Thai words/phrases English speakers have difficulty pronouncing

Hi all! I'm a final year Communication Design student from Chula, currently working on my thesis on Thai language. The aim of my project is to facilitate English speakers in the pronunciation of Thai, and in order to develop my project further I have to compile a list of words/phrases English speakers have difficulty pronouncing (whether it focuses on consonants, short or long vowels, or intonation)... If anyone can help suggest words or phrases, that would be very much appreciated. Thank you!

Look for sounds that appear in Thai, but not in English.
That'll give you a start.

I am from Denmark.

The hardest word for me, are words start with NG (ง ), i still have problem with them words.

At the start when i try learning Thai, i have problem with word starting with DT (ต), BP (ป)
But i have learn them by now.

cknida wrote:

Hi all! I'm a final year Communication Design student from Chula, currently working on my thesis on Thai language. The aim of my project is to facilitate English speakers in the pronunciation of Thai, and in order to develop my project further I have to compile a list of words/phrases English speakers have difficulty pronouncing (whether it focuses on consonants, short or long vowels, or intonation)... If anyone can help suggest words or phrases, that would be very much appreciated. Thank you!


I am sure you are aware there are many sounds created by Thai letters that have no equivalent in the English language. Therefore making the sounds is difficult for the average foreigner.

Personally I find words that start with or feature the following letters in the first syllable difficult:
ง ป ต
Some of the Thai vowel sounds are also alien to an English speaker although less so to a native of France for example.

Given the difficulty that the Thai tones present to many foreigners perhaps your thesis might look at Thai words we can speak correctly :lol:

keep practicing with Thai people, then when you get it right record it with your phone so you can improve on it.

It's the tones more than the words I would say in general. But if you just repeat them enough it's not that hard.