. The tonal handicap . Jun 20, 2025 .

There’s 5 tones in Thai: mid, low, falling, high and rising. If you say a sentence and in it you use the wrong tone in a single word, Thais will most likely not understand what you’re saying. This is because tones are not emphasis on words, they ARE the words. Some sounds like “bpaa” have a different meaning for each of the 5 five tones. I have great difficulty spotting the difference between the High tone and the Rising tone. This is however dependant on the word, the flow of the sentence as well as the speaker. In isolation, it is easier to spot, but in everyday speech, spoken at a normal thai pace, it’s very hard for my ears to hear the difference. Below are all the five tones using “bpaa” as the sound. See if you can hear the difference between the high and rising tones.

Tone Sound: Bpaa
Mid
Low
Falling
High
Rising

If you come from a tonal language, that might sound obvious to you. But to me, coming from French and English, it isn’t so. Hearing the difference is challenging, nevermind speaking the difference. But I’ve been working at it slowly but surely. I bought a whiteboard that we’ve sticked on the wall and we (my girlfriend and I) spend some of our evenings constructing phrases with foundational words that we’ve written on it and then use Google translate or ChatGPT to check if it’s correct. It’s quite satisfying when you construct a somewhat long phrase that you’ve never heard before correctly.

I’ve been ordering coffee and local food in Thai lately. That’s also tremendously satisfying, albeit a little scary. I always hope they don’t ask too many questions after that, haha.

I bought a book called Thai for Beginners by Benjawan Poomsan Becker. I can follow with the author a few different exercises with the audio side of it on their Spotify (used to be a CD that came with the book). I’m now at the point where I need to learn the Thai script. I will keep you posted on that.

. A feel for it . May 27, 2025 .

I first visited Thailand in January of 2018 as a tourist. I went to the touristy places like everyone else (Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket, Ko Phi Phi, etc…) and it was fine navigating the gibberish written on restaurant menus, signs/banners, directions and asking for things generally by pointing and repeating basic english words several times – for the most part. However, it became apparent after the 3rd, 4th, 5th time in this country that without understanding the language, there’s a big gap in “feeling” the place. I’ve listed 3 reasons why I’m also learning the C programming language this year and points #2 and #3 are the same reason that I’m learning Thai. However, I would also like to add one more reason.

It is certainly feasible, especially nowadays with internet in our pockets – instantly translating any words using text, voice or speech into our own mother tongue, to not only travel but also live in Thailand. I would assume that it is probably very similar in most non-english speaking countries to get by without understanding the native language at all. If the country is tourist-friendly, then it is even easier. But if one is interested in thoroughly understanding the country, which is its people, it’s impossible without understanding the language. To learn a language is not simply the process of translating words, not only because certain words cannot be translated, but because the context in which the words are spoken changes the meaning of those words. As my visa is currently valid for the next 5 years, it is certainly a possibility that I spend the next 5 years of my life in this country. It would make for a far more interesting experience if I could understand, at least generally, the culture beyond what the average tourist experiences.

One of my goal this year is to learn thai to the point where I can have a basic fluid conversation with someone. Somewhere between the tutorial regurgitating “My name is / how are you / where are you from” and full-fledge philosophical discussions. I will document my progress here.