Christmas Translation

[bmanly]

Could someone be kind enough to translate the Thai part of this letter.

Thank You so much in advance.

http://members.iinet.net.au/~bmanly/Mail.JPG

[Richard W]

Could someone be kind enough to translate the Thai part of this letter.

Thank You so much in advance.

http://members.iinet.net.au/~bmanly/Mail.JPG

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The text seems to read, with phrase/clause numbers inserted:

1. สวัสดี ปี ใหม่ จ่ะ 2. โสรท 3. บิล สบาย ดี ไหม

4. พี่สวย(sp1) มิถึกี้ สบาย ดี 5. เดี๋ยวปี เดี๋ยวปี เวลา มัน ชั่ว พ่าน ใป เร็ว

จริงจริง 6. เรา หมาย ถึง พี่สวย(sp1) 7. ก็ ต้อง แถ่ลง(sp2) ไป อีก หนึ่ง ปี

จริง ไหม จ๊ะ 8. โสรท เห็น คุณ มิถึกี้ 9. เขา บ่นบ่น ว่า ตั้งแต่ บิล

กลับ ไป 10.บิล อี เมว มา ครั้ง เดี๋ยว(sp3) 11. บิล เฉพาะ(sp4) ไร ไหม หรือ เปล่า

12. พี่สวย ขอ ไห้(sp5) พร โสรท แสะ(sp6) บิล

1. Happy new year! 2. Sorot (n5) 3. Is Bill well?

4. Older sister (n1) Mitueki(n2) is well. 5. Just a year, just a year (n3), time has passed quickly

indeed. 6. We intend to go to older sister 7. and declare one more year,

true or not? 8. Sorot sees Miss Mitueki; 9. she has grumbled and complained since Bill

went back. 10. Bill, the cat (pussy? Brer cat?) has come once. 11. Has Bill decided(n4) anything?

12. Older sister (n1) sends her blessing to Sorot and Bill.

n1, sp1: 'Older sister' need not be a blood relative, but I think it likely.

I am assuming that พี่สวย, literally 'pretty elder sibling', is a spelling mistake for พี่สาว 'elder sister'.

n2: I may have misread the name. It could be Mikueki.

n3: Unsure of translation - the literal translation is 'moment year'.

n4: Dictionary meanings are 'special; single out'.

n5: Possible transcriptions and readings of this name, which I don't recgnise, are:

Sot pronounced [L]soot

Sarot pronunced [L/M]sa[L]root or [L/M]sa[F]root

Sorot pronounced [R]soo[H]rot

It is conceivable that this name might actually be Sorok (etc.), Sairot or Sairok.

sp2: I have assumed this is แถลง; there is no such word as แถ่ลง.

sp3: I have assumed that this is เดี่ยว rather than เดี๋ยว 'moment; or, else'.

sp4: I have assumed that this was meant to be เฉพาะ rather than เฉพอะ, which is impossible, or เปิพอะ, which does not exist and is a highly improbable spelling.

sp5: Typo for ให้.

sp6: I have assumed that this is และ 'and'; แสะ has no meaning.

Edited December 25, 2004 by Richard W

[meadish_sweetball]

sp2: I have assumed this is แถลง; there is no such word as แถ่ลง.

I think she is making a joke about herself - saying "I will become one year less old". "kae[LL] long[MS] neung[LS] pii[ML]". The dubious symbol is more likely to be a "kaw kai" than a "thaw theung" I think.

I also think the letter-writer's own name is "Suay" - she is referring to herself.

"Happy New Year! How are you, Sarot(??) and Bill?

Pee Suay is well. Now it is this year, then it is next year - time sure passes by quickly. I mean, Pee Suay has to become one year younger, right?

Have you seen Khun Mikiki, Sarot(??)? She goes on endlessly about how Bill has only e-mailed once since he went back. Is something the matter with Bill?

Pee Suay wishes to send her blessings to Sarot(??) and Bill. "

As for the things I am not sure about - "Sarot" could be something else - "Saira" or "Saipha" for example. It is most likely a name and the recepient of the letter is likely to be able to see who the writer is referring to even if mine or Richard's transcriptions are incorrect.

[sabaijai]

Nice try, Richard. Mead's right, that's แก่ลง ('age down') and later on เป็นอะไร ('what's the matter').

In the reference to อีเมว, อี means 'girl/sister/female' of lower status so it's 'sister cat' or 'girl cat'.

I don't think the name of one of the girls begans with ม but rather บ - otherwise the ไม้ตรี would be redundant. So บิ๊กกี้ (meaning 'Biggie' perhaps, as it's not Thai) not มิ๊กกี้.

[meadish_sweetball]

Nice try, Richard. Mead's right, that's แก่ลง ('age down') and later on เป็นอะไร ('what's the matter').

In the reference to อีเมว, อี means 'girl/sister/female' of lower status so it's 'sister cat' or 'girl cat'.

I don't think the name of one of the girls begans with ม but rather บ - otherwise the ไม้ตรี would be redundant. So บิ๊กกี้ (meaning 'Biggie' perhaps, as it's not Thai) not มิ๊กกี้.

Don't you think my interpretation of อีเมว as 'e-mail' is more likely to be correct within this context - 'cat' is not spelt with sara 'ee'...? Admittedly, "e-mail" is not spelt like that in Thai either, but would not a misspelling of an English loan word be more likely than that of an indigenous "core" word?

Edited December 29, 2004 by meadish_sweetball

[jinalbert]

-- OKay, fix some mistake

Here is my translation.

สวัสดีปีใหม่จ่ะ โสภา บิล(Bill)สบายดีใหม่

Hello and happy new year. Sopar(a name), Bill, how is everything?

**Sopar is the supposed reader.

พี่สวย มิ๊กกี๊สบายดี เดี๋ยวปีเดี๋ยวปี เวลามันชั่งพ่านไปเร็ว

Older sister Suai. Mickey is fine. A year comes, a year comes. Time passed by truly fast.

**Like Richard said, Suai means beautiful. Although, I don't think it's a mistake. I think it's her nickname.

**I don't know why she wrote her name down, but I think she just decided to change the sentence immediately. However, she didn't want to cross out the words, so her name was there.

จริงจริง เราหมายทึ่งพี่สวย ก็ต้องแก่ลงไปอีกหนึ่งปี

[จริงจริง is the word 'truly' in the last line]. What I mean is that I am [Older sister Suai] getting older by one more year.

**แก่ลง literally means "older down". However, I think it just means "getting older".

**Also, in the letter, Suai refers to herself in 3rd person. Not a rare thing in Thai language.

จริงใหมจ๊ะ โสภา เห็นคุณมิ๊กกี้(Mickey) เขาบ่นบ่นว่าตั้งแต่บิล

Am I right? Sopar, I heard Mickey complained that ever since Bill

กลับไปบิลอีเมว(email) มาครั้วเดี๋วย บิลเป็นอะไรไปหรือเปล่า

returned/went back, he email only once. Is Bill okay?

**Email once -- Email to Mickey once.

พี่สวยขอให้พร โสภาและบิล

I [Older sister Suai] wish good fortune [for] Sopar and Bill.

** Again, she refers to herself in 3rd person.

... etc. (English stuff)

Okay, so the writer, P' Suai, an older sister writes to a younger sister (I think). The reason I think it's a sister is because Sopar seems to know Bill very well (maybe Bill is the husband?), and the writer jokes about age (I don't any guy would care for that). Anyway, the writer tells Sopar that Mickey only got one reply from Bill, and wonder if everything is alright with Bill.

OKay, that's is it for my interpretation. Hopefully, that was helpful.

Edited December 30, 2004 by jinalbert

[sabaijai]

Nice try, Richard. Mead's right, that's แก่ลง ('age down') and later on เป็นอะไร ('what's the matter').

In the reference to อีเมว, อี means 'girl/sister/female' of lower status so it's 'sister cat' or 'girl cat'.

I don't think the name of one of the girls begans with ม but rather บ - otherwise the ไม้ตรี would be redundant. So บิ๊กกี้ (meaning 'Biggie' perhaps, as it's not Thai) not มิ๊กกี้.

Don't you think my interpretation of อีเมว as 'e-mail' is more likely to be correct within this context - 'cat' is not spelt with sara 'ee'...? Admittedly, "e-mail" is not spelt like that in Thai either, but would not a misspelling of an English loan word be more likely than that of an indigenous "core" word?

You're dead right, Mead, email of course. I was half asleep (2.30am) when I read the text, it would have been a misspelling of cat at any rate ...