Thailand 2023: Unexpected Gift #5: Language Learning

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สบายดีขา Sabaidee ka!

I began my study of the Thai language with 20 hours of private lessons in conversational Thai in 2019, repeating the process again in 2020. Because I have never studied a language before without also having access to its written form and grammatical structure - the foundational bricks with which it is built, I found this approach, with its random spelling format, somewhat frustrating.

“There are no spelling rules until you learn the Thai alphabet, so just write the words whatever way you want for now; however you think they sound” said my teacher, Kru Cherry, who also informed me that three months of conversational Thai was a pre-requisite to beginning to read and write this language. So when I returned to study this year I begged her to let me begin writing, even though it was apparent that I had forgotten pretty much everything I had learned three years ago.

Me, after two classes: “Please, Kru Cherry, can we quickly review everything? I’ll work twice as hard to get back to where we left off. I want to start reading and writing this year! When can we begin?”

My Teacher: “Today.”

Then she handed me a book straight from the kindergarten classroom - I kid you not - introduced me to the first nine middle consonants, and sent me home to practice printing them following along the dotted lines in my kindergarten scribbler.

This was quite literally taking beginner’s mind to a whole new level. I was delighted.

The Thai language is composed of 76 letters. There are 44 consonants and 32 vowels. The vowels can appear above, below, in front of, or behind a consonant. The consonants come in several groupings. There are high consonants, middle consonants, low consonants, final consonants, dead consonants, and live consonants, and they all have special powers, so its very important to get to know who they are and what they can or cannot do. Thai is also a tonal language, so there are written symbols as well to indicate which of its five tones are to be used when pronouncing the syllables, and these tones will be altered without any written notice if one of the super power consonants happens to appear in a particular word or syllable. This you just gotta know, because the tonal signs will indicate otherwise. And of course it is only in the primary grades that words are allowed to be written with spaces between them; hence all written Thai appears as one long text.

Imagine reading this page with no spaces between the words. Yikes. Exactly.

It is a ridiculously complex, intricate language system with a million ways in which to mess you up. It is also somewhat lovely to write - all curves and artistic squiggles that are can inspire some creative design once you get into it. It is a massively incomprehensible puzzle, but I love the challenge.

By the time we left this year, after another seventeen plus hours of instruction and at least as many more invested in after class homework, I had learned 24 of the consonants and 20 of the vowels, so a little over half the alphabet. Enough to begin to read several words and some phrases. I will never forget the exhilaration I experienced when I read my first word. It was indeed like breaking the code, and has to be exactly how a child feels when making sense for the first time of those mysterious written symbols. Truly beginner’s mind.

One of the rewards of learning this language is precisely that it is not really a goal driven project. For once in my life. I completely understand that I will never, ever master, or realistically even get beyond beginner level in this language with only a few weeks available per year to practice it in Thailand. But the process itself is so entertaining, primarily because my brilliant, super organized, innovative, hard driving teacher, Kru Cherry, also possesses a wicked sense of humour such that my time spent with her is analogous to a laughter yoga class. I come home with my mind enthralled with learning, and my spirit refreshed. But the real reward is the response I invariably receive whenever I attempt to communicate, however poorly, with the Thai people, as it is perhaps perceived as my gesture of respect and gratitude for the privilege of being a guest in their beautiful country.

Thank you for staying with us throughout these many reflections on our experiences in Thailand. Subsequent posts will inspired by Indonesia, our other lover who always welcomes us with open arms, and to whom we always return. Thank you for your interest in our travel adventures 🙏

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