How Many Thai Words Do You Know?

[Mr. Farang]

as a thai person, born & raised I think bambinas translator is working perfectly

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No (sorry to correct you again), see this link:

http://www.thai-language.com/id/146417

Thai's do not have a "corner" on Thai-English direct translations, as you will see from the link:

http://www.thai-language.com/id/146417

Which is very different from hers, and much more closer to the actual way it is pronounced in Thai, sure 1000 %

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I know what your saying Mr Farang but those meanings wouldn't have caused my wife to knock me round the head when i said it.

Bambina's "phunking liar" worse than saying "bullsh1t" was the one i got a whacking for

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No, sorry again. BambinA's definition is also not correct, as "Thaw Laaa" does not mean "phunking liar" (this is too strong)... it simply means, and is spoken as this link describes it:

http://www.thai-language.com/id/146417

[colloquial expletive that was formerly used chiefly with women but now is used to criticize men, too]to fib; to lie; to prevaricate; to equivocate; to evade; to beat about the bush; to dodge; to hedge

and more softly:

talkative (like a child who is learning to speak)

Which together do not make "phucking" anything, laughing out loud, because "phucking" is too strong to describe the intent and the meaning.

In the interest of peace and happiness, I have learned over the years not to argue with a woman :-) So I stop here before it is too late!

Good night

Edited August 24, 2005 by Mr. Farang

[BambinA]

No, there is no "R" sound in this word.  You are not correct, sorry.  Thai's often make this same mistake with "L" and "R"..... when working Thai-English and English-Thai. Similar when Thai's say "Lice" instead of "Rice".....

My GF makes this English mistake all the time and she speaks English very well

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ha Ha Ha you're freally funny excuse me..which sentence i say it "R" sound

Bambina's "phunking liar" worse than saying "bullsh1t" was the one i got a whacking for 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Mr.Boj from the meaning of that word is "Liar" but much more hardcore (actaully it depend on who you use with sometime its just funny word when talk with friend )

Bambi

[Boo]

There have been many occasion where I have asked my husband to explain a word I see in a book or website & he translates it different to what is in the book, this is a frequent problem for learners of another language as the book will only give a brief desription, whereas a native speaker knows numerous meanings when said with different tones or in different context.

Same as in English, many times I have used words that confuse my husband & his translator doesn't give the same description in which I used it.

[Mr. Farang]

There have been many occasion where I have asked my husband to explain a word I see in a book or website & he translates it different to what is in the book, this is a frequent problem for learners of another language as the book will only give a brief desription, whereas a native speaker knows numerous meanings when said with different tones or in different context.

Same as in English, many times I have used words that confuse my husband & his translator doesn't give the same description in which I used it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Exactly, I have been reading, writing and speaking Thai since 1987, only 17 years, and am a native English speaker.

I know this cute word very well and how to pronounce it in Thai, fluently. The word has no R sound, laughing out loud. I only give the translation link to help the readers (and novice Thai or English speakers), I know how to pronounce the word in Thai, laughing out loud - it is a very easy word to speak, compared to other very tonal words in Thai

MAI PEN RAI :-)

(Good Night Again)

Edited August 24, 2005 by Mr. Farang

[sua yai]

I've been here for 7 years, speak a bit of Thai but have never made a real effort.

However, the best thing is the encouragement I occasionally get from Thais who don't know me. "You speak Thai very well" etc.

That actually makes me want to learn more.

I know they're just being polite, but it does make a difference.

[Mr. Farang]

I've been here for 7 years, speak a bit of Thai but have never made a real effort.

However, the best thing is the encouragement I occasionally get from Thais who don't know me. "You speak Thai very well" etc.

That actually makes me want to learn more.

I know they're just being polite, but it does make a difference.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

FYI: If you are serous about speaking Thai, I recommend you carefully learn to say the 44 consonants and 32 vowels correctly (like the ABCs). After that, the rest is much easier :-)

For example, observe Thai International Airways (TG)'s travel magazine. - which TG calls, in English "SAWASDEE".... this is another example where some Thai's incorrectly use a direct spelling translation v. a phonetic translation (the official, approved transcription).... It really should be:

"SAWATDEE" because, in Thai, the ending "S" sound is aspirated as a "T" , so if an English speaker-reader reads SAWASDEE and pronounced it correctly according to English rules, it would be misspoken in Thai.

Hence, the correct English spelling is SAWATDEE.

SAWATDEE KRAP

(Good night again

[Note of correction, since Mr. Farang obviously is very keen on setting the record straight: The ส in the Thai word สวัสดี is in no way 'aspirated', and does not sound like a 't'. 'Aspirated' in phonetics terminology means 'to pronounce (a stop consonant) with an immediately following h-sound in a syllable in which the h is not usually represented (as in English)' and is used to distinguish sounds such as ค from ก, as well as ท from ต(where the former is aspirated, and the latter is not). What Mr. Farang is trying to say, is that in syllable-final position, ส is pronounced as a 'non-realized /d/ or /t/'. In simpler terms, it means that your tongue should stop short at the alveolar ridge where you place your tongue at the start of /t/ and /d/ (the alveolar ridge is the shelf just behind your teeth), instead of bouncing off it and producing an outgoing stream of air.) It is correct that the sound should not be pronounced as the common romanization suggests. Then again 'sawatdee' with the 't' pronounced like in normal English, is also wrong. Please see above description of stopping your tongue at the right place to get it right. Also, the syllable tones are as follows: mid, low, mid; and the vowel length of the syllables is short, short, long. Bored yet? /Meadish]

[Jimbo_uk]

I know the words for bums and tits (dtoot & nom) - what else do u need to know?

[Gazza]

oh & my husband says that when someone shouts they can't do tones & will still be understood.

My wife uses a 6th tone which is called a 'high pitched whine'. It's a tone that's normally used when someone, usually me, has done something wrong (or allegedly done) and is often applied to rapid-fire speech.

The only words understood by me when she's using this tone are 'Chai Mai?, Chai Mai?' which she uses to good effect at the end of every sentence to allow her time for a quick intake of breath.

[loong]

MAI PEN RAI :-)

That would be Bpen, not pen

It really should be:

"SAWATDEE"

And that would be Sawutdee, not sawatdee

Please stop getting your knickers in a twist.

Thai language does not lend itself well to romanised phonetics and vice versa. Don't worry about it. Jai yen yen. ( or should that be Jy, Jye, Jie, OMG too many possibilities.

Serah air แ- is often written aa or ae, but I prefer air as I believe it to be closest to the actual way it sounds. That is my preference and I make no apologies for it.

Mother in Thai ....Mair, to me sounds good........Maa or Maaa sounds like a sick sheep........ Mae sounds more like as in the month of may.

Take the "Bridge over the River Kwai" this is now mispronounced the world over because it was written as "Kwae", not "Kwair". If you asked most english speaking people to pronounce "Kwair" they are more likely to pronounce it nearly correctly than when reading "Kwae". Now most farang seem to have the idea that there is a river called the Buffalo river and it has a famous bridge over it.

As far as I know the Buffalo river does not exist.

It would be wonderful if there was a sensible universal way of romanising Thai script, but until then we will have to just muddle on.

Sorry Loong, but you have the buffalo river situation mixed up a bit.

It is the spelling 'Kwai' used in the name of the movie that has messed things up, because most people pronounce the sound of this river the same as they would 'Thai' or 'high', making it sound close to ควาย (khwaai = buffalo).

For Commonwealth speakers (apart from Irish, Scottish, some Northern English dialects and the Southern Burr people down the tip of New Zealand's South Island), 'kwair' makes good sense. But not for the above exceptions, and not for Septics and Canucks either (not to mention large parts of the rest of the world).

/Meadish

[Thetyim]

My wife used to call me LAMOK everyday but I have now been promoted to LOK JHIT

I hope one day to earn the status of KHON WHIT-TAT-TAN

Edited August 24, 2005 by Thetyim

[mrbojangles]

My wife used to call me LAMOK everyday but I have now been promoted to LOK JHIT 

I hope one day to earn the status of  KHON  WHIT-TAT-TAN

Whisper in my ear, Thetyim. I found out what LAMOK means, yesterday, what's the other ones mean? PM if too rude for open display

MrBoJ

[Mr. Farang]

MAI PEN RAI :-)

That would be Bpen, not pen

It really should be:

"SAWATDEE"

And that would be Sawutdee, not sawatdee

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

My kickers are not knotted, but your understanding of Thai spelling is twisted ;-)

The vowel in the Thai spelling of "sawatdee" is an "A" not a "U" and is not aspirated like a "U" in any know western language.

Just like the "A" in Wat Thai ("wat" a temple") is not aspirated with a "U" sound.

Suggest you kindly learn your Thai ABC's before talking about others kickers, laughing out loud, :-)

[You consistently misuse the term 'aspirate' - the term you should be using here is 'pronounce', or possibly 'articulate'.

Furthermore, you yet again assume your American pronunciation is some sort of norm for all English pronunciation, which shows that a.) your experience of the world is rather limited, or b.) your ear for language differences needs tuning up. Don't try to show off unless you truly possess superior knowledge, because it is bound to come back to bite you in the butt. Just an advice in all friendliness. /Meadish]

Edited August 30, 2005 by meadish_sweetball

[Boo]

what loong is saying mr farang is that everyones idea of phonetic thai is different, i understand his spellings more than yours & in the books I use, mai bpen rai is used instead of mai pen, if you know what I mean.

[BambinA]

MAI PEN RAI :-)

That would be Bpen, not pen

It really should be:

"SAWATDEE"

And that would be Sawutdee, not sawatdee

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

My kickers are not knotted, but your understanding of Thai spelling is twisted ;-)

The vowel in the Thai spelling of "sawatdee" is an "A" not a "U" and is not aspirated like a "U" in any know western language.

Just like the "A" in Wat Thai ("wat" a temple") is not aspirated with a "U" sound.

Suggest you kindly learn your Thai ABC's before talking about others kickers, laughing out loud, :-)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

actaully i give up already .. (in good mood...not arguement or fire)

but when i read what u post ..i just want u to explain a lil

U - imagine word "gut"

A - imagine word "vat"

so ... when you pronouce it'd be " sa -wud-dee" SAWASDEE,SAWATDEE and " wud" TEMPLE

Bambi

ps , im not so good in TH as mike_l and siamesekitty so you'd wait for them

Edited August 24, 2005 by BambinA

[meom]

FYI:  If you are serous about speaking Thai, I recommend you carefully learn to say the 44 consonants and 32 vowels correctly  (like the ABCs).  After that, the rest is much easier :-) 

If you're really serious it helps to learn the easy words first. Here's a small list (thanks JC):

ENGLISH THAI

apartment ahpahtmen

bank baeng

bar bah

battery bahtahree

care/don't care kae/mai kae

classic klahtsik

computer compyudah

copy gawpee

coupon kupong

disco disahgo

doughnut donaht

fashion fah-chahn

free fee

football fubon

hotel hotehn

ice ai

jam (ee)yam

nice nai

romantic lomahntic

sandwich saendwit

serious seeleeat

shopping chopping

spaghetti sahpahghehtee

stamp sahtamp

steak sahtaek

sure chuah

TV teewee

video weedeo

Good Luck

[sbk]

Actually, how you romanise Thai also depends on where you come from. I am American and would never pronounce "Air" like on the bridge over the river Kwair. I pronounce the r very clearly so to me it is Kwai not Kwair.

As for all these rude words and sayings, frankly, I have never even heard of them and find it sadly ridiculous when farang swear in Thai. Beware who you swear at, they might not find it so funny.

Back to topic please, instead of a bunfight over what a word means that none of us should be using in the first place!!!!

[AmeriThai]

One problem is that there's little in the way of any standardized romanization of Thai words. A glance a different pronunciation in various translation dictionaries have some of the strangest ideas that can be pretty confusing.

khrap / khrab / krup / krub / khop

That's not to mention seeing variations of romanized spellings in Thailand

chatuchak / jatujak

wittayu / vittayu

sawasdee / sawatdee

Best to also listen to how a Thai pronounces things.

[loong]

Well, I can say for sure that I know more than 300 Thai words

and, it would appear more than 3000 ways to spell these words

Mr Farang, can't you recognise when someone is pulling your chain a little, tongue in cheek and all that?

I think I will post in General forum re River Kwai®

[johng]

Take the "Bridge over the River Kwai" this is now mispronounced the world over because it was written as "Kwae", not "Kwair". If you asked most english speaking people to pronounce "Kwair" they are more likely to pronounce it nearly correctly than when reading "Kwae". Now most farang seem to have the idea that there is a river called the Buffalo river and it has a famous bridge over it.

As far as I know the Buffalo river does not exist.

Loong you are so correct about the river Kwai...I myself thought for a long time that it ment the bridge over buffalo river..why ?? because it was allways spelled (transliterated ) wrongly ( into English ) so that it sounds like Kwai...buffalo..

And they have made a film about it ...called " The bridge over the river Kwai "

In fact I had a bit of an arguement with my girlfriend over the correct name and wouldn't except that it wasn't buffalo river, untill she found the correct spelling in Thai from a website and showed it to me,where apon I instantly lost face and went to cry in the corner for half an hour.

Even the official transliteration systen doesn't work properly..just look at many Thais names as writen in their passport..for example my girlfriends name is Juntana but the passport office insisted that it has to be spelled Chantana ????

it's quite clearly จ ( jor jarn ) not ฉ (chor charn ) but they would not change it for her...it's writen in stone that it must be spelled like that even though most English speakers reading the name spelled as such would pronounce it incorectly.

So it's best not to depend apon transliteration, there's no set standard and even the "official" one doesn't work a lot of the time.

[Neeranam]

http://www.royin.go.th/roman-translate01.html

[johng]

Yes exactly my point .... where is the J sound ??

จ ฉ ช ฌ = ch ....huh ???

[BambinA]

Yes exactly my point .... where is the J sound ??

จ ฉ ช ฌ = ch ....huh ???

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

J sound (Jack ,Jame ,Jone,Joy.Jim ) = จ

[Mr. Farang]

As for  all these rude words and sayings, frankly, I have never even heard of them and find it sadly ridiculous when farang swear in Thai. Beware who you swear at, they might not find it so funny.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Dear Sbk,

I cannot agree with you more and find that, for me, it is not consistent with the charter of ThaiVisa, or my interests here, for people to be teaching others Thai profanity or teaching people phrases how to tell the Thai girlfriends they "are not money machines" or similar phrases. I would prefer discussions and questions like "How do you ask in Thai how to discuss a mobile phone prepaid plan?" or "How do you discuss, in Thai, enabling SMS services on my DTAC phone?"

As a someone who recently signed up I joined seeking a business-professional exchange, networking on a business, personal, technical and cultural level. In retrospect, I should not have responded to the post asking about the meaning of Thai words I never (or very rarely) use in either public or private.

In summary, after a short time signed posting here, I have noticed, as in this thread, there are a wide variety of members - some discuss excellent Buddhist and business topics - very intelligently and professionally, and other - they like to learn profanity, and other who seem to enjoy playing to the folly of the "yet to be well educated" young ladies.

Not to offend anyone, but I spend much of my time in Thailand avoiding people who live in Thailand that do not respect the Kingdom and the Thai culture enough to take the time to learn how to pronounce (and read) the ABCs of Thai language, have a Thai vocabulary based on profanity and phrases learned "on the street" or "in the bars" or "in phrasebooks" and not from Thai Temples, Language Schools or Universities. I also tend to avoid their Thais counterparts who did not learn English in a similar manner. Not to be offensive, but this approach to life in Thailand brings me great happiness and I never experience the many sad stories you read here.

My view of the Kingdom of Thailand seems to be very different than that of many of the posters here, perhaps because I learned basic Thai in a Thai temple, two years of Thai "kindergarden" studies almost 17 years ago. Thai language is music to my ears - it is a lovely language and culture - and, personally, I am not interested in the profane language aspects of Thai (or any culture) - and prefer to both listen and speak in ways that are different than how this thread developed.

I am not really interested to compete with 17+ year old girls and boys on TV for "popularity" and certainly do not require or desire their guidance or teaching in Thai language, culture, tradition or business. The very honorable Thai Monks and Teachers who taught me these things years ago would be quite humored by posters who imply that you must listen to a young Thai girl about translations because they are Thai. In reality, most Thai people tell me my knowledge of Thai culture and Buddhist thought far exceeds the vast majority of native Thais and speaking to me in Thai is a pleasure because my tone and usage is like "music to their ears".

In the future, I will try to be more careful of the threads I respond to on TV. I did become a member here for these types of Thai language discussions. Thank you for reminding all of us, Sbk.

Yours sincerely,

Mr. Farang

Edited August 25, 2005 by Mr. Farang

[Boon Mee]

I've found transliteration slows me down as my eyes 'cheat' by checking the English before sounding out the Thai script.

As previous posters have mentioned, none of it is standardized anyhow. Becker does it different than Mary Haas does it different than AUA etc.

[loong]

Mr Farang

You are rightly proud of your efforts and perseverance in Learning about Thai language and culture.

Unfortunately, you give the impression of being an extremely pompous person with an inflated sense of self importance.

You obviously do not respect most of the members here and that is your right. It is also my right to not care whether I have your respect or not.

I find it very strange that you are not interested in acknowledging that Thai is spoken at many levels and has developed over time. The truth is that colloquial Thai is more useful than 'Temple Thai' or 'High Thai' in everyday use. But of course, you will not accept that as you are always right, know better than everybody else.

You even consider that your method of romanising Thai script is the only method, even though your method does not conform to the Royal Thai Institute method.

I am amazed that your arrogance allows you to believe that your knowledge of Thai culture exceeds that of the Thai people. This is, of course, impossible. Thai culture is always developing, and is the way THAI people live their lives and think.

It seems that you do not want to mix with 'common Thai' people, so you can have very little knowledge about Thai culture.

I will accept that if you have studied Buddhism, then your knowledge of the Buddhist Cultus may well exceed that of the average Thai.

Incidently, There is nothing wrong with learning to recognise certain words, it is useful to know if somebody is being disrespectful. After all, if you know that a word is a bad word, you will know to avoid it. You have obviously learnt some 'bad words' in your time.

I, for one, am glad that I live in the 'Real World' (to me). I have no wish to be a part of what you perceive to be the 'Real World'

Edited August 25, 2005 by loong

[Mr. Farang]

Mr Farang

You are rightly proud of your efforts and perseverance in Learning about Thai language and culture.

Unfortunately, you give the impression of being an extremely pompous person with an inflated sense of self importance.

You obviously do not respect most of the members here and that is your right. It is also my right to not care whether I have your respect or not.

I find it very strange that you are not interested in acknowledging that Thai is spoken at many levels and has developed over time. The truth is that colloquial Thai is more useful than 'Temple Thai' or 'High Thai' in everyday use. But of course, you will not accept that as you are always right, know better than everybody else.

You even consider that your method of romanising Thai script is the only method, even though your method does not conform to the Royal Thai Institute method.

I am amazed that your arrogance allows you to believe that your knowledge of Thai culture exceeds that of the Thai people. This is, of course, impossible. Thai culture is always developing, and is the way THAI people live their lives and think.

It seems that you do not want to mix with 'common Thai' people, so you can have very little knowledge about Thai culture.

I will accept that if you have studied Buddhism, then your knowledge of the Buddhist Cultus may well exceed that of the average Thai.

Incidently, There is nothing wrong with learning to recognise certain words, it is useful to know if somebody is being disrespectful. After all, if you know that a word is a bad word, you will know to avoid it. You have obviously learnt some 'bad words' in your time.

I, for one, am glad that I live in the 'Real World' (to me). I have no wish to be a part of what you perceive to be the 'Real World'

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Mr. Loong,

You know nothing about me to judge and attempt to "softly flame me" which both against the rules and wrong.

Please do not call me or other people names. The facts are what they are. Most Thai people know very little about Buddhist studies.

"Common people" -- I know thousands of Thais. Most are business owners with very wonderful families -not bar owners and people who sell their bodies - which is a very small minority in the LOS.

In reality, you may think anything you like, but you are very wrong about me.

We are taking about a tread about profanity, and the majority of the people here do not seem to be lovers of profanity.

Please, do not call me names that are both wrong, impolite and against the rules here.

"Real world".... what is you preception of Thailand, and from what view? Temples? Universities? Bars? To me, it should like you have the limited view, not me, to be honest.

Edited August 25, 2005 by Mr. Farang

[Thetyim]

Should be a good larf when Mr Falang reaches Bedlam

[Boon Mee]

Should be a good larf when Mr Falang reaches Bedlam

Well, he's only got 470 posts to go before that happens.

[BambinA]

Should be a good larf when Mr Falang reaches Bedlam

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well, he's only got 470 posts to go before that happens.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You either love it, or you hate it!

B(edl)ambi

[Neeranam]

Not to offend anyone, but I spend much of my time in Thailand avoiding people who live in Thailand that do not respect the Kingdom and the Thai culture enough to take the time to learn how to pronounce (and read) the ABCs of Thai language, have a Thai vocabulary based on profanity and phrases learned "on the street" or "in the bars" or "in phrasebooks" and not from Thai Temples, Language Schools or Universities. I also tend to avoid their Thais counterparts who did not learn English in a similar manner. Not to be offensive, but this approach to life in Thailand brings me great happiness and I never experience the many sad stories you read here.

I learned to speak Thai "on the streets" and "in bars", what is wrong with that?

I learned how to read by myself - no unis, temples or language schools.

Your post IS offensive to all people Thai and foreign who learned to speak a language by themselves.

My view of the Kingdom of Thailand seems to be very different than that of many of the posters here, perhaps because I learned basic Thai in a Thai temple, two years of Thai "kindergarden" studies almost 17 years ago.

Perhaps you should have listened to the other things the monks taught, and started to practise them. Humility, for one, comes to mind.

What nonsense - because you studied Thai in a temple you view Thailand differently from me. Does studying Buddhism in a Thai temple make me better than you?

Edited August 25, 2005 by Neeranam