Learning Thai the Easy Way > First time user

"Free online lessons for learning to read, speak and write Thai. Over 1000 sound clips make this an easy way to learn before you go on holiday." Lonely Planet

"A website developed by students and teachers at Sriwittayapaknam School in Samut Prakan is a very good example of a language website that takes advantage of the Internet technology to provide study tools using text, graphics, and, most important of all, sound." The Nation

"Here is an array of extremely helpful advice about how to speak Thai that uses MacroMedia's Flash so that you can click to hear exactly how a word is pronounced." Bangkok Post

"For those wishing to learn Thai for travel purposes the speaking section is probably the most useful. For others, especially more advanced students, the writing and reading sections provide detailed lessons to writing and reading letters and phrases." BBC

Learning Thai the Easy Way is a free resource on the internet for learning Thai. New pages are being added every week and so, unlike books, many of the sections will never be finished. We are continually coming up with new ideas to make it easier for you to learn Thai.

Most Thai language books and phrasebooks give you very long winded and complicated sentences for you to learn. Wherever possible, we have tried to choose words and phrases which are not only easier for you to pronounce and remember but ones that will also make you sound more natural.

The following are some questions we often get asked about this site:

HOW DO I LISTEN TO THE SOUND?

For listening to sound we decided to use FLASH. The advantage of this is that the sound files and the player are built into the page. We also use FLASH for audio streaming larger files. This is really useful when you want to listen to some music. Instead of waiting for the whole file to download first, with streaming you can start listening after only a few seconds.

Most pages will either have a play button or the words in Thai for you to click on to hear sound. If you can see them below then that means you already have FLASH. You can listen to the sound by clicking on them.

(play button)
(words in Thai)

If you can't see the above images then you will need to download a FLASH player. Normally this would start automatically after a few seconds. If not, click on the FLASH links to download it. It only takes a few minutes. Some computers might ask you to restart in order for it to work.

WHO MAKES THIS WEB SITE?

The Learning Thai web site is made by Nattawud Daoruang and other students at Sriwittayapaknam School in Samut Prakan, Thailand. Both Thai and English teachers act as advisers. There aren't many web sites for learning Thai that actually originate inside Thailand.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO USE THIS WEB SITE?

Unlike other e-learning web sites, LearningThai.com is 100% free. You will never need to pay for any of the lessons. The web site is supported financially by Sriwittayapaknam School. The school owners have long helped visitors to Thailand to enjoy their stay. On many pages you will see a link for books that will help you learn Thai. Although you are not obliged to buy anything, if you do buy a book then you are helping to support this web site as well as 20 other sites (see SrinaiWeb.com).

I HAVEN'T STARTED TO LEARN THAI YET, WHERE SHOULD I START?

If you are just coming to Thailand for a short holiday then you probably don't need much more than the Speaking Thai section. We have also compiled a Top Ten of Useful Phrases to make it easier for you. If you are planning on driving as well it might be a good idea to take a look at our road and shop signs pictures. Actually, that section is also good if you want to be able to spot the sign for the toilets!

I HAVE ALREADY BEEN LEARNING THAI FOR A LONG TIME AND I NEED SOMETHING MORE CHALLENGING.

I think you might find our Learn to Listen site useful. The Reading Thai section has not only the Thai alphabet, but also Thai stories at a much higher level. We also have a few sister sites which you will find useful:

WHERE CAN I BUY BOOKS AND DICTIONARIES FOR LEARNING THAI?

Our school runs an online store with bilingual books and dictionaries. Students at the school help run the project as part of their e-commerce course. International customers can buy books at ThaiHypermarket.com. If you live inside Thailand, then try our PaknamBooks.com store.