I’m taking this class called TH348 Thai Scripts and Khmer Scripts (อักษรไทยและอักษรขอมไทย) which traces the development of the Thai writing system from the Ramkhamhaeng stele up through present time.

There remains a great deal of controversy about the authenticity of this inscription, but that’s not the point of the this post, nor the point of the class. The textbook / professor does cover the fact that some or all of the inscription may have been written at a later time that the 1292 claimed by the “official” record.

Anyhoo … I had some extra time tonight, so I scanned in the part of the textbook which covers the consonants and vowels and created some flashcards that you can use to quiz yourself on the letters. Most people familiar with the modern Thai writing system should be able to guess most of them. The tricky part comes in combining the letters to form words, as all vowels are on the SAME line as the consonants (not above and below as they currently are). I’ll post about that next week and also add in a series of flashcards with actual words.

You can always access the flashcards via the link at the top of this page.

(kudos to www.flashcardmachine.com for the flashcard engine)