Learn The Thai Language

Telling Time in Thai Part 4

2010-03-19T16:13:00.003+07:00

Go back to part 3 here

Ok guys, this is going to be a short one. I would like to introduce the concept of hours, minutes and seconds to you in Thai.

This is very simple.

Hours = ชั่วโมง (Chua-Mong)

Minutes = นาที (Na-Tee)

Seconds = วินาที (Wi-Na-Tee)

If you look back to my numbers lesson here and here then you'll fine this to be very, very... easy.

so for example

8 Hours in Thai will be แปดชั่วโมง (Pad Chua-Mong)

4 minutes 25 seconds in Thai will be สี่นาทียี่สิบห้าวินาที (See Na-Tee, Yee-Sib-Haa Wi-Na-Tee)

And if I put them all together it'll look like this

แปดชั่วโมงสี่นาทียี่สิบห้าวินาที (Pad Chua-Mong, See Na-Tee, Yee-Sib-Haa Wi-Na-Tee) which is 8 hours 4 minutes and 25 seconds.

some of you might look at the Thai construction of the sentence to be a little too long...right?

lucky for you we live in a world where common sense can be used internationally.... well mostly...

you can put that same sentence together with numbers instead of words, like this:

8 ชั่วโมง 4 นาที 25 วินาที (Pad Chua-Mong, See Na-Tee, Yee-Sib-Haa Wi-Na-Tee) which is 8 hours 4 minutes and 25 seconds.

I think that looks a bit better.. don't you?

Some basic Thai words (Actually Spoken)

2010-02-08T17:56:00.002+07:00

I found this video on Youtube, and no, it's not me... I just think that it would be interesting to hear how you actually say some of the basic words in Thai such as Hello, Thank you and sorry.

Enjoy

I myself and me : Pronouns in Thai (Part 1)

2010-01-27T12:20:00.001+07:00

So, we all know that in order to build a simple sentence, we need to have 3 basic components. It is a matter of

“Someone doing something to someone”

Or in more technical terms

Subject + Verb + Object

So, in this lesson we’re going to take a look at the “Subject” part of the sentence. We’re going to talk about Pronouns or ways to identify yourself and others.

English has a very simple pronoun structure ( I, You, He, She, It, We, They ) but in Thai there is a much more complex structure, actually… it’s not that complex… it’s more like confusing… very… confusing…

What I’m trying to say is, even though there is a basic structure just like in English, but people who may have heard Thais talk to one another might hear totally different words than what they read from the ‘learn Thai in a day’ book.

But before you start pulling your hair out, I’m not going to bombard you with all of the different ways you can address yourself or others, rather I’m just going to talk about the basic ones.

ฉัน – Chaan = I
Example:
ฉันรักคุณ – Chaan Rak Khun = I Love You.

คุณ – Khun = You
Example:
คุณทำอะไร – Khun Taam Arai = What are you doing?

เขา – Khao = He or She
Example:
เขารักฉัน – Khao Rak Chaan = He/She Loves Me

มัน – Maan = It
Example:
มันทำอะไร – Maan Taam Arai = What is it doing?

พวกเรา – Puak-Rao = We
Example:
พวกเราเป็นนักเรียน – Puak-Rao Pen Nak-Reaan = We are students.

พวกเขา – Puak-Khao = They
Example:
พวกเขาเป็นนักเรียน – Puak-Khao Pen Nak-Reaan = They are students.

Note: The word ‘Puak’ is loosely translated as ‘group’ so it can be used as a group of people or things.

Example:
A dog would use the pronoun ‘Maan’ (It) so a group of dogs would be ‘Puak-Maan’ (group of its) if you know what I mean…

So there you have it, the most basic pronouns in Thai. In part 2 we’ll talk about the different variations commonly used by Thais.

Tell the time in Thai Part 3

2010-01-02T11:34:00.002+07:00

Read the first two parts here and here

Now that we've gone over the basics, we can take a look at how to tell the time in Thai from 1PM onwards.

In part two I talked about how during the waking hours of the day, a dude will walk around with a bell and hitting it to tell the time, and the sound of a ringing bell in a Thai perspective sounds like 'Mong'

So, this is basically how you tell the time during the day. I'll show you a few simple examples.

8AM - Pad-Mong
2PM - Song-Mong
5PM - Haa-Mong

Now, that was the simple stuff, what you need to do next is to tell apart morning from afternoon. In Part 2 here we talked about how to separate the afternoon in early and late afternoon.

Some of you might already get the idea already so I won't talk about it much so I'll show you some examples. (I'll bold the early and late afternoon bits)

1PM - Bai-Mong
2PM - Bai-Song-Mong
3PM - Bai-Saam-Mong
4PM - See-Mong-Yen
5PM - Haa-Mong-Yen
6PM - Hoke-Mong-Yen

As you can see, for 1PM, we don't say 'Bai-Nueng-Mong' why? I don't know.... It's just the way it is I guess...

Now for 7PM onwards they change the word to 'Toom' (because the dude changed from carrying a bell to a drum instead)

Now wait, before you think that 7PM will be called 'Jet-Toom' no no no no....

Thais count from 1 to 5 for 7PM-11PM

7PM = Nueng-Toom
8PM = Song-Toom
9PM = Saam-Toom
10PM = See-Toom
11PM = Haa - Toom

If you think about it, it does make kinda sense, what is the point of carrying a drum and hitting it 9 nine times to tell that it is 9PM?? who is going to count that many?

Everyone in the old days know that if it's a drum, then it's pretty damn late and they should go home, so the dude with the drum will hit his drum 1 time (Nueng-Toom) and everyone will know it's time for some nice dinner...

In Part 4, we'll talk about telling the time in minutes and seconds.

Telling Time in Thai part 2

2009-12-30T12:33:00.002+07:00

You can read the first part here

Last time we talked about how to tell time in Thai from 1am to 11am. This post will talk about words that are used for the afternoon and night parts of the time. (We will get into telling the actual time in Part 3)

First of all I would like to start out with both 'midday' (12pm) and 'midnight' (12am)

12pm is called

เที่ยงวัน - Tieng-Wann = Midday

In common usage it is acceptable to just say 'เที่ยง' - Tieng for Midday

12am is called

เที่ยงคืน - Tieng-Kuen (or kern) = Midnight

so the two words separating day and night is just exactly that.

วัน - Wann = Day

คืน- Kuen = Night

It gets a bit confusing for non-Thai speakers to understand the time telling method Thais use. In part 1 I'm sure it was pretty simple, but the other half of the clock leading up to 12am gets a little confusing, so I'll try to explain as best I can.

In Thai, there are 2 variations of 'Afternoon' there is 'early afternoon' and 'late afternoon'

1pm-3pm is usually called

บ่าย - bai = Early afternoon

and 4pm-6pm is

เย็น - Yen = Late afternoon

Yen actually means = Cold, but in this context it is used to describe 'Late Afternoon' (as it gets colder after 4pm, which is not true, because Thailand is Hot 24/7)

So what about after 6PM? they they use a totally different time telling scheme. they use the word

ทุ่ม - Toom = it actually means to throw something over (like over your shoulder, like when you grab someone, lift them up and throw them on their ass kinda way)

so the word 'Toom' doesnt have any kind of direct translation for time. But Thais use it to tell time from 7PM to 11PM

Why so many different friggin words?

Why all the different words for all these time periods you ask. well, I think (THINK) it came from ancient times where some dude walks about and hits a bell 3 times so you know it's 3 o'clock. (I can't remember, my teacher taught this in school when I was like 10 years old.)

They would use a wooden piece of thing and clap it together to indicate the early hours of the morning. (Better than a bell, which would piss off a lot of sleeping people)

so the clapping noise of two wooden chunks would like 'Tee' (or maybe not, use your imagination)

so hitting it 3 times would mean 3am

while the during the day they use a Bell which sounds like 'Mong' (same deal here, use your imagination)

and during the night they use a drum which sounds like 'Toom' (I really hope you are thinking about killing me...)

Ok, so today was more of a theory lesson than an actual time telling lesson, but you guys really need to know this first before I start babbling on how to tell time from 1PM onwards.

Telling Time in Thai part 1

2009-12-15T13:29:00.003+07:00

Being able to tell and recognize time in a foreign language is probably another required skill when you live in that foreign country...

so here you go, Telling Time in Thai

First of all the basics: (Easy Stuff)

Anyone who is a human knows that time is basically numbers, so before you continue with this lesson, make sure you read my previous posts about numbers. Here and Here (Part 2)

So, on a clock we have a set of numbers, right? 1 through to 12 (12 Hour)

and in the more formal stuff you have the 24 hour clock (so thats 1 through to 24)

so once you remember how to say the numbers 1-24, you're all set to tell the time!

The next bit, telling time it self

Telling time in English is pretty straight forward

1PM, 8PM, Two-Thirty etc...

You see, Thais have a way on separating time periods like AM and PM. I'm not sure how to explain it in detail, so I'll just tell you anyway.

From 1AM - 5AM you use

ตี - Tee (you put it in front of the time)

Examples:

ตีหนึ่ง - Tee-Nueng = 1AM

ตีห้า - Tee-Haa = 5AM

From 6AM to 11AM you use

โมง - Mong (You put it behind the time)

Examples

เจ็ดโมง - Jet-Mong = 7AM

สิบโมง - Sip-Mong = 10AM

you can add further details to your listeners that the time is indeed in the morning (AM) by putting this behind the time

เช้า - Chao = Morning

so to add further details to your time telling mission be taking one of the examples above would look like this.

เจ็ดโมงเช้า - Jet-Mong-Chao = 7AM

So now you're probably asking yourselves "Do I need to add the 'morning' bit after the time or just leave it out?"

Answer: It's fine to leave 'Chao' out, but it's a good idea to include it to avoid any miscommunication.

So there you have it, now you can tell the time from 1AM all the way to 11AM. Any other times after that you'll have to wait for the next post.

An Eye for Grandfather's Turn : Thai Word of the Day

2009-12-08T13:37:00.003+07:00

I bet nobody really understood the title..... niether did I...
It's because this next word that I'm about to introduce, is a strange one, because it means different things.

And the word is...

ตา - Ta

and the meanings for this word varies...

- If you talk about the human body then ตา (Ta) would mean Eye

- If you talk about your Mother's Father then ตา (Ta) would mean Grand father

Allow me to clarify the word 'Grand Father' a bit. In Thailand they acutally have two seperate words for both Grand Fathers

1. The Father of your Mother is ตา (Ta)
2. The Father of your Father is ปู่ (Poo)

- If you talk about taking turns then ตา (Ta) would mean Turn

ตาคุณแล้ว - Ta-Khun-Laew = It's your turn (to poke the crocodile..)

Some of you who are living in Thailand might have or might not have heard a joke Thai locals like to play upon westerners. They like to play a game or whatever and then they tell the Westerner...

Your Eye... (Your turn)

Then the westerner makes a 'WTF?' face and the Thai people start laughing...
it's a cruel 'joke' which I don't find funny at all.

So, if some Thai smart arse wants to play that joke with you, now you know what it means. (And then you don't have to make the 'WTF?' face)

The act of playing : Thai word of the day

2009-11-30T14:48:00.002+07:00

This is an easy one. In English, you put 'Play' in front of what ever thing you want to play.

For example:

Play the Guitar
Play the Piano
Play Football
Play Video games
Play Tennis

In Thai it is the exact same thing

เล่น - Len = Play

Most musical instruments and sports do not have a Thai name, you can just stick to the English name. They are so simple, I'm not going to even bother translating them.

เล่นกีตาร์ - Len Guitar

เล่นเปียโน - Len Piano

เล่นฟุตบอล - Len Football

เล่นวีดีโอเกมส์ - Len Video Games

เล่นเทนนิส - Len Tennis

You can also use the word 'Len' to describe a hobby.

เล่นกล้อง - Len Klong = "Play Camera" (Camera Collector or Enthusiast)

เล่นรถ - Len Rhot = "Play cars" (Car Collector or Enthusiast)

how to say good in thai : Thai word of the day

2009-11-26T12:58:00.007+07:00

This is another one of my short lessons (it's either I'm very busy or just getting lazy) :P
anyhow, here is how you say 'Good' in Thai

ดี - Dee = Good

Very simple isn't it? You can use this in almost any occasion that requires you to complement someone or agree on something.

Here are some uses for saying good in Thai

ดีแล้ว - Dee Laew = It's good, good enough, already good etc.

ดีมาก - Dee Mark (Pronounced without the 'R') = Very Good
มาก - Mark = A lot, Plenty, very

ดีที่สุด - Dee Tee Soot = The best
ที่สุด - Tee Soot = I'm not sure how to explain this one, it's used to describe extremes like Best, Most (I'll cover this in another post)

ํดีใจ - Dee Jai = Happy, sort of excited. It's like when you meet your friends after a few years

Months in Thai

2009-11-25T11:51:00.003+07:00

I'm a little busy this week, so I can only give you short lessons during this period. For today, we'll be looking at months.

มกราคม - Mok-a-ra-kom - January
กุมภาพันธ์ - Kum-pa-paan - February
มีนาคม - Mee-na-kom - March
เมษายน - Mae-sa-yon - April
พฤษภาคม - Plue-sa-pa-kom - May
มิถุนายน - Mi-tu-na-yon - June
กรกฎาคม - Ka-rak-a-da-kom - July
สิงหาคม - Sing-ha-kom - August
กันยายน - Kaan-ya-yon - September
ตุลาคม - Tu-la-kom - October
พฤศจิกายน - Plue-sa-ji-ka-yon -November
ธันวาคม - Taan-wa-kom - December

Some of you might have noticed that all the months end with either a 'Yon' or a 'Kom' with the exception of February which ended with a 'Paan' I think some of you might already know this, but the months ending with 'Yon' has 30 days, while the ones ending with 'Kom' has 31, and as we all know that February is special and has 28/29 days and that is why it ends differently for Feb.

Days in Thai

2009-11-22T21:10:00.004+07:00

I've been quite busy so I don't have much time this weekend, so this one will be short.

Here we'll look at what the days in Thai are.

The word วัน (Waan) means 'Day' and is put in front of the day's name.

วันจันทร์ (Waan-Jaan) = Monday
วันอังคาร (Waan-Ang-Karn) = Tuesday
วันพุธ (Waan-Put) = Wednesday
วันพฤหัส (Waan-Pa-reu-haat) = Thursday
วันศุกร์ (Waan-Sook) = Friday
วันเสาร์ (Waan-Sao) = Saturday
วันอาทิตย์ (Waan-Ar-tit) = Sunday

So there you have it, the 7 Days in a standard week. Next time we'll look at months.

I'll see you next time.

Saying No Thank You in Thai

2009-11-20T21:50:00.002+07:00

I've been getting emails asking how do you say No, Thank You in Thai some people are saying their teacher is teaching them one thing while they keep hearing the locals saying something totally different.

So I looked around, and they were right. Most sites that teach Thai or give Thai lessons are saying the same thing for 'No, Thank You' and that is

ไม่, ขอบคุณ Mai, Kob-Khun = No, Thank you (It's a direct translation)

see here on how to say thank you in Thai.

But Geez, did it have to be so direct? Just imagine this.

You walk into a department store and you look around for a pair of sun glasses. A shop assistant comes over and tells you 'There's a promotion going on, would you like to come and see them?'

and you say 'No, Thank you'

doesn't that just make you look like a cruel person to the world? so cold... so evil...

There are other ways to say 'No, Thank you' in Thai, it's like in English you have 'It's Ok' or 'It's alright' when you don't want something right?

So here is the other word you can use to say 'No, Thank You' in Thai

ไม่เป็นไร ขอบคุณ - Mai-Pen-Rai Khob-Khun = It's Ok, Thank you

Doesn't this sound a lot more nicer?

And as always, you add some politeness into your quest for denial

ไม่ครับ(ค่ะ) ขอบคุณครับ(ค่ะ) - Mai-Krap (Ka) Khob-Khun-Krap (Ka)

ไม่เป็นไรครับ(ค่ะ) ขอบคุณครับ (ค่ะ) - Mai-Pen-Rai-Krap (Ka) Khob-Khun-Krap (Ka)

Use it as you see fit, and if you're wondering...

ไม่เป็นไร - Mai-Pen-Rai = It's Ok, It's alright, It's fine, I'm fine etc etc etc.

I'm sure you got it the first time.

Vehicles in Thai

2009-11-20T14:13:00.003+07:00

I'm trying to cover as many words as I can. Because I believe that no matter how much grammar and theory you learn and remember, if you do not have a basic vocabulary, you won't be able to communicate properly, and I think that applies to any language.

So last time it was animals. This time it's vehicles, here we go.

รถ - Rhod = Car
รถเมล์ - Rhod-May = Bus

จักรยาน - Jak-ka-Yarn = Bicycle

This next one is interesting...

มอเตอร์ไซด์ - Motor-sai = Motorcycle
The Thais took the word 'Motorcycle' and shorten it without the 'cle' in 'cycle'
and called it their own... :P

You might hear some Thais shorten it further by saying

'มอไซด์' - Mor-sai = they just took out the 'tor' in 'motor'

มอเตอร์ไซด์ รับจ้าง - Motor-Sai-Rub-Jarng = Motorcycle Taxi or มอไซด์รับจ้าง - Mor-sai-Rub-Jarng
(รับจ้าง - Rab-Jarng = For hire)

Those who live outside of Thailand might not know what a Motorcycle Taxi is. well, it's basically a taxi service for those in a hurry (Don't want to walk)

For your info, actually there is a word for 'Motorcycle' in Thai, it is

จักรยานยนต์ - Jak-Ka-Yarn-Yon = Motorcyle

This one is simple, look above and you see 'Jak-Ka-Yarn' means Bicycle

ยนต์ - Yon = translates loosely as 'motorized' or 'mechanical'

so together it means a 'motorized bicycle' = motorcycle, simple isn't it?

So there you go, for my first list of vehicles in Thai, next time I'll include Planes, Boats and Ships and if you really want, UFOs :P

PS. I probably don't need to tell you that 'TAXI's are called "TAXI's in Thailand :P

Animals in Thai

2009-11-19T11:33:00.002+07:00

What do you call a dog? a cat? a cow? etc. etc. etc. I'm not sure what they teach in Thai language schools, but for Thais, the most basic sentence we've all learned way back in the first grade is the phrase.

"This is a Cat" "C-A-T = cat"

We've learned about animals before we learned about cars and buses. So I am guessing here it would be a nice logical step to include some animals in the mix.

หมา - Mah = Dog
แมว - Maaew = Cat (Yes, the word for Cat in Thai is taken from the sound it makes, maaaaeow)

วัว - Wua = Cow
มด - Mot = Ant
นก - Nok = Bird
ลิง - Ling = Monkey
ปลา - Plaa (or Plar, without the 'r') = Fish
หมู - Moo = Pig

For those of you who live in Thailand, you probably have seen those miniature crocodile looking lizards crawling around your walls and other places.

จิ้งจก - Jing-Jok = Small Gecko or House Gecko

and what about those large scary ones that like to look at you in the eye with an evil lizard look.

ตุ๊กแก - Took-Kae = Gecko (The name is also similar to the sound that the creature makes)

Ok, thats 10 animals for you for today, stay tuned for more animals.

The act of giving = Hai : Thai word of the day

2009-11-17T15:01:00.002+07:00

ให้ - Hai = to give

This one is simple, you just add whatever you want to give behind 'Hai'

If you put a noun behind 'Hai' it'll mean to give something

When you give something to someone.

ให้ของ = Hai-Khong = giving out an item or items.

ของ - Khong = item, general stuff

if you add the word 'ขวัญ' Khwan, behind ของ Khong. it'll become

ของขวัญ Khong-Khwan = present or gift

so to add it all together it'll be

ให้ของขวัญ = Hai Khong Khwan = Give presents (singular or plural doesn't matter)

if you're going to give a car to someone (very unlikely, but anyways)

ให้รถ - Hai Rhot
รถ Rhot = Car

If you put a verb behind 'Hai' it'll mean to do something

ให้วิ่ง - Hai-Wing - To run ( Yes, Wing means Run)
ให้ไป - Hai-Pai - To Go (and again, Pai means go)

Feeling Great : Thai word of the day

2009-11-16T11:38:00.002+07:00

สบาย Sabai = comfortable, fine

So you meet someone, you greet each other and one of you asks

'สบายดีไหม' = Sabai Dee Mai

สบาย Sabai = Comfortable or fine
ดี Dee = Good
ไหม Mai = Is used to transform a sentence into a question.

if I were to translated it directly it will be 'Are you feeling fine?'

but in context it should be that he is asking 'How are you?'

So what do you answer in return? This is very easy, you just convert that question into a sentence by removing the 'Mai' out of the sentence.

Here is a sample conversation

สวัสดีครับ สบายดีไหม

Sawasdee Krap, Sabai Dee Mai? = Hello, How are you?

สวัสดีครับ สบายดีครับ

Sawasdee Krap, Sabai Dee Krap = Hello, I'm fine.

*Please note if you're a woman you say 'Ka' instead of 'Krap'

The conversation sounds like something from a text book doesn't it?
In reality there are more variations of greetings, I just wanted you to see the most basic one.

I'll get more greeting samples for you next time

Saying hungry in Thai : Thai Word of the Day

2009-11-15T13:01:00.004+07:00

So you're in Thailand for the first time in your life, you just got off from the plane and now you're in a Taxi. You want to go get something to eat before you go to the Hotel. So you gotta tell the Taxi driver somehow that you are hungry.

หิว 'Hiew' = Hungry

The usage of this word is very obvious... you say it when you're hungry. (Duh)

Not just food, you also use it when you're thirsty too.

หิวข้าว 'Hiew Khao' = Hungry (food)

The word 'ข้าว' actually means 'Rice'

but in common usage it also means 'Food' (Because Rice is the main food product in Thailand)

So it would mean that you're hungry for food.

หิวน้ำ 'Hiew Naam' = Thirsty

The word 'น้ำ' means 'Water'

And yes, it does mean 'Hungry for Water' = Thirsty

Questions in Thai (6W 1H Part 2)

2009-11-11T14:48:00.004+07:00

this part we'll look at Why, Who, Which and How

Why = Tum-Mai - ทำไม

ไปทำไม (Pai-Tum-Mao) = why go?

This one's easy, Pai means go

Who = Krai - ใคร

คุณเป็นใคร (Khun-Pen-Krai) = Who are you?

'Khun' means 'you' and 'Pen' (the P is stressed so it sounds like a B and a P together) means 'are'

so this one is pretty simple, you probably get it already, so no need for an explanation.

Which = Ahn-Nai - อันไหน

อันไหนดี (Ahn-Nai-Dee) = Which one? or Which is good (or better)

ดี 'Dee' means 'good'

Now this one is strange. Ahn-Nai-Dee is often used when people are trying to make a choice between various items. You could probably translate it loosely as "Which is best?" (Good)

How = Yang-Rai - อย่างไร

ขับรถอย่างไร (Khab-Rhot-Yang-Rai) = How to drive a car?

ขับ - Khab means 'drive'

รถ - Rhot means 'car'

So there you have it. By utilizing each word in different ways, you can now ask questions in Thai. I'll add up some sample question sentences in another post soon.

See you next time.

Questions in Thai (6W 1H part 1)

2009-11-10T13:30:00.007+07:00

In this lesson we'll learn about the basic words used in questions. In English we use the '6W 1H'

What, Where, When, Why, Who, Which and How (if there's anymore please let me know, that's all I could think of)

So here are their Thai counterparts

What = Arai - อะไร
Where = Tee-Nai - ที่ไหน
When = Mua-Rai - เมื่อไร
Why = Tum-Mai - ทำไม
Who = Krai - ใคร
Which = Ahn-Nai - อันไหน
How = Yang-Rai - อย่างไร

we'll look at the first three, What, Where and When

What = Arai - อะไร

ต้องการอะไร (Tong-Karn-Arai) = what do you want?

You probably guessed it already but 'Tong-Karn' means 'Want'
in this particular sentence, it doesn't the word 'คุณ (Khun)' which means 'You' in it. It's just that it is common sense that when you ask someone 'Tong-Karn-Arai' it means what do YOU want. for a direct translation if will look like this

Want-What?

Simple, yes?

Where = Tee-Nai - ที่ไหน

ห้องน้ำอยู่ที่ไหน (Hong-Naam-Yoo-Tee-Nai) = Where is the bathroom

In Thai, it is more common to say ห้องน้ำ 'Hong-Nam' (Bathroom) than to say ส้วม 'Suam' (Toilet) it does also sound more polite which is a must in Thailand. The word อยู่ 'Yoo' means 'At' so if you want a direct translation it will be

Bathroom at where?

Makes sense?

When = Mua-Rai - เมื่อไร

เมื่อไรคุณจะมา (Mua-Rai-Khun-Ja-Ma) = when will you come?

คุณ 'Khun' means 'You'
จะ 'Ja' means 'will'
มา 'Ma' means 'come'

so here's the direct translation

When you will come?

Oh so direct...

I'll leave it at What, Where and When for now. Next time we'll go through the rest of them (Why, Who, Which and How)

Thai Conversation : Introductions in Thai

2009-11-09T15:07:00.004+07:00

Here we're going to learn a few basic sentences that can be used in introducing yourselves in Thai.

The "Hello my name John Doe" sentence. I have a few examples here.

If you're a guy

Sawasdee Krap, Phom Chue John Doe Krap.

Sawasdee Krap = Hello, Hi
Phom (reads like Pome) = I, My, Me. You use 'Phom' to identify yourself if you're a guy.
Chue (reads like Chew without the W, if you know what I mean) = Name

If you're a girl (lady)

Sawasdee Ka, Di-Chan Chue Janice Doe Ka.

Sawasdee Ka = Hello, Hi
Di-Chan (Di is like Dee but said pretty quickly) = I, My, Me. You use 'Di-Chan' to identify yourself if you're a lady.

Chue (reads like Chew without the W, if you know what I mean) = Name

Now here's the thing that confuses many people who live in Thailand. The 'pronoun' (oh no! a technical term!!) that girls (or ladies hehe) use to call themselves vary, and you can hear something else other than 'Di-Chan'

So I'll put together a simple list for you.

Nooh = mostly used by young girls (as in kids)
Dee-Chan = is more formal
Dien = if you say Dee-Chan quickly it can sound like 'Dien' or 'Dian') mostly used by older ladies

But most girls (or ladies) prefer to call themselves using their own nicknames. but before I go into that you need to read the following first before I give you an example.

Some of you might already know this.

Most Thai people have nicknames. it's not something made up by their high school friends or anything like that. Thai parents actually give their child a nickname.

Why? Because Thai names are friggin long and sometimes complicated, so instead of calling their own child 'Maneemahamanut' (I made that up by the way) every time the family has dinner, they prefer to call their child 'Tom'

if you're wondering what 'Maneemahamanut' means then, well... it means "Manee the super human" hehehe..

ok ok, so back to where girls like to call themselves with their own Nicknames instead of using "Di-chan or Dien etc etc."

If a Girl's name is actually 'Somrutai' (means Hope come true or something like that) but has a nickname of 'Amm' then she'll use 'Amm' to identify herself, easy right?

I thought this lesson was going to be pretty short, but wow did it get out of hand! But just before we go I'd like to add a few more things.

1. Seeing that girls have so many ways of identifying themselves. On the other hand, guys only have 1 (Phom)

2. Both sexes can use a more universal word for identifying themselves.

'Rao' = it means 'us' or 'we'

for example: Sawasdee Krap (Ka), Rao Chue John (Janice) Doe Krap (Ka).

Hmm, I know what you're thinking. Why go through all that rambling about different sexes uses different pronouns and stuff like that blah blah blah, when in the end there is actually a universal way to introduce yourself....

I don't have an answer to that hehehe :)

Numbers in Thai (Part 3)

2009-11-08T19:59:00.002+07:00

In Numbers in Thai (Part 1) and (Part 2) you've learnt the basics and also how to say numbers in Thai from 0 - 9999

We're now going to be looking at 'Ten Thousand' 'Hundred Thousand' and 'Million'

Unlike English, where you have 'Thousand' 'Ten Thousand' and 'Hundred Thousand' The Thai language has words classifying them as.

Pun (some places say Paan) means 'Thousand'.
Meuun (reads something like Meow and Moon together in a single syllable) means 'Ten Thousand'
Saen (reads like sand) means 'Hundred Thousand'
Laan (reads like Larn) means 'Million'

if you have been reading parts 1 & 2 then you should have no problem with making up numbers from 0-9,999,999

but I'll include some examples, incase you didn't read parts 1 and 2 (which you should)

32,456 is Saam-Meuun-See-Roi-Ha-Sip-Hok
200,500 is Song-Saen-Ha-Roi
8,000,000 is Pad-Laan

any thing beyond a million is pretty simple

For Ten Million you say 'Sip-Laan' (Ten-Million)
For Hundred Million you say 'Roi-Laan' (Hundred-Million)
A Billion you say 'Pun-Laan' (Thousand-Million)
Ten Billion you say 'Saen-Laan' (Hundred Thousand-Million)
Hundred Billion you say 'Laan-Laan' (Million-Million)

I'll stop there as I'm running out of numbers, but I think learning how to say numbers in Thai up to a hundred billion should be enough for most of you. ( for those of you who have more money that god and play with the word 'trillion' I suggest you find a private tutor...I'm sure you can afford one)

words that start with 'Gor Gai' (ก.ไก่)

2009-11-07T13:21:00.003+07:00

Hi! I know it's been a while since my last update (well, about 2 or so months...)
but after a crazy few months, here we go again..

This lesson... is not really a lesson hehe.. it's more of a vocabulary list. As most of you would probably know that to learn ANY language and to be able to communicate, you'll need to know a lot of words. A while back we talked about the first letter in the Thai Alphabet, 'Gor-Gai' or 'Kor-Kai' ( ก ), so we'll start with a few words starting with 'Gor-Gai'

Please note that Thai people like to relate 'ก' with the letter K (but I like to use the letter G)

Just so you know the letter sounds more like a G than a K

1. ไก่ - Gai = Chicken
2. กบ - Gob = Frog
3. แกะ - Gaeh = Sheep (Noun) or Take off/Scratch off (Verb) mostly used for small affixed items like taking a stamp off from an envelope or like taking off a sticker (you kinda have to scratch it off) or taking off the shrink wrap off a product.

4. กล้อง - Glong = Camera
5. กลอง - Glong = drums
these two words spell the same in English, but they sound differently. The 'Glong' (Camera) has a higher tone and pronounced shorter than the 'Glong' for drums

6. เก่า - Gao = old (for items that aren't humans or animals)
7. แก่ - Gae = old (for humans or animals)

You can also use the two words together to mean 'really old'
so it'll look like this.

8. เก่าแก่ - Gao-Gae = Really old (mostly items or places that have been around for a very longggg time.)

I'll stop here, take some time to familiarize yourselves with how they look in Thai (not sure if your browser can display Thai or not, I'm just assuming)

I'll bring in some more words for you soon.

Numbers in Thai (Part 2)

2009-08-18T10:46:00.005+07:00

In Numbers in Thai (Part 1) you have learned most of the basics already and now it’s just using those basics to make bigger numbers.

20 - Yee-Sip

21 - Yee-Sip-Et

22 - Yee-Sip-Song

23 - Yee-Sip-Saam

24 - Yee-Sip-See

25 - Yee-Sip-Ha

26 - Yee-Sip-Hoke

27 - Yee-Sip-Jet

28 - Yee-Sip-Pad

29 - Yee-Sip-Kao

Thanks to Jon, he has reminded me that there is a shortcut that most locals like to use (a lot). For Yee-Sip which has 2 syllables, it is usually shorten to just 1.

Yib or Yeeb instead of Yee-Sip

Yib or Yeeb (it can either be said short or long, up to you) is basically saying Yee-Sib really fast. it’s like saying “Gonna” instead of “Going to” or “Wanna” instead of “Want to”

30 to 99

From 30 to 99 is really easy as there are no fancy new words to learn (that I can think of now anyway)

All numbers in the 10’s except for twenty (that is 30,40,50..90) uses a simple system of

30 - Saam-Sip (three-ten)

40 - See-Sip (four-ten)

50 - Ha-Sip (five-ten)

60 - Hoke-Sip (six-ten)

70 - Jet-Sip (seven-ten)

80 - Pad-Sip (eight-ten)

90 - Kao-Sip (nine-ten)

and then for the units you start from

1 - Et

2 - Song

3 - Saam

4 - See

5 - Ha

6 - Hoke

7 - Jet

8 - Pad

9 - Kao

You probably already know what to do. But I’ll just provide you with some examples.

32 - Saam-Sip-Song

48 - See-Sip-Pad

51 - Ha-Sip-Et

64 - Hoke-Sip-See

79 - Jet-Sip-Kao

81 - Pad-Sip-Et

95 -Kao-Sip-Ha

Congratulations. Now you can all count from 1 to 99 in Thai. And as a bonus, I’ll tell you how to say ‘Hundred’ and ‘Thousand’

Hundred is ‘Roi’

Thousand is ‘Pun’ (Reads like ‘GUN’)

You put a unit number in front of either Hundred or Thousand to create larger numbers. Please note you don’t use ‘Et’ anymore because if you go back into Part 1 you only use ‘Et’ as the unit number in the 10’s range (hope you understand what I just said...) like 11,21,31,41,51,61,71,81 and 91

100 - Nueng-Roi (one-hundred)

101- Nueng-Roi-Nueng (one-hundred-one)

131- Nueng-Roi-Saam-Sip-Et (one-hundred-thirty-one)

200 - Song-Roi ( two-hundred)

500 - Haa-Roi ( five-hundred)

3000 - Saam-Pun (three-thousand)

1000 - Nueng Pun (one-thousand)

2561 - Song-Pun-Ha-Roi-Hoke-Sip-Et (two-thousand-five-hundred-sixty-one)

9999 - Kao-Pun-Kao-Roi-Kao-Sip-Kao (nine-thousand-nine-hundred-ninety-nine)

So now you can count from 1-9999. Wasn’t that hard now was it? In Part 3 we’ll have a look at ten-thousand, hundred-thousand and million.

Saying Sorry in Thai

2009-08-07T16:27:00.004+07:00

I said in an earlier post that the basic set of words to learn before travelling to any country are hello, goodbye, thank you, sorry, yes and no. I've covered all but one, and now I'm going to teach you how to say Sorry in Thai.

Khor-Thod (ขอโทษ) means Sorry. It can also be used as 'Excuse me'

Khor (ขอ) means 'ask for' or 'beg'
Thod (โทษ) means 'penalty'

Pretty straight forward yea? so you do something bad to someone and you feel bad about it, so you ask for a penalty (Sorry) from that person.

This doesn't mean when you say Khor-Thod to someone, that person has the right to smack you in the head (The penalty, you asked for it didn't you?) It's just a modest way to say you feel bad about it. It's like when the samurais fail a mission or something then they go to their boss and say "I Failed you, please kill me as punishment" then the boss will just say "It's ok, just make sure it doesn't happen again". You get the idea.

And of course you have to add some 'politeness' into your quest for forgiveness (and you probably know already what to do). But for those who have no clue what I just said. You add 'Krap' (If you're a guy) or 'Ka' (If you're a girl)

Here's an example.

1st example: you are a man. You walk down the street and you bump into a girl. You'll have to say 'Khor-Thod-Krap'

2nd example: you are a woman. You just arrived at Bangkok Airport and you have no idea where the exit is. You walk to a security guard and you ask politely "Khor-Thod-Ka Where's the exit?"

As you can see. I've mixed Thai and English together. This is OK in most cases. You could've just said 'excuse me, where's the exit?' but you're just showing off now and the security guard would probably serve you with a bigger smile because you learned how to say Sorry (excuse me) in Thai.

Saying Yes and No in Thai

2009-08-06T11:21:00.007+07:00

Welome to the easiest lesson!

we'll learn how to say YES and NO, in Thai.

YES = Chai
No = Mai

Chai = Yes
Lets say you want to buy some food, you point at what you want, and the person serving you, wanting to confirm your order, points at the same food you were pointing before and looks at you with a 'this one?' look, so you nod your head and you say 'Chai' (yes, that is what I want)

Mai = No
the most common usage of 'Mai' is not by itself, but rather together with the word 'Chai'

So you say 'Mai-Chai' It translates to something like 'No, it's not'

So looking at our first example at the food shop, if the person serving you points at something you didn't want you say 'Mai-Chai' and then you point to the stuff you wanted before.

A few more phrases using 'Mai'

Mai-Chai = No it's not
Mai-Mee = Don't have (Mee means Have)
Mai-Dai = Cannot do (Dai means able to, or can do)
Mai-Por = Not enough (Por means enough)

Mai-Hai = No, not giving it to you (Hai means give)

in some contexts, the term Hai can also mean 'Let'

Mai-Hai-Tum = (Tum = do) so this means 'Not letting you do that' (or something like that)

Ok, I guess we'll stop for now, there are more uses of 'Chai' and 'Mai' but we'll get into that in more advance sentance making lessons.

For now, I want you to familiarize yourselves with the simple terms of saying Yes and No.

Saying Thank you in Thai

2009-08-05T22:07:00.004+07:00

Saying thank you is a part of everyday life. You thank someone when they give you a gift, or directions. You thank someone when they help you out or say something nice to you.

Some people say if you are to travel to any country, the most basic words are 'hello', 'goodbye', 'yes', 'no', 'thank you' and 'sorry' As long as you can say these basic words, you'll survive your trip :P

We've gone through greetings and farewells, now we're gonna learn how to thank someone.

You say 'Khob-Khun' then as always, you add Krap (If you're a guy) or Ka (If you're a girl)

so together it'll be 'Khob-Khun-Krap (Ka)'

Khob-Khun means... you guessed it, Thank you (Duh.) but if you seperate the Thai words.

Khob - means 'edge'

Khun - means 'you'

That means you cannot run around saying 'Khob" to people like how you would say "thanks" in English.

You actually have to say both Khob and Khun together. Consider it as a single phrase than seperate words.

Some of you might hear some Thai people say 'Khob-Jai' as a means for thanking someone.

'Khob-Jai' is used by some people to say thanks to someone younger than them or someone lower in rank or position. it's fine to say it to kids, just don't say it to your boss...

But just to be safe, it is perfectly fine to say Khob-Khun to whoever you want (young or old) It's the same as saying 'Sawasdee' as a greeting or farewell.

So now you know how to thank someone in Thai, next time we'll look at the next two basic words, Yes and No in Thai.

Numbers in Thai (Part 1)

2009-08-04T10:45:00.007+07:00

You will find that in most Thai publications and media such as movies or books use the the Arabic numeral system. ( That’s the 1234567890. But We all know that, right? ) but in some places like government places or places that would like to promote the Thai culture such as hotels and resorts. They use Thai numerals. But don’t stress yourself trying to memorize how they look like as it’s not really that important in everyday life in Thailand. ( I can’t even read it properly, and I know how they all look like )

But my main focus here is not on Thai numerals. I want to focus on how to say the numbers, so that when you ask a Thai merchant how much those pair of shoes costs, you will know how much it is.

I think learning the numbers is going to be one of the most important things you will need to get used to, as it is used in everyday life. ( how much, what time, how many etc. )

so here are the numbers.

0 - Soon - Thai numeral = 0
1 - Nueng - Thai numeral = ๑
2 - Song - Thai numeral = ๒
3 - Saam - Thai numeral = ๓
4 - See - Thai numeral = ๔
5 - Ha - Thai numeral = ๕
6 - Hoke - Thai numeral = ๖
7 - Jet - Thai numeral = ๗
8 - Pad - Thai numeral = ๘
9 - Kao - Thai numeral = ๙
10 - Sip - Thai numeral = ๑0

Pretty easy yea? but what about 11? our first guess that it’s probably “Sip-Nueng” but it’s not. ( Although you might hear some people say “Sip-Nueng” but it’s more of a Slang )
It’s just like ‘Eleven’ and not ‘one-one’

‘Et’ and ‘Yee’

During the count up from ten to a hundred there is 2 more words to remember which is ‘et’ and ‘yee’

Et means 1

Et is only used as the first number in a series of 10’s for example 11, 21, 31, 41.....91. ‘Et’ is not used in 101, 201, 301 etc.

Just remember it is used in the series of 10’s, so you will use it again in 111, 121, 651 etc.

Yee means 2

The only time ‘Yee” is used is when you need to say twenty like, 20, 21, 22, 29, 125, 524 etc.

Basically, you say ‘Yee-Sip’ for Twenty ( Two Tens = Twenty )

Examples.

11 - ‘Sip-Et’ ( Ten-One )
12 - ‘Sip-Song’ (Ten-Two)
20 - ‘Yee-Sip’ ( Two-Tens )
21 - ‘Yee-Sip-Et’ ( Two-Tens and a One )
25 - ‘Yee-Sip-Ha’ ( Two-Tens and a Five )

Saying 11 to 19

11 to 19 is pretty straight forward (except for 11) and most of you will probably have figured it out. You just simply put a Ten in front and a number at the back.

11 - ‘Sip-Et’
12 - ‘Sip-Song’
13 - ‘Sip-Saam’
14 - ‘Sip-See’
15 - ‘Sip-Ha’
16 - ‘Sip-Hoke’
17 - ‘Sip-Jet’
18 - ‘Sip-Pad’
19 - ‘Sip-Kao’

I’ll be back with more from 20 - 99

Saying Good bye in Thai (Part 2)

2009-07-31T11:21:00.005+07:00

In part 1, we've all learned now that we should never use "Lah Korn" to say goodbye to someone and that the best way to farewell somone is to say "Sawasdee Krap (Ka)" instead. But it's usually for official business stuff or talking to someone older than you. So what about friends or people that are younger?

Lets take an example from English. You won't say "Hello it is nice to meet you again" or "Goodbye it was nice to know you" to a friend would you? Of course not, you would say "Hey!" "Hi" and "See ya later" or just "Bye" right? Well, in Thai it is just like that.

There are two phrases (that I can think of right now) that are most used as farewells.

Jer-Gun - Translates to something like "See you" (Jer means 'meet' and Gun means something like 'together')
Choke-Dee - is "Good Luck" (This is a direct translation of words, 'Choke' means 'Luck' and 'Dee' means 'Good'

it is perfectly fine to add "Krap" (Ka) at the end of each phrase. That way you will sound more polite.

Jer-Gun-Krap (Ka)- See you later.
Choke-Dee-Krap (Ka) - Good luck (farewell).

You can even put the two phrases together (it'll make you seem more friendly)

Jer-Gun-Krap-Choke-Dee-Krap - See you later, Good luck.
Choke-Dee-Krap-Jer-Gun - Good luck, See you later.

If you noticed in the last phrase I left "Krap" from the ending of "Jer-Gun" just to show you some variety in how the phrases can be constructed.

"Krap" or "Ka" has no meaning. It's just icing on the cake to sound more polite, you can and should add "Krap"and "Ka" at the end of each word, phrase or sentance. But it is also fine to add one in and leave one out in case of multiple phrases. But don't worry about it much as this sort of thing comes with experience, when you start to learn more and hear more Thais talking then you'll know when to use them or not to use them.

Now you know how to properly farewell someone without sounding like they're about to die. Hope this is useful to you, but we are not done with farewells. There are more stuff like saying "See you tomorrow" "See you next week" and stuff. But I'll leave it for now until we learn Date and Time in Thai.

"See you next time"

The Thai Alphabet Song

2009-07-29T23:31:00.004+07:00

I found this on YouTube, it's a song that kindergarden teachers teach kids so they can learn and remember the alphabet, it has pictures to associate the letters. (like 'Gor Gai', Gai means chicken)

The children singing the song can be a little annoying (or a lot) so don't knock yourselves out trying to remember it, I just thought it would something that might be of interest, and for you to
familiarize yourselves with how each letter looks like.

Because to be totally honest, most Thai people I know can't remember the song anymore, nor can they remember the entire alphabet in sequence. ( so don't rely on them to use a Thai dictionary )

So here it is

The first letter in the Thai alphabet (Gor Gai)

2009-07-28T22:01:00.009+07:00

Seeing that you've got the basics of greetings and farewells,

we'll have a look at the first ever letter in the Thai alphabet (excited?)

I just think that getting to know the letters one at the time might benefit

more than to give you the entire 44 letter alphabet all at once.

Just for your information, not all 44 letters are used, I think only

half of it is actually being used in everyday usage (although I'm not sure,

will get back to you on that one) so it's not as bad as it sounds now eh?

So the first letter of the day will be "Gor Gai" ('Kor' isn't a word it's the sound the letter makes) I'll let you guess what "Kai" means (yes, that's a chicken in the picture)

"Gor Gai" or ก can be related to (you guessed it) the letter G in English, but the 'educated' people are saying that it is related to the letter K, I do not know why they do this as it doesn't sound anywhere near a K and there are many other Thai letters that sound like a K...

I guess it's up to you who to believe, but it also doesn't matter who you believe as it is widely accepted that "Gor Gai" should be "Kor Kai" instead. (I guess when I put up my audio samples up, then you can be my judge).

Oh dear, the first letter out of 44, and already confusion of what it should sound like...

I'll try to do some research and get some more information regarding the matter.

Saying Good bye in Thai (Part 1)

2009-07-27T16:05:00.006+07:00

Now that we're pretty familiar with the 'greeting' part of the Thai Language, now we'll have a look at the 'farewell' part of it.

Now the funny thing about this is that, even though the Thai language does have a word which means 'good bye' the Thai people don't really use it.

Why? well, the word "Lah Korn" (the K in Korn sounds more like a G and a K mixed together) means good bye, but in saying "Lah Korn" to someone is like saying you'll never see them again..ever. For example, you're watching an action movie and the bad guy puts a gun at the good guy's head and before he pulls the trigger, he says "Lah Korn" It's pretty much like when Arnie says "Asta La Vista, Baby" (Bang)

But to avoid all the confusion, lets just put it this way. You don't say "Lah Korn" to anyone, ever. (lets just forget about it)

So what do Thais use then? well, they use the 'Greeting' to say 'Goodbye' when Thai people want to farewell each other they just simply say "Sawasdee Krap (Ka)" and do the Wai, simple enough yeah?

But doesn't "Sawasdee" mean hello? well, after doing a little research, it doesn't, it actually means "Well Being" (Taken from Wikipedia) as a Thai person myself, it is one of the words that many people don't know what it actually means, Thai people just use it, it's just a sign of respect, who cares what it means, right?

Lets just put it as simply as I can

You use "Sawasdee Krap (Ka)" for both greetings and saying goodbye
You never use "Lah Korn" unless you're a super villian trying to kill Superman (it might sound I am exaggerating a bit, but I tell you, I've been alive for 27 years and I've never used "Lah Korn" or ever had anyone tell me "Lah Korn")
It's perfectly fine to say "Bye bye" to farewell a Thai person (don't forget to wave too)

There are a few more words to use when saying good bye to someone, which I will talk about in my next post, so see ya's in a bit.

Lah Korn.....

Saying Hello (Part 2)

2009-07-26T08:27:00.004+07:00

Greeting in Thai is pretty much like English, where in English you can say
"Hello" "Hi' "Hey" etc. In Thai it is the same, you don't have to stick to saying "Sawasdee Krap (Ka)" all the time you meet someone.

Now it's a good thing to say the full greeting (Sawasdee Krap, Ka) when you meet someone new or as an offical greeting. But in more informal meetings like when a friend introduces you to another friend you can shorten it to just "Wat-dee Krap (Ka)" as you can see we have taken the "Sa" out and made the word shorter (it's like saying 'Hi' instead of 'Hello')

It is tradition in Thailand when you greet someone, say sorry or say goodbye, you have to do the "Wai" which is the act of putting both hands together (like in the picture) and bowing your head slightly.

The General rule to "Wai" is that it is compulsary that you do it when you greet, apologise or say goodbye to people who are older or hold a higher position in work than you. If the person is about the same age, it is acceptable to just bow your head slightly without the "Wai" You do not, however, "Wai" to children or people younger than you.

But if you are on the receiving end of a "Wai" (That is, someone is greeting you or saying goodbye) it is good practice to also do a "Wai" just to acknowledge them, but you do not have to do it to children.

As you can see, there is more to it in a Thai greeting, it is not just saying hello, it's about respecting the person you are greeting and showing them you have learnt your manners, you don't have to remember everything I just said here in Part 2, you can just stick with the basics and remember to say "Sawasdee Krap" or "Sawasdee Ka" and do a "Wai" everytime you greet someone (young or old) and you will find in no time that the Thai people will just love you.

Saying Hello (Part 1)

2009-07-23T21:03:00.001+07:00

Ok, first off we'll take a look at how to greet one another, ok, ok, I know some of you are thinking why not learn the alphabet first and why are we jumping straight into speaking? well, I personally believe that learning to speak is easier than learning to read and write, and once you know what the words sound like, it will be easier to learn how to read as you can associate sounds to the letters better.

Any how, lets start with our first lesson, shall we?

I'm using colours to aid in the learning process, I will be using Red and Green to seperate the Thai words and I'll use Blue to indicate how to pronounce the words.

The most official way to greet someone, if you are a man you say "Sawasdee Krap" and if you are a woman you say "Sawasdee Ka" I used colours to seperate each word here as well as the above Thai sample (the Thai sample reads "Sawasdee Krap")

The word "Sawasdee" (you actually pronouce it more like "Sa-Wat-Dee" I'll have audio samples later) is the greeting, which means hello or hi.

The words after "Sawasdee" which are "Krap" (pronouced more like "Cup" but with an R in between, something like "Crap" and "Cup" mixed together, if that makes any sense to you) and "Ka". Why use different endings? you may ask, well, in the Thai language these two words are very important. Thai people take the spoken language very seriously, people who say "Krap" or "Ka" behind words or sentances regularly are often seen as polite, while those who do not say it are considered rude (especially when talking to people who are older than you)

I will get into details of "Krap" and "Ka" in a later post, lets just say, if you are a guy (AKA : MALE) you add "Krap" behind your words or sentances, and if you are a girl (AKA : Female) you add "Ka" don't mix between the two, if a guy says "Ka" he will immediately be classified as a girl...you get the drift.

Stay Tuned for Part Two

Tips for learning Thai

2009-07-22T14:57:00.000+07:00

There are a few things I would like to discuss first before we begin learning.

Thai is a pretty simple language to learn (which some might disagree, at first) although it does have a pretty bad first impression, having 44 letters, lots of vowels and different sound levels (which we will get into detail later)

Believe me when I say it is possible for someone with no prior knowledge of the language to be able to communicate with a Thai local. I've seen business people from the US and UK speak perfect Thai and they've only been in the country for about 2-3 years.

A few pointers I'd like to give out

Have an open mind, and keep it that way. You are learning something new, it is obvious that it won't have the same rules and structure as English or any other language. You WILL find things that won't make sense to you or even annoy the hell out of you.

Maintain an interest for learning. Find something to help you maintain an interest of the language, it could be your holiday to Thailand, your job or a nice pretty Thai girl (and you're just dying to know what she has to say about you) For me, it was a Dragon Ball Z comic book, I just had to read it no matter the costs :P

Do not flood yourself with information. You might want to learn as much as you can as fast as you can, but unless you are a genius you will find it overwhelming trying to remember everything, all the letters, how they look like, how they sound etc, and in the end you will find it too hard and give up. try to take the approach music teachers use, they teach their students for about an hour, some students won't be able to play what the teacher just taught them in that 1 hour, but when they come back for the next lesson a week later they find that they can now play. It's the same here, try to stay relaxed and remember what you can when you start to feel overwhelmed, stop, rest for a while or just come back in a few days and continue where you left off.

Thats all I can think of for now, hope it can be some help to you and your journey into another language.

Learning Thai Language Welcomes You

2009-07-21T16:40:00.000+07:00

Thanks for coming to my new Blog.

My intentions for this blog is for everyone to learn the Thai language, you could be someone living in Thailand, planning for a trip to Thailand or just curious about the language and want to be able to talk with the locals (simple stuff like ordering food, or more complex stuff like telling the taxi where your house is)

Please note that I am not a professional teacher, I am just a normal guy, I do not have a fixed learning structure or plan, or anything. I'll be putting stuff up as it comes to me in no particular order and I'll be using simple English so that people from non English backgrounds can learn also.

I just hope that I will be helpful to anyone wishing to learn the Thai language and I will be posting new articles, hopefully, regularly. :P

Thanks again for visiting.