Where to learn how to read and write Thai?

[FMAERTENS]

When you're in Thailand you can pick up one of those books to teach children how to write. Those have drawings on how to form the characters, and preprinted characters in a dotted line. Those you use by tracing over them to practice. Works great to get the "feel" of it.

[pim.tandaechanurat]

FMAERTENS, thank you so much for your smart tip on how to practice writing Thai!! And in Thai, those books with dotted lines are called สมุดคัดไทย (sà-mùt-khát-thai). So, if you guys get a chance to drop by at any book stores or any stationary shops in Thailand, don't forget to buy one![/img]

[fugu68]

I found Stuart Jay Raj's videos quite good for learning the vowel signs in Thai:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht64qNz-DMo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkCftd_Xi7I

Hope you like them too!

[ryanjzander]

I have just put out a new iPhone app to help people who want to learn to read Thai. It's called "Reading Thai".
Here is a link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/reading-thai/id391265783?mt=8

It has all the consonants, vowels, and other symbols. It gives all the rules for tones and letter combinations. And it has a lot of phonics-style reading practice with audio.


Disclaimer* Just for the record, this app is something that I created independently in my freetime. It is not affiliated with ThaiPod101.com or Innovative Language Learning in any way.

[Ellisgen5093]

To write the characters , just trace them in the samut kha Thai books.

For reading, my wife insist you must first learn the names, then the combinations and tones, then all the odd and end rules.

Learning the names: get some flash cards like the ones on readthaibooks.com
Check out this quiz:http://www.chuckpaiwong.com/thai-alphabet-quiz

Learning the combinations:
We found some childrens books in Dokya LA (Thai Town) that had pictures of different objects or actions all based around using the same characters in different combinations. The final series of these books has the odd rules for reading (exceptions to the rules)

After that, you should be able to read almost anything ( at least that is the goal)

Cheers,
Wes

Also, if someone could turn that flash alphabet quiz into an iPhone app, I'm certain they could make up the cost of the developer license. I know I would pay a couple dollars for
It.