Thai characters – why look different from the textbook I learn?
Many expat students at our Thai Language School find it difficult to recognize the Thai characters in the magazines, newspapers, advertisement and even someone’s handwriting. As a Thai Language Teacher I’m hoping I can help you with this.
The easy way to help you to recognize those Thai characters from other media and to understand the concepts of Thai alphabetical shapes. If you notice the shape of each Thai letter you will see the standard form of Thai letters which are the curve, the line and the circle.
Let’s take a look at these Thai letters
Example 1:
ต this is ‘dtor-dtao’ the tortoise. If you take a closer look at it ต
you will see it starts with a circle then slash then vertical line then two curves and end with verticle line. If you understand and know how the ต made of you will be able to identify ต in different fonts.
ต ต ต ต ß ‘dtor-dtao’ in different styles
**Please note that sometimes the circle will just be changed to a beak and the line might be a little curvy.
Example 2:
ก this is ‘gor-gai’ the chicken. If you have a closer look at it ก
You will see it starts with the vertical line then a little back slash then a curve and end with a vertical line
ก ก ก ก ß ‘gor-gai’ in different styles
**Please note that sometimes the part of the ก ‘gor-gai’ that looks like a beak might disappear. This is another style of writing ก ‘gor-gai’ for many of Thai people, which will look like an inverted ‘U’.
I hope this will help you to recognize the Thai characters when they are written in different styles.
Kru Mulan J (Thai Language Teacher)
Want to learn more Thai Language …then come have a look at our Thai Language School www.thailanguagehut.com