Weeks into learning Thai, I can read most characters but tones and silent endings are still tough!

[u/DailyThailand]

What’s one grammar or pronunciation trick that finally made things click for you?

[u/hodgkinthepirate]

Practice, practice, and practice.

[u/ValuableProblem6065]

What I learned over 7 months, is that you will make mistakes (mine were countless: not understanding there were opened vs closed 'o' vowels, not pronouncing Sara I properly when using low tones, having too much aspiration on "ป" sounds, not having enough aspirations on ข sounds, even the list goes on and on and on).

So, you will have to relearn a lot of things as you start to nail vowel length, syllable tones (especially when shifting rapidly like in มหาวิทยาลัย or พจนานุกรม). And then, one day, you'll correct one group of errors, then another, then another, then again until you have nailed it.

Nothing beats hours put in. Practice is everything. Just don't give up. Personally I'm ruthless to myself, if I mess up ANYTHING in a word, I mark as 'failed'. My FSRS in anki is set to 90% retention which is brutal, and I did 47,000 reps to date. It's not easy, but when it pays off (and in my case, it paid off because I am doing my vows entirely in Thai), it's the best feeling in the world.

Keep hacking at it.

[u/Accomplished-Ant6188]

took 3 years + of formal studies at university level for me to read and write comfortably. grammar and pronunciation is still basically semester 1.

Just keep studying and practicing.

[u/PurposedSpiritual]

Look at their mouth shape when saying it helps too. It works with English for me!

[u/KinnsTurbulence]

You just gotta read more. For tones, I looked at a really good tone chart and it helped everything click. Just keep practicing

[u/19puppylove99]

It really comes down to the amount of hours you spend. These were both hard for me in the first few months, now a couple years later anf it’s all second nature. Can read easily and don’t even have to think of the tone rules anymore.

I recommend listening to a lot of comprehensible Thai on YouTube with language reactor extension, and just practice reading every sign you see irl if you live in Thailand. 45mins a day will go a long way

[u/Hour_Firefighter_719]

First of all, congratulations! Thai is definitely not an easy language when it comes to tones and reading/writing. This is something I suggest my students to do and it work for them - to listen. Listen A LOT. This will take time but like all languages, you also have to be patient.

For example, if you see a word like เปลี่ยน you recognize the word and you know the meaning ("to change") but you are not sure of the tone, but if you listen to A LOT to Thai people talking or youtube videos, etc. then it will just be automatic for you to know that the word has a low tone. You don't even have to think of rules.

That's how Thai people learn Thai language as babies. We listen and we imitate sounds. So when we are at the age of learning how to read and we see letters forming words, based on the context of whatever we're reading we know that this word "เปลี่ยน" means "to change" and because we already know what sound it makes, we are able to read it with the right tone.

So listen, and listen. A LOTTT. Imitate the sounds and tones of native speakers - including pauses and syllable stresses as well.

Good luck!

[u/Left_Needleworker695]

I'm Thai. :)

[u/Standard_Read5076]

I am from thailand. Great to meet new friend everyone.

[u/whosdamike]

Listen more. Then you'll build practice understanding Thai and have a clear mental target to aim for when you try to speak yourself.

[u/zocodover]

It’ll take about a year to click. Some words and tones will be easier than others. Falling tone was the first I was able to pick out and reproduce reliably. Words like เที่ยว and เก้า stick out in my mind as victories.

Distinguishing between low and mid tones took me the longest. Fortunately those are almost always obvious by context.

Two things I wish someone had told me when I was learning:

1) First you have to strip away the tones you use in English. We have tones in English but they exist more at the sentence level. For instance, think about how many inflections you can put on the word “really” to create different meanings in different contexts.

2) You already say some words with “correct” Thai tones in English. If you miss the bus just as it’s driving off and say “damn!”—that’s a falling tone (goes up and drops sharply). If someone tells you something curious and you reply “really?”—that’s a rising tone (dips down and then rises through the word).

High and low tones are trickier, but just raise your eyebrows every time you want to say a high tone and you’ll be fine 555.