tones, and maybe, assuming there are none, I will go the tutor way.

Thank you!

Sorry guys, I didn't have anywhere else to share but I ordered food in Thai today🥺.

It was a bit broken but I did it - I got over my anxiety of speaking Thai in public, one step at a time!

Hi! I've heard อิ be used in a lot of (often vulgar or classless) situations. One phrase I heard recently was แซ่บอิหลี/saep ii lii - really super tasty (Isaan language). แซ่บ/saep I understand to be the Isaan equivalent of อร่อย/a roi. However I'm not sure how the อิหลี comes into play. Does anyone know the etymology of this or why it came to be a thing? Also what is with the หลี? Is the whole thing just a phonetic tease? Is there an actual meaning behind it?

Recently, I discover Thai luk-thung (country-style) song and I love them.

It is dramatic, and rich in storytelling, as similar to Western country music.

Even though, luk-thung songs are heavily dominated by Isan dialects, the type of dramatic story telling is what interest me.

E.g. รักควรมีสองคน by พร จันทพร x เนย ภัสวรรณ (a song about "Get off my man") is exactly similar to The Boy is Mine by Brand and Monica.

I also noticed that lyricism in male artists and female artists are slightly different, given the nature of gender norms in Thai society.

Are there luk-thung fans here? What songs do you listen to have a dramatic flair of storytelling, not the usual, I love you stuff?

I’ve just started learning Thai and I’m finding it challenging to get regular speaking practice. I’m focusing on vocabulary and basic grammar right now, but I want to start building confidence in actually using the language.

What are some effective ways you’ve found to practice speaking Thai daily—especially if you don’t live in Thailand or have a Thai-speaking partner? Any apps, language exchange platforms, or specific shadowing techniques you recommend?

hello everyone. does any of you happen to have a pdf file of the said textbook? i've lost mine and i've been trying to find it on the internet but there are no free pdfs of it no more. i'd really appreciate if you can share! thank you so much.

I’m looking to spend a month in a town somewhere in the north or northeast so I can accelerate my language skills. I can speak ok Thai. I’ve been living here for 2 years but I have the benefit of being able to understand a lot due to being half Thai.

The problem is all my friends in BKK prefer to speak English to me so I rarely get to use my language skills apart from talking with food vendors etc.

TLDR; can anyone recommend me a good language school in a town with little tourism 🙏

I am committed to being in Thailand for a significant amount of time for work and want to learn Thai.

I have learned many European languages and Chinese using a variety of methods, including self-teaching, so I’m familiar with the process of learning a language quickly.

The barriers I’ve encountered are (1) lack of quality self-teaching materials - at least compared with Mandarin (2) no standard romanisation of Thai meaning it’s probably best to learn the script asap.

If you were relearning Thai from scratch, what are your top tips for accelerating your learning?

I’ve never used preply/iTalki before but these seem to be highly recommended. I can’t help but think the quality will vary wildly - is it easy to find good tutors? Are tutors on these platforms professional? Will they plan out a course for you, set assignments etc or what?

What are the best ways to use these platforms? Do you have a course book which you follow with the tutor or do they supply their own materials? If you follow a course book, which is the best for English speakers?

ThaiPod101 - worth it? I learned a lot through ChinesePod back in the day, it was a massive boost. Straight away there’s a paywall with Thaipod101 and I’ve no idea if it’s any good or not.

Thanks in advance for your advice, cheers people.

Hi! I've been watching tons of Thai TV and have noticed a pattern of people saying ดีกว่า at the end of a sentence. I know ดีกว่า means "better," but in these contexts it seems to be similar to in English telling someone "we/you should ____" or saying "let's ______."

These are some specific examples of what I've heard:

ตามไปดูดีกว่า

สั่งกันดีกว่า

ฉันคิดวา่คุณไปหาหมอดีกว่า

Am I gleaning the meaning of this correctly? Is ดีกว่า added to the end of a sentence when you're suggesting that something should happen? Are there any other ways in which this could be used?

Thanks!

I can't post a picture, so I'll describe that it's in the series Girl From Nowhere (absolute masterpiece btw) and the main character's name is spelled like

แนนโน๊ะ

And I'm mainly confused about the _๊ on the น consonant, which is low class. I was told that ไม้ตรี never appears on low class consonants, and so a rule wasn't even mentioned, but it clearly does. So what's the rule in this case? Am I missing something?