Beginning Burmese Lessons

Different tones in Burmese

• In a tone language (tonal language), different tones (like in music) will change the meaning of the words, even if pronunciation of the word is the same otherwise.

• English and almost all other European languages are not tone languages at all.

• Many East Asian languages are tone languages such as all the Chinese languages, Vietnamese, a small number of Korean dialects

• (From Wikipedia..)

• In a tonal language, placing different emphasis on the vowel changes the meaning.

• • Some Burmese words may sound identical to

untrained ears, but mean different things because there's tonal differences.

အ အ� အ� အ� အ� အ� ေအ အ ေအ�� ေအ�� အ အ��a ar ei e ou ouu ae ai awt aw arn ar:

အ အ� အ�� အ�့�a ar ar: art

အ� အ� အ�� ei e e:

အ� အ� အ��ou ouu ou: ေအ�� ေအ�� ဩawt aw aw:

Some phrases

• So good. kaun: lite ta• It’s yummy/very delicious. sa: lo kaun: lite ta• Very lovely. chit saya kaun: like ta• So cute. chit saya lay

• Any discount? shau par ohm:• I’m full. wa bi• It is enough. taw bi• That’s all. dar par be

• Come…… lar par• Come here…. de ko lar par • Here… de… de ko…. de mhar• I am here.• Kya naw de mhar shi de

• Go… thwa: par• Go there… ho ko thwa: par• There… ho…ho ko… ho mhar…• I will be there.. kya naw ho mhar shi me

ရာ� (short vowel ) ေထာ�င္� (long vowel) ေတာ�င္�� (open vowel)

counting

1 tha khu (short)

10 tha se (long)

100 tha yar (short vowel )

1,000 tha taun (long vowel)

10,000 tha taun: (open vowel)

yar (short vowel ) taun (long vowel) taun: (open vowel)

khu (short vowel ) se (long vowel)

Sample video –at Myanmarhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGzU9d7qH2A

Lessons from the monk:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRNVz4kTyOg

Burmese Alphabetshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTAYvHE_feQ

Some Burmese lesson sites:

How to write Burmese Alphabets http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ejpp41JJC1w