Thais Don't Have A Word For...

[meadish_sweetball]

both are called gnoo

No they aren't. You just can't hear the difference.

Snake is งู 'nguu' (mid tone) and mouse/rat is หนู 'nuu' (rising tone).

These words differ in the initial consonant sound as well as in the tone.

In the Thai context they are as different as 'rat' and 'lamb' sound in English.

[SoftWater]

both are called gnoo

No they aren't. You just can't hear the difference.

Snake is งู 'nguu' (mid tone) and mouse/rat is หนู 'nuu' (rising tone).

These words differ in the initial consonant sound as well as in the tone.

In the Thai context they are as different as 'rat' and 'lamb' sound in English.

Meadish is distracted today....

Mouse and rat are indeed both หนู and are not distinguished in Thai.

I don't think anyone mentioned snakes งู...

[meadish_sweetball]

I think I need a long, long break. Will just go get my coat.

[imaneggspurt]

Corruption,....

[Beacher]

Foresight. Se-ed gives two long explanations for it.

LOL - That certainly makes sense. If the concept doesn't exist in one's culture, why have a word for it?

[SoftWater]

Corruption,....

Dictionaries are useful...

[N] การไม่ซื่อสัตย์ S.dishonesty; bribery

[N] ฉ้อราษฎร์บังหลวง corruption

[V] corrupt; embezzle; peculate; swindle S.ฉ้อโกง, ฉ้อ, ยักยอก, หลอก, หลอกลวง, ทุจริต, คดโกง

Example: ข้าราชการที่ดีต้องไม่ฉ้อราษฎร์บังหลวงคดโกงประชาชน

(NECTEC Lexitron 2 TH-EN)

{My rough translation: "A good public servant must not swindle the public."}

Edited September 29, 2009 by SoftWater

[bannork]

Not a word but an idiom, I can't find a Thai equivalent to: 'You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink.'

To turn the tables, what's a single or compound English word to describe เกี่ยงงอน or เกี่ยงกัน to pass the buck,not accept responsibility as in a customer complains but none of the staff accept responsibility for the problem or there's a duty rota and the person's whose turn it is is sick and no one will do it in his/her place?

[SoftWater]

Not a word but an idiom, I can't find a Thai equivalent to: 'You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink.'

To turn the tables, what's a single or compound English word to describe เกี่ยงงอน or เกี่ยงกัน to pass the buck,not accept responsibility as in a customer complains but none of the staff accept responsibility for the problem or there's a duty rota and the person's whose turn it is is sick and no one will do it in his/her place?

For the English, how about 'shirking' (เช่น 'My boss always shirks her duties; whenever I make her aware of a problem, she just tells me to sort it out myself').

For the Thai equivalent to 'You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink', there is อย่าข่มเขาโคขืนให้กินหญ้า

{my rough translation is something like 'Don't (try to) force the horned cow to eat grass against its will'.}

Two good sources for idioms and sayings in Thai, both recently published and available in Chula bookstores:

สำนวนอังกฤษและสำนวนไทย (130 baht; forgot the author but its got a light blue cover)

and

สุภาษิตอังกฤษคำสอนใจของไทย (220 baht, dark blue cover)

Softwater

Edited September 29, 2009 by SoftWater

[SoftWater]

Foresight. Se-ed gives two long explanations for it.

LOL - That certainly makes sense. If the concept doesn't exist in one's culture, why have a word for it?

Foresight - สายตาไกล or มองการณ์ไกล (or การมองไกล)

Barely longer than the English...

Keep them coming, nothing helps improve my vocabulary better than doing the dictionary work for you guys....

Edited September 29, 2009 by SoftWater

[bannork]

Not a word but an idiom, I can't find a Thai equivalent to: 'You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink.'

To turn the tables, what's a single or compound English word to describe เกี่ยงงอน or เกี่ยงกัน to pass the buck,not accept responsibility as in a customer complains but none of the staff accept responsibility for the problem or there's a duty rota and the person's whose turn it is is sick and no one will do it in his/her place?

For the English, how about 'shirking' (เช่น 'My boss always shirks her duties; whenever I make her aware of a problem, she just tells me to sort it out myself').

For the Thai equivalent to 'You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink', there is อย่าข่มเขาโคขืนให้กินหญ้า

{my rough translation is something like 'Don't (try to) force the horned cow to eat grass against its will'.}

Two good sources for idioms and sayings in Thai, both recently published and available in Chula bookstores:

สำนวนอังกฤษและสำนวนไทย (130 baht; forgot the author but its got a light blue cover)

and

สุภาษิตอังกฤษคำสอนใจของไทย (220 baht, dark blue cover)

Softwater

Thanks for those Softwater but not quite the same I'm afraid - don't force someone to do something against their will compared to people must have the will or motivation to do something themselves, we can only point the way.

Shirk responsibility sounds good for เกี่ยงงอน though I like อู้งาน too

[SoftWater]

Not a word but an idiom, I can't find a Thai equivalent to: 'You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink.'

To turn the tables, what's a single or compound English word to describe เกี่ยงงอน or เกี่ยงกัน to pass the buck,not accept responsibility as in a customer complains but none of the staff accept responsibility for the problem or there's a duty rota and the person's whose turn it is is sick and no one will do it in his/her place?

For the English, how about 'shirking' (เช่น 'My boss always shirks her duties; whenever I make her aware of a problem, she just tells me to sort it out myself').

For the Thai equivalent to 'You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink', there is อย่าข่มเขาโคขืนให้กินหญ้า

{my rough translation is something like 'Don't (try to) force the horned cow to eat grass against its will'.}

Two good sources for idioms and sayings in Thai, both recently published and available in Chula bookstores:

สำนวนอังกฤษและสำนวนไทย (130 baht; forgot the author but its got a light blue cover)

and

สุภาษิตอังกฤษคำสอนใจของไทย (220 baht, dark blue cover)

Softwater

Thanks for those Softwater but not quite the same I'm afraid - don't force someone to do something against their will compared to people must have the will or motivation to do something themselves, we can only point the way.

Shirk responsibility sounds good for เกี่ยงงอน though I like อู้งาน too

As I understand it the senses are the same; the English translation of 'don't' is misleading. A more accurate translation would be 'you can't force the cow to eat the grass'. The only reason I didn't translate it that way to start with was to forestall people replying that อย่า = 'don't'. As I say, literal translations will sometimes mislead, especially when you're dealing with idioms.

Anyway, no need take my word for it; check with a native speaker, or lets wait to see if aanon or aircut drop in on this thread.

Best

Sw

[Richard W]

Foresight. Se-ed gives two long explanations for it.

LOL - That certainly makes sense. If the concept doesn't exist in one's culture, why have a word for it?

Foresight - สายตาไกล or มองการณ์ไกล (or การมองไกล)

That's more 'far-sighted'. The explanations in Se-ed are การมองเห็นการล่วงหน้า and ความคิดลึกซิ้งเกี่ยวกับเหตุการณ์ล่วงหน้า.

[SoftWater]

Foresight - สายตาไกล or มองการณ์ไกล (or การมองไกล)

That's more 'far-sighted'. The explanations in Se-ed are การมองเห็นการล่วงหน้า and ความคิดลึกซิ้งเกี่ยวกับเหตุการณ์ล่วงหน้า.

I think they can be used in both ways. มองการณ์ไกล can be used to mean 'having the foresight to do something' as in มองการณ์ไกลพอที่จะทำ

The expression รู้ล่วงหน้า would also capture the meaning you're after.

Edited September 30, 2009 by SoftWater

[bina]

anybody tried to translate from other languages then english, words that convey a whole sense of something, or more then one thing, int he language, but there is no 'word' in other languages?

stam in hebrew means: ok, niiiiiiiiice, not so wonderful, doing nothing, hanging out, a bit boring... there is no word in thai. husband just uses the word 'stam' in coversations now with other thai who live here, as they dont have the word for this but most thai working here have picked upt the term.

im thinking that chuey chuey is maybe similar? as in: taam alai? chuey chuey... but that doesnt cover all the various subtle meanings...

davka- a yiddish word meaning that something happens in spite of, or TO spite or ...of course it was obvious that now that something happens the thing u were waiting for previously would also happen simultaneously... husband hasnt grasped that one yet--

as in : to do something 'davka' (like a child doing the opposite of what he was told) as in a boss yelling at his worker, 'you davke let the tractor hand brake off....; or finding 100 baht after u already left the store and searched all your pockets, u find the money folded in a small pocket...davke after u already got on the bus...

for us, they convey many meanings in a single word. hard to translate to thai or english for that matter...

chutzpa-- cheeky, nerve, spirit, bold (too much so), smartypants, smartmouth... cant find anything that translates in thai for that one...

have several more: a word describing a 'type' of sort of mafiosa guy (slicked hair alligator shoes macho type,that we have a word for, but i cant seem to translate to anon although ive shown him the 'types', his closest is 'viroom' but that means youth...

bina

israel

[mangkorn]

Deja vu.

Then again, there is no English word for it, either. Nor Spanish, nor most languages, if I'm not mistaken.

I've always wondered why not?

[anothertorres]

There's no word for 'stress.'

A like a few Thai words that don't translate to English.

Numjai and Kengjai.

Naam Jai is "water heart". translates well enough to "good hearted" or even better "water from the heart".

In the term น้ำใจ, น้ำ doesn't mean "water" - it connotes the very essence of what is being addressed: "goodwill, generosity." น้ำมือ means "craftsmanship," not "water from the hands;" น้ำเสียง means "attitude," or "tone of voice;" and the perennial favourite สมน้ำหน้า means you get what you deserve, not "water in your face..." In such cases, the relationship is allegorical, in the sense that liquids are essential to life; a literal translation to "water" falls far short.

fantastic, thank you for this.

[thamling]

ATTENTION PLEASE

I'm a thai and we dont have this word "horny" muahahahahha but only 1 that i can think of ..its slang tho "gnian" (some of thais dont understand) argh any idea? try to ask ur sweetheart about this k? ah or this but too long "chan mee kwam tong karn tang pet" <deleted>? pet haha yes! its mean SEX.

ตื่นเต้น means excited and goes well for horny if you agree on the circumstances