Like Chinese, Vietnamese, and Lao, Thai is a tonal language. This means
that depending on how it's pronounced, the same word can have a different
meaning. The five level of tones are mid tone, high tone, low tone, rising and
falling tone. But don't worry ; it's not all that bad. In some cases, you can still
be understood even if you mispronounce the tone. But in other cases, it is
crucial to make sure that it is correct because it can come off as an offense.
For example, the word ki ma ; with a high tone, it means to ride a horse. But
with a rising tone, it would mean dog dung. It will take some time get all the
tones down, so it's okay to make some mistakes.