petedk Posted June 24, 2005 Share Posted June 24, 2005 "Excuse me. Uncomfortable" Can anyone tell me what that means? Well I have seen many bad Thai-English translations and many bad mistakes (such as "only 500 baths a week , and so on) but today I couldn't believe my own eyes. I got off the underground at Sukhumvit and just before the exit there was some kind of repair work or construction going on. A small area was cordoned off with rope and attached to the rope was a sign saying "Excuse me. Uncomfortable" I've always admired the underground and thought that a great deal of effort had put into the translation and use of English compared with the BTS. So what has happened here? Have they bought a cheap Thai-English dictionary and looked up each word and written the literal translation? Have they asked a 10 year old school kid to translate? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BambinA Posted June 24, 2005 Share Posted June 24, 2005 "Excuse me. Uncomfortable"Can anyone tell me what that means? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> do you mean translate "Excuse me. Uncomfortable" from eng to thai? Khor thot dauy tee mai sa duak Khor ar phai nai kwam mai sa duak (sorry i cant type thai here) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Totster Posted June 24, 2005 Share Posted June 24, 2005 I think he means that he has seen a sign saying ""Excuse me. Uncomfortable" in English... which has been translated from Thai... OP was wondering how "they" could have translated so poorly totster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sriracha john Posted June 24, 2005 Share Posted June 24, 2005 As it is construction site sign, I would intepret it to mean that if one of their cinder blocks falls on you from overhead, it would be uncomfortable for you and prompt an "excuse me" from the responsible foreman. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Totster Posted June 24, 2005 Share Posted June 24, 2005 "Sorry (excuse us) for the inconvenience" totster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BambinA Posted June 24, 2005 Share Posted June 24, 2005 "Sorry (excuse us) for the inconvenience"totster <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Danny bah (me drunk) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathe Posted June 24, 2005 Share Posted June 24, 2005 "Sorry (excuse us) for the inconvenience"totster <{POST_SNAPBACK}> ""Kor apai nai kwam mai saduak"......yes, should write in english "Sorry for the inconvenience " Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BambinA Posted June 24, 2005 Share Posted June 24, 2005 (edited) "Excuse me. Uncomfortable"Can anyone tell me what that means? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> do you mean translate "Excuse me. Uncomfortable" from eng to thai? Khor thot dauy tee mai sa duak Khor ar phai nai kwam mai sa duak (sorry i cant type thai here) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Khor ar phai = sorry ,excuse me nai = in kwam mai sa duak =Uncomfortable,inconvenience Bambi Edited June 24, 2005 by BambinA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petedk Posted June 25, 2005 Author Share Posted June 25, 2005 ""Kor apai nai kwam mai saduak"......yes, should write in english "Sorry for the inconvenience " Yes, I realise what they mean and that they should have written "Sorry for the inconvenience" or something similar. I was just trying to point out that when they have spent so many millions or billions of baht building a wonderful system that the MRT is, why don't they pay someone to proof read or at least get a good translator. I can understand that small restaurants sell "diary products" and "deserts" or that noodles only cost "25 baths" but surely MRT and BTS should be more professional in their signposting. I saw other foreigners looking at the sign and can imagine what they were thinking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meadish_sweetball Posted June 25, 2005 Share Posted June 25, 2005 I agree petedk. But they really dont care. Mai pen rai. (But to be fair, the poorly written English in signs is actually part of the charm of living here. A gem of a bad sign can fully make my day. If you want to see more examples of 'creatively' used English (mainly from Japan), go to www.engrish.com) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meadish_sweetball Posted June 25, 2005 Share Posted June 25, 2005 kwam mai sa duak =Uncomfortable,inconvenience Just one small correction if you don't mind: 'Uncomfortable' is just 'mai saduak' (no 'khwaam') - because it is an adjective. 'Inconvenience' is 'khwaam mai saduak' - it is a noun. You can not freely interchange 'uncomfortable' and 'inconvenience' in English because they are different word classes - this is one of the mistakes on the sign peterdk saw in the subway. If you translate the subway sign back to Thai, you get 'chan khor thot. mai saduak.' and I am sure you can see why it does not look so good on a public sign? Usage examples: I feel uncomfortable. It is uncomfortable. Not being allowed to use Thai in other forums than the Thai language forum is inconvenient. Not being allowed to use Thai in other forums than the Thai language forum is an inconvenience. (Note the different word endings, and the article in the second sentence.) so for this reason it should be Sorry for the inconvenience, or We apologize for the inconvenience. [/Lecture over] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neeranam Posted June 25, 2005 Share Posted June 25, 2005 Have they bought a cheap Thai-English dictionary and looked up each word and written the literal translation? Have they asked a 10 year old school kid to translate? Better than nothing. Most of us would be clueless if there were no English at all. I had to learn to read when moving out of Bangkok. Even for simple things like menus. I went to Cabbages & Condoms in Issan and they didn't have an English menu. Some people would be fcukced if they didn't have their walking, long-haired dictionary. Learn to read, gives you much more freedom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boon Mee Posted June 25, 2005 Share Posted June 25, 2005 Have they bought a cheap Thai-English dictionary and looked up each word and written the literal translation? Have they asked a 10 year old school kid to translate? Some people would be fcukced if they didn't have their walking, long-haired dictionary. How very true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve2UK Posted June 25, 2005 Share Posted June 25, 2005 the poorly written English in signs is actually part of the charm of living here. A gem of a bad sign can fully make my day. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Absolutely! The other side of the same coin is the amusement that we provide Thai's when we mangle their language. Free "sanuk" for everyone - what could be better? On the original point about there being a sign there at all - that strikes me as considerable progress compared with the more common "we're digging here - tough" . But then, I try to look for the positive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lopburi3 Posted June 25, 2005 Share Posted June 25, 2005 Have I logged onto the "A" site by mistake? It was a contractors sign, not a UN document. Sure glad I never had teachers this strict. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nordlys Posted June 25, 2005 Share Posted June 25, 2005 I can understand that small restaurants sell "diary products" and "deserts" or that noodles only cost "25 baths" but surely MRT and BTS should be more professional in their signposting.I saw other foreigners looking at the sign and can imagine what they were thinking. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> A huge sign board along the Don Muang expressway (Paholyothin Rd.) across from the airport paid for by BMA used to show a picture of Bangkok governor Apirak with a welcoming messages to arriving tourists in English, Chinese and Japanese. And a message in Japanese reads something like "Welcome to Bangkok" (but in misspelled Japanese) followed by a nonsense phrase that reads "Looking for a Bhutanese mail friend....". ??? It was there for perhaps six months or so until very recently. I should have taken a picture of it before it disappeared. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BambinA Posted June 25, 2005 Share Posted June 25, 2005 kwam mai sa duak =Uncomfortable,inconvenience Just one small correction if you don't mind: [/Lecture over] <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Thank you very much ka. Bambi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siamesekitty Posted June 25, 2005 Share Posted June 25, 2005 As it is construction site sign, I would intepret it to mean that if one of their cinder blocks falls on you from overhead, it would be uncomfortable for you and prompt an "excuse me" from the responsible foreman. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amal2029 Posted June 25, 2005 Share Posted June 25, 2005 Some people would be fcukced if they didn't have their walking, long-haired dictionary. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> How very true. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I have one but I don't hire it...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpdkorat Posted June 25, 2005 Share Posted June 25, 2005 Some people would be fcukced if they didn't have their walking, long-haired dictionary. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> How very true. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I have one but I don't hire it...... <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Cheaper to hire in the long run Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Totster Posted June 25, 2005 Share Posted June 25, 2005 petedk - I understand now what your point is... But I will make just another small point... you still understood what it meant... even though it was a poor translation.... So I suppose they achieved what they wanted, only with minimum effort and poor quality... like most things in Thailand really.. totster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Hall Posted June 25, 2005 Share Posted June 25, 2005 Some people would be fcukced if they didn't have their walking, long-haired dictionary. Learn to read, gives you much more freedom It must be my poor understanding of the English lingua. Always, thought one has that walking, long-haired dicitionary FOR the reason to get fcukced but now the above puzzling statement. But anyway, absolutely second Neeranam's advice that learning to read Thai is of great benefit particularly if you are a (not Viagra supported) long time stayer in LOS. Actually, personally I was even forced into learning to speaking, read and write Thai 'coz my Thai wife has very short hair As far as the original posting about "Excuse me. Uncomfortable" is concerned. Mei bpen rai 'coz I guess we trunk faced individuals got the meassage anyway and it might even be that reading it gave us a smile which surely ain't something doing us any harm at all in LOS. Cheers, Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerryd Posted June 25, 2005 Share Posted June 25, 2005 A small restaurant in Pattaya had a pig roasting on a spit outside almost every night. People would walk by, look at the sign, laugh and walk away. Why ? The sign said "Lamb Roast". Everyone could see quite clearly that it was a pig on the spit. I had the g/f tell the owner, and explain that it was hurting his business. He crossed out the "Lamb" and replaced it with "Pork". Not sure if it increased his business, but I didn't see as many people snickering as they walked by afterwards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Totster Posted June 25, 2005 Share Posted June 25, 2005 A small restaurant in Pattaya had a pig roasting on a spit outside almost every night. People would walk by, look at the sign, laugh and walk away. Why ? The sign said "Lamb Roast". Everyone could see quite clearly that it was a pig on the spit. I had the g/f tell the owner, and explain that it was hurting his business. He crossed out the "Lamb" and replaced it with "Pork". Not sure if it increased his business, but I didn't see as many people snickering as they walked by afterwards. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Ah good point... maybe someone should go and correct them, and tell them the correct phrase... or would somebody loose face....? totster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meadish_sweetball Posted June 28, 2005 Share Posted June 28, 2005 Yes, somebody would lose face, but then you'd already be far away from there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bannork Posted June 28, 2005 Share Posted June 28, 2005 kwam mai sa duak =Uncomfortable,inconvenience Just one small correction if you don't mind: 'Uncomfortable' is just 'mai saduak' (no 'khwaam') - because it is an adjective. 'Inconvenience' is 'khwaam mai saduak' - it is a noun. You can not freely interchange 'uncomfortable' and 'inconvenience' in English because they are different word classes - this is one of the mistakes on the sign peterdk saw in the subway. If you translate the subway sign back to Thai, you get 'chan khor thot. mai saduak.' and I am sure you can see why it does not look so good on a public sign? Usage examples: I feel uncomfortable. It is uncomfortable. Not being allowed to use Thai in other forums than the Thai language forum is inconvenient. Not being allowed to use Thai in other forums than the Thai language forum is an inconvenience. (Note the different word endings, and the article in the second sentence.) so for this reason it should be Sorry for the inconvenience, or We apologize for the inconvenience. [/Lecture over] <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Inconvenient and uncomfortable are not the same, for instance to take the aircon-bus may be inconvenient ไม่สดวก as the bus stop is 1 mile away, but it's comfortable, whilst the green minibus is very convenient, stopping just outside my house, but it's uncomfortable ไม่สดวกไม่สบาย Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.png.3b3332cc2256ad0edbc2fe9404feeef0.png)
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now