how do i say ?

[Badman22]

hey guys, im about to be in thailand for 3 months training mt, just wanted to no how to say a couple of phrases or try too lol, i no ur basics as i have been here many times. ........... how do i say "not too much sauce" ,"steamed vegetable/chicken" "well done"(as in meat) "gym" ? thanks guys

[Ayutthaya11]

I'd help you out mate but Mai Tai is too crap

Edited March 28, 2015 by Ashley1982

[AyG]

Nice idea, but this is a pointless request.

Thai contains vowel and consonant sounds which don't feature in English.

Thai is a tonal language (like it's sung). Without and understanding of tones you won't be able to pronounce the words.

And finally, there's no accurate way of representing Thai using the Latin alphabet that you have any chance of understanding.

Far better, make some Thai friends and ask them.

[SlyAnimal]

Sauce mai yur krab - Not too much sauce

Mai pet mak krab - Not too spicy

Sauce nit noi krab - Just a little bit of sauce

Pet nit noi krab - Just a little bit spicy

Mai sai prick krab - Don't put in any chilli

Mai sai a-harn-ta-lay krab - Don't put in any sea food

Steak suk suk krab - Steak well done

Suk suk krab - Well done (well cooked)

Rong yim yu nai krab - Where is the gym?

Hong namh yu nai krab - Where is the toilet?

As for steamed chicken/vegetable, I'm not sure what the associated dish would be, unless you mean the chicken breast on a kinda "oily" rice which is quite common in a lot of street restaurants, in which case:

Ow kao mun gai, jaan ning krab - I'll take a plate of oily chicken

Kor kao mun gai, glong ning krab - Can I have a styrofoam box of oily chicken (to take home)

For food:

Mu / Moo - Pig/pork

Gai - Chicken

Wu-a - Beef

Bpet - Duck

Kai-Ge-ow - Omelet

Pak - Vegetables

Blah - Fish

Kao / Cow - Rice

Blah Murk - Squid/Octopus

Gung - Prawns

Kai - Egg

Kai dow - Fried egg

Kai dom - Boiled egg

Pad - Stirfried

Ning / Neung - Steamed (very similar to the Thai word for 1)

Waan - Sweet

Bre-ow - Sour

Pet - Spicy

Kem - Salty

Mun - Oily

As with everything, it's difficult to accurately represent things in Latin characters, and these are phonetics from my perspective (As a NZer) however these should help, particularly if also hear some of the words spoken. There is an official way to transcribe Thai words into Latin characters, but unless you're familiar with the system, it can be confusing for English speakers (As it's more intended for transcribing into Latin characters, as opposed to English characters, if that makes sense).

[KhunBENQ]

1) Get a printed Thai language guide for beginners.

2) Practice pronounciation with the usual internet ressources.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/64769-online-dictionaries-thai-language-resources/

Do you have a smartphone?

Look for the newer posts about app based stuff.

[Johpa]

I'd help you out mate but Mai Tai is too crap

Actually it is closer to no crap, depending upon tone and vowel length of course.

[Ayutthaya11]

I'd help you out mate but Mai Tai is too crap

Actually it is closer to no crap, depending upon tone and vowel length of course.

Nah, too crap is satisfactory

[Johpa]

No crap from me, but see, ไม่ถ่าย, no crap. But then again, sometimes humor just doesn't translate.

[PHP87]

A free App that I like is "Speak Thai" - I've found it to be the one of best of the free apps but like most free apps, the vocabulary is limited, but you see the spelling and hear the words with the correct tone, pronunciation, etc...

"Learn Thai Phrasebook" free version is also very good but also limited.

The "Pro" version is not free. But it has a lot more content and looks like it would be well worth the $4.99 USD

I will probably buy the "Pro" version of the "Learn Thai Phrasebook" as it's only $4.99 and seems to be well worth the money.

[PHP87]

Be sure to order some "ma long tod" and the "tuk ga taen tod" from a street vendor. Very tasty!

Edited March 31, 2015 by PHP87

[rgs2001uk]

Sauce mai yur krab - Not too much sauce

Mai pet mak krab - Not too spicy

Sauce nit noi krab - Just a little bit of sauce

Pet nit noi krab - Just a little bit spicy

Mai sai prick krab - Don't put in any chilli

Mai sai a-harn-ta-lay krab - Don't put in any sea food

Steak suk suk krab - Steak well done

Suk suk krab - Well done (well cooked)

Rong yim yu nai krab - Where is the gym?

Hong namh yu nai krab - Where is the toilet?

As for steamed chicken/vegetable, I'm not sure what the associated dish would be, unless you mean the chicken breast on a kinda "oily" rice which is quite common in a lot of street restaurants, in which case:

Ow kao mun gai, jaan ning krab - I'll take a plate of oily chicken

Kor kao mun gai, glong ning krab - Can I have a styrofoam box of oily chicken (to take home)

For food:

Mu / Moo - Pig/pork

Gai - Chicken

Wu-a - Beef

Bpet - Duck

Kai-Ge-ow - Omelet

Pak - Vegetables

Blah - Fish

Kao / Cow - Rice

Blah Murk - Squid/Octopus

Gung - Prawns

Kai - Egg

Kai dow - Fried egg

Kai dom - Boiled egg

Pad - Stirfried

Ning / Neung - Steamed (very similar to the Thai word for 1)

Waan - Sweet

Bre-ow - Sour

Pet - Spicy

Kem - Salty

Mun - Oily

As with everything, it's difficult to accurately represent things in Latin characters, and these are phonetics from my perspective (As a NZer) however these should help, particularly if also hear some of the words spoken. There is an official way to transcribe Thai words into Latin characters, but unless you're familiar with the system, it can be confusing for English speakers (As it's more intended for transcribing into Latin characters, as opposed to English characters, if that makes sense).

Not going to knock your informative post, excellent effort.

However, if you cant speak Thai I dont see the point in asking this question.

Hong namh yu nai krab - Where is the toilet?

Lets assume you are told in Thai,

go straight its on the left or turn right then go straight on, if you cant speak Thai you wont understand the answer, I dont see the point.

Not knocking the op for his intent, just pointing out one of the shortfalls.

[SlyAnimal]

Usually people will also point, so even without understanding the directions, asking is worthwhile.

But in general, a lot of the phrases I listed were more to give the general structure rather than just the individual phrase or word which the OP was interested in.

[PHP87]

If you point, never do so with your foot - that's a major breach of cultural etiquette in Thailand.

[Richard W]

As with everything, it's difficult to accurately represent things in Latin characters,

Mostly not if you bother to learn the IPA. (Unfortunately, the tone symbols are only an approximation.)

Actually, it can be quite hard to represent the finer details of Thai in the Thai script.