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Although m We already
have over two hundred Thai songs and more are being added every week.
For people just starting to learn Thai we have added a pronunciation
guide to most of the songs. In addition, many of the songs are in
the process of being translated into English. We are also working
our way through the songs adding a "talking dictionary"
of about 10-15 words from each song. Although many people don't go beyond reading the lyrics using Roman letters, we do strongly suggest that you take the time and effort to learn how to read Thai. It is not as difficult as you might think. Big advantages of being able to read Thai is that you will be more accurate in pronouncing words, you can look up words in the dictionary and most importantly be quicker to learn new words. On this page we will give you an overview of the Thai alphabet. However, we do suggest that you visit our award winning learningthai.com site to have a far deeper understanding of the Thai language. Thai is a
tonal language and is written from left to right across the page.
Unlike English, there are no upper or lower cases and you won't usually
The following is an example of a sentence from a song. You can click on the Flash play button to hear this sentence.
You will notice that there are no spaces between words. Of course, that is confusing to start with as you won't know where one word ends and the next starts. Also, there are many compound words in Thai (a new word made up from two other words). Separately they might mean something very different to when they are combined. But, with practice, it will soon become very obvious where the word breaks are. Every song has the Thai words written in Roman letters. For example: ไม่มีวันเข้าใจ = mai mee wun kao-jai Now you can see where the word breaks are! If you are still not sure, then take a look at this: ไม่ มี วัน เข้าใจ = mai mee wun kao-jai In some ways, grammar in Thai is very simple and words don't change unlike in English: ไม่ มี วัน เข้าใจ = no have day understand If you translate word by word then sometimes it might sound like you are speaking broken English! Obviously, before you can proceed any further, you should learn the sounds for each letter. You can do this for free at learningthai.com and also our popular Learn to Read Thai with Manee and Friends. All of the lessons are 100% free!
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any
people come to 
find
spaces between words. Altogether, the Thai alphabet consists of 44
consonants (2 are now obsolete), 32 vowels (though only 18 symbols),
4 tone marks, 2 diacritics and 10 decimal digits. In addition, there
are 3 symbols used for writing Pali and Sanskrit words (mainly used
in scriptures) and 6 typographical symbols. This may all sound very
daunting, but don't be disheartened. Not all of the characters are
used in every day words and as long as you practice reading on a regular
basis, you should be able to read many of the words in the songs after
only a month or two! After even more practice, you will soon be able
to read along with the Thai lyrics as you listen to a slow song! At
this stage, it doesn't really matter if you don't understand many
of the words. What is important for you to realize at the moment is
that all of this is possible if you just put a little effort into
it! One thing is certain, you are not alone as thousands visit this
site every day from around the world. If you have any questions you
will find that some of our regulars will be quick in answering them
on our 
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