Thai is a tonal language that is learned best through listening to native speakers. You can learn Thai online for free. Various websites teach Thai, but only a specific few are thorough in their teachings and provide options for you to listen to native Thai speakers. Reading, writing, speaking and listening are all part of learning the language. You should begin with the basics, such as the alphabet, and work your way up to more difficult steps such as sentence structure.

Go to learningthai.com. This website will provide you with various tools to learn Thai for free. It is one of the most comprehensive sites and a good starting point because it has links to other resources such as books and CDs on learning the language.

Browse the menu on the left side of the page to see the various options the website has to offer.

Click on the various categories in the menu to begin learning Thai. If you are a beginner, you may want to start with the Thai alphabet. Pictures of the symbols in the alphabet and the order of consonants and vowels in the dictionary are the two resources used to learn the alphabet.

Click on the Writing Lessons tab to learn to write the letters of the Thai alphabet. The tutorial demonstrates the proper way to write them. It encourages you to say the name of the letter out loud as you write it. The writing lessons are weekly lessons featuring various alphabet letters each week.

Choose the Learn to Read Thai section if you are interested in reading the language. This will direct you to a series of 22 lessons on reading Thai.

Select the Speak tab at the top of the home page to learn how to pronounce words and speak the language. This section has 11 chapters that will teach you things such as greetings, useful phrases, getting around town, foods and drinks, and times and dates.

Listen to various sound files that feature conversations of people speaking Thai by selecting the Listen tab at the top of the page. This will help you understand the language and pick up on common words. You can also listen to stories and music.

Use the Learning Thai Forums to ask questions and get answers about difficulties you are having while learning Thai. You can even request a free MP3 recording of a native Thai speaker.