Learn about Thai diphthongs
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| Hi everyone. |
| Welcome to The Ultimate Thai Pronunciation Guide. |
| In this lesson, you'll learn about Thai diphthongs. |
| WHAT ARE DIPHTHONGS? |
| But what exactly *are* diphthongs? |
| Diphthong' means *two* *sounds*. It's the term used to describe two vowel sounds that are pronounced closely together in the same syllable. |
| Take the English word 'pain' for example. |
| It's not pronounced 'pa-in', but 'pain'. |
| Or the word 'foul'. It's not 'fo-ul', but 'foul'. |
| Notice the difference? You can think of diphthongs as gliding from one vowel to the next very quickly. Diphthongs therefore, begin one way and end in another. |
| THAI DIPHTHONGS |
| Thai has many vowel sounds. So you'll be forgiven if you feel intimidated by the thought of pairing them all into diphthongs. Luckily, many of the vowel combinations form a pattern, which we can use to simplify all Thai diphthongs into 3 simple rules: |
| 1. Thai has three basic diphthongs, each having a short and long version |
| 2. Vowels that do not fit into rule number 1, will end in a Y sound |
| 3. Vowels that do not fit into rule number 1 or 2, will end in a W sound |
| Rules 2 and 3 all rely on rule number 1. And since they result in consonant sounds that we've already learned how to pronounce, we can essentially ignore them and focus only on rule number 1. |
| So let's take a look at three basic diphthongs in Thai. |
| The first one is... |
| เอียะ |
| It sounds like the 'ia' in words like 'media' or 'encyclopedia'. Be sure to pronounce it short. |
| เอียะ |
| Now *you* try! |
| เอียะ |
| รองเท้าเกี๊ยะ Chinese sandal with a thick sole of wood |
| ปอเปี๊ยะ ""spring roll""" |
| The second variation of this diphthong is... |
| เอีย- |
| It's identical to before, except the first vowel is pronounced longer. |
| เอีย- |
| Now *you* try! |
| เอีย- |
| เมีย "wife" |
| เตียง "bed" |
| เนียน Smooth" |
| The next diphthong is... |
| เอือะ |
| The first vowel sound doesn't exist in English. It's the 'unrounded U' sound that we learned in lesson 3. The second vowel is an A vowel. Be sure to pronounce it short. |
| เอือะ |
| Now *you* try! |
| There are no words in Thai that uses this diphthong. It is for pronuncation practice merely. |
| Because the second variation of this diphthong is... |
| เอือ |
| It's identical to before, except the first vowel is pronounced longer. |
| เอือ |
| Now *you* try! |
| เอือ |
| เรือ "boat" |
| เรื่อง "about" |
| เชื่อ to believe |
| The last diphthong is... |
| อัวะ / -ว |
| It sounds like the 'ua' in words like 'pure' or 'demure'. Be sure to pronounce it short. |
| อัวะ / -ว |
| Now *you* try! |
| อัวะ / -ว |
| ผลัวะ "onomatopoeic sound for rock thrown into a bush" |
| อั๊วะ "Chinese loanword for I" |
| ยั๊วะ Getting angry |
| The second variation of this diphthong is... |
| อัว / -ว- |
| It's identical to before, except the first vowel is pronounced longer. |
| อัว / -ว- |
| Now *you* try! |
| อัว / -ว- |
| ตัว "self" or body |
| นวด "to massage" |
| บัว Lotus |
Outro |
|---|
| In this lesson, you learned about Thai diphthongs. |
| In the next lesson, you'll learn about the tones in Thai. |
| What was the hardest diphthong for you to learn? Let us know in the comments. |
| See you in the next Ultimate Thai Pronunciation Guide lesson! |
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