I am curious how people approach learning the Thai tones. For myself, I never really concentrated too hard on trying to memorize tone rules or the tone for a specific word, but rather have always tried to pay attention to how words are strung together in sentences.
I am not insisting that people shouldn't learn tone rules or that it is unimportant to know how to pronounce the tone of a word (ขี่ม้า can be a pleasant experience, but the wrong tone on that first word...well, we know where that leads).
What I am saying is that for me at least, it has been far more productive to not hassle myself over trying to memorize the tones of words learned individually, but rather to just keep saying the sentences as I hear them and when I get a puzzled look, keep doing it until I get it right (and when I do get it right, say it over again a couple times to that same person - I have a 3 nods of approval in a row rule).
So what is your method? Learn tone rules and drill constantly or just relax and mimic sentences? A bit of both or something different?
I am curious how people approach learning the Thai tones.
Re: I am curious how people approach learning the Thai tones.
What is your take on it, Billy?
Re: I am curious how people approach learning the Thai tones.
word by word and things can kinda get put under the microscope and I can get disheartened. I can spend an hour trying to say 'ride the horse' and 'dog sh*t' with a Thai person and finally get it right or I could have spent the same hour to learn lots of vobac' or sentence structure etc.
Re: I am curious how people approach learning the Thai tones.
Relax, forget the tone rules, and just memorize a word including it's tone. About reading: Most Thais don't know the tone rules for reading an unknown word, their brain recognizes the patterns. So learn group of words with similar patterns, that give the same tone. That's how I do it. Still as I said: Don't learn phrases, learn distinct words with the correct tone, or you will not be able to repeat a single word, and be understood.
Re: I am curious how people approach learning the Thai tones.
When I read in my head, the voice I "hear" sounds like a native Thai speaker -yet when I read aloud, the voice I hear does not. I can just speak off the cuff much more natural sounding than if I just read aloud.
Re: I am curious how people approach learning the Thai tones.
"Most Thais don't know the tone rules"
This is interesting. In fact, I have asked Thais for the tone of a given word and have gotten the wrong answer on more than one occasion! A bit off topic, but on the subject of tones, I found it surprising that when I was learning Mandarin (stopped due to time constraints), Thais had as much trouble as I did reproducing the correct tones.
This is interesting. In fact, I have asked Thais for the tone of a given word and have gotten the wrong answer on more than one occasion! A bit off topic, but on the subject of tones, I found it surprising that when I was learning Mandarin (stopped due to time constraints), Thais had as much trouble as I did reproducing the correct tones.
Re: I am curious how people approach learning the Thai tones.
Yes I can confirm the Thais that I've seen trying to repeat a word in Mandarin struggle as well. It's just that all humans are equally stiff. When used to a single pattern for the whole life we all struggle equally to adopt new patterns.
Re: I am curious how people approach learning the Thai tones.
Are thai aware of the particular tone when they speak or read or is it just a matter of it being natural? I have seen my fair share of dumbfounded looks when asking what tone a particular word has.
Re: I am curious how people approach learning the Thai tones.
Learn tone rules SYSTEMATICALLY and drill constantly (IN THE PRESENCE OF A NATIVE SPEAKER WHO WILL CORRECT YOU) and then go looking for conversation opportunities and be prepared to make lots of mistakes. After each mistake, intentionally use your mistake in a humorous way to reinforce (Thai humor places a premium on word play so to use your example, you may want to intentionally start playing with the words ride dog, ride horse, dog poop, horse poop, all in one long humorous sentence). The good thing about this is: do it often enough and the next time you slip up, they'll think that you're doing it on purpose (you'll still learn because when they stop laughing they'll tell you that your made a good joke because you said [] when you actually meant to say []). 