Chestnuts...need Some Thai Help.

[webworldly]

Greetings.....there is someone who has offered to go to Tops Marketplace for me on Monday.....she only speaks Thai....and I have a chance to speak with her one more time before she goes.

I'd like her to buy a few packages of "chestnuts". They are sold this time of year only in the aisle where all the packaged fruits (dehydrated fruits and stuff) are sold.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chestnut

How can I describe to her what I'd like her to buy?

I would need an English based pronunciation of the Thai words to use....since she won't be here to read a true Thai version of what to say.

OK...a bit of a weird request, I know. Your help is GREATLY appreciated!

CHEERS!

D

[issanpaul]

Greetings.....there is someone who has offered to go to Tops Marketplace for me on Monday.....she only speaks Thai....and I have a chance to speak with her one more time before she goes.

I'd like her to buy a few packages of "chestnuts". They are sold this time of year only in the aisle where all the packaged fruits (dehydrated fruits and stuff) are sold.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chestnut

How can I describe to her what I'd like her to buy?

I would need an English based pronunciation of the Thai words to use....since she won't be here to read a true Thai version of what to say.

OK...a bit of a weird request, I know. Your help is GREATLY appreciated!

CHEERS!

D

Glady Help, but i Think i Am Missing something here? Can you elabourate Your posting?

[Totster]

Greetings.....there is someone who has offered to go to Tops Marketplace for me on Monday.....she only speaks Thai....and I have a chance to speak with her one more time before she goes.

I'd like her to buy a few packages of "chestnuts". They are sold this time of year only in the aisle where all the packaged fruits (dehydrated fruits and stuff) are sold.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chestnut

How can I describe to her what I'd like her to buy?

I would need an English based pronunciation of the Thai words to use....since she won't be here to read a true Thai version of what to say.

OK...a bit of a weird request, I know. Your help is GREATLY appreciated!

CHEERS!

D

Glady Help, but i Think i Am Missing something here? Can you elabourate Your posting?

Eh ?

In short... the OP would like to know the word for "chestnut", and would like it transliterated so he can read it and tell the lady thats helping him.

A quick search returns..

เกาลัด = Gao lat

Might be an idea to write it down for her in Thai, she may not understand what you are saying anyway due to tones etc..

totster

[expat_4_life]

Greetings.....there is someone who has offered to go to Tops Marketplace for me on Monday.....she only speaks Thai....and I have a chance to speak with her one more time before she goes.

I'd like her to buy a few packages of "chestnuts". They are sold this time of year only in the aisle where all the packaged fruits (dehydrated fruits and stuff) are sold.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chestnut

How can I describe to her what I'd like her to buy?

I would need an English based pronunciation of the Thai words to use....since she won't be here to read a true Thai version of what to say.

OK...a bit of a weird request, I know. Your help is GREATLY appreciated!

CHEERS!

D

Glady Help, but i Think i Am Missing something here? Can you elabourate Your posting?

The Thai word for Chestnut is ลูกเกาลัด luuk(f) gao(m) lad(h)

Oops....How'd I manage that duplicate post

Edited June 16, 2007 by expat_4_life

[meadish_sweetball]

You may have to specify further that you want imported chestnuts เกาลัดที่นำเข้าจากเมืองนอก kaolat thii nam khao jaak mueang nawk.

The chestnuts sold locally do not taste the same as the ones I remember from Europe.

[webworldly]

You guys rock! Thank you so much...especially because I wasn't nearly as clear as I should have been in my OP.

What I'd like to say is....

"Please buy the chestnuts that come prepackaged in plastic pouches and are sold in the same aisle as the other packaged fruits.....which is a different part of the store than where fresh fruit are sold."

I don't mind if they are imported or not....I'm just thankful to have any Chestnuts for this one recipe I want to try out on Monday.

She's not going to be able to read the Thai version before she goes to Tops, so I need to read it to her over the phone. Can you provide the "English pronunciation" for that sentence?

CHEERS!

D

[mangkorn]

C'mon folks, THE place buy chestnuts in this town is in Chinatown, being roasted in front of your eyes. Accept no substitutes.

[meadish_sweetball]

Standard English (Southern) pron:

kor hi sue gow-lutt tea sigh toong plastic

ขอให้ซื้อเกาลัดที่ใส่ถุงพลาสติค

cow mee car-ee tee tair-ow pon-la-my hairng sigh toong

เขามีขายแถวผลไม้แห้งใส่ถุง

my chy tee car-ee pon-la-my sot

ไม่ใช่ที่ขายผลไม้สด

Perhaps somebody else can try to do American phonics, if required?

[webworldly]

Meadish...and Totster, Expat4life........thank you very much!

I'm going to read what Meadish wrote to her over the phone on Sunday and I've got high expectations that because of all of your help I'll be good to go on Monday.

Chestnuts.....here we come!

Have a great weekend, folks.....thank you again.

CHEERS!

D

[tgeezer]

Meadish...and Totster, Expat4life........thank you very much!

I'm going to read what Meadish wrote to her over the phone on Sunday and I've got high expectations that because of all of your help I'll be good to go on Monday.

Chestnuts.....here we come!

Have a great weekend, folks.....thank you again.

CHEERS!

Too late now I suppose but I think that over the 'phone I think you should establish that you want her to buy something to eat. 'gow' sounds like 'nine' or 'glue' which could confuse the issue beyond redemption, for chestnuts you must say 'look gowlat'. I am a fan of chestnuts also and would be interested to know how you get on. I found that by March they were passed their best since they are an autumn fruit caming from Japan (small with wrinkles) or China(large and smooth). Any way I digress, as far as comms. goes; the less said, the better. How did it go, and do you think if you had simply said 'gin, look gowlat, and 'Tops' and let her research it, you would have done so well? My feeling is that without 'Tops' and in season you would have had a pleasant surprise, as a previous poster said; proper roasted chestnuts.

[mangkorn]

Like tgeezer, I would like to know how that communication went. I simply cannot imagine someone who speaks no Thai even trying to pronounce the transliteration that was posted.

Also, I am a huge fan of meadish's Thai prowess, but I couldn't understand how "car-ee" could mean "to sell," nor how "tair-ow" could be heard to mean "aisle." As we've all noted before, transliteration is hel_l.

[meadish_sweetball]

I tried to use Southern English pronunciation as a base for the transcription above as indicated. It's true I could have given it in an IPA-based transcription, but I thought it would likely have been counterproductive - the learning curve for English speakers who do not speak Italian, Spanish etc. is steep when it comes to IPA-based transcriptions.

'car' is pronounced with a long /a:/ (granted the sound comes close to อ in some dialects, but I have no way of knowing what the OP sounds like so that's hard to judge). Anyway, providing an approximation of vowel length was what I was trying to achieve. If I had chosen khai, khaay etc. there is no telling what length it would have been - also 'a' is not seldom pronounced like แอ by native English speakers.

It is very likely it did not work out, but if you have a better strategy that would achieve what the OP wants, then please post it, it would improve the thread.

[webworldly]

Hey all :-)

Here's the latest on the hunt for Chestnuts. I spoke to her on the phone....read the English phonics version of Meadish's post....and she indicated she understood. Rain prevented us from meeting on Monday, so we have rescheduled for Friday. What shows up in the bag will be interesting to see. Let's hope either way....it's something yummy! :-)

Too early to know if we're victorious, but I'll update once the verdict is in. Thank you again!

CHEERS!

D

[mangkorn]

I tried to use Southern English pronunciation as a base for the transcription above as indicated. It's true I could have given it in an IPA-based transcription, but I thought it would likely have been counterproductive - the learning curve for English speakers who do not speak Italian, Spanish etc. is steep when it comes to IPA-based transcriptions.

'car' is pronounced with a long /a:/ (granted the sound comes close to อ in some dialects, but I have no way of knowing what the OP sounds like so that's hard to judge). Anyway, providing an approximation of vowel length was what I was trying to achieve. If I had chosen khai, khaay etc. there is no telling what length it would have been - also 'a' is not seldom pronounced like แอ by native English speakers.

It is very likely it did not work out, but if you have a better strategy that would achieve what the OP wants, then please post it, it would improve the thread.

Well, I'm not sure if I have a better strategy, but it may be worth examining. First, when you say "Southern English," my question is Southern where, exactly? The use of the /r/ is what really throws me off, and I suppose it would throw off a lot of other people. Since there is no /r/ sound in the Thai word ขาย, I am not sure why any transliteration system would write it that way. It seems to me that khai or khaay would be best for most novices, in my opinion, and I guess I would've added that it is a long vowel with a rising tone - although who knows what the result might have been in that case either. Alas, transliteration is a maddening and most-often futile exercise.

But a far more important mystery plagues me now, however: I've just taken a stroll along Yaowarat and noticed that all the chestnut roasters advertise เกาลัค - but, not เกาลัด - as some posters and some dictionaries say, and so now I'm really confused about those two words. Seems to be a major discrepancy there. Can anyone explain that? Khun Yoot or Khun BambinA, perhaps? Is it a different kind of nut, or what?

[patri]

It's the same... เกาลัค is pronounced according to the original Chinese pronunciation, while เกาลัด is the Thai's variation .

Edited June 20, 2007 by patri

[meadish_sweetball]

The use of the /r/ is what really throws me off, and I suppose it would throw off a lot of other people. Since there is no /r/ sound in the Thai word ขาย, I am not sure why any transliteration system would write it that way.

Dialects in Southern England (notably RP English) and Australia do not pronounce the 'r' at the end of 'car' (except as a 'linking r' when the next word starts with a vowel sound).

But in those dialects, the 'r' prolongs the vowel sound. While 'aa' and 'a:' are my preferred methods of indicating a long vowel, these two are not obvious if you are not initiated in IPA.

[CSS]

The use of the /r/ is what really throws me off, and I suppose it would throw off a lot of other people. Since there is no /r/ sound in the Thai word ขาย, I am not sure why any transliteration system would write it that way.

Dialects in Southern England (notably RP English) and Australia do not pronounce the 'r' at the end of 'car' (except as a 'linking r' with the next word).

But in those dialects, the 'r' prolongs the vowel sound. While 'aa' and 'a:' are my preferred methods of indicating a long vowel, these two are not obvious if you are not initiated in IPA.

It's made more difficult when one doesn't know where the speaker is from but when I do know I think Meadish's method for the absolute novice is preferable. Namely, finding words that they know already that sound like the sound you want them produce and transcribe accordingly. As he said, using a transliteration system doesn't work unless you've learned the system yourself, which a novice (or even someone with more experience) probably wouldn't have done. I've never bothered to learn IPA myself. Before I learned thai script I would do as Meadish did, only for a mid-western american accent eg. ไป written as bye or ก่อน as gone and such.

[webworldly]

HEY HEY HEY!!!!

It's Happy Chestnut Friday :-)

She came from Tops with 3 prepackaged pouches (100 grams each) of roasted Chinese chestnuts. The packaging is written almost entirely in Chinese with some English on it that is obscured by the mandatory Thai language version sticker. The only ingredient is "chestnuts"....no additives, preservatives, etc.

Price appears to be 42 BAHT for each pouch. (The receipt in in Thai.)

Best of all....they're yummy!!

I appreciate all of the interest and help along the way from everyone here. "We" did it, gang!

CHEERS!

D

[meadish_sweetball]

Phew! Glad it worked - I had my doubts too... Enjoy those chestnuts.

[sceadugenga]

I'll look out for them in Big C next week.

We get them cooked at Mai Sae, Arroy mak mak

[meadish_sweetball]

Yeah, I've had the Chinese ones they do in Mae Sai too - excellent stuff.

[jayenram]

Picture:

http://gallery.thaivista.net/displayimage....cat=0&pos=4

Surin night plaza.