One thing that really helped me learn Thai was learning the vowel clusters and just being able to recognize them right away and understanding the differences between the short and long vowels. Honestly, I just spent a lot of time focusing on vowels and that helped me learn kind of the structure of the language and be able to identify words and the long string of sentences they have with no periods or I guess no spaces.
If you want to learn the language fast, hands down, the number one thing you have to do is speak a lot. Speak with everyone. That is the fastest way and the best way that you're going to learn the language. The second tip that I would have to say, and it's not very easy, but it's to forget the English that you know. Or if you speak Spanish as a first language, or whatever the case may be, speak as if you don't know English anymore. And it's kind of hard, but you just have to kind of have the mindset of, I don't know English, I don't know the grammar of English, I don't know how to spell in English, I don't know how to do anything in English, and then just focus on the principles, especially grammar and things like that, and focus on those as you're learning the Thai language.
I've met a lot of people that try to learn Thai. One thing about Thai is that it's a tonal language, which you really have to be careful like whether you are saying my, my, my, my, my, because they're all different words. The tones you use change the word meaning sometimes. Another thing, there's kap, which you say at the end of sentences if you're a boy, and ka if you're a girl. One really important thing if you're trying to learn Thai is to learn the alphabet, because the alphabet, once you learn that, and the vowels, and all the different tones, it helps you to understand what people are saying so much more. And because once you start reading it, you can practice reading out loud. And the way you learn a language is through messing up, being willing to mess up a lot, and trying and practicing on your own, and also maybe through a class. And that's what I recommend for learning Thai.
So learning Thai is super fun, or at least it was for me. We try to like ask them language questions like, hey what does this word mean, and just like have a lot of fun like learning those words and and then they eventually just start to like teach you lots and lots of words. And then they'll, they're generally very like nice about correcting you, and they'll help you out with that if you ask. And it's just really important to just learn good words, not like words that you're not going to use. And then it's just important to just love the language, and love the people, because once you do that then you will want to speak the language, you'll have more motivation to do it, and it'll just come more naturally.
It may be kind of cliché to say, but speak your language as much as you can. Take every opportunity you can, even in like your thoughts of just trying to translate things from whatever your native language is into Thai, and make sure you keep the Thai to English dictionary handy, because that is a very, very comprehensive. Not the Thai to English and English to Thai, but the only Thai to English, because that is a very comprehensive and very good dictionary to have.
So language tips, don't worry about it, it'll come. Just don't be afraid to make mistakes and just keep on talking. The more you talk, the more better you'll get with your accent, with your grammar, and also read out loud to yourself. You may be really frustrated, it may sound dumb, but it works and it helps and you'll be great.
For tips for the language, honestly it's just patience. The language will come no matter who you are, no matter how smart you are. It will always be hard. It will always start off hard. But just practice, whether it's speaking, understanding, or reading. Everyone takes time. Just practice, practice, practice, practice, honestly.
Just be willing to mess up. Just accept that you're going to mess up a lot trying to learn this crazy tonal language and I promise if you're just willing to mess up, just keep going with it. Honestly, you will get it. It comes. Just keep going and read a lot. Reading helps a ton. So I would say the most important thing you can do is read. Be willing to ask people, especially if you're just talking to people out in the street and you don't understand a word. Don't feel afraid to just ask someone. It's not weird at all. They totally understand. They're trying to learn English themselves, so they think it's really cool. But yeah, just be willing to mess up and keep going. You've got it for sure.
Language tips. Number one is to speak as much as you can, and number two would be to use your language study time to the fullest.
Try and start to learn how to read, because that will help you. And once you can learn how to read, your language boosts so much. And it's incredible how fast you can learn it. And sometimes it's a little stressful, but don't get down on yourselves, you'll get it.
Thai is a tonal language, so it's important to start first knowing how to put sentences and words together, and then second, learning how to get that inflection in your voice correct. I think for me, starting with the alphabet and working my way up helped a lot, and then eventually applying tones as much as I could.