Speaking Thai starts smaller than you think

What to learn first, in order

1. Your polite ending. ครับ (kráp) if you are a man, ค่ะ (kâ) if you are a woman. It goes on the end of almost everything you say to a stranger, and it follows the speaker, not the listener. Women switch to คะ (ká) when asking a question. How the ending works with hello.
2. The everyday phrases. Hello, thank you, sorry, no problem, how much, where is the toilet, I don't understand. A few dozen cover most of a trip. The full list of everyday Thai phrases.
3. The replies. Thais often greet you with a question that is not really a question, like "where are you going?" Know a few and the conversation keeps going. What Thais say to you, and how to answer.
4. Tones by ear, not by rule. Copy the sound of whole phrases first. Leave the tone rules for later, if you ever need them. A traveller's guide to Thai pronunciation.

Eight phrases to start with

Add your ending, kráp or kâ (ká for a woman asking a question, like tâo-rài ká), to any of these and they are polite enough for anyone you meet.

Why reading a list doesn't make you speak

You look up thank you. You read kòp-kun kâ. Two days later a woman hands you your change at a 7-Eleven, and what comes out is "kop… koon… ka?", with your hands half raised in a wai that customers don't actually give shop staff. Or nothing comes out, and you nod.

Reading a phrase and saying it to a stranger are different skills. The first takes a second. The second takes saying it out loud a few times, on different days, until it comes without thinking. That is the whole method.

A practice routine that fits a trip

• If your trip is a few weeks away: one short session a day. Say each phrase out loud, then again the next day. The ones you miss come back sooner.
• If you are already in Thailand: practise tonight what you will need tomorrow. Breakfast, the taxi, the market. Use it the next morning, while it is fresh.
• Either way: listen first, then say it. Speaking breaks down at the reply more often than at your own sentence.

What stops people starting

What language do people speak in Thailand?

Thai. The standard form, sometimes called Central Thai, is what you hear in Bangkok, on TV and in schools, and almost everyone you meet will understand it. Regions have their own languages too: in the northeast many people also speak Isan, which is close to Lao, and the north and south have their own dialects. The Thai you learn as a visitor works everywhere.

You can speak it without reading it. Plenty of visitors learn by ear first and pick up the script later, if at all. If you are weighing the two, our guide to whether to learn to speak or read Thai first sets out the trade-off, and Read Thai is there if you want menus and signs.