So have I
learning the thai language
Re: learning the thai language
A week or so ago our dog had a toenail removed.....she had snagged it on something and the vet decided it was best to pull it out. No problems. Today, over our morning coffee, my wife lamented that our dog was no longer ครบ 32. When my wife says it, she doesn't pronounce the ร. I asked what that meant.....she said that our dog was no longer complete.......sort of like 10 little fingers, 10 little toes, two little eyes, and one little nose. I wanted to know more......asked how to spell the word......ค ร บ and off to google I went.
After a bit of reading, I now understand why, on the morning after my mother-in-law's cremation, the head monk asked me for 32 one-baht coins. He removed the ash tray from the crematorium, shaped the remains into the form of a human body, and placed the 32 coins at various points in the ashes....all the while chanting away. I never understood the significance of those 32 coins.....until today.
And it's why you might tell an expecting mother to take care of herself ให้ลูกเกิดมาครบ 32
Reason #4392
After a bit of reading, I now understand why, on the morning after my mother-in-law's cremation, the head monk asked me for 32 one-baht coins. He removed the ash tray from the crematorium, shaped the remains into the form of a human body, and placed the 32 coins at various points in the ashes....all the while chanting away. I never understood the significance of those 32 coins.....until today.
And it's why you might tell an expecting mother to take care of herself ให้ลูกเกิดมาครบ 32
Reason #4392
Re: learning the thai language
In classier restrooms, a sign like this would come with the international symbols. But in the Nongwahsaw Hospital, they've opted for the cheaper self-printed version of the Thai instructions:
As I recall, in the late 90's/early 2000's, the Army leader mandated that all military bathrooms upgrade to the western style toilet. Not long after, there was an article in the Bangkok Post about a rash of broken toilet seats.....and the military apparently neglected to instruct its recruits on the proper use of a western toilet.
I haven't seen the second line in many restrooms in Thailand. But it's reason #4591 for learning a little Thai......lest you find yourself showering in the wrong place.
As I recall, in the late 90's/early 2000's, the Army leader mandated that all military bathrooms upgrade to the western style toilet. Not long after, there was an article in the Bangkok Post about a rash of broken toilet seats.....and the military apparently neglected to instruct its recruits on the proper use of a western toilet.
I haven't seen the second line in many restrooms in Thailand. But it's reason #4591 for learning a little Thai......lest you find yourself showering in the wrong place.
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Re: learning the thai language
Don’t stand on the toilet bowl
Don’t wash your feet in the toilet
And if you are a golfer, ห้ามล้างของคุณลูกบอลในอ่างล้างมือ🧐
Don’t wash your feet in the toilet
And if you are a golfer, ห้ามล้างของคุณลูกบอลในอ่างล้างมือ🧐
Re: learning the thai language
"Don’t wash your feet in the toilet "
Just to avoid any confusion, I'd say "Don't wash your feet in the bathroom". But then, I recall reading somewhere that someone got their feet stuck in the toilet bowl. Maybe I was dreaming!
ห้ามล้างของคุณลูกบอลในอ่างล้างมือ.....probably more correct to say ห้ามล้างลูกกอล์ฟของคุณในอ่างล้างมือ, but I think people would get the idea.
Just to avoid any confusion, I'd say "Don't wash your feet in the bathroom". But then, I recall reading somewhere that someone got their feet stuck in the toilet bowl. Maybe I was dreaming!
ห้ามล้างของคุณลูกบอลในอ่างล้างมือ.....probably more correct to say ห้ามล้างลูกกอล์ฟของคุณในอ่างล้างมือ, but I think people would get the idea.
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Re: learning the thai language
While in the US military, I suffered the loss of a range of my hearing. It really has little affect on my hearing, EXCEPT, I can't hear the language tones and without hearing the Thai tones, I will never be fluent or even close to it.
Re: learning the thai language
glalt, I wear heavy duty hearing aids.....I was able to break the code cypher because of a good teacher.....lots of headaches.....and practice. I'm comfortable with my level of learning.....but far far far from any degree of fluency.
I take comfort in being able to read a bit, and carry on conversations when I'm in control of the conversation. If I'm not, I'm pretty much lost in space.
I take comfort in being able to read a bit, and carry on conversations when I'm in control of the conversation. If I'm not, I'm pretty much lost in space.
Re: learning the thai language
So, today over morning coffees, my wife commented that our dog was no longer a หมาหัวเน่า. She had had a small cut on top of her head....slow to heal.....but after multiple applications of peroxide bleached her black hair, my wife pronounced her 'cured'. I understood the words....หมา......หัว......เน่า.....but didn't understand them as an idiom. My wife went on to explain.....and she finished with me understanding maybe 60% of the meaning......but not enough for me to use it in a sentence myself.
To me, this is where the power of knowing a little bit of Thai (reading) can make life so much more enjoyable in Thailand. You can take most any Thai word, saying, idiom......poke it into google with the added words "หมายถึง" (which means 'meaning') and let google translate do the work for you.
In one longish explanation, a college student explained how he roomed up with 12 or so other students....everyone got along.....until, as time passed, he felt he was the 'หมาหัวเน่า' in the room.
I may never get to use the idiom myself......but I always feel a bit better about understanding the language a bit better.
To me, this is where the power of knowing a little bit of Thai (reading) can make life so much more enjoyable in Thailand. You can take most any Thai word, saying, idiom......poke it into google with the added words "หมายถึง" (which means 'meaning') and let google translate do the work for you.
In one longish explanation, a college student explained how he roomed up with 12 or so other students....everyone got along.....until, as time passed, he felt he was the 'หมาหัวเน่า' in the room.
I may never get to use the idiom myself......but I always feel a bit better about understanding the language a bit better.
Re: learning the thai language
If you're here for the long haul, there're a few thousand reasons to learn to read Thai. On a trip to Bangkok many years ago by train, I plotted my chores on a map beforehand and practiced my Thai so I could navigate the city by bus/taxi. I told a taxi 'Rama See' for Rama IV Rd......and he gave me that glazed look that I immediately understood. "How could you not understand Rama See" I thought.......Only to find out later that the road isn't called Rama IV (as all the English signs say).....rather, it's Phra Ram See (พระราม สี่) which is very different.
Is it Udorn or Udon......Ubon or Uborn.....Loei or Leeuy........heaven help you if you're reading the transliterated signs.
I think I've found the champion for sign misspellings (transliterated). I pass it every time I return home from town. อ. นากลาง Na Klanf is what the sign says.....but I'll guess no taxi/van/bus driver would ever understand you if you tried the transliterated version in the sign.
A little Thai goes a long way.
Is it Udorn or Udon......Ubon or Uborn.....Loei or Leeuy........heaven help you if you're reading the transliterated signs.
I think I've found the champion for sign misspellings (transliterated). I pass it every time I return home from town. อ. นากลาง Na Klanf is what the sign says.....but I'll guess no taxi/van/bus driver would ever understand you if you tried the transliterated version in the sign.
A little Thai goes a long way.
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semperfiguy
- udonmap.com
- Posts: 2449
- Joined: July 16, 2010, 12:49 pm
- Location: Udon Thani, Thailand
Re: learning the thai language
I have been here 9 years now and have totally given up on learning Thai. My wife has taught me basic phrases like how to order hot water, hot coffee, hot cocoa, eggs fried soft (sunny side up), and I have mastered those words according to her, but when I use them in a restaurant I nearly always get that deer in the headlights stare. She has also written them down so that I can show them to waitresses/waiters and they still don't get it. I have ordered hot cocoa and received instead a dinner salad at breakfast. I have ordered hot coffee and received a coke with ice, and after ordering hot water I have spoken with as many as three different servers in the same restaurant before anyone understood what I was saying. This happens on nearly a daily basis so is certainly not the exception in my case. It has become so frustrating for me that I know for sure it would never benefit me to go any further with learning Thai. I have much less difficulty getting my point across in English. As a side note I have also discovered that playing charades with a Thai in order to convey a thought is a complete waste of time and it makes me want to pull my hair out. They are totally clueless! The anxiety associated with trying to communicate with a Thai on most any level is not worth the risk of blowing my blood pressure through the roof, so I choose instead to live my life in a bubble and it suits me just fine. If others are learning to speak Thai and are pleased with that, then more power to you!
Last edited by semperfiguy on May 12, 2019, 5:15 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Colossians 2:8-10...See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, which are based on human tradition and the spiritual forces of the world rather than on Christ. For in HIM dwells all the fullness of the GODHEAD bodily; and you are complete in HIM, who is the head of all principality and power.
Re: learning the thai language
I think they’ve spelt the bottom sign wrong as wellparrot wrote: ↑May 12, 2019, 1:52 pmIf you're here for the long haul, there're a few thousand reasons to learn to read Thai. On a trip to Bangkok many years ago by train, I plotted my chores on a map beforehand and practiced my Thai so I could navigate the city by bus/taxi. I told a taxi 'Rama See' for Rama IV Rd......and he gave me that glazed look that I immediately understood. "How could you not understand Rama See" I thought.......Only to find out later that the road isn't called Rama IV (as all the English signs say).....rather, it's Phra Ram See (พระราม สี่) which is very different.
Is it Udorn or Udon......Ubon or Uborn.....Loei or Leeuy........heaven help you if you're reading the transliterated signs.
I think I've found the champion for sign misspellings (transliterated). I pass it every time I return home from town. อ. นากลาง Na Klanf is what the sign says.....but I'll guess no taxi/van/bus driver would ever understand you if you tried the transliterated version in the sign.
A little Thai goes a long way.
Re: learning the thai language
"I think they’ve spelt the bottom sign wrong as well"
They sure did....but at least not butchered like the one above it.
They sure did....but at least not butchered like the one above it.
Re: learning the thai language
SFG you could take a dictionary around with you and learn to write a few Thai words such as coffee. Many books that help farang learn Thai have page after page on ordering food.
Lock 'em up - Eastman, Giuliani, Senator Graham, Meadows and Trump
Re: learning the thai language
Reason #4673......learning the tones and reading
When you want to know the name of something.....ask your wife......and she can't tell you in English but can tell you in Thai.
If you can get to the kindergarten level in reading/tones, you'll be able to looks Thai words up on google.
Today's word.......แมงง่วง
You can hear the ear-piecing cry of this beetle at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7zTfrgIA3w
When you want to know the name of something.....ask your wife......and she can't tell you in English but can tell you in Thai.
If you can get to the kindergarten level in reading/tones, you'll be able to looks Thai words up on google.
Today's word.......แมงง่วง
You can hear the ear-piecing cry of this beetle at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7zTfrgIA3w
Re: learning the thai language
Often, I believe, they simply don't want to communicate so they feign ignorance. It may well be that the thought of a farang speaking Thai short-circuits their thought process, and they shut down. Maybe 10 percent are willing to work through the process of a less-than-pitch-perfect non-native Thai speaker.
Ashli Babbitt -- SAY HER NAME!
Re: learning the thai language
or, it is expectations.. I've spoken Thai in some venues and had the person look at another Thai and ask them what I'm saying.. In those situations when my wife is present I've asked her, "was I speaking correctly?" and she's told me that my pronunciation was perfect. So, I'd conclude that some Thais when dealing with a foreigner, due to their odd expectations, don't hear them speaking Thai...
Dave
Re: learning the thai language
Well said. I can spot the reluctance of some Thais to respond to my communication, in Thai, before I finish the sentence/question. Never mind that it's a simple statement I've heard and repeated hundreds of times and can pronounce it properly. With some, the flight response kicks in and they are simply not prepared to take on the incoming stimuli.
Ashli Babbitt -- SAY HER NAME!
Re: learning the thai language
My wife is a fan of mix-it-yourself dish soap that's been popular in OTOP circles for a number of years. A few years ago we had a dog that had a musty smell to its fur, leash, collar......wash in all sorts of dog shampoos/laundry detergents didn't seem to help much. A friend recommended the otop soap and that settled that problem immediately.
Today my wife asked me if I'd mix the next batch while she busied herself with cooking.
Whether you're trying to read your owner's manual (in Thai) or mixing instructions for a pesticide or paint or your favorite ramen noodles.....most of the instructions are written in elementary Thai so reading them doesn't require much vocabulary.
In the case of the dish soap, the ingredients are itemized and the individual packages are marked with the corresponding number. The vocab for mix, add, stir, along with the individual ingredients tend to be repeated throughout. In the case of ramen, most everyone already knows how to make it in English....and sometimes there are photos that help you as well.
One of my early 'wanting to read' moments came after buying a new truck way back when. The English manual was on order........but there were a few things I wanted to know about before the manual arrived. Before I ever learned the alphabet (I still don't know the Thai alphabet like I know the English alphabet) I could fake my way through a Thai dictionary. It was tedious......but finding the word I was looking for was like solving the NYT crossword puzzle.
Little by little........it makes a big difference in enjoying life in Thailand
Today my wife asked me if I'd mix the next batch while she busied herself with cooking.
Whether you're trying to read your owner's manual (in Thai) or mixing instructions for a pesticide or paint or your favorite ramen noodles.....most of the instructions are written in elementary Thai so reading them doesn't require much vocabulary.
In the case of the dish soap, the ingredients are itemized and the individual packages are marked with the corresponding number. The vocab for mix, add, stir, along with the individual ingredients tend to be repeated throughout. In the case of ramen, most everyone already knows how to make it in English....and sometimes there are photos that help you as well.
One of my early 'wanting to read' moments came after buying a new truck way back when. The English manual was on order........but there were a few things I wanted to know about before the manual arrived. Before I ever learned the alphabet (I still don't know the Thai alphabet like I know the English alphabet) I could fake my way through a Thai dictionary. It was tedious......but finding the word I was looking for was like solving the NYT crossword puzzle.
Little by little........it makes a big difference in enjoying life in Thailand
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Re: learning the thai language
Signs of economic hard times for expats.......or?
I try to wear my rose-colored glasses for special occasions...today, I wasn't wearing them. I brought a pair of old but still good Vans shoes to the shoe repairers near the fountain circle for re-gluing. I yakked with the woman about whether to glue or glue/sew the seams......told her I wanted the shoes to last another few years. Then I asked the price. She told me that Thais pay 180 Baht.....but, for you, falang...........150 Baht. I asked if she was joking, but she assured me that she was giving me a good deal. I believe her. I chalk it up to reason #5991 to learn a bit of Thai.
I try to wear my rose-colored glasses for special occasions...today, I wasn't wearing them. I brought a pair of old but still good Vans shoes to the shoe repairers near the fountain circle for re-gluing. I yakked with the woman about whether to glue or glue/sew the seams......told her I wanted the shoes to last another few years. Then I asked the price. She told me that Thais pay 180 Baht.....but, for you, falang...........150 Baht. I asked if she was joking, but she assured me that she was giving me a good deal. I believe her. I chalk it up to reason #5991 to learn a bit of Thai.