Learning Thai

The thai language is a beautiful yet difficult language. We have had 3 classes so far and I don't feel like I know very much. They are really focusing on getting us to learn the alphabet, that way we can start reading and figuring out words ourselves. Makes sense right? Well its easier said than done as there are like 44 consonants and all many vowels, some that change and some are silent. For instance, there is one consonant called "ngo ngu" the sound you make is "ng" like at the end of the word "song". Its a difficult one to make though, especially when it is at the beginning of a word. Also, there are 4 consonants, "kor kai" "kor kwai" "kor kuat" "kor ra-kang", all of which make the hard "k" sound. So why are there 4 letters that make the same sound? No really, I'm asking you because I have no clue!!!

Also, there are 5 tones in thai. The mid level tone, which is like regular speech for us Americans. Then there is a falling tone, rising tone, high tone and low tone. So even if you can master each tone, remembering when to use it and when not to is the trick! But it is a lot of fun. This morning, after learning a few more letters and how to write them, we learned how to sing a song for Sunday's meeting. When we sing thai, it sounds wayyyyyy better than when we speak it! So we shall see how we do when meeting rolls around.

By the way, Jake had the public talk last sunday. It went well. It was in english of course:-) But it may as well have been in thai because so many in the audience didn't understand him. He said it was a tough crowd...so many of the Russians and a few of the other Europeans just had blank stares. No understanding at all! Oh well. At least I liked it:-)