Thai's misuse of English words

[PoodThaiMaiDai]

4 minutes ago, Doctor Tom said:

Sorry,  it was not meant as an insult, rather, just a historical observation. Some of my best friends are Americans, I just don't understand half of what they say.  They are from Georgia, so that doesn't help. 

Yes, I understand you were joking.

I also understand in the USA there are many different accents (South including Georgia, North East Boston and New York, and many others).

[chickenslegs]

55 minutes ago, jaiyenyen said:

With regard to mixed up words. My wife confuses 'Tomato' with 'Potato'. Now, we just say 'colour brown' or 'colour red'.

You should prank her by buying some brown tomatoes ...

 ... and some red potatoes ...

[The Hammer2021]

4 hours ago, The Hammer2021 said:

I forgot my bag in the car instead of

I left my bag in the car

I forgot my bag. I left it in the  car.

I forgot  my bag in the car is Thaiglish..lol

[spidermike007]

Most Thais have no idea what we are saying when we mispronounce a word in Thai. Zero. Less than zero. 

 

But it is fine for them to say Ikkea, Chevrolllett, and the like. And when corrected she says, oh that is how we pronounce it in Thailand. Huh? 

[Damrongsak]

"A few weeks ago she was telling me which way to gl to a particular place and said turn by the "big car", i said what big car, a mini is a small car so i assumed she meant something like a Fortuna but I could  not see any but she started to get angry when i kept repeating what big car. I eventually stopped behind a parked Lorry and asked her what she was talking about to which she replies were here. Then the penny dropped, a big car to her is a lorry or truck and on asking a few Thai people what they called them and i was surprised to find it was quite common to call them that. "

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I've read some reviews of motorbikes and motorcycles on Asian sites where they refer to the bike as a "car". 

 

[grin]

Not sure what the problem with recognizing anger is. Some family members seem to think I'm angry when I am not. I may be sad, disappointed, disturbed, or whatever but I'm seldom angry with anyone but myself.

 

Some amusing usage I've heard a few times are the words threegether, fourgether, etc. I wonder if these would be considered to be portmanteau words?

[pomchop]

It is Thais...not Thai's. 

 

Maybe we need to correct our own bad grammar/spelling and/or learn to speak fluent Thai before we go too far down the path with our Thai friends.  I personally get a kick out of listening to some of the pronunciations and interpretations that Thais use.

[ChrisP24]

Generally people learning a new language, especially languages as different from one another as English and Thai, first learn literal translations for simple nouns and verbs, but then string together sentences using the rules of their native language.  But those rules also differ between the two languages, and the rules for English are especially inconsistent.

[gargamon]

2 hours ago, ericthai said:

My wife used to amuse me with the word "upset" - she would always pronounce it upsad... took a year to get that corrected. 

Upsad makes more sense. Its what upset should have been. Reminds me of a Chinese coworker I had. Always said valify. Not a word but probably should have been.

[richard_smith237]

2 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Most Thais have no idea what we are saying when we mispronounce a word in Thai. Zero. Less than zero. 

 

But it is fine for them to say Ikkea, Chevrolllett, and the like. And when corrected she says, oh that is how we pronounce it in Thailand. Huh? 

Quite amusingly, western friends and I have been corrected of the pronunciation of words we thought we ‘westernised’ and that we thought we pronouncing correctly....  you example above...

IKEA - 'eye-key-ah’ is correctly pronounced 'ee-kay-ah’....   we’ve been caught out a number of times and it nearly always lends to an amusing debate...

 

A common joke with my son learning Thai used be to ask him to say certain words in Thai...   Banana, Pineapple, then go for Apple, Carrot, Strawberry !!! its amusing to see how a child as already applied the ‘Thai accent’ to a word which has effectively be copied straight over !!!! 

 

 

 

[DoctorB]

What used to confound me was the confusion between "more" and "more than". I would give my live-in some money to buy something and when asked why she had not she would say "it cost 1000 baht more" when she really meant "it costs more than 1000 baht". She would seem to be asking for more money when she was really trying to say it was too expensive. This could lead to some lively discussions depending on the sums involved. Also the failure to distinguish between borrow and lend: as in "can you borrow me some money" or "I borrow my friend some money; she not give back".

[richard_smith237]

Wife’s English is absolutely excellent, there are very few mistakes other than the odd habituals ones such as ‘Book-Bank’ or something similar which has lodged in there somewhere and the occasional grammatical foible. 

 

However, what does cause frustration is the ‘leap’ straight into the deep-end of a conversation I know nothing about. There is no lead, no build up, I don’t know the subject and am completely confused until I ask the right questions... Where, when, who, what, how, why.... 

 

Example....  ‘It's going to be at Cocotte’....

'Excuse me?'

‘Cocotte’

'What’s that?'

‘The restaurant’ 

'What restaurant?'

'Cocotte, its a restaurant. We’ll go there’ 

'Tonight?'

‘No, the birthday party'

‘What birthday party?'

‘Sarah's Birthday'

‘Oh, not tonight?'

‘No, next week'

‘What day next week'

‘Tuesday’...

 

'Ah ok, I get it now... ‘It's Sarah's Birthday next Tuesday and we are all going to Cocotte for her birthday ?'

‘Yes'

’should have led with that !!!’ ????

 

10 mins later...

 

’So, you can come with me or meet me there'

‘Why would I meet you there?, we’ll go together'

‘But I leave to drop him off at 6:30am’

‘6:30am? who?'

‘xxxx' (name of our son).

‘Drop him off where ?'

’School'

‘What about Sarah’s birthday party ?'

‘I’m talking about the school family photos’

‘Oh, that, I’ll meet you there at lunch time'

 

Head starts to hurt !!!!!! ears start to bleed !!!! 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 18, 2022 by richard_smith237

[Moonlover]

12 hours ago, The Hammer2021 said:

I forgot my bag. I left it in the  car.

I forgot  my bag in the car is Thaiglish..lol

Well she's one better than Madam Moon. To her everything is 'on the car' not 'in the car'. ????

 

[JonnyF]

Most of the time it's just a literal translation from Thai. They think how to say it in Thai and then change every word to English without restructuring the sentence which is why they will say close the fan or close the power instead of turn off the fan/power. It's also why they often don't use "the" and will just say Close Door instead of close the door.

 

I get the impression they spend more time in school on vocabulary than grammar/pronunciation as they often know the word for most things but don't know how to use it properly within a sentence or pronounce it properly. They all make the same mistakes so it must be what they are being taught by Thai teachers.

 

Reminds me of when I started work here and the girl I was working with was called Apple. She said I could call her Pun. I asked what Pun meant and she kind of rolled her eyes and said "short for Appun" ????.

[CharlieH]

Some off-topic meanderings removed.

[CharlieH]

Mrs C gets a few mispronunciations, the most common being...

 

Me: where do you want me to put this ?

Mrs: " in the Chicken" 

Me: What ?

Mrs:" in the Chicken please" 

Me: We don't have Chickens, and why would I put this in a Chicken ?

 

She means the Kitchen !  ????

[bbko]

My wife and I jog or walk around the local parks sometimes, one day after a long jog my wife is massaging her feet and says "I run too much, my foot finger jeb", I paused for a second and thought "foot finger?", she was referring to her toes ????.

[Paulaew]

11 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

A common joke with my son learning Thai used be to ask him to say certain words in Thai...   Banana, Pineapple, then go for Apple, Carrot, Strawberry !!! its amusing to see how a child as already applied the ‘Thai accent’ to a word which has effectively be copied straight over !!!! 

My 12 year old son is fully bilingual in English and Thai. He speaks Thai to his mother and English to me, and he switches effortlessly between the Thai and English pronunciations of "apple," "computer" and "strawberry" as needed (though "computer" tends to get shortened to "com" in Thai).

 

He speaks English with my neutral American accent, but he has Thai friends who are proficient in English and he curiously tends to adopt their Thai accent when he speaks English with them.

 

Paul Laew

 

[richard_smith237]

2 hours ago, Paulaew said:

he has Thai friends who are proficient in English and he curiously tends to adopt their Thai accent when he speaks English with them.

My Son does this with my Wife.... When he’s speaking English to her, he uses a ‘Thai accent’ with some of the English words....    its like he’s subconsciously adapted to emphasise a Thai pronunciation of English with a Thai person - I frequently pick him up on it. 

 

 

[richard_smith237]

One of the best I’ve heard.... 

 

I’m getting stung by 'squimotos’  !!!   (of course, instant recognition of what was mean’t). 

 

With regards to pronunciation... All I can say is... ‘I’m glad it doesn’t snow in Thailand’  and ’never ask for a banana milkshake’ !!! 

 

[Kinnock]

13 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

Wife’s English is absolutely excellent, there are very few mistakes other than the odd habituals ones such as ‘Book-Bank’ or something similar which has lodged in there somewhere and the occasional grammatical foible. 

 

However, what does cause frustration is the ‘leap’ straight into the deep-end of a conversation I know nothing about. There is no lead, no build up, I don’t know the subject and am completely confused until I ask the right questions... Where, when, who, what, how, why.... 

 

Example....  ‘It's going to be at Cocotte’....

'Excuse me?'

‘Cocotte’

'What’s that?'

‘The restaurant’ 

'What restaurant?'

'Cocotte, its a restaurant. We’ll go there’ 

'Tonight?'

‘No, the birthday party'

‘What birthday party?'

‘Sarah's Birthday'

‘Oh, not tonight?'

‘No, next week'

‘What day next week'

‘Tuesday’...

 

'Ah ok, I get it now... ‘It's Sarah's Birthday next Tuesday and we are all going to Cocotte for her birthday ?'

‘Yes'

’should have led with that !!!’ ????

 

10 mins later...

 

’So, you can come with me or meet me there'

‘Why would I meet you there?, we’ll go together'

‘But I leave to drop him off at 6:30am’

‘6:30am? who?'

‘xxxx' (name of our son).

‘Drop him off where ?'

’School'

‘What about Sarah’s birthday party ?'

‘I’m talking about the school family photos’

‘Oh, that, I’ll meet you there at lunch time'

 

Head starts to hurt !!!!!! ears start to bleed !!!! 

 

 

 

 

 

????????????

I get that too ..... but (allegedly) I had already been told all the background details days ago.

 

I don't think this issue is specific to Thai wives.

 

I also have no idea who she's talking about when she discusses family issues.  The nicknames are often duplicated, the family relationships are labyrinthine, and they all look the same age to me .... mothers, daughters, grand daughters all look about 20.

[phetpeter]

Some of my USA friends, state they didn't understand me, How dare they, I speak cockney from the East end of London, everybody knows that it is the only true Queens English..init! And the best Blonde Blue eyed girls are from Essex...Not Germany!

 

 

Edited January 19, 2022 by phetpeter

[meechai]

On 1/17/2022 at 11:55 PM, Dmaxdan said:

My wife does say "open the fan" rather than "turn on the fan"

That is a Thai accent ????

 

In Thai that is what they say, Bpit palom (turn off fan ) or Bpurd palom  (turn on fan)

 

BPit & BPurd is used for on off  things or open close doors etc

[1FinickyOne]

On 1/18/2022 at 5:27 PM, Kwasaki said:

Well my wife's English is better than my Thai so I don't care what she says, I have got learn what she means. 

And then hope it means the same thing 24 hours later.

[zzaa09]

Farang misuse of Thai words...

[PoodThaiMaiDai]

3 hours ago, zzaa09 said:

Farang misuse of Thai words...

The one that drives me nuts is actually the word Farang.

 

Thais pronounce it Fa lang but some of the foreigners pronounce it Fa rang.

 

I pronounce it like the Thais.

[richard_smith237]

2 minutes ago, PoodThaiMaiDai said:

3 hours ago, zzaa09 said:

Farang misuse of Thai words...

The one that drives me nuts is actually the word Farang.

 

Thais pronounce it Fa lang but some of the foreigners pronounce it Fa rang.

 

I pronounce it like the Thais.

You mean you switch out a ‘trilled’ R with an out of laziness but it makes you feel more ‘Thai’ because you’ve heard some Thai’s do it ?

[PoodThaiMaiDai]

49 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

You mean you switch out a ‘trilled’ R with an out of laziness but it makes you feel more ‘Thai’ because you’ve heard some Thai’s do it ?

Out of laziness?  Some people have a way with words.

[richard_smith237]

12 minutes ago, PoodThaiMaiDai said:

1 hour ago, richard_smith237 said:

You mean you switch out a ‘trilled’ R with an L out of laziness but it makes you feel more ‘Thai’ because you’ve heard some Thai’s do it ?

Out of laziness?  Some people have a way with words.

 

Yes... out of laziness....   Thai’s commonly switch out a trilled R with an L because its just easier that way.... 

 

It’s common for many in many nations to mispronounce words which may otherwise take greater effort to correctly enunciate. 

 

 

In the case you refer to ‘Farang’....   the Retroflex Trill is commonly switched out with an L...

 

 

 

Edited January 21, 2022 by richard_smith237

[PoodThaiMaiDai]

18 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

Yes... out of laziness....   Thai’s commonly switch out a trilled R with an L because its just easier that way.... 

 

It’s common for many in many nations to mispronounce words which may otherwise take greater effort to correctly enunciate. 

 

 

In the case you refer to ‘Farang’....   the Retroflex Trill is commonly switched out with an L...

 

 

 

I don't think it is out of laziness.

 

I have never been to any Thai Language classes or been taught formal Thai from anyone.