Poor thai spelling understood?

[Guest]

 

 

 

 

When I write in Thai, sometimes I am just too lazy to look up a word in the dictionary to make sure I have spelled it right. In inglish itz useually no big deel, evin thow I luk lik a moreon. But... can Thais generally read thai if the spelling is poor, or is it kind of like when I use the the wrong tone and just get a blank look?

 

 

 

 

[Pescator]

I would say that it probably represents a major problem.

 

Especially when we are talking about short monosyllibic words. And thai is basically a monosyllibic language.

 

As you know leaving out the tone marker in one of these or using the wrong one will alter the meaning of the word completely. If you for example misspell several of these words in the same sentence now the permutations will increase dramatically and subsequently the lack of understanding as well.

 

When we talk about multisyllabic ones, most of which are derived from sanskrit and pali, chances are that misspellings will not represent the same problem as there are simply less words to confuse them with.

 

 

 

Quote: "When I write in Thai, sometimes I am just too lazy to look up a word in the dictionary to make sure I have spelled it right"

 

 

 

Well, if you occasionally write in thai I assume you do so in order to have thai people read it. Don`t you get their feedback on their understanding of your writings?

 

 

 

I have been in correspondance with a the thai friend of mine for a year or so. And she never complains although I suffer from the misconception that I actually know the correct spelling without checking with the dictionary.

 

Besides many thais are by now means perfect at spelling and not surprisingly so since many have only been going to school for some 4-5 years.

 

I would say that the understanding will obviously also depend on the degree of misspellings. Imagine you write "Saap" one of the word for "to know" the way it sounds, well, then I am positive that the understanding is zip.

 

 

 

Hua Nguu

 

 

[daeng bireley]

My written thai is always full of spelling mistakes, usually misplaced tone markers and occasionally misused consonants, maybe a wrong "T" or "S" etc. I am also too lazy to use a dictionary. I dont think its a major problem and thais dont seem to have a problem understanding what Ive written. The main thing is to keep practising because the more we do it the better we get.

[Guest]

[color:blue]I would say that the understanding will obviously also depend on the degree of misspellings. Imagine you write "Saap" one of the word for "to know" the way it sounds, well, then I am positive that the understanding is zip.color=blue>

 

 

 

You certainly wouldn't want to fall into that traap.

[daeng bireley]

I dont know about others but I dont seem to have trouble with words like saap ( ·ÃÒº ) for "know", or say, jing ( ¨ÃÔ§ ) "true"

 

or other words with unusual spelling.

 

I seem to be able to remember these , I usually get caught on simple words.

 

I do believe that it will almost always be understood in context unless theres big problems with grammer and structure.