Ed Gets Schooled: Linguist Stu Jay Raj Critiques a Thai Conversation [S6.E20]

Ed goes back to school and gets a Thai lesson from the
master himself, Stu Jay Raj. Ed recounts a common backstory,
wherein he made serious effort to learn Thai during his first two
years in Thailand - and even ended up marrying his Thai language
teacher! But after that, he more or less plateaued and is looking
for a way to jump start (or jump 're-start') his Thai language
learning. 


In Part One of a two part series, Stu analyzes a short
conversation Ed recorded with a Thai friend, Anna from Lampang.
Stu brings out the microscope and focuses on Ed's failure to
grasp the 'glottal stop' and its function in Thai language. In
short, many Thai consonants are voiced in the back of the throat
and don't involve pushing air out of the front of the mouth.
After practicing a bit, Ed makes some headway, but he's got a lot
of work to do.


Next, Stu points out that Ed's Thai vowels are haphazard in
length, when precision with vowels is a key to Thai
comprehension. Stu notes that often foreigners get obsessed with
tones, which are undoubtedly important, when they should be
focusing more on clear pronunciation of vowels, which add 'color'
to a word. 


Stu's advice is pointed, but even in this short lesson, Ed
manages to make some progress. In Part Two, Stu delves into other
issues such as word choice and 'prosody' or the rhythm at which
someone speaks. 


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