Chinese Learners Learning Thai Language with an Application: Evidence from an Acoustic Study and a Perception Test

This research analyzes the acoustic characteristics and conducts a perception test of Thai tones produced by Chinese learners learning Thai through the “Thai Tone Application”. A comparison of Thai tones pronounced by 40 Chinese learners learning Thai at Nakhon Ratchasima Rajabhat University with 40 Thai native speakers was also conducted. The acoustic characteristics studied in this research were the fundamental frequencies analyzed with the Praat program version 6.0.9. The F0 values were then converted to semitone values. Statistical analysis was used. The perception test was conducted before and after using the application. The results showed that the Thai Tone Application promoted better tone pronunciation and perception in Chinese learners learning Thai as a foreign language. After utilizing the Thai Tone Application with the Chinese learners, they could clearly pronounce the mid and the low tones, which is linguistically classified as the problematic level tones for Chinese learners. The application helped expedite contour tones such as the high tone and the rising tone, but not the falling tone. The minimal pair approach used to create the application was discussed.