"Me" In Thai With Close Friends And Relatives

[Tchooptip]

Hello every one

Before my asking a question please do not pay attention to my style or my spelling I am not a native English speaker (nobody's perfect)

My question is: in thai language "me" for a male speaker Is "pom" for a female speaker "chan" .... but.... could a male speaker used "chan" while speaking (of himself) to close friends orrelatives ? I have read it's possible My (Thai) girl friend told me one cannot? Thanks for answering

Kind regards every one

Georges

[cooked]

as far as I know, jan is the female equivalent of phom. You can also use your forename instead of phom.

There are a few strange regional variations in Thai, to be avoided if possible. I don't think however, that this is one of them.

[arthurwait]

Boys can I think, but not men.

[TommoPhysicist]

Usually a man uses 'Phom' and a woman uses 'Chan' (or 'Die-chan')

A man can use 'Chan' when with pals, but best not as they might get the wrong idea.

A man can also use 'Goo' with close friends of a similar age, but beware, very rude in mixed company or with relatives.

A girl can also use 'Noo', many do all their lives

A demon can use 'Ka' (ancient version of 'Phom')

Often the various versions of 'me/I' is assumed and not actually spoken out loud.

Edited July 2, 2012 by TommoPhysicist

[thanchart]

This really depends on the context in which "Chan" is used. For a more formal usage, a man would use "pom" while a lady uses "chan" or "di-chan". However in a casual situation - and also in songs (male/female can use the sane lyrics), "chan" can be used for "I/me" while "ter" is used for "you?

[steveromagnino]

Just because Chun is used in singing songs, in general it is not used by a man unless the man is of the 'other persuasion'.

It is also not common for a man to use their own name when talking about themselves, this is more commonly used by women.

Gu is slang and rude/working class Thai (in the past Gu was actually the polite way to say I, but times change) and is best avoided unless for humour or to yell at someone, in which case you really need to know how to use it.

Best to stick with Pom.

If speaking more friendly, then leaving off krub, some men when talking to women or kids will use ka (but said very quickly and sounds almost like ha than ka); a lot more of the sounds hmmmm ohhh oh ho etc etc - that's a better way to get across the sensation of friendship.

Speaking gutter Thai usually makes yourself sound worse rather than better.

[Tchooptip]

Thanks every one for your answers... I never intended to use Chan for myself :-)

I have a software on iPhone to learn Thai vocabulary, it's a little boy that tells in Thai the name of dozen of pictures one choses from. His name being Tic Tic it start with Chan cheu Tic Tic ฉันชื่อ

I understand it's correct even thought It's a male speaker... but a little boy

[Richard W]

Gu is slang and rude/working class Thai

If there's a Thai equivalent of 'Anglo-Saxon' when talking about English words, I'd go for that in describing the word - it's the ancient. inherited word for 'me'.