A friend of mine is attending Thai classes and we've enjoyed going over his homework and reading/writing assignments. The problem we have run into is that many of the Thai letters we have both learned from books, flashcards, and cds are not the same font style as used in many signs, billboards, and handbills. For example, Rah Ruah appears in Thai sort of like a pole with a dipping flag thingy going to the left, but when on billboards it's like an English S. So, my question is: Does anyone know where to find a source for the Thai alphabet that displays these alternate fonts? I'd sure appreciate it and think others would, too.

The pocket size Thai-English, English-Thai Dictionary by Benjawan Poomsan Becker and published by Paiboon Publishing is the perfect book for that. It includes an alphabet guide showing 12 different fonts. The book is available in all the bookstores in Pattaya. I have found that the more Thai you know, the easier it is to read different fonts. If you already know what the word is using the standard font you should be able to recognize it when using a different font. It just takes practice reading the words and it's not that hard really.

Here's some samples: Thai Fonts

There's an interesting discussion of Thai fonts on ThaiVisa.Com in the Thai Language forum under the topic "One Guy's Effort to learn Thai in 8 weeks." It's pointed out that there are 62 different fonts.

Here's some samples: Thai Fonts

 

Here too:

 

http://www.learningthai.com/thaifonts_01.htm

The pocket size Thai-English, English-Thai Dictionary by Benjawan Poomsan Becker and published by Paiboon Publishing is the perfect book for that.

I agree. It is a great resource, but you'd better make sure you have a magnifying glass unless you have the eyes of a 12 year old - and you really should give them back. (Friendship Market has them, the book and the glass).

You should learn a lot from the paper mentioned at this URL :

 

How do Thais Tell Letters Apart?

Interesting read. Yes, it is quite difficult to tell similar looking letters apart. Even more so in hand-written Thai.

Having myself worked with dyslectics (in another as english-european setting)-you may know-those people that keep on confusing b/d, p/q and many more, these must exist in Thailand too-and must have an awful hard time as there are so more chances for confusion. Even though I have a good friend as professor in Thai at Thammasat uni-it remains a mystery. He himself had hardly known about this fenomenon untill I explained it to him.