Thai is a tonal language, so every word (or syllable) has one of five tones that is an integral part of its pronunciation. However, for beginners it's not that important to pronounce every tone correctly as people will usually understand what you're trying to say.
Another aspect of Thai pronunciation is vowel length. Every word (or syllable) has either a short vowel length with a quick, cut off pronunciation, or a long vowel length with the pronunciation more drawn out.
Following are the five tones each with two vowel lengths, written with the visual tone symbols used in this book. Short vowel-length words are marked with an asterisk. If there's no asterisk the vowel length is long.
- Introduction
- Pronunciation
- Greeting & Polite phrases
- Informal questions
- Personal information
- Can you speak Thai?
- Numbers
- Shopping
- Bargaining
- Buying clothing
,etc.