A List Of Words The Same In English And Thai

[Eastender]

How about a list of words which sound and mean the same in both English and Thai. It can certainly help learning the language. Well, let's just see if it takes off.

I'll start;

Film - meaning both camera film and cling film to cover food.

Mob - as in an angry crowd.

Double

Bonus

Apple

Fluke - as you might say if someone easily wins or passes something.

Over to you......

Edited July 15, 2007 by Eastender

[the scouser]

ฝรี - free (as in gratis)

ลินิน - linen

Scouse.

[sutnyod]

French fries (to be pronounced flenn fly)

burger

coffee (to be pronounced ca-faeeeeee)

---sorry, have to interrupt here for blackfirst----

[rak sa_ngop]

Corruption

Football

Team

Gang

Mafia

Computer

....

[CSS]

How about a list of words which sound and mean the same in both English and Thai. It can certainly help learning the language. Well, let's just see if it takes off.

I'll start;

Film - meaning both camera film and cling film to cover food.

Mob - as in an angry crowd.

Double

Bonus

Apple

Fluke - as you might say if someone easily wins or passes something.

Over to you......

remember though, with all these "tahpsahp" words if you say it like you would in English you won't be understand. It must be said in the Thai style. For example apple, said as apple won't be understood it must be said as àep-bpern (as transcribed by thai2english).

[sbk]

Lots of car parts are the same as in english, like clutch and brake.

[PeaceBlondie]

This is interesting, and helpful. I would add chocolate and brownie; perhaps other pastries and sweets.

But what about false cognates? That is, words that appear to sound the same and mean the same, but in fact mean something different. For example, 'embarrassed' in English means 'pregnant' in Spanish, and 'familiar' refers to family things.

[ashacat]

I remember doing some game like this when I was teaching English in a Thai school years ago. The kids had to get in groups and make a list of as many words as they could that mean the same thing in English and Thai. After about 30 minutes of playing they had literally hundreds, this could be a long thread....

Anyway,

rock (music)

strawberry

chocolate

shampoo

[bkkmei]

some obvious ones

condo

menu

check (bin)

taxi

[Neeranam]

serious

night club

plan

[qualtrough]

One thing I like about Thailand is that they speak their own language, perhaps borrowing the occasional word to describe something that might not have been adequately handled in Thai. This is quite different from the Philippines, where they will switch back and forth between English and Tagalog, even in print. I have noticed the same on Indian and Pakistan TV as well.

I think the list of borrowed English words in Thailand is quite large, and to some extent depends on the speakers education level and locale (e.g. Bangkok). Here are a few off the top of my head. As noted earlier, many of these will not sound anything like their English version:

smart: well dressed

tom: lesbian who adopts a male demeanor, appearance

thinner: thinner (for cleaning brushes)

gas: tow different spellings and pronunciations for LPG and CNG respectively

Were (Thai pronunciation of 2nd syllable of Over): Too much, excessive

spec, tuk spec: specification, to specifications

gauge: gauge (automobile)

gear:gearbox

dynamo: dynamo, alternator, etc.

dristart: starter (automobile). A corruption of starter drive?

wine: wine

whisky: whisky

beer: beer

Mack: stapler (from Japanese stapler brand)

copy: copy

coffee: coffee (although pronunciation quite different)

carbure: carburettor

lo: kilo

mile: mile

winch: winch

rot mai: bus (the mai is from mail, e.g. mail bus)

air: A/C

fax: fax

chocolate: chocolate

freshie: freshman

taxi: taxi

OK: OK

Pla Wan: Whale (The Wan is the Thai pronunciation of Whale)

Hippopotumus: The African animal

Giraffe: Giraffe

laser: laser

aluminium: aluminium

lock: lock, as in lock U for padlock

sofa: sofa

And here is a peculiar one: Desamolay. Probably derived from several English words (dead, demolished, etc.). I believe this was created by a TV comic and means to be completely ruined, destroyed, finished.

There, that wasted 30 minutes when I could have working. Mission accomplished!

[meadish_sweetball]

Good thread and some excellent contributions.

A note about coffee - like 'khanom pang' for bread (cf. Portuguese 'pan' (with a tilde over the n to denote a nasal sound), French 'pain'), the Thai word for coffee (gaa-fae) is probably borrowed from Portuguese (the Portuguese were the first Europeans to have lasting contact with Thailand).

Most European languages use variations of 'café' (kaffe, caffè, etc.) which is closer to the Thai pronunication.

[mike_l]

อินเตอร์(เนชั่นแนล) - international

เปอร์เซนต์ - percent

คอร์ต - court

สปอนเซอร์ - sponsor

ปลาสเตอร์ - plaster

เครดิตการ์ด - credit card

บาร์โค้ด - bar code

คีย์บอร์ด - keyboard

เทอร์โมมิเตอร์ - thermometer

ปั๊ม - pump

บอร์ด - board

บาร์ - bar

บาร์บีคิว - barbecue

ตอร์ปิโด - torpedo

ไดโนเสาร์ - dinosaur

โป๊กเกอร์ - poker

เคอร์ฟิว - curfew

ฮาร์ดดิสก์ - hard disk

มินิมาร์ท - mini mart

พีอาร์ - P.R.

การ์ด - card

สติ๊กเกอร์ - sticker

ฮาร์ดแวร์ - hardware

สเกตบอร์ด - skateboard

คอร์ส - course

เพจเจอร์ - pager

ฮอร์โมน - hormone

โบรกเกอร์ - broker

ไฟเบอร์ - fiber

แท๊กซี่ - taxi

เบอร์ - number

เซอร์ไพรส์ - surprise

เกรด - grade

กีตาร์ - guitar

เกม - game

เคาน์เตอร์ - counter

เคอร์เซอร์ - cursor

เรดาร์ - radar

คอร์ด - chord

เชียร์ - cheer

สติกเกอร์ - sticker

เวกเตอร์ - vector

สปอร์ - spore

โปรแกรมเมอร์ - programmer

ฟาร์ม - farm

ฟอร์ม - form

โปสเตอร์ - poster

สกรีนเซฟเวอร์ - screensaver

โปสการ์ด - postcard

มิเตอร์ - meter

ชาร์เตอร์ - charter

ดาวน์ - down payment

การ์ตูน - cartoon

ไอคอน - icon

คอนโดมิเนียม - condominium

ฮิต - popular

มอเตอร์ไซค์ - motorcycle

แชมป์เปี้ยน - champion

คอนแทคเลนส์ - contact lens

คอมพิวเตอร์ - computer

คอเลสเตอรอล - cholesterol

คอมมิวนิสต์ - communist

ปิโตรเลี่ยม - petroleum

อินเทอร์เน็ต - Internet

คอมเพรสเซอร์ - compressor

เฟอร์นิเจอร์ - furniture

เฮลิคอปเตอร์ - helicopter

Edited July 16, 2007 by mike_l

[qualtrough]

Good thread and some excellent contributions.

A note about coffee - like 'khanom pang' for bread (cf. Portuguese 'pan' (with a tilde over the n to denote a nasal sound), French 'pain'), the Thai word for coffee (gaa-fae) is probably borrowed from Portuguese (the Portuguese were the first Europeans to have lasting contact with Thailand).

Most European languages use variations of 'café' (kaffe, caffè, etc.) which is closer to the Thai pronunication.

I would add to the above that it is critical to being understood to use a G sound (Gor Gai) and not a C as in coffee or cafe.

Speaking of Portuguese, I believe Sabu (soap) comes from Portuguese for soap (sabão). Or has that already been mentioned?

How about fan? OK, in Thai it means boy or girlfriend, but does it come from English fan, which is short for fanatic? I bet Meadish knows!

Edited July 16, 2007 by qualtrough

[meadish_sweetball]

Good question qualtrough. I don't know but somebody else probably does...

My guesses would be either a corruption in meaning of 'fan' as you say (i.e. 'fan' of a rock band (from fanatic)), or it comes from sound corruption of 'friend' (shortened from boyfriend/girlfriend)...

[PeaceBlondie]

Could the first electric fans imported to Thailand have been called 'fan' and the name just stuck? Same as for air conditioner?

[markr]

Technology

[eefoo]

Learnt one from my daughter recently - handidai. Don't have the Thai spelling to hand, but it comes from "Handy Drive" and means a USB flash drive

[bkkmei]

wow, is 'thermometer' more or less the same?

does 'fan' also mean 'fan' as in 'fanatic' e.g. 'rock fan'?

a few sports:

tennis (but sounds more like 'tennit' to me)

golf (but sounds more like 'gorf' to me)

[pete_r]

Good question qualtrough. I don't know but somebody else probably does...

My guesses would be either a corruption in meaning of 'fan' as you say (i.e. 'fan' of a rock band (from fanatic)), or it comes from sound corruption of 'friend' (shortened from boyfriend/girlfriend)...

My "fan" says it could be a deformation either from "friend" or from "fiancee".

One more: "eclair" is a kind of pastry with cream stuffing, which comes from the same word in French. In Thailand the most common "eclair" is round, whereas in France the "eclair" is elongated with chocolate or coffee glazing on top and the round sort is a "chou".

[sutnyod]

Lots of car parts are the same as in english, like clutch and brake.

Hi sbk,

brake? yes. But I always thought the Thai name for clutch - 'khaaat' has nothing to do with the English...

What about Rot Ked = Grader (road construction machinery)?

[bannork]

The Thai spelling for clutch is similar to the English but in pronunciation the l may be omitted and the ch disappears or becomes a faint t being at the end of the word.

I was thinking recently how often the t in English changes to the dt ต in Thai and yet Thai has a perfect t sound.

For example: ton- ตัน tent-เต็นท์ tutor( as in coach, cram)-ติว. Why harden the sound when there's ถ ท ธ available?

[sutnyod]

The Thai spelling for clutch is similar to the English but in pronunciation the l may be omitted and the ch disappears or becomes a faint t being at the end of the word.

I was thinking recently how often the t in English changes to the dt ต in Thai and yet Thai has a perfect t sound.

For example: ton- ตัน tent-เต็นท์ tutor( as in coach, cram)-ติว. Why harden the sound when there's ถ ท ธ available?

Right you are! However, there are certain dangers attached to using the REAL "T". Anyone remembers the story why the screening of the "Titanic" was forbidden in Laos? Because the government didn't want to have a film advertising Thailand! Wouldn't have happened if they had read it with a dt....

[mangkorn]

Could the first electric fans imported to Thailand have been called 'fan' and the name just stuck? Same as for air conditioner?

I fail to see any connection between an electric fan and a girlfriend/boyfriend.

If the Thai word does derive from an English word (and I'm not certain if it does), I think it would be from fan(atic).

EDIT: Oops... I might have misunderstood what I thought I was replying to. If that's the case, I've never heard an electric fan referred to as anything but "pad lom," but maybe I just don't get around enough.

Edited July 19, 2007 by mangkorn

[CSS]

This is interesting, and helpful. I would add chocolate and brownie; perhaps other pastries and sweets.

But what about false cognates? That is, words that appear to sound the same and mean the same, but in fact mean something different. For example, 'embarrassed' in English means 'pregnant' in Spanish, and 'familiar' refers to family things.

Unless I'm misunderstanding the discussion held by a few above then I'm in agreement with Mangkorn and "fan" is a false cognate (not a borrowed word with the same meaning). Fan in english is a device that moves are to cool you, in Thai it is a boy/girl friend. Many, many jokes play on this fact.

Another that came the other day with some of my Thai employees is serious. The manner Thais use serious is a bit different. There use is closer to the English "stressed/stressed out" rather than serious in the sense of not frivolous or comedic. There use almost always has a negative connotation.

A couple more off the top of my head at the moment are:

cow = rice

moo (sound of a cow) = pork

my friend visiting Thailand found, a bit oddly, found that sawatdee kap sounded like "sour-tea-cup"

[qualtrough]

Could the first electric fans imported to Thailand have been called 'fan' and the name just stuck? Same as for air conditioner?

I don't recall Thais calling an electric fan a fan as they have a perfectly serviceable word for those-pad lom. Fan in Thai mean BF or GF. Air conditioning is called Air or AC, from the name.

Another English word used in Thai:

messenger

Edited July 20, 2007 by qualtrough

[Neeranam]

Technology

Not quite the same - The Thai word is technoloyee.

[Stephen Cleary]

I have my own list of over 500 'Tap Sap' imported vocabulary. Here are some of them, printed before elsewhere, which are very commonly used.

1) Visa, Hello (telephone), Free (as in getting something), Pump (as in pump/petrol station), Sexy, Townhouse, Cake, Battery, Notebook (as in PC), Jeans, Lipstick, Chalk, Check-in (hotel), Theque (discotheque), Concert, Sheet (paper), Chemi (Chemistry), Board (Whiteboard etc), Wig, Bow (hair), Plan, Microwave, Sink, Skateboard, Cheerleader, Cook (occupation), Cookie, Guide (occupation), Tour (go on), Credit, Stamp (letter), Motorcyke (motorbike), Shirt, Game, Honeymoon, Print, Poster, Check (bank), Ball (football), Giraffe, Gorilla, Chimpanzee (lots more animals), Volleyball, Ping Pong (Table Tennis) (lots more sports), Commission, Marker (pen), Suit, Coupon, Corruption, Tank (as in oil), Sofa, ICU, Lock, Lift (elevator), Seminar, Coach, Game Show, Cutter, Invoice, Liquid (Liquid Paper), Gel (hair), Stunt, Cartoon, Furniture, Tip (in a restaurant), Gym, Logo, Caddy, Barber, DJ, Presenter, Cream, Chat (Internet), Copy (fake), Guitar, Piano, Neon, Bonus (job), Spa, Jacuzzi, Rock (music), Yaught, Cashier, Skate (roller), Fuse, Cap (hat), Scooter, High-Lo (card game), Card (as in X’mas card), Part (as in part 2), Kilometre, Centimetre, Atnomat (automatic), Bingo, Buffet, Calorie, Clip, Franchise, Graph, Tissue, Khaki, Nawee (Navy), Lens, Champ (champion), Opera, Sauce, Chong Fridge (freezer), Starter, Clutch, Brake, Gear (Lots more vehicle words) , Helicopter, Com (computer), Condo, Flat (accommodation), Fax, Stereo, Remote (remote control), Pear, Plum, Peach, Cherry, Strawberry, Blueberry, Jam, Salad, Sundae, Vanilla, Ice-cream, Beer, Spaghetti, BBQ, Fast-Food, Macaroni, Steak, Mustard, Pasta, Custard, Punch (fruit punch), Wine, Toffee, Nugget (chicken), Chocolate, Donut, French-fries, Hamburger, Hot-dog, Ham, Cheese, Bacon, Mayonnaise and of course Pizza. Then my fave kind of ‘Tap Sap’ for cuteness, Choc-Chip (chocolate chip). As for ‘Strawberry-Chip’, now that means ‘to talk crap’!

I've more to offer if you want them.

[qualtrough]

I have my own list of over 500 'Tap Sap' imported vocabulary. Here are some of them, printed before elsewhere, which are very commonly used.

Yaught? Yacht?

[brahmburgers]

there's a book called '600 Thai Words Taken From English'

I'm not allowed to post the URL here, but you can do a search for it online.

It includes Thai spellings and Thai pronunciations, plus other whistles and bells.