How to say "Bye! Keep in touch!"

[thailandsgreat]

Hi

I am not sure Asian people say "Keep in touch!" as often as some Westerners do. When Thai say bye they often just use the same English word?

I have found the following in dictionaries. Thai people understand these expressions when I use them. But I am not sure if they are "fitting".

เจอกัน ใหม่

or

พบกัน ใหม่

"See you again!"

I think you can also add

ระวังตัว

"Take care!"

if you want to be more personal.

But is there any expression that makes sense in Thai to say "Keep in touch!" when you say bye ?

Thanks

Edited March 15, 2016 by thailandsgreat

[eric67]

With friends you could say for instance:

เจอกันนะ

ไปก่อนนะ (if you're the one leaving)

โชคดีนะ

บ๊ายบาย

More formal:

แล้วพบกันใหม่ครับ

ขอตัวก่อนครับ (when you're the one leaving)

ลาก่อน more like if you're going forever: farewell

Take care:

ดูแลตัวเอง

Never heard of ระวังตัว in this situation, but who knows...

I think you're right that "stay in touch" isn't really used as a common courtesy.

It's used more when you really want someone to contact you, then you'd say something like:

ติดต่อนะ

ส่งข้อความนะ

โทรมาหานะ

[krey]

I asked my Thai friend he said they don't really use that expression per say but if he

was going to do it he would say ติดต่อมาบ้าง dtit dtoo maa baang

[thailandsgreat]

Thanks a lot, really very useful. The one about text-message I had been looking for.

I got help here last week with replies to "Taxi boss?" Today I tried วันหลังครับ. The way the driver repeated it made me believe it had hit the spot

[arunsakda]

How do you say "Catch 'ya later brah" ?

[1FinickyOne]

I think that in learning Thai, you should not look at it as a translation of English... keep in touch is rather idiomatic... and with idioms you really need to be careful.

I might say - send me email or I will send you email or I will call you... but keep in touch is a projection out into the future and I never really hear Thai people use anything similar... maybe a loosely translated come back soon or when will you come back - though I think they forget about that shortly after you leave...

I guess all this is the fun of the language..

[thailandsgreat]

Yes. Naturally this is much about making the "Bye!" a little softer and less final. There are maybe better ways to do that? But it depends on culture and personality. In Asia, if you say "Keep in touch!" it often has a more literal meaning, is my experience.

Sorry for beginners' questions:

Regarding

ติดต่อมาบ้าง

dtìt-dtɔ̀ɔ maa bâang

Does the maa really mean "come in person" or is it just part of the construction "come in contact"?

And for

โทร มาหา นะ

too maa-hǎa ná

If you translate *literally*, would it mean "call or come see me (in person)" or is it just "call me (or each other?)"

Edited March 16, 2016 by thailandsgreat

[Sheryl]

I think it is more than making the "bye softer", it is conveying an interest in continuing the friendship/acquaintance.

For what it is worth I hear Thais say "พบกัน ใหม่" much more than the other phrases. Can add a "นะ ครับ" at the end, i.e. a sort of "please" to indicate "I'd really like to".

[thailandsgreat]

I think it is more than making the "bye softer", it is conveying an interest in continuing the friendship/acquaintance.

For what it is worth I hear Thais say "พบกัน ใหม่" much more than the other phrases. Can add a "นะ ครับ" at the end, i.e. a sort of "please" to indicate "I'd really like to".

Thanks. Maybe I should stick with the "พบกัน ใหม่" then. I found it in a dictionary some time ago and they definitely understand it when I use it.

If you wish to be polite saying bye, but do not expect to see the other person soon/again, I guess you could use "Have a good day." in English. I don't know what that would correspond to (if any) in Thai?

Edited March 16, 2016 by thailandsgreat

[Johpa]

Does the maa really mean "come in person" or is it just part of the construction "come in contact"?

Not much different than in English where you go to visit someone else but they come to visit you. In Thai this is also extended to less direct contact such as phone conversations as in โทรมา.

[krey]

Yes. Naturally this is much about making the "Bye!" a little softer and less final. There are maybe better ways to do that? But it depends on culture and personality. In Asia, if you say "Keep in touch!" it often has a more literal meaning, is my experience.

Sorry for beginners' questions:

Regarding

ติดต่อมาบ้าง

dtìt-dtɔ̀ɔ maa bâang

Does the maa really mean "come in person" or is it just part of the construction "come in contact"?

And for

โทร มาหา นะ

too maa-hǎa ná

If you translate *literally*, would it mean "call or come see me (in person)" or is it just "call me (or each other?)"

maa has a few different uses in Thai and not always easy for me to figure out

I think in this case it is more in regards to the action direction. As in Keep in contact with me where the directions is coming towards you and baang is used to show their could be multiple options on how to do so.. such as phone, email, skype etc baang at the end expects there will be one or more answers

if one said diti dtoo pbai baang that would be more on the lines of saying I will keep in contact with you which is the opposite of saying keep in contact with me

MAA = coming towards you

Bpai - Moving away from you

[thailandsgreat]

Yes. Naturally this is much about making the "Bye!" a little softer and less final. There are maybe better ways to do that? But it depends on culture and personality. In Asia, if you say "Keep in touch!" it often has a more literal meaning, is my experience.

Sorry for beginners' questions:

Regarding

ติดต่อมาบ้าง

dtìt-dtɔ̀ɔ maa bâang

Does the maa really mean "come in person" or is it just part of the construction "come in contact"?

And for

โทร มาหา นะ

too maa-hǎa ná

If you translate *literally*, would it mean "call or come see me (in person)" or is it just "call me (or each other?)"

maa has a few different uses in Thai and not always easy for me to figure out

I think in this case it is more in regards to the action direction. As in Keep in contact with me where the directions is coming towards you and baang is used to show their could be multiple options on how to do so.. such as phone, email, skype etc baang at the end expects there will be one or more answers

if one said diti dtoo pbai baang that would be more on the lines of saying I will keep in contact with you which is the opposite of saying keep in contact with me

MAA = coming towards you

Bpai - Moving away from you

Thanks. That was a good explanation. Now I could find it here:

http://i.imgur.com/MNWpQmh.png

...

And if the bank staff or similar has done a good job and you want to be a little extra polite with the "Bye!", I guess you can use this?

โชคดี

But maybe there are more appropriate ways? Something that would correspond to "Have a nice day."

Edited March 17, 2016 by thailandsgreat

[Sheryl]

...If you wish to be polite saying bye, but do not expect to see the other person soon/again, I guess you could use "Have a good day." in English. I don't know what that would correspond to (if any) in Thai?

The closest thing would be โชคดี, literally "Good luck" but unlike in English where we would say this only if the person were about to take a test, apply for a job or otherwise do something where outcome was iffy and luck thus needed, in Thai it is broadly used just as a way of wishing someone well in future.

You would not, however, normally use this for a bank teller or salesperson or in any similiar sort of business transaction context, Thais would find it strange and inappropriate unless the encounter had veered into a personal friendship/sharing of confidence). Stick to "sawadee" and "kob kuhn" in those sort of settings.

[thailandsgreat]

...If you wish to be polite saying bye, but do not expect to see the other person soon/again, I guess you could use "Have a good day." in English. I don't know what that would correspond to (if any) in Thai?

The closest thing would be โชคดี, literally "Good luck" but unlike in English where we would say this only if the person were about to take a test, apply for a job or otherwise do something where outcome was iffy and luck thus needed, in Thai it is broadly used just as a way of wishing someone well in future.

You would not, however, normally use this for a bank teller or salesperson or in any similiar sort of business transaction context, Thais would find it strange and inappropriate unless the encounter had veered into a personal friendship/sharing of confidence). Stick to "sawadee" and "kob kuhn" in those sort of settings.

Thanks, that was a clear reply. (In my few encounters with Thai, even I have noticed that they use โชคดี where I couldn't understand what kind of luck was wished for.) Edited March 17, 2016 by thailandsgreat

[thailandsgreat]

I asked some Thai how to say bye to unknowns when you want to be a little extra polite. I am not sure I could explain well but they came up with:

Bye, ลาก่อน

When would that be used?

[Sheryl]

That is a formal term for good bye. Rarely heard in colloquiol speech.

Suggest leaving it at choke dee or (if they did you a favor/performed some service) kob kuhn krab. Or just sawadi...

You may need to rein in your desire to be extra polite to strangers a bit as in the wrong social context it will seem odd or confuse people, perhaps even make them uncomfortable. Remember that class distinctions are deeply rooted in Thai culture. Extra politeness is generally used only when the status of the other person warrants it. Simply saying thank you to a store clerk, bank teller etc is already doing more than most Thais would do in that setting.

[thailandsgreat]

That is a formal term for good bye. Rarely heard in colloquiol speech.

Suggest leaving it at choke dee or (if they did you a favor/performed some service) kob kuhn krab. Or just sawadi...

You may need to rein in your desire to be extra polite to strangers a bit as in the wrong social context it will seem odd or confuse people, perhaps even make them uncomfortable. Remember that class distinctions are deeply rooted in Thai culture. Extra politeness is generally used only when the status of the other person warrants it. Simply saying thank you to a store clerk, bank teller etc is already doing more than most Thais would do in that setting.

Thanks a lot. So maybe " Bye, savadii krap", "Bye chok dii" is what I am looking for.

I have lived 15 years in Asia, but only 1-2 years in Thailand and have not yet communicated so closely with Thai people. But I think you express it well. A Westerner tries to apply his ways to a foreign culture. Only some behavior we can change naturally to become "Asian", some we can change with effort, some we can not change at all and some we do not wish to change.

Occasionally, I may feel that a Thai has treated me a little poorly in minor details only since I am a foreigner. In that case I am often polite saying good bye. (Absolutely without any sarcastic smile or tone.) I just show the Thai how I think he/she ought to behave. But naturally I have no idea at all how that is interpreted.

On most occasions I use politeness when treatment was good.

But we are also expected to do some things in the foreigners' way, aren't we? A foreigner that speaks perfect Japanese (mine is very poor) sometimes introduces intentional errors in his speech to fit into the foreigners' role better etc. (The Chinese don't care at all. It is really true that if you speak Chinese to them, they sometimes think their English has improved since they assume a Westerner speaks English!)

The foreigner that speaks perfect Thai maybe still keeps certain Western manners and ways of speaking?

What you say about class is very true and particularly difficult to overcome for a Northern European. (Even Southern Europe is more hierarchical than Scandinavia.) You express it really well. Rank goes before behavior. In old Japan even the verdict of a court was based on the rank of the parts and not on their acts being compared to the law.

In most countries a foreigners' behavior is scrutinized a little more closely than that of locals, is my belief. I therefore sometines add politeness "to be sure". But you may be very right, in doing so I could cause confusion. That's a good point you have.

Edited March 20, 2016 by thailandsgreat

[Sheryl]

It is a matter of degree. Just don't overdo it.

I too am more polite in my dealings with service people (taxi drivers, store clerks etc) than most Thais are because that fits my values (in my mind, people that are lower down on the totem pole need signs of respect more than those higher up!), and while it is not what most Thais would do, it is within the bounds of possible Thai behavior and socially intelligible. But this is limiting it to the equivalent of "please" and "thank you" and age appropriate titles. Go overboard and you may end up creating confusion or even serious misunderstanding.

[Denim]

Tootlepip should cover it.

ถุดาลพิพ in Thai script although I confess I might have spelt that wrong.

Edited March 20, 2016 by Denim

[krey]

dtìt-dtɔ̀ɔ maa bâang

That I mentioned before I also found in a study English book written for Thais. So seems that is a good choice if u really want to emphasize it

ลาก่อน Is a formal good bye as suggested above it also is used when you are saying good bye but you are not expecting to see the person for a long time