Hard Of Hearing

[Harcourt]

I'm a little bit deaf, and so learning Thai by ear brings it's own problems.

The other day I asked how to say, "Sorry, I can't hear properly", since I'm getting tired of asking people to repeat themself, and no doubt they are getting tired of repeating themselves.

The answer was, "kor tot, mai XXX yin"

ironically, I didn't hear the answer well enough . I am not sure if it was "mai dai" (can't) (hear), or "mai dee" (bad) (hearing).

Help please on this phrase, and perhaps suggestions for a better way to excuse myself for not hearing properly.

[JamieP]

I'm a little bit deaf, and so learning Thai by ear brings it's own problems.

The other day I asked how to say, "Sorry, I can't hear properly", since I'm getting tired of asking people to repeat themself, and no doubt they are getting tired of repeating themselves.

The answer was, "kor tot, mai XXX yin"

ironically, I didn't hear the answer well enough . I am not sure if it was "mai dai" (can't) (hear), or "mai dee" (bad) (hearing).

Help please on this phrase, and perhaps suggestions for a better way to excuse myself for not hearing properly.

"mai dai yin" would have been I didn't hear?? and sounds likely to me.

"yin mai dai" is can't hear?

but I'm far from an expert.

[sigeena]

Can't use ยินไม่ได้ yin mai dai

The idiomatic expression for can't hear is ไม่ได้ยิน mai dai yin

If you want them to repeat themselves and even go slower you may tell them that you can't catch up with their speech, ฟังไม่ทัน fang mai tan

And if you need them to speak up you can always get them to พูดดังหน่อย puut dang noi

[Harcourt]

Thanks both of you.

I hope I get to the stage where I can confidently say ฟังไม่ทัน fang mai tan, and actually honestly mean, "if you do speak slower, I WILL understand you".

[klons]

If you want the person your speaking with to know you are a little bit deaf, this might work:

หูหนวกสักหน่อย hŏo nùak sàk nòi

If you wanted to ask a person to please speak slower and louder

because you can’t follow what they are saying and are a little bit deaf, maybe you could say:

พูดดังๆช้าๆหน่อย ฟังไม่ทัน หูหนวกสักหน่อย

pôot dang dang cháa cháa nòi fang mâi tan hŏo nùak sàk nòi

(I am further away from far from being an expert.)

[Harcourt]

Thanks very much. Read that loud and clear

[Rikker]

Hard of hearing (but not deaf) is หูตึง, whereas deaf is หูหนวก.

I don't have any real experience using these in real life, these are just the vocab I've learned.

[Harcourt]

If you want the person your speaking with to know you are a little bit deaf, this might work:

หูหนวกสักหน่อย hŏo nùak sàk nòi

If you wanted to ask a person to please speak slower and louder

because you can't follow what they are saying and are a little bit deaf, maybe you could say:

พูดดังๆช้าๆหน่อย ฟังไม่ทัน หูหนวกสักหน่อย

pôot dang dang cháa cháa nòi fang mâi tan hŏo nùak sàk nòi

(I am further away from far from being an expert.)

"sak noi"? or "nit noi"? What's the difference between sak noi and nit noi?

[BEENTHEREDONETHAT]

I can sympathize with you Harcourt. My hearing is such that I have trouble with English and find Thai hopeless. As it is a guessing game as what is being said. Pick up about half the words and have to figure out what is being said from that. Get a lot of interesting responses and a lot of laughs from my interpretation of what is said.

Good to know the thai for can't hear! For me repeating what was said, is no help usually.

So thanks to the people who responded to you.

[aanon]

If you want to keep it simple, I'd go for หูไม่ค่อยดี 'hoo mai koy dee', literally 'ears not much good' to explain that your hearing isn't great. 'Mai dai yin' (I didn't hear you) is good too. Over time you might like to have a few different strategies, just to avoid saying the same thing all the time.

Sorry, what's that? อะไรนะครับ Arai na khrap?

I didn't hear you. ไม่ได้ยิน Mai dai yin.

Can you speak up please? ช่วยพูดดัง ๆ หน่อย Chuay phood dang dang noi.

My hearing isn't great. หูไม่ค่อยดี Hoo mai khoi dee.

Could you speak more slowly please? ช่วยพูดช้า ๆ หน่อย Chuay phoot cha cha noi.

Again please. ขออีกที Khor eek tee.

I can't keep up (listening). ฟังไม่ทัน Fung mai tan.

As always, apologies for the horrendous transliteration. If you don't read thai, surest guide is to have a native speaker read out the phrases to you.

All the best,

aanon

[Harcourt]

Thanks aanon, very thoughtfull to give a range of various phrases....I'm sure I will use all of them, and I am glad that someone else is benefiting too, BEENTHERE.

[klons]

"sak noi"? or "nit noi"? What's the difference between sak noi and nit noi?

Actually I had intended to use nit noi instead of sak noi. But except for virtual thai keyboard,

I am still not set up to type in Thai, so I mainly use the copy and paste method. When I used

an online dictionary to look up little, sak noi came up and nit noi did not. For my own convenience

I used sak noi rather than spend more time to get nit noi. I think they are similar enough but there

could be a difference I'm not aware of.

[JaiDamJungLoei]

I just want to give a big Thanks! for the people responding here. This has been a problem of mine every time I go to Thailand. All these answers are a great help!

[aitch]

sometimes i am unable to hear so well after i have gone swimmimg because i have water in my ear(s).

i could say มีนํ้าในหูเพราะก่อนไปว่ายนํ้า (have water in ear because earlier i went swimming) as an explanation of why i am unable to hear what is being said ?

Harcourt,

thank you for posting the topic. actually logged in looking for it because i was having trouble today with a friend using yahoo chat click to call.

Aanon,

the "different ways to say" post was very helpful. much appreciated.

[klons]

sometimes i am unable to hear so well after i have gone swimmimg because i have water in my ear(s).

i could say มีนํ้าในหูเพราะก่อนไปว่ายนํ้า (have water in ear because earlier i went swimming) as an explanation of why i am unable to hear what is being said ?

Harcourt,

thank you for posting the topic. actually logged in looking for it because i was having trouble today with a friend using yahoo chat click to call.

Aanon,

the "different ways to say" post was very helpful. much appreciated.

I think you should delete ก่อน and stick มา on the end.

มีนํ้าในหูเพราะไปว่ายนํ้ามา

And this would be my suggestion for what I would say

หูอึ้อเพราะเพิ่งไปว่ายนํ้ามา

หูอึ้อ I got from a phrase book. They say it means stuffed up ear for example as one may get in airplanes. It should also work for stuffed

up from swimming.

(the usual disclaimer)

[losworld]

What did you say?

[aitch]

I think you should delete ก่อน and stick มา on the end.

มีนํ้าในหูเพราะไปว่ายนํ้ามา

And this would be my suggestion for what I would say

หูอึ้อเพราะเพิ่งไปว่ายนํ้ามา

หูอึ้อ I got from a phrase book. They say it means stuffed up ear for example as one may get in airplanes. It should also work for stuffed

up from swimming.

(the usual disclaimer)

thanks klons !

หูอึ้อ > ขอบคุณครับ

เพิ่ง > yes, much better

มา > at the end to inidicate past perfect tense ใช่ไม่

[midasthailand]

If you want to keep it simple, I'd go for หูไม่ค่อยดี 'hoo mai koy dee', literally 'ears not much good' to explain that your hearing isn't great. 'Mai dai yin' (I didn't hear you) is good too. Over time you might like to have a few different strategies, just to avoid saying the same thing all the time.

Sorry, what's that? อะไรนะครับ Arai na khrap?

I didn't hear you. ไม่ได้ยิน Mai dai yin.

Can you speak up please? ช่วยพูดดัง ๆ หน่อย Chuay phood dang dang noi.

My hearing isn't great. หูไม่ค่อยดี Hoo mai khoi dee.

Could you speak more slowly please? ช่วยพูดช้า ๆ หน่อย Chuay phoot cha cha noi.

Again please. ขออีกที Khor eek tee.

I can't keep up (listening). ฟังไม่ทัน Fung mai tan.

As always, apologies for the horrendous transliteration. If you don't read thai, surest guide is to have a native speaker read out the phrases to you.

All the best,

aanon

Hi just a warning on Hoo Mai Khoy Dee (sorry about the transliteration) if you say Hoo Mai Dee, be prepared for some quizzical looks or maybe some chuckles because the Thais love to play with words and Hoo Mai Dee becomes Hee Mai Doo as I found out to my embarrassment when learning Thai many years ago. (Hee Mai Doo= Do not look at pussy).

[aanon]

Hoo mai dee (last comment): crude but true.

Also, talking about water in ears...

While we would tend to say "I got water in my ears", Thais are more likely to say น้ำเข้าหู 'nam khao hoo' (water entered ears), avoiding the passive construction altogether.