With no luck I've tried explaining the phenomenon of déjà vu to Thai people in order to learn the Thai word for such an experience. Maybe with the prevailing pre-occupation with ghosts, this gets a whole different approach in Thailand. At any rate, does anyone know the Thai word for déjà vu?

Eerie, I see my post and then scroll down and it appears twice - and that's not all, I also have this uncanny feeling I have seen this subject discussed before...

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Deja-Vu-t143545.html

ปรากฏการณ์เห็นมาแล้ว (kidding)

The method of using Google and Wikipedia as suggested in another subject, works here too:

1. Google the English term or use Wikipedia's internal search.

2. Click on the Wikipedia link to the article.

3. Note the language panel to the left of the English article. If you can see the entry ไทย (Thai) there, then there is a corresponding entry in Thai for the article.

4. Click on the word ไทย to be taken to the Thai language article on the subject.

5. Usually, the subject of the article is the Thai term for the same thing and the article gives an explanation in Thai.

...I am not sure but I would guess there is no specific "original" term in Thai for this (note that most European languages also use the French borrowing rather than having their own term for the phenomenon).

The Thai Wikipedia entry has a transcription, เดจาวู , as headline.

And one of the first sentences is a clear description of the phenomenon:

อาการเดจาวูคือรู้สึกว่าเหตุการณ์นั้นเคยพบมาแล้ว ทั้งๆที่เพิ่งพบครั้งแรก โดยเราอาจจะคิดว่าเราเพ้อฝันไป

[roughly]The symptom 'deja vu' is the feeling of having experienced a situation before, even though one experiences it for the first time. Can be accompanied by a feeling of hallucinating.

The rest of the article is a bit of a hodge-podge, the language does not feel completely natural and the presentation of the subject is a little weird. But it would do to give a general introduction for somebody who is not familiar with the phenomenon, I think.