My ability to understand Thai is getting a lot better now however I am now constantly in the situation where the person who is talking to me pressumes I'm fluent.

If someone starts talking to me in Thai and says kaojai mai whats the best way to say yes some or not everything. At the moment I'm saying kaojai or kaojai nit noi.

Try:-

ฟังไม่รู้เรื่อง - fang mai roo roo-ung

Scouse.

you might want to try "karuna pood cha cha" that might help you to understand better.

Anyhow i am still in the beginers category

Explorer

pom fang mai koi tan khap - literally I can't keep up with listening to the Thai language (aka - I don't understand)

I usually use something along the lines of:

khao-jai baang, tae mai mot. (falling, mid, low, falling, low)

phuut chaa chaa noi, dai mai khrap, phraw waa phom ja dai khao-jai maak kheun.

(falling, high, high, low, falling falling, high, high, falling, rising, low, falling, falling, mid, falling, falling)

enter heart/mind some but not all. speak slow slow little, can [question part.] [polite part.], because [clause introduction marker] I will get enter heart/mind much increase/go up.

I understand some, but not everything.

Could you please speak slower because (that way) I'll be able to understand more.

khao-jai baang, tae mai mot----I understand some, but not everything

I use that as well, how about

Khao-jai tae mai roi percent---- I understand but not 100%, can be changed to whatever percent you can understand,

Khao-jai bra-man 70 percent---------- I understand about 70%

sweadish loved the word for word translations

speak slow slow little can because i will enter mind much go up.

Classic

excellent reply meadish_sweetball that's exactly the thing I was looking for.

I also apreciate your explanation I think it's vital when learning Thai to get the literall meanings of all the words in the sentence.

A failing of a lot of the Thai books is that they often tell you the meaning of a sentence but not of the individual words which makes it almost impossible for you to effectively use those words in any other situation.

excellent reply meadish_sweetball that's exactly the thing I was looking for.

I also apreciate your explanation I think it's vital when learning Thai to get the literall meanings of all the words in the sentence.

A failing of a lot of the Thai books is that they often tell you the meaning of a sentence but not of the individual words which makes it almost impossible for you to effectively use those words in any other situation.

don't know what happened there

excellent reply meadish_sweetball that's exactly the thing I was looking for.

I also apreciate your explanation I think it's vital when learning Thai to get the literall meanings of all the words in the sentence.

A failing of a lot of the Thai books is that they often tell you the meaning of a sentence but not of the individual words which makes it almost impossible for you to effectively use those words in any other situation.

yindee khrap, khun whitnail.

You're welcome.

I used to really like the literal translations of the words when I was still studying too. They make it much easier to see the structure of Thai and how the words should be linked together to make sense.

Words like "pen" (bpen, mid tone) are essential to get right, and are very tricky - one major revelation about Thai is that the position in the phrase of the same word, or the surrounding words, can radically alter its function... this was very hard for me to get to grips with at first, but really, the way you learn it is by learning the possible patterns and then trying to create new phrases or sentences with the same basic function words, but replacing the other words with new "information" words... if that makes any sense.

Some sentences where "bpen" is and is not used:

1 a. khao pen tamruad

he "is" police

He's a police officer.

---

1 b. khao pen khon angkrit

she is person England/English

She's English.

---

2a. khao rian phasaa thai pen weelaa laay aathit

they study language thai [result marker] time many week

They studied Thai for several weeks.

---

2b. phaw khrua han neua pen chin.

father kitchen slice beef [result marker] slice

The cook cut the beef into slices.

---

khao suay

she beautiful

She is beautiful

---

khao pen khon suay

she is person beautiful

She is a beautiful person.

---

khun bpen arai?

you [condition/disease linker] what

What is the matter with you?

---

mae pen wat maa tangtae aathit thii laew

mother [condition/disease linker] cold come since week [last ("which already")]

Mum has had the flu since last week.

---

you should charge for lessons

My ability to understand Thai is getting a lot better now however I am now constantly in the situation where the person who is talking to me pressumes I'm fluent.

If someone starts talking to me in Thai and says kaojai mai whats the best way to say yes some or not everything. At the moment I'm saying kaojai or kaojai nit noi.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Nothing wrong with what you're saying now. Nice and simple. I would say don't worry about the more complicated forms right now, especially if your tone production isn't very good. Better to be understood clearly the first time

If your ears are better than your mouth, try using a taperecorder so you can hear what theThais hear you say.... Excellent way to self-help on the tones, in my experience, if you already know what the correct tones should be .

Good idea about the tape recorder, my ears are definately better than my mouth. I actually bought a mic for my pc the other day to use with some Thai language software I have. I haven't used it yet though I can't stand the sound of my own voice in English let alone Thai.

The best is to keep it simple stupid...(KISS)

Mai Khow Jai Bang is sufficient.....

If you try to complicate things you will succeed.

How about

Khow jai bang

even simpler

Touche......

Both will work fine