Quote:Larb Dip wrote on 25
th Mar, 2011 at 7:15am:
The only way to 'know' how anything is properly pronounced is by using your ears. You're right about tonal languages. This is a perfect example:
Lao Lao. The first word is sighed with a falling tone and the latter uttered with a rising tone. Literal translation: LIQUOR LAO (ethnic group).
When I was trying (and failing miserably) to learn Thai tones from my Thai teacher in Japan, she had me practice tones with the following sentence, which must be transliterated into English as:
"Mai mai mai mai, mai?"
Each 'mai' represents a different Thai word. So what do you think it means? Have a guess.
Clue: the last 'mai' is a question tag, meaning "......., does it?"
Here's the best I could do:
?-ignite-wood-new-no? (Literal)
?-
ignite
-a
new
-picece of
timber
-
no?
(figurative)
This did take up quite a bit of my time. I even had to consult the old man on this.
This is just SOME of the words that can be created by changing the sound: NEW/IGNITE/FINE (TICKET FROM POLICE ETC)/(A PIECE OF) TIMBER/(A TYPE OF FABRIC)
Since you exercise was relayed to you from a Thai teacher, you may know some OTTHER Thai terms. Since my 'Thai' is limited to cognates, I'll beg for the answer.