English Phrases Explained In Thai

[mikenyork]

I may be the last person in Thailand to discover this book, and, if so, my apologies for posting about it here. The title of the book is "i". That's right, lower case of the ninth letter in the English alphabet. The book consists of "I" phrases that, once you read them, you realize pervade everyday conversation (at least in American English). This is followed by a translation into Thai and then examples of different situations in which the phrase might be used and its meaning in those situations. Have you ever wanted to say, as precisely as possible, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a dam_n", but when you looked up the words in the dictionary they didn't make an iota of sense strung together. In "i" you learn that the equivalent phrase is "กูไม่สน" "Gu mai son".

I find the general quality of Thai/English instruction books aimed at Thais to be, frankly, appalling. I can usually open any such book to not more than three random pages and find at least one, and usually more, egregious errors. Sometimes I can find one or more errors on virtually every page! There are an increasing number of exceptions to this, but I have been through this book pretty thoroughly and have found only two very minor mistakes (one was "I'm not afraid of ghost" no 's'--pretty minor and the other was equally trivial).

I was at the Book Fair at Sirikit Center today and the publisher had sold out of this book on the first day of the Fair. So word is out. (Like I said, I may be the last one to get it).

I have found this to be an outstanding resource for teaching conversational English, among other uses.

The author is not my brother-in-law and I'm not connected to the book in any way other than being an impressed fan.

[Rikker]

Sounds interesting -- can you post the author / ISBN?

[mikenyork]

The (and I quote) เลขมาตรฐานสากลประจำหนังสือ is 978-616-7029-21-9

The publisher is "a book" website abookonline.com

The author is ภูมิชาย บุญสินสุข

[Hardie]

Have you ever wanted to say, as precisely as possible, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a dam_n", but when you looked up the words in the dictionary they didn't make an iota of sense strung together. In "i" you learn that the equivalent phrase is "กูไม่สน" "Gu mai son".

???????

Somehow, I'm having a hard time picturing Rhett Butler saying this to Scarlet O'Hara...

[Tod Daniels]

Not to disount the book (by any wild stretch of the imagination) but the first word in the example you site is ONLY something you'd ever speak to someone in your immediate circle of friends, i.e. (very) close acquaintances or a significant other.

If you addressed your 'run-of-the-mill' thai person like that you'd be out in 'left field', be in for an swift kick with their foot or at least the person would say; กวนตีน in reply!!

The personal pronouns มึง (for someone else) and กู (for yourself) as well as มัน (they, he, she) are NOT under any circumstances to be used lightly here in the glorious "Land 'O Thais", especially with people you don't know VERY well!

Even I, (who I'd like to think has pretty thick-skin) would take offense to someone who I didn't know referring to me EVER in that way (and I am a foreigner!!)

I am not discounting this book or the phrases in the book, (and I did actually save the ISBN number to buy it). I am only pointing out how much the thai language differs from english in its MANY levels of politeness.

Use the previously mentioned words at your own peril (and then get back to me about how it worked out for you), that is if you can speak with your jaw wired shut ..

Edited November 1, 2010 by tod-daniels

[Groongthep]

Not to disount the book (by any wild stretch of the imagination) but the first word in the example you site is ONLY something you'd ever speak to someone in your immediate circle of friends, i.e. (very) close acquaintances or a significant other.

Not to be overly contrary but if you've ever seen "Gone with the Wind" you would know that the character of Rhett Butler was very much in the "immediate circle of friends" of Scarlet O'Hara. For that reason I don't see "กูไม่สน" too much off the mark from "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a dam_n", when used in that context. I do agree that it would be inappropriate amongst strangers or casual acquaintances however.

[Tod Daniels]

Not to be overly contrary but if you've ever seen "Gone with the Wind" you would know that the character of Rhett Butler was very much in the "immediate circle of friends" of Scarlet O'Hara. <SNIP>

You are totally correct; in that context he is speaking to someone in his “inner circle”. I stand humbly erected errr, I mean corrected . ..

However, it is my experience after listening to all too many foreigners who profess to ‘speak thai like a thai’ that few can delineate the oh-so many layers in the thai hierarchal society .

That is why I thought it was just better to offer out the warning I gave .

“No harm, no foul”, and no disrespect meant or intended to ANY posers <sic> errr, I meant posters on Thai Visa . .. .

Sorry to all for my sa-pelling errors. …

[mikenyork]

When I posted the example, I was thinking of using the book in a completely different way from the way Mr. tod-daniels was warning people NOT to use it. I was thinking of a situation where one wanted to say or had said, probably to ones significant other, "frankly, I don't give a dam_n" and been completely misunderstood or not understood at all. dam_n is too frequently translated as ฉิบหาย, which it really isn't. So, in my mind, I was thinking of someone going to this little jewel of a book, looking up the phrase and showing the Thai person its explanation. As for taking the English phrase and using the Thai translation in conversation, per se, Mr. tod-daniels makes an excellent point. Vulgarity is, in my experience, beyond the reach of almost all non-native speakers of any language (including English). It just doesn't come out right most of the time. Think for a minute about the subtlety of tone of voice, intonation, context, relationship with the other person, etc. with which one says in English F*** you. That little phrase can have many very divergent meanings. Likewise in Thai, only more so. So, the book is correct, in my estimation in translating the phrase as กูไม่สน but that doesn't mean that one can use the phrase in exactly the same ways and contexts as one can say "I don't give a dam_n". IMHO the book is right and Mr. todd-daniels is equally right.