riga

Thanks for all the replies. Think I get the picture now.

Funny, I searched thailanguage.com a few times and didn't come up with anything. Searched again now and it came up.

Probably because you first searched for "งี้เง่า" (as you write it on your first post.

The word is written งี่เง่า with mai eak instead of mai toh

I do not understand the use of these 3 words, what is the difference, they all mean kinda "is" right?

For example, i can say anee pben dam, this is black, why cant i say anee kew man dam?

or, anee man talok, this is fun, but i cant say anee pben talok, or can i?

I am very confused, heh..

For Pen (เป็น) and Kew (คือ) it's not easy to explin the difference. They are really similar in meaning and

often they are interchangeables just giving to the sentence a different nouance.

You will maybe fin interesting this discussion on the same issue

http://www.thai-language.com/ubb_cgi/ultim...t=000072#000000

Man (I guess it's มัน), in your context I think it's not a verb. It is a pronoun (meaning "it") and in some sentences as the one you used it appear with the verb "to be" omitted.

Maybe other members will be more clear in their expenation

I hate to tell u but the name abigail means the source of happiness in hebrew as it is a biblical name ; has nothing to do with gales or anything else (ab=av means father, or main source; gail comes from 'gil' meaning joy, happiness in a spiritual sense, (not being happy about your grades or getting a new car, but being happy in spirit, content) ...

so maybe u could fined a thai equivalent for joy and happiness....

bina

israel

You mean we should interpret and transcribe biblical meaning??

What is your suggestion?

I thought the request was a phonetic transcription...

I am really courious how you would transcribe abigail in thai.....

I, and I think many Thais, would suggest avoiding the สัน in a name since this can be translated as "short" and can lead to some rather suggestive comments.

Patrick

However googling แฮร์ริสัน it seems tha many thais use this transcription for Harrison.

I admit that it should be avoided to transcript a foreign name using syllable that have also a meaning in the thai language, (as suggested by RI, suggesting the use of a tone mark in transcrpted terms only if they should be differentiated from existing thai terms).

But can you tell me where did you find the translation you suggested for สัน?

RID has 2 definitions but none of them seems to fit yours

Hey riga, stop trying to steal my pint.

Hey, I'm thirsty too!

Our Thai teacher often exaggerates the RRR sound when teaching us new words, then goes on to say that if she spoke like this among her Thai friends they would laugh at the way she was speaking. So I don't know, but I always try to pronounce the ร as Rrr as I've been misunderstood when I tried to say รอ (wait) with an L sound even though that's the way I hear it.

What was explained to me once was that if a thai person in informal situations speaks pronouncing the r sound properly will bu judged by others as a person that like to show off, to give himself "an attitude", to be uppish (I can't really find the proper english expression).

For foregniers is different: we are learning and trying to speak another language and pronouncing the words properly with the R will be considered normal and will help us avoiding confusion.

As for รอ pronounced with L was not understood it was probably more a problem of tone or vowel lenght pronunciation, but surely pronounced with R could help the listener to understand what you mean even if the pronunciation is not perfect

One last question, my wife is unsure how to spell my last name in Thai. Its Harrison please can you translate my name?

I really owe you a pint for your help!

Cheers

แฮร์ริสัน is what wikipedia suggest for Harrison Ford... what are the suggestions of your wife?

You should be able to find a "map of characters" in "All Programs" > "Accessories" > "System Utilities"

Selecting the font you are using you can see all the symbols allowed and selecting the one you need in

the low right corner a key combination will be showed and it's the one that allow you to introduce that

symbol. I know, not really easy to use, but it's the only way I know. Alternatively you can leavo opened

in background the map of characters and copy&paste them.

Okay I'm a learner here and not posted on the language forum before, so please be gentle with me I'm sure this has been asked many times but impossible to find on the search facility (Rs, Ls).

I know that many Thais pronounce Rs as Ls. Where I live in Phuket most of the "locals" seem to do this so I have been going with the flow and pronouncing Rs as Ls, especially as some people correct me to an L if I pronounce an R.

Yesterday I tried some small talk on my greengrocer - it was a hot day - Lawn mahk mahk I said. She said RRRRRRawn. But some people say Lawn I said. She said Ha Ha Ha RRRRRRRRRRawn.

What to do please?

Any dictionary that gives a phonetic transcription of the thai words in romans letters will use R to transcript the thai letter ร and L for the letters ล and ฬ (when they are initial consonants of a syllable, because when they are final consonants both are transcripted and pronounced as N)*.

That's how words should be pronounced correctly and how you will hear them when listening to news and reportages on the radio or on TV.

In the everyday language most people, as you stated, will pronounce L instead of R but as a foreigner and a learner you should probably avoid it and go with the correct pronunciation. I think that nobody will correct you if you use R with the right words, they will correct you only if you use R instead of L when L is the only alternative (correct pronunciation).

What happened with your greengrocer is a bit of fun, because she surely understood what you were saying, but wanted to joke a little bit with you pointing out that the correct pronunciation of the word ร้อน (ron) is with the R sound.

* Be aware that ร can be tricky in some cases, leading to a different sounds or no sounds when in clusters.

Also, as you have probably noticed ร and ล in some cases (when in consonant clusters) are often not pronounced: ครับ (krap) becomes คับ (Kap), ไกล (klai) often pronounced (kai).....

I met a few students that studied at AUA in Bangkok and in more traditional schools. All of them thought their time at AUA was a waste of time. They described it as watching TV in a language you don't understand, although there was somebody that said the higher levels at AUA might be more interesting (if you can already understand some Thai).

AUA in Pattaya uses a different and more traditional method.

Almost all licensed schools provided services to get a student visa.

In a certain way I like the idea that you learn the language the way childs do. Is a different appraoch and they claims great results (that should be verified though).

But as I've already started with a different (and "home made") way to learn the language, my ability to learn through this method should be already compromised....

And forget I could refrain myself to try to speak and apply what I actually (presume to) know

Other doubts are on their claim that an adult can learn even faster than a child folowing this way and the how long the process will take

I don't really understand what is the meaning of the first rule:

obviously an high class consonant will never be preceeded by ho hip (because it want "change" its class, being already high).

A mid class consonant has a behaviour similar to low class consonants only in live syllable (open or closed with a sonorant), in all other cases (death syllables or with tone marks mai tho and mai ek) mid class consonants prodece always exactly the same tone as high class consonants and so there's no reason to add ho hip to them.

It seems to me that once you have learned the tone rules your rule is something unnecessary...

However if it helps you there's nothing wrong as far as the conclusion of your rule is correct

You can get a visa at AUA (which uses a ALG method) http://www.auathai.com/visa_information.html

I suggest you read up on AUA and the ALG method before you decide on this school. Personally, when I first started learning Thai, I was very frustrated with AUA's classes. I didn't feel like I was learning a thing, so I dropped my classes and went elsewhere. Now that I've got a better understanding of Thai, however, I quite enjoy AUA's classes. I'm still go there a couple of hours each month.

Here's a video clip of a Thai Class at AUA. Imagine being in this class while not understanding a single word of Thai--that's the ALG method:

I was reading the introduction of the ALG method and I was wondering how this method can be applied to a student that has already approached the study of the language in another way (self studying or other methods)?

Wouldn't be one of those case where เกรง (kreng) can be used?

I thought it was "pa ra ya". Can anyone confirm the correct pronunciation?

Edit: Just checked with our secretary, apparently it is "pan ra ya". Although to my ear it sounds more like "pa ra ya"...

About this issue there's an interesting note on this site

http://www.thai-language.com/id/131085

The only time I use the transliteration of a Thai word is for difficult-to-read words.....a dictionary like the Thaiways New Age Thai-English Dictionary requires you to use your Thai reading skills to look up the word, but it can help you in decyphering difficult words into syllables.

It's more or less the same for me. After learning and practicing to read in thai I don't nead to look at the translitteration to be able to spell most of the words correctly. But there are a lot of words that are a little bit tricky to get and there a translitteration is helpfull (eventually even the spelling in thai characters used in RID is enough to get the right pronunciation)

The shortened form is ว่าไง, ยังไง just means how.

Hi withnail.

in my previous post I mentioned the short form of informal greetings ยังไง yang ngai.

In your post you added ว่าไง waa ngai which I think it's not a greetings but an informal sentence

used to ask "what have you said?"

Has this expression multiple uses or my interpretation is incorrect?

Sorry AjarnP , I didn't mentioned the fact that it's an informal sentence because it was already mentioned by the OP.

But better to underline it for other members that reads distractely

เป็นยังไง

I think that more usually used is

เป็นยังไงบ้าง > pen yang ngai bang > what's up? / How do you do? / How is it going?

Short form: ยังไง yang ngai

For the มั้ย , although you didnt see it with the speech symbols. but you did find in the Thai lessons for foreigners. To make it easier to read and pronouce even it's not a proper Thai written languaage.

That's exactly my point of view. It will be more correct (or less misleading) to write ไหม and to give a phonetic transcription mái.

But it would be nice if at least for such common word there will be in books the explenation of this particularity of the thai language (words that are written with a certain tone but mostly spoken with a diferent one).... Sure it is an hard task to write such a book

khun riga.. พบ เจอ both are the same. As we also use พบเจอ, ได้พบได้เจอ.

Thank for replay! So this means they are more or less interchangeable and probably the fact that you choose one instead of the other is a question of "hear", which means that in some sentences one will "sound" better than the other, right?

ไหม and มั้ย both are the same, but ไหม is a written language and มั้ย is a spoken language. you may find the มั้ย in some books but only in some conversation parts with the speech symbol- ex. "______มั้ย?" since i have never found the มั้ย without the speech symbol in books or if you found one please let me know

For this I need some more time 'cos I can't remember where I saw that, but I don't think it was a sentence in "speech symbols".

There was also a site that provides thai lessons for foreigners which used the script มั้ย (now they changed the thai script, but mantained the phonetic transcription with the high tone, which can make sense in a certain way... you learn to write it correctly and to pronounce it in the most popular way)

So far thanks again

No problem David I didn't feel criticized from your spot on observations.

I hope thithi or other members will clear my doubts about พบ and เจอ.

OT: reading at many of the posts on this and other forums I'm wondering how many years it will take before ไหม will be reported in dictionaries as "obsolete form of มั้ย" which seems to be used more and more often even in books

1. Both of you inserted the word "อีก" into your response. Is it possible that the OP has never met the recipient of the note in person? Maybe he really means, "When will I see you (for the first time)?"

2. "ได้มั้ย?": The poster's question is not clear. Does he mean, "Once you are in England, do you have any skills that would allow you to find a job" or he might mean, "Can you get a visa to come to work in England?" Does "ได้มั้ย?" imply the first question or the second question?

Thanks.

Let aside that my เมื่อไรผมจะได้พบคุณอีก sounds at least weired (if not wrong) and I should have used ผมจะได้พบคุณอีกเมื่อไร, but your point is a good one David. I haven't tought at the chance that the poster have never met that person, and if it's the case อีก is incorrect.

About this sentence I have also a question: which is the difference between พบ and เจอ? Are they interchangeable or not?

About the second question I had the same doubts ad David and haven't tried a translation because the question needs some more clarification

Hi

Can anyone tell me how to write "when will I see you?"

เมื่อไรผมจะได้พบคุณอีก

mêua-rai pòm ja dai pop khun èek

which means "When will I be able to meet you again?"

I think that your wife's suggestion will be ok, polite enough but not excessivelly.

The form you found "่ไม่ทราบว่าใครกำลังพูดครับ" sounds like "(sorry) I didn't recognize who is talking" which it does not sounds that bad to me and maybe

in some way it can sound more polite because it's not a direct question.

To be the most authoritative institute for the Thai language the Royal Institute has probably the worst server I've ever seen