Hi

I was listening to some thais talking as usual.

He was speaking Thai but using English words such as computer.

Another example is on a lot if medical forms at the hospital the medical terms are in English not Thai.

My question is do they actualy have Thai words for them. Being an old language it seems they don't add words in Thai to it . As the English language add words to the dictionary all the time as I remember the word ghetto blaster was added to the English dictionary

So do they not up date there vocabulary ?

Thanks in adcance

You mean like the English added 'ghetto' from 16th century Italian? Or 'khaki' from Urdu? Or 'cobra' from Portuguese?

Loanwords such as mentioned tend to be adopted into the parent language as the innovation relating to it becomes commonplace in that particular culture.

There are (at least) two factors here:

When a new concept is introduced from a foreign culture, the word for the concept will commonly be used. Consider the case of the French where they have battled against the use of expressions such as "le weekend" and "le parking". There are officially prescribed French equivalents, but they are rarely used and sound contrived. (An exception to the adoption of words is where the culture the word/concept comes from is perceived as inferior, hence the dearth of Burmese and Malay words adopted into Thai, or Welsh words adopted into English.)

Foreign words are considered to have a certain je ne sais quoi, giving the speaker an air of experience and worldliness, and so are preferred by some in some contexts. In the case of Thai medical terminology there are often local equivalents, but they don't convey the sense of professional expertise that the medical profession seeks. Consider for example leptospirosis, which in Thai is โรคฉี่หนู (rat piss disease), haemophilia (โรคเลือดออกไม่หยุด, blood comes out doesn't stop disease), or diabetes (โรคเบาหวาน, sweet pee disease). Local Thai name doesn't sound sufficiently expert? Use a foreign one.

Actually, all those disease names you've mentioned, most Thais and even doctors would use the Thai name. I would say a majority of Thai people wouldn't even know the English names of them. Those are diseases known since ancient times, so the names for them are well established in the Thai language. For example, nobody says "cancer" but always มะเร็ง.

However, there are other terms that I'm sure the doctors and nurses would use English words for it, especially modern equipments.

Most languages are littered with loanwords, some related to modern technological or cultural advances. Indeed many Thai words can have their origins/roots found in Sanskrit (sometimes via Khmer) which have become 'absorbed' into the modern Thai language.

Look at English:

Cafe, Restaurant, bravado, balcony all come from French, Spanish and Italian respectively.

Indeed many English words today in common usage began life as loanwords from different sources. It's how language works. such as Kitchen (from the old Germanic/Saxon word Cycene and became 'corrupted' as English developed as a language.

Every language has borrowed words from other languages; for thai language, I see some modern english words appear ( for instance," download " and others,written in thai phonetics )

as for French, there is a list of modern words that we use from English; the Academie Française wants that we use a French equivalent, but their proposed words "francisés " are so ridiculous that we still use the English words ( especially about Internet and computers.)

As for "computers " cited by the OP, in speaking language, Thai people say " comp ", because they like to speak short.