learning the thai language

Thai Society and culture, Living in Thailand.
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FrazeeDK
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Re: learning the thai language

Post by FrazeeDK » October 12, 2019, 2:22 pm

it's a southern invasion!!! Probably all up for the Naga dragon festival at the river..


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Re: learning the thai language

Post by parrot » October 20, 2019, 6:54 pm

Sometimes Thai signs are easy to read.......the international symbol for man/woman to indicate which bathroom is which, for example. But there are times that there's no symbols to guide you, so being able to read ห้องน้ำ is almost a necessity in Thailand.
But sometimes the locals will throw you a curve ball and use สุขา instead.
And then there's the case of this set of bathrooms.....located at the Mountain Rabbit Temple (or Rabbit Mountain Temple.....or...?) วัดป่าภูกระต่าย located on a hill overlooking Nongbualamphu. Through the open doors I knew it was a bathroom.....I looked for หญิง ชาย to guide me so as to not walk into the wrong side. But then I saw the sign above the doors......สำหรับพระภิกษุ Two good words to know......สำหรับ = for/intended for and พระภิกษุ I wasn't familiar with the second word.....but knew enough of it (พระ) to know the bathrooms were for monks.......not the general population.

A little Thai goes a long way!
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Re: learning the thai language

Post by iPa41000 » October 21, 2019, 7:27 am

parrot wrote:
October 20, 2019, 6:54 pm
.... But then I saw the sign above the doors......สำหรับพระภิกษุ Two good words to know......สำหรับ = for/intended for and พระภิกษุ I wasn't familiar with the second word.....but knew enough of it (พระ) to know the bathrooms were for monks.......
I had never seen that before, thank you for this share

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Re: learning the thai language

Post by mech_401 » October 27, 2019, 4:16 am

73446235_10157989199183487_1686714359574691840_o-623x416.jpg

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Re: learning the thai language

Post by mech_401 » October 28, 2019, 1:44 pm

ฮาโลวีน halloween

ต้อนรับ welcome

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Re: learning the thai language

Post by parrot » November 9, 2019, 11:31 am

Words like สกลนคร used to throw me for a loop, but then after seeing so many busses and license plates with the word, I got used to the lack of visible vowels.
Today, while waiting for my wife's crown to be fitted, I stared at a nearby sign with this word... ครบวงจร......I tried all my crypto decyphering techniques.....but finally had to use a Thai dictionary to put the jigsaw together.

I hate it that after all these years words like ครบวงจร kick me in the rear
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Re: learning the thai language

Post by FrazeeDK » November 9, 2019, 7:24 pm

or the English transliteration of that city back in years past. Sakol Nakon. Or the big greeting sign in Don Muang over the baggage belt area that you could see from the Immigration booths, "Sawasdee!"
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Re: learning the thai language

Post by parrot » November 16, 2019, 2:20 pm

It's been a while since I've added to my list of reasons to learn the language......but today, I realized that I'd not be able to call and report a hit and run properly if I couldn't read the language. Say, for example, the truck ahead of me in the photo tags a pedestrian and makes a run for it. Will I send the police on a wild goose chase if I tell them the truck was white? Or if I tell them the license plate number and report the vehicle as white will they track down the plate and say, 'that can't be the right vehicle'?

Being able to read that small sign tells me a lot about the owner......not necessarily positive or negative.....just a general frame of mind.......definitely a 220v brain as compared to my 110v.

Reason #5297
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Re: learning the thai language

Post by FrazeeDK » November 18, 2019, 8:03 pm

because saying something is different makes it so? A black truck was the auspicious pick but he could only get white? Kinda like when the widow-maker ghost treads through villages at night killing men and the men wear womens' clothes or at a bare minimum paint their nails red to fool the ghost?

I've also seen a stick-on on the back of a truck that said word to the effect, "my wife is pretty.." Wishful thinking? :-s
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Re: learning the thai language

Post by parrot » November 19, 2019, 12:52 pm

Yesterday I posted about a promotional item at Ngeesoon on Tipco juice (http://www.udonmap.com/udonthaniforum/v ... 1&start=20). This is the sign that was posted:
If I'm reading everything except the bottom line, the promotion is on the one liter box of juice. But the bottom line of the sign gives me the impression that the (writer thinks that the) promotion is on the 3 pack.
Anyone else?
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Re: learning the thai language

Post by parrot » November 21, 2019, 3:04 pm

I've been searching for the elusive reason #6000 for learning the Thai language. I think I found it.

Today Udon's VFW Post delivered a few hundred dollars worth of electrical supplies to a school out in the boonies. I had the name of the school in Thai script, but when I searched the internet for the name of the school in English, then searched google maps for that name, I came up blank. But when I entered the name of the school in Thai script into google maps, I got what I needed. It's one of the many reasons I've never been a fan of transliterated Thai.
If you can force yourself through the drudgery of learning Thai script.....then learn (or at the same time) how to type in Thai, you'll have a whole new world open to you.
Learning to type in Thai was remarkably easy.....as compared to learning the actual letters or tones. There are several online typing programs to make the job easier.

The name of the school was โรงเรียนหนองเหลืองขามนคร 68 total students

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Re: learning the thai language

Post by parrot » November 29, 2019, 3:13 pm

While waiting for my wife to complete her first acupuncture treatment at an all-in-one clinic near the Udon Health Office (Ban Huay), I spent a bit of time deciphering one of the signs. Situational Awareness.....reason #6001 to learn to read Thai, even if you can't understand all the words. It also helps alleviate the dreaded "one price for farang, another for Thai" phobia of many expats.
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Re: learning the thai language

Post by parrot » December 8, 2019, 4:31 pm

A bus passed by today: UDON - SAKOL NAKORN it said on the side of the bus.
And, so it is, reason #6129 for learning to read Thai

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Re: learning the thai language

Post by pal52 » December 8, 2019, 7:05 pm

parrot wrote:
December 8, 2019, 4:31 pm
A bus passed by today: UDON - SAKOL NAKORN it said on the side of the bus.
And, so it is, reason #6129 for learning to read Thai
Please enlighten me
What did it say on the side of the bus in English.
It must have been written in Thai.
You have not said what was in Thai

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Re: learning the thai language

Post by jeebeeg » December 8, 2019, 9:20 pm

probably it was
อุดร - สกลนคร

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Re: learning the thai language

Post by parrot » December 8, 2019, 9:32 pm

pal52 wrote:
December 8, 2019, 7:05 pm
parrot wrote:
December 8, 2019, 4:31 pm
A bus passed by today: UDON - SAKOL NAKORN it said on the side of the bus.
And, so it is, reason #6129 for learning to read Thai
Please enlighten me
What did it say on the side of the bus in English.
It must have been written in Thai.
You have not said what was in Thai
The side of the bus said UDON - SAKOL NAKORN. There is no such place. No matter really what the bus said in Thai .....assuming you couldn't read the Thai

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Re: learning the thai language

Post by parrot » December 8, 2019, 9:43 pm

It's sort of like the road sign near Tesco Nadee that says Loey 110km. Is it Loey or Leeuy or Loei? Or why is Udon and Ubon spelled so much alike but pronounced so differently?

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Re: learning the thai language

Post by GT93 » December 9, 2019, 6:44 am

There's some Udon - Ubon confusion in this 4 minute video on Udonthani Hospital (Thai language with English subtitles):

https://youtu.be/dX_0HGQ_3e8

She's an Udon doctor.
Lock 'em up - Eastman, Giuliani, Senator Graham, Meadows and Trump

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Re: learning the thai language

Post by FrazeeDK » December 9, 2019, 10:45 am

mentioned it before.. The transliterated Thai into English can be quite literal from a Thai standpoint. In Thai the "N" sound in Sakon Nakon is spelled with a Thai Law Ling which as a final consonant sounds as an "N" sound so some brilliant person decided that in putting it into English an L would be appropriate. Same as the old Don Muang Airport big greeting sign just inside Immigration that said Sawasdee since in Thai the word is spelled with an S consonant which as a final consonant in a syllable sounds with a "T" sound..
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Re: learning the thai language

Post by parrot » December 9, 2019, 11:07 am

FrazeeDK wrote:
December 9, 2019, 10:45 am
mentioned it before.. The transliterated Thai into English can be quite literal from a Thai standpoint. In Thai the "N" sound in Sakon Nakon is spelled with a Thai Law Ling which as a final consonant sounds as an "N" sound so some brilliant person decided that in putting it into English an L would be appropriate. Same as the old Don Muang Airport big greeting sign just inside Immigration that said Sawasdee since in Thai the word is spelled with an S consonant which as a final consonant in a syllable sounds with a "T" sound..
The problem with being literal is, it doesn't work for the intended audience (people who can't read Thai).
The Chinese pinyin system or even the older Wade Giles system work well for pronunciation of most any Chinese word, except for tones.
Thailand has an official system of romanization, but it competes with a handful of other dissimilar systems.

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