Language Tips:

• Whenever you speak Thai language if you're a man, you should end the sentence with the word khrab and kha for woman. You should say it after sawatdee (Greeting / Hello, Hi) and kharb koon (Thank you). Sometimes we use khrab and kha for "yes". If you hear Thai people talk on the phone you might here them say only "khrab khrab khrab" all the time.
• If you want to speak Thai you should listen to Thai people speak English because they will do it in a Thai accent for example they won't say the letter at the end of the words, like "important" will sound like "importan", "most" will sound like "mose", etc. Also Thai people won't have the little explosion at the end of map, we will close our mouth after "p" but English people will end with their mouth open. A good example in Thai is "khrab", don't open your mouth after "b".
• Thai people will also break the word up for example "smile". We will say it as "sa-mile", "sport" will become "sa-port", "summer" will become "sum-mer" and in this case Thai people will make the last part louder.
• One of the most difficult things about speaking Thai is the tones because there are 5 tones to remember. There are low, middle, high, falling and rising, if you say it in the wrong tone, the word will have a different meaning. For example if you say mai mai mai mai in the right tone, it will mean "New wood burns, doesn't it?".
• There are some Thai words that most backpackers get wrong. For example, most people say Ko Samui for the islands. The word island should be pronounced with a short "Goh" sound. The popular Thai beer Singha is called "singer" by most foreigners. Really, you should say "beer sing"! One more that I can think of now, Siam Square in Bangkok should be pronounced "Sa-yam".
• Vowel length is very important when you speak Thai. If you make the sound of a word longer you might change the meaning! I know in English you can say "helooooo" if you like but you can't in Thai.
• It is very difficult to write the Thai words using English letters. I have only done this on some pages as a guide. I think it is much better if you try and learn theThai alphabet. It is not as difficult as it sounds.