Friends,

Please give me some help in understanding the following sentence:

นางพยาบาลกำลังพยายามปลอบใจผู้ป่วยไม่ให้ตื่นเต้นตกใจกับบาดแผลและรอยเลือดของตนเอง

Might we render this:

"The nurse is trying to comfort the patient [and calm him down so that] he will not be shocked when he sees his wounds and bloodstains."

My first impression is that the predicate ". . . ไม่ให้ตื่นเต้นตกใจกับบาดแผล . . . " is understated by using the word "กับ" as a preposition. I am wondering whether a fuller predicate might read:

" . . . ไม่ให้ตื่นเต้นตกใจเมื่อเห็นบาดแผล . . . "

What do you think? Thanks.

I would translate เมื่อเห๊น.... (etc) as "when he/she saw" or maybe "upon seeing" while กับ as "with" but more broadly "regarding" or maybe even "owing to" in which case a fuller predicate might be เนื่องจาก

Respectfully submitted

Mike

นางพยาบาลกำลังพยายามปลอบใจผู้ป่วยไม่ให้ตื่นเต้นตกใจกับบาดแผลและรอยเลือดของตนเอง

- The nurse is trying to comfort and calm down the patient not to be shocked when he sees his wounds and bloodstains.

(The patient has already been shocked, so, the nurse is trying to calm him down.)

นางพยาบาลกำลังพยายามปลอบใจผู้ป่วยไม่ให้ตื่นเต้นตกใจเมื่อเห็นบาดแผลและรอยเลือดของตนเอง

- The nurse is trying to comfort the patient [and calm him down so that] he will not be shocked when he sees his wounds and bloodstains.

(The patient might not have seen his wounds but being nervous about it, so, the nurse is trying to comfort him before he sees it.)

For this sentence, sometimes it can be translated to "the nurse is trying to comfort and calm down the patient not to be shocked when SHE sees HER wounds and bloodstains" which might sound weird, but from this sentence structure, it's not easy to understand the word "ของตนเอง" belong to whom (subject or object).

นางพยาบาลกำลังพยายามปลอบใจผู้ป่วยไม่ให้ตื่นเต้นตกใจกับบาดแผลและรอยเลือดของตนเอง

The nurse is trying to comfort the patient so that he/she (the patient) is not shocked by his/her wounds and bloodstains.

Actually, I do not think that "bloodstains" is a good translation. It is certainly a direct translation but is not indicative of something that would necessarily cause shock. I prefer "shocked by his/her wounds and the amount of blood", which although clearly far from direct appears to lend more to the meaning intended in Thai. Of course my supposition changes totally if the patient is a young child, as any amount of blood would be frightening in such case.

นางพยาบาลกำลังพยายามปลอบใจผู้ป่วยไม่ให้ตื่นเต้นตกใจกับบาดแผลและรอยเลือดของตนเอง

The nurse is trying to comfort the patient so that he/she (the patient) is not shocked by his/her wounds and bloodstains.

Actually, I do not think that "bloodstains" is a good translation. It is certainly a direct translation but is not indicative of something that would necessarily cause shock. I prefer "shocked by his/her wounds and the amount of blood", which although clearly far from direct appears to lend more to the meaning intended in Thai. Of course my supposition changes totally if the patient is a young child, as any amount of blood would be frightening in such case.

Garry,

Are you assuming that "ตื่นเต้นตกใจ" refers to physical shock in the medical sense caused by a loss of blood? I had thought that the phrase psychological "shock" which the Thais might call "ช็อก".

Am I misunderstanding your point? Thanks for the post.

นางพยาบาลกำลังพยายามปลอบใจผู้ป่วยไม่ให้ตื่นเต้นตกใจกับบาดแผลและรอยเลือดของตนเอง

The nurse is trying to comfort the patient so that he/she (the patient) is not shocked by his/her wounds and bloodstains.

Actually, I do not think that "bloodstains" is a good translation. It is certainly a direct translation but is not indicative of something that would necessarily cause shock. I prefer "shocked by his/her wounds and the amount of blood", which although clearly far from direct appears to lend more to the meaning intended in Thai. Of course my supposition changes totally if the patient is a young child, as any amount of blood would be frightening in such case.

Garry,

Are you assuming that "ตื่นเต้นตกใจ" refers to physical shock in the medical sense caused by a loss of blood? I had thought that the phrase psychological "shock" which the Thais might call "ช็อก".

Am I misunderstanding your point? Thanks for the post.

I was not referring to physical shock in the medical sense and doubt whether ตื่นเต้นตกใจ would be used to indicate such condition. In colloquial Thai, I agree that ช็อก would be more accurate if that meaning was intended.

I meant simply frightened/scared/anxious or words of similar meaning. It is just that bloodstains can be rather minor and would not be anything to get shocked or scared about, unless you were scared of the sight of blood, of course. So, rather than bloodstains, I think the emphasis should be on the amount of blood or the size/amount of the bloodstains.

Perhaps, I'm wrong as to what the author was trying to imply, it is just that the sight of "bloodstains" per se is not frightening unless further described in more detail.

Edited July 6, 201016 yr by GarryP

How about:

The nurse is/was trying to calm the patient and stop him being shocked about his wounds and blood loss.

My first impression is that the predicate ". . . ไม่ให้ตื่นเต้นตกใจกับบาดแผล . . . " is understated by using the word "กับ" as a preposition. I am wondering whether a fuller predicate might read:

Just a thought, but what if กับ was actually just short for เกี่ยวกับ?

Fits just perfect . . .