Learn to Read Thai in a Day

Learn to read Thai effortlessly with this remarkable self-study e-course. It uses quirky cartoons to associate the shape of the letter with its sound, as well as various subliminal techniques that imprint the Thai Alphabet in your mind and help you to work out the correct pronunciation and tone for each word.

As a side effect, you will also pick up around 300 key words plus 300 hundred words derived from English. As you practice your reading skills (by browsing the Thai Signs or simply by being out and about), you will subconsciously acquire a comprehensive 'real Thai' vocabulary. It's a great way to begin learning the Thai language.

Before you look closer at the Rapid system, check out the Thai way of learning to read. It can be done for free, or by spending around 50 hours at a Thai language school at a cost of 30,000 baht (not including travel expenses).

Or you can do it in 8-12 hours using the Read Thai in a Day e-course.

A revolutionary approach to learning, by using cartoons and visual associations.

How it works

The system is based on five years research in Accelerated Learning. Essentially, each letter is visually associated with its sound. The entire alphabet is thus permanently imprinted in your brain within a few hours.

cactus

aah

wiggle

คาว

khaaw (normal, flat tone) - smelly/fishy IMAGINE a cow walking along a long flat beach, eating rotten smelly fish that are littered all along the beach. (The cow leaves a trail of foul fish-smelling manure behind her!)

We use a completely non-linguistic approach for learning the sounds and tones. Instead of complicated classes and tone levels, each letter has a gender - boy, girl or ladyboy. The tones can then be derived from the personality characteristics of each letter :)

This makes it so much easier to work out the tones. Basically boys and girls and the same, except when it comes to singing. Girls' emotions rise when they sing, but boys and ladyboys just feel bored (monotonous, flat tone).

Ladyboys, however, are complicated creatures: sickly, theatrical, exhibitionistic, clumsy and sexually depraved! So how they respond to the tone rules is very different.

The word above คาว is pronounced khaaw (or khaao). This is a singing word and, because ค is a bored ladyboy, the tone is flat and monotonous.

คาว means 'smelly' or 'fishy'.

The word for 'white' is spelled (and therefore pronounced) differently: ขาว.

ข is an old cackling lady. Her emotions rise when singing, so ขาว is pronounced khaaw? (a rising/questioning tone).

If the same word is spelled with the 'surfing' tone mark (it looks a bit like someone surfing down a wave) it is pronounced differently and has a different meaning. Boys and girls are quite sporty and can surf well, so they go down the wave (falling tone) with ease. (A ladyboy, however, can't surf at all and gets thrown up in the air by the wave.)

So ข้าว, which means 'rice', is pronounced khaaw! (with a falling or emphatic tone because ข is female).

The e-course makes this clear and intuitive because of its humorous and visual approach.

This is the first step to learning Thai. It makes the world of difference learning vocabulary directly from the Thai text, rather than via a contrived and approximate (and often incorrect) transliteration. The trouble about learning Thai using phonetics is that you very quickly reach a ceiling and will find it very difficult to learn any more. Also you learn a kind of 'farang dialect' of Thai that becomes very difficult to unlearn.

An additional feature of the e-course is a visual story method for memorizing the 300-word Thai vocabulary. After working through the e-course, you will be able to take in so much more of your surroundings in Thailand. You will be able to read (and start to understand) Thai street signs and notices.

Try it for free

Please visit our download page to obtain a copy of the Read Thai in a Day e-course. A great deal of the e-course can be accessed for free, and you will learn enough for you to get started reading Thai within an hour or two!

The main section of the ebook can be accessed by purchasing a PIN Code that simply unlocks the rest of the ebook. No further downloads necessary and no installations necessary. The ebook is merely a secure HTML document that uses Internet Explorer supplied with Windows.

Practice Reading Thai Signs

In the Thai Signs section, you will be able to practice your newfound reading skills (even if you don't live in Thailand) and pick up a core vocabulary along the way. There are thousands of Thai signs and notices with audio and translations that will help you to develop a solid foundation for 'real' Thai as found out and about on the streets and buildings of Thailand. You will be amazed at how words stick in your mind, simply because it is part of an image you have seen.

Free Thai Alphabet Guide

Simply download this PDF file (right-click and "save target as..."). Print it out and keep it handy while you browse through the photos. It might take a little longer to become familiar with the Thai alphabet - but it's free!

If you haven't already done so, you will need to download and install the free Adobe Reader in order to be able to view the document.