Thai Phonetic Notations In Chinese Phonetic Lessons

In recent years, the economic and political status of China has grown immensely. Students studying the Chinese language all over the world have also exhibited an increase. The popularity of Chinese in Southeast Asian countries, especially Thailand grows with this global trend. Because of this increase in demand, schools all over Thailand have to all extents begun offering Chinese courses, and Chinese teachers are being dispatched all over the country, in both urban and rural areas. Each school and its surroundings, language environments, as well as demand for the Chinese language are all unique even under the influence of this global trend. Due to these unique characteristics and circumstances, Chinese teachers will encounter situations unanalyzed or unrecorded in theoretical researches or previous teaching experiences of fellow teachers. These special situations are worth analyzing and studying.Over the course of the ten-month internship in Phetwittayakarn School of Chaiyaphum Province, it is observed that around57%of the students in classes that were offered Chinese courses would make phonetic notations in Thai. The contents noted include the initials, finals, tones of the Chinese Pinyin System, as well as vocabularies and sentences of the Chinese language. These phonetic notations can be divided into three categories:notations based on the teacher’s pronunciations, notations based on the students’ own pronunciations, and notations based on notes made by fellow classmates. After obtaining permission from students, the notebooks are collected and scanned. The contents of these phonetic notations, the reason behind their existence, and their possible shortcomings are analyzed comprehensively by combining the following aspects:the status quo of Chinese courses offered in this school, the teaching environment, as well as the demand for Chinese in the surrounding area.This article divides the phonetic notations into three parts for description and analysis:notations on initials, notations on finals, and notations on tones. Through analysis, it is discovered that these notations have certain shortcomings, such as the notations deviate from actual pronunciations, negative transfer caused by similarities between Chinese and Thai, negative transfer caused by differences between the two languages, and so on. After communicating with students and local teachers, the reasons behind the existence of these notations are summarized. The phonetic notations are mostly affected by English, the differences in mouth opening between spoken Chinese and Thai, time spent on studying, and etc. This article then put forth several strategies according to analysis in order to improve teaching results. For example, explain the similarities and differences between the two languages with help from local teachers, explain the faults of using phonetic notations, create a language environment, as well as teaching methods for specific language elements.A number of references analyze the fact that Thai students use their mother tongue to substitute Chinese elements from a phonetic angle, and analyze the formation of phonetic errors based on this analysis, for example, Chen Mei (2010), He Shanyan (2010), Wang Lijuan (2010), and Hong Wei (2008). This article, however, emphasizes on written substitution and connection to phonetic errors. Written substitution means when students substitute Chinese elements with similar or easier elements from the mother tongue in the written form. Afterward, the students practice pronunciations based on these written substitutions, creating phonetic substitution. The phonetic notations in Thai described in this article falls under this category. These written substitutions are connected to phonetic errors among students. The analysis and research on the contents and reasons of the phonetic notations in Thai can provide a reference on the reasons behind phonetic errors from a new perspective. This article hopes that this new perspective can provide a reference to Chinese teachers teaching in similar circumstances.