HOW WELL DO YOU REALLY KNOW

YOUR THAI ALPHABET?

How well do you know your alphabet?

As I’m sure you have guessed by now, I’ve been away from my
studies for a little while now. For the past few months I’ve been
working on a large web development project and it has literally
taken up all of my free time. I’m happy to say that the site has
launched, and as a result of finally getting it out the door I am
starting to get my sanity (and time) back. The timing could not have
been better, either, as my wife has taken some initiative to help me
with my studies.
Consistency is certainly the key, and if you’re not studying and
practicing Thai on a very regular basis, you might as well not be
studying or practicing at all.
In our first “lesson” back, we needed to set a baseline to determine
exactly how much I remember, how much I need refreshing, and
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how much I just outright have no clue. And so, of course, the first
place to start was with an alphabet quiz; or, more specifically, a
consonant quiz.
And so my wife sat me down with a piece of paper that had 22
consonants showing and 22 consonants missing. My task? Fill in
the blanks, of course.
How well do you think I did?
Out of 22, I got 16 right. Not too bad. Actually, I was feeling pretty
good. But just as I was patting myself on the back for being such a
good learner, my wife hit me with this bombshell:
“Okay, now tell me all of their names.“
Uhhh…
(Damn.)

Yeah, I totally bombed on that one. Sure, I got ก (ไก่) (gɔɔ gài), ข
(ไข่) (kɔ̌ɔ kài), ง (งู)(ngɔɔ nguu), ข (ไข่) (kɔ̌ɔ kài), and ด
(เด็ก) (dɔɔ dèk), but when it came to consonants like ฐ (ฐาน) or
which “s” was which (ศ, ษ, ส) I was pretty much out of the game
and throwing in the towel. And sure, I could tell you what the sounds
of each consonant is, but that’s not really knowing them all. And so,
as I’m prone to do, I started to over-think the process and it led me
to this post. How well do you really know the Thai alphabet?
I submit to you that if you cannot — in order and randomly — say,
name, and write all 44 consonants then you don’t really know them.
I’m talking the consonant, it’s name, how to spell it’s name, how to
pronounce the consonant and it’s name, what class the consonant
is (low, medium, high) and both it’s starting and final sounds are. (If
you don’t know what I mean here, I recommend you start here.)

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For me, it’s back to the drawing board. Until I am confident that I
have them nailed I will continue to study them on a daily basis.
There are a few things I will be doing:
 Write them all out, in order, five times every day.
 Read a little Thai every day where I concentrate on the
consonants rather than the words themselves.
 Study them via an iPod app. The one I use is called “I know

my ก ข ค, but there are many similar programs available.”

I have decided that I will not only do this until I feel I have it
mastered, but also using regular refresher sessions to make sure
this stays solid and doesn’t slip away from me again.
Oh yeah… I almost forgot; this goes for vowels as well.