Bpen Rai, And How To Say Sa-ghetti Or Spa-getti

[PeaceBlondie]

I understand mai bpen rai. So, if you leave off mai, can it be a problem, as in "bpen rai"?

Also, some Thais add an a when the word in English starts with s and another consonant. Sa-pain, sa-mart. Do they say spaghetti?

[skipvice]

My wife says Spa-getti, so that must be the right way

[5tash]

I understand mai bpen rai. So, if you leave off mai, can it be a problem, as in "bpen rai"?

Also, some Thais add an a when the word in English starts with s and another consonant. Sa-pain, sa-mart. Do they say spaghetti?

"mai bpen rai" is a loose term, it can mean a number of things. "It doesn't matter." — "Never mind." — "You're welcome" — "Don't mention it." — "It's no big deal."-"No problem".

If you leave off the "mai", "bpen rai" would have the meaning of "matter; do matter", it wouldn't have the meaning of "problem", as you suggested.

Thai only has a handful of consonant clusters (combination of two consonant sounds) compared to English. s + p isn't one of them, therefore the English loanword "spaghetti" is pronounced "sa-pa-get-tii". Though, some Thais who have been educated in English will be able to pronounce the s+p combination.

[mgjackson69]

The "sp" combination is one...for example, you will usually hear 'special' pronounced as "sa-pecial".

Two other sounds that are difficult for Thais, as nothing similar exists in the Thai language..."v" sound, especially within a word, as "savory'. Also "z" sound.

[yoot]

"bpen rai" can be used as a question. It's shorten from 'bpen-a-rai' means 'what's wrong(with you)?.

Or, bpen rai mai? means 'Are you ok?'.

[tommyj4]

Sapagetti

[subseasteve]

Well my name is thateeb, (Steve), so there goes two problems in one. I love it when they call me Thateeb. nBut I try not to make my smile too obvious, coz there English is better than my Thai in most cases.

[bmore99]

I understand mai bpen rai. So, if you leave off mai, can it be a problem, as in "bpen rai"?

The opposite of "mai bpen rai" (=it doesn't matter/it is OK) is "bpen sii" (=it does matter/it is not OK) or "bpen arai sii"

[thithi]

I say "Sa-paa-get-teeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

[PeaceBlondie]

Okay, my novel can be changed. bpen sii it is. And the Italian restaurant in Mae Hong Son has sa-pa-getti moo, but the menu is spelled wrong, both in Thai and in Spanish!

[scyriacus]

thai language does not have certain sounds like sp & st (sapeak, satation, satamp, sapecial). this is because thai has many words where a vowel is not written but spoken; even many words without any vowel at all (dirty=sogkaprogk สกปรก, minus=lob ลบ etc). another typical problem for thais is the final -l which is impossible as ending sound in thai and spoken -n. try: "final local call people". satun = สตูล, phumiphon = ภูมิพล, all -l are spoken -n. -k is written, but -t is spoken like in samak (spoken samat)

on the other hand english speakers have similar problems with sounds not vailable in english. especially vowels like in 'meat' = เนื้อ, 'boring' = เบื่อ, cat = แมว, night = คืน, money =เงิน, forget = ลืม are nearly impossible to transliterate or transcribe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transliteration) into english, but rather easy into german, which has those similar sounds 'äöü'. ipa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet) would be the best tool to speak foreign words, but too few people know it. Thai (ภาษาไทย, transcription: phasa thai, transliteration: p̣hās̄ʹāthịy; IPA: [pʰāːsǎːtʰāj]). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_language. the better we sapeak thai the better we understand thai peopen. my english friend always came to trang to drink beer chang (not trung & chung, which sounds so much better in thai ears)...........

[5tash]

.......but -t is spoken like in samak (spoken samat)

Are you sure?

[bmore99]

thai language does not have certain sounds like sp & st (sapeak, satation, satamp, sapecial). this is because thai has many words where a vowel is not written but spoken; even many words without any vowel at all (dirty=sogkaprogk สกปรก, minus=lob ลบ etc). another typical problem for thais is the final -l which is impossible as ending sound in thai and spoken -n. try: "final local call people". satun = สตูล, phumiphon = ภูมิพล, all -l are spoken -n. -k is written, but -t is spoken like in samak (spoken samat)

on the other hand english speakers have similar problems with sounds not vailable in english. especially vowels like in 'meat' = เนื้อ, 'boring' = เบื่อ, cat = แมว, night = คืน, money =เงิน, forget = ลืม are nearly impossible to transliterate or transcribe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transliteration) into english, but rather easy into german, which has those similar sounds 'äöü'. ipa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet) would be the best tool to speak foreign words, but too few people know it. Thai (ภาษาไทย, transcription: phasa thai, transliteration: p̣hās̄ʹāthịy; IPA: [pʰāːsǎːtʰāj]). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_language. the better we sapeak thai the better we understand thai peopen. my english friend always came to trang to drink beer chang (not trung & chung, which sounds so much better in thai ears)...........

Just to promote the use of IPA:

The thai2english website makes it possible to choose various transcription methods, among them are IPA and the Paiboon version of IPA

[mangkorn]

.......but -t is spoken like in samak (spoken samat)

Are you sure?

I beg to differ.