Thai Vowels for Dummies in 5 Min v2 - A System Impossible to Forget
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.พ. 2025
- Between Vowels, Consonants and Tones, the mispronounciation of the Thai vowels is the number one factor that leads to confused looks on Thai people's faces when listening to foreigners speaking Thai. I have put this clip together to deliver the entire system of critical Thai vowels in the way that they were supposed to be taught. I hope that this is useful for both beginners as well as people who have been studying Thai for a long time.
This is the 2nd rendering of this clip as in my rush to get the first one uploaded, the chart had several typos and omissions. I have tried to make the system as 'pretty' as possible - there are of course some little extra 'tidbits' that will complete the knowledge of the vowels, but what is presented in this clip will give you 98% of what you need. Moreover, it's part of a much larger overall framework of the language - based on the map of the mouth that can help you with your consonants, tones and more importantly, accuracy in pronunciation and 'clear' delivery of the language with native speakers.
I have made the chart available in the resources of Cracking Thai Fundamentals at Jcademy.com.
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4:30 "almost like a staccato marker in music.." this blew my mind. As a musically trained person this made everything come full circle.
Thank you for this video. I struggled so much with vowels and I simply cannot believe how easy they seemed once I saw this video.
The more I learn Thai from scratch the more I get this video. It's actually amazing.
i love how this guys connected thai language to ancient sanskrit travelling through thailand you can feel theirs a definite interconnectedness with the ancient culture of india as someone thats fascinated by history id love to find out more sources of information keep up the great work
All the things about stretchy and shrinky vowels were a big help in remembering everything. And the little story about ใอ that changed sound over time was very interesting. Thanks Stuart
If you are genreally interested in learning languages, I can recommend studying the IPA-chart. After learning this, I've never had any more problems with pronunciation. Plus - you see links everywhere. For examples the Thai "ɨ" is exactly like the Russian "ы".
Do you have any more Thai to Russian examples?
@@little_engine_goes_to_Thailand I am not an expert in Thai, but as far as I can hear, the "a" sound in Thai [æ] is the same as the "я" in "пять" or "взять", if you drag it out a little. Or if you know English well, then it is the same sound as the "a" in "at", "rat" or "tax".
You are incredible! The way you organised them makes a lot of sense and here when things start to sink in. Thank you
Omggg this made life so much easy than thai101 where they dont explain the pronounciation properly. I was just thinking if giving up thai thnx to u i wont anymore
I like that you talk about sanskrit and khmer changes, and northern thai differences in tone, thanks!
This is great way to learn the Thai vowels! Thank you so much Stuart! You really are a inspiration of learning foreign languages! You really know how to explain the Thai vowels extremely well. As a Thai learner, I've seen many videos about the Thai vowels and I have a very difficult time pronouncing the vowels and tones but this video that you made really helped me alot! Thanks again Stuart!
Wow... That makes me smile reading that. Glad it has been useful. Let me know if there are any other topics you would like to have me do clips on.
@@StuartJayRaj Sure thing!👍
This is very helpful! I'm about 2 months into my Thai lessons and I struggle with pronunciation some!
I love it! So brilliant.Very handy for memorizing when I just learned the vowels but struggle to memorize all of them 👍🏻👍🏻
Thank you sooo much! I just finished learning the consonants and I was stressing about vowels coz other videos I've watched all the vowels sounded the same. Now I can hear and see the difference 🙌 thank you!!
You videos are so thorough! Just what I was looking for!
Dude, this chart just made my life so much easier, I kept forgetting the wovels... but now with this I can memorize them so easily! Thanks
Thanks!
I wanted to learn Thai and I gave up after this video, thank you, saved lots of the time 😅
thank you for this! i really had a hard time differentiating how they sound and pronounce before but you made it so easyyy!!
I'm glad it could help - there's another clip I did shortly after this one that was an extended explanation / workshop going over it in detail.
@@StuartJayRaj thank youuu again!! i will surely watch it!
its actually crazy how much this helped my understanding Ily
game changer
This is fantastic - it seems to me impossible to speak good Thai without knowing this but I haven't seen anyone else explaining it.
Great video Stuart. It’s always helpful to hear your pronunciation. Personally I found your map of the human mouth diagram (inspired by the IPA chart) to be extremely useful in isolating the location of these vowels. It provides a great visual reference (as opposed to front, top, back, etc.) when practising. Cheers.
Thanks Lindsay. There's a tough line between being linguistically accurate and making things consumable for your normal learner of a language. I try and push the boundary closer to the linguistic side, but where possible make it less 'scary'. I personally love making all the links between scripts etc, but it's not for everybody. Let me know if there are any topics you'd like covered. I'm having a blast making all this new content.
@@StuartJayRaj Totally agree with Lindsay. It's a must to have the map of the human mouth and simple natural explanation like this one - if you do not mean to spend years by learning while still doubtful about your pronunciation or develop incorrect pronunciation habits.
I was just going through Cracking Thai Fundmentals course(English-Tinglish and other stuff) and then talk to my gf. I realized I can speak much more like a Thai, really. It seems to be working subconsciously and so fast. Sure it takes a time to settle down but after 2 years learning thai I can say I can see real progress after spending just 2 days by learning the right studying material.
It would be great to have the same for Mandarin language=o)
@@StuartJayRaj Yeah definitely. I believe the majority of us here are still struggling to learn our second language. The concept of a 3rd and beyond is that far out of our reach. I feel the links are only relevant if you have a base of reference (i.e. fluent in one of the languages). That's why us foreigners love the term 'same same'. The link is of immediate value. Thanks Stuart.
He forgot some stuff and taught somethings improperly which I had to relearn later down the line in thai. Honestly, this is the best you’re gonna get on TH-cam so it’s alright.
what was forgotten and taught improperly?
Excellent lesson on Thai vowels. I was really struggling searching for ipa tips but this is brilliant!
Video is so helpful! It makes learning the Thai vowels easier.😊
Great instruction, have been using text Thai but dreading the speaking Thai but you seem to have cracked it for us Farangs. Many thanks.
Wow this really helped me a lot. Thank you! I'll be buying a copy of your book soon as soon as this outbreak is done.
Literally the best explanation! Thank you so much 🙏
it's a game changer !!! :)
❤ Very very useful ! Now I can improve the language. Exactly what I needed!
🙏 Khob khun kha! 🙏
I love your approach to learning.
What about the other missing vowels?I would like to know how to form those sounds too , please.
Thank you so much Stuart Jay Raj for this video. My face feels so different after practicing these sounds for half an hour. Excited to see how practicing the proper vowel pronunciation will improve my communication, not only in Thai, but also in English. Thank you again!
Thanks for this. I do notice inconsistencies with the earlier video on this topic: The easiest way to learn the Thai vowels. There are 27 vowels sounds here compared with 22 before but still short of the 32 vowels. So I assume the difference of 5 is due to similar sound vowels?
I watched your video 5 times and keep forgetting it. I want my money back!!!
I want to know what makes consonants low, middle or high. Does it have to do with manner of articulation? I'm guessing it's not because they produce high or low or middle tone. I want to understand the logic or science or magic behind the classification. Thank you so much.
Each consonant belongs to one of three classes...High, Middle or Low. They are always in these classes, they don't change. So, it has nothing to do with how it is articulated. The classes affect the inherent tone of the word that the consonant begins with. Fellow student here, but I'm sure about this.
Amazing system, Stuart. Thank you 🙏🏻
Reviewing this month. Struggling with the short vowels!
I would agree that vowels can be a challenge. I myself have had probably the most difficultly with อื (because it doesn't seem to exist in English), and all tripthong vowels.
I struggled with this and อู. It turns out that the way we say oo in southern English is closer to อื than to อู believe it or not. When I started using southern English oo for ฮือ I found I was better understood. Not 100% accurate but closer.
the best I've seen so far.
Sir i want to learn thai language but i'm so confused😔...
How to read these. 'ก-ko kai' 'ข-kho khai' alphabet i can't understand.....what's the actual pronunciation .....plz help
ก. Soft G Sound
ข. K Sound and rising tone
Advanced learner and this video is so true / useful .
Where the voyel ‘อ’ is located ?
There is a little mistake in this video at min. 4.5 at the front part; the Thai letter should be อี not อือ.
6:17 is the end of the video, what are you referring to?
@@memocordob18 4:16. The top and front vowels are shown as the same. front vowel is written as Kru Bee has indicated
Wow. I struggle big time with the vowels this system seems learnable.
I’m interested in buying the course, but I’d like to know if it needs a CD player or if it installs any software, or if it’s just a printed book and online/content.
He actually starts talking about the way to learn vowels at 0:56
do you often livestream on youtube?
Wonderful breakdown. Thanks ❤
Very clear and concise.
Thank you
Thanks Glyn. There is a lot more that we wanted to get into - but didn't want it to go too long!
@@StuartJayRaj kob khun mak krub
Wait if อํา is /am/ then why น้ำ is /na:m/ not /nam/? I was a bit confuse here.
Also what about าย, they are the long vowels /a:j/ in pair with ใอ/ไอ right?
อำ is traditionally short, but น้ำ has irregular pronunciation when it plays certain roles. These irregular pronunciations happen in a lot of languages with some of the most common words. So for น้ำ, if it is the initial component of a 2 component word น้ำเปล่า น้ำมัน etc, then it stays short, but if it is said alone, or it's the 2nd component of a word, it is said stretched out ว่าน้ำ กินน้ำ อาบน้ำ Other words with irregular pronunciation included ไม่ ให้ - which get both elongated in many cass and also have a slight forward shift of the ai sound. Another word is ไม้ , so the word for tree ต้นไม้ stretches it out - so similar principle to น้ำ . Need to remember that when you're looking at spelling in Thai, we're looking at the spelling of ORIGINAL words - not representing the delivery in Modern Bangkok / Standard Central Thai. The way you learn the rules when learning Thai are just for the snapshot that is Central Thai, but in looking at the spelling, you're looking at history when you see the spelling of words.
@@StuartJayRaj I see. Thank you so much for this!
I usually compare Thai pronounciation to my native Vietnamese pronounciation so these irregular are a bit confused when it comes to pronounciation.
Gets better each time.
Excelente vídeo, aprendi muito e tirei minhas dúvidas, thank you.
ขอบคุณมากนะคะ this is very helpful👏👏🥳
Thanks for your wonderful video 🙏❤️🙏
Potentially incredible but it is just so fast! Really love the matrix and concepts but simply cannot keep up with how fast you whizz through this! For example the four areas lips etc, this could easily be 30s to 60s long. Nonetheless i am impressed enough to check out your website and offerings so thank you.
I have a decent understanding of the Thai alphabet and the basic vowels. Then I watched this and I’m not following along. It seems genius but I’m terrible with short cuts.
So อึ and อื are basically the same after all? I always have trouble with the two "o" vowels อ and โ too.
ɔ (ออ) and o (โอ) can be particularly tricky for English speakers, as in English, we sometimes accept them as interchangeable depending on what dialect of English you speak. The first is with a very wide mouth and comes from the centre back - the latter is with lips rounded together and is produced from right up front - like a scottish 'o' in 'Go'
@@StuartJayRaj Thanks man! I'm also an Aussie but my accent got quite mixed from years of roaming the world. In particular my "o" sounds seemed to have changed while I was in Canada and maybe also affected by learning Spanish. And of course IPA in British dictionaries doesn't seem to fit exactly even to normal Aussie pronunciation. I habitually think of /ɔ/ as the "awe" / "oar" Aussie vowel and /o/ as the "hot" / "long" Aussie vowel, but I think neither is actually true after all.
Is an old post but justcread and thought the word for sorry is a good way of learning the difference ขอโทษ. It has both of them. Stu is the best😁
What about the vowel sound that appears in the word Krueng (half)? Where does that appear in your matrix?
That is aligned with the cerebral - centre row. Still lateral (smiley mouth rather than rounded) and closed throat.
love your method, Stuart. new subscribe.
the interesting thing is this is probably how they learnt it before 1283 . what a great system ! .. and natural too !!! :)
It's really hard for me to follow the top sounds.. 😥
If your native English speaker it takes practice. อื Is the same as ы in Russian. I learned it by saying the russian word мыш with my nose plugged. It sounds someplace between meesh and mosh while holding your nose closed. 😁
anyone that has some tips on the vowels "æ" and "e" ??? Goodness, I'm really having a hard time pronouncing them(the difference)
I'll try and put a clip together to help
Are there not short versions of the Stretchy vowels?
very nice video , I really need to work on my vowel pronunciation
This is too good 🙏🏻thankyou
Thank you so much! This was very informative :)
Perfect didactics! Thanks a lot!
i've never seen this one before omg this is so helping really
I,m really confused with the a: so the a: is raised tongue ??? that's thrown me completely.
i think it's not the tongue but how the sound is made or felt in the head ... those 4 vowels ..... 'a' can be made without moving the mouth much or at all , ' i ' approaches the top of the head . then 'i' is a bit of lip. finally 'u' you use the lips. it's how you feel in the head .
@@dandanvers-kc9is I been thinking of your comment all day, at first I dismissed it but the more I thought about it started to make sense A lot of sense thank you for contributing APPRECIATED
@@robertjames538 as bruce lee said, don't think, feel lol (in the head and mouth and throat) lol
I like your logical approach to learning the vowels. Unfortunately, the script changes do not follow the same logic. If the script changes were consistent when going short >long >stretchy>shrinky and going back>top>front>lips it would be much easier to remember
wow well explained. i was always confused about the two ai sounds. now i know.
O-aang and ro-reua would probably the hardest to read in Thai alphabet because of its changing characteristics.
In Khmer we also say ឤំ (am) not អំ (om)
wow that's amazing !!! :)
I'd play this at 0.75. To my ear it sounds a lot easier. It's very, very good, though.
Very helpful.
Thank you Fred. If you're free this saturday, I'll be doing a free webinar coaching people on this tool - feel free to jump in and join us.
Great video, thanks very much.
You're the man 👍
thanks a lot for the video. I can't hear the difference between the 3 last /a:/
You're amazing explain
My second time I reduced the playback speed to 0.75 I really helps!
I'm a big fan of your videos. As a German I have the luck to have many vowels in my mother tongue, but the two we dont have (ɯ and ɤ) makes a lot of trouble for me.
I find your classical ipa explanation with the vocal trapeze better:
see 1:36
th-cam.com/video/XebRQXfsTFI/w-d-xo.html
I don't quite understand why you now equate อึ with ɨ. Your older videos and all other books translate อึ with ɯ.
In the Matrix only SHORT and LONG makes sense to me.
Stretchy and Schrink are simply diphthongs.
"i" no space in the mouth, "a" has room... you don't really need that as a distinction...
In my opinion, the BACK dimension for "a" is not really correct. It's actually after IPA “Front”(see 1:36).
The dimension LIPS also makes no sense with the u sound. The Classical IPA is better because most languages only distinguish between round and unround lips.
I would like to thank you for all the good video you make. I always had a lot of fun watching them:) Many greetings
I'll watch it another 10 times in the hope to get it. When I listen to thai teachers I don't hear the difference and they are not able to explain it either. Each time when I thought I finally got what makes the difference, it turned out it's not it. High, low, falling, raising are not accurate descriptions of the sounds.
Well now i know i why they dont understand me ,great video
กราบอาจารย์ครับ เก่งมาก
That is brilliant!
In addition to 'am' I also have 'oei' as in -- เ◌ย -- for example: เลย เผย เนย เคย and เฉยๆ
Sorry guys, I should probably have said In addition to 'au' เ◌า - - (not 'am') - - I just started learning Thai :-)
Thai language is the language of art.
Just WOW
Incredible
I learnt the vowels by pronouncing them like Khmer... how did I learn Khmer. Well that's another question
It's not easy to get perfect Thai pronounciation. Still a struggle for me speaking Khmer as a native. Hopefully his course helps...
คุณเข้าใจภาษาไทยดีกว่าคนไทยเสียอีก ใ- คือสระควบ อา+อือ คำว่าให้ ทางเหนือ ออกเป็น เหื้อ หรือ เอื้อ
ซึ่งเป็นคำเดียวกันกับ ให้ เอื้อเฟื้อ แต่ไทยกลางเสียงนี้กลายเป็น ไ คือ อา+อี ไปแล้ว ส่วน strechy คือ
กล้บคู่สระกัน อืออา อีอา อูอา แต่คนไทยไม่รู้ว่า ไ กับ ใ เป็น สระควบด้วยนี่แหละ
But aren't there are 32 vowels in Thai
I don't think we raised our tongue to pronounce vowel อา
No - the tongue isn't raised much - though it's not lowered either. It's in a medial position, set back from mid. Back here doesn't mean in a velar position. My sources are from all over the place - many of them Chinese studies into Tai languages - In English literature, Marvin Brown's work speaks of these pairs / groupings of vowels. Close to open, open to closed, short and long. These are common across Tai languages.
@@StuartJayRaj I see, thank you.
@@StuartJayRaj good if you did a video comparing china's dai / tai lanauge with thai language ! :)
TH-cam พึ่งจะแนะนำคลิปวันนี้เองครับ 555
Brilliant
Wow I dont get anything of this..😢
back top front lips and just focus on the short column alone first .... just do that for a week. the following week practice the long column (back top front lips) ... and then stretchy and shrinky ... most of all is the first column first. its just like english vowels a e i o u except they have longer versions . just do the short version for back top front lips for a week ... and walk around doing it .. ' ah ' 'eh' (this ones the trickist, it's like when you say bird i think ' bird ' then only the middle part , say 'ir ' ... or purr lol .. then 'i' which sounds like 'eee' in 'easy' . the last one is 'u' like 'oooh' . just focus on those four in the short column. just practice from 1:07 to 1:14 over and over again for week 1 . the rest builds on that.
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
i buy the book yesterday :) @ Stuart dit you see it ??
yes
Hi. I have some doubts about how to read the vowels that surround a consonant, that is, where I start to read (1) the consonant and then the vowels or (2) which is the order to read the letters of the syllable, above, down, right, left, center
สุดยอดเลย
1:25 wow
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👏👏👏👏💯
remember the symbols is another thing....