learning the thai language

[parrot]

Thinking again about how learning Thai can help you save money:

You need to fill up your 70 liter truck....today, tomorrow, or Wed. You see this headline in today's (1 Aug) Thairath newspaper.

พรุ่งนี้ ตี5 ปตท.-บางจาก ปรับลดน้ำมันทุกชนิด 40 สต./ล.-E85 ลง 20 สต.

Assuming you're keen on saving a few baht, what do you do?

[parrot]

While at my now favorite greasy spoon for a dollop of fiery basil pork over rice, I noticed the owner had posted the sign below outside her shop.

It made me think of a homeowner perhaps in the US, hard at work in his/her yard, when a new immigrant neighbor comes along and allows his dog to deface the newly planted flowers......despite the sign prominently placed in the yard.

I'll be the first to admit that learning Thai isn't easy........but it's not as difficult as most people make it out to be. You can't hear tones? No problem.....you don't have to hear tones to read/write.

Here's the sign, in individual words

จอด รถ แล้ว (three very common words)
กรุณา (very common) ดับ เครื่อง

Hint: The shop keeper prefers the customers to smell the freshly cooked food rather than fumes from a running vehicle.

[FrazeeDK]

After You Stop Car, Please turn off your engine...

[parrot]

After You Stop Car, Please turn off your engine...

And don't let that puppy of yours pee on my flower bed! Good work!

[parrot]

If you're convinced you will never learn to read Thai, start with some easy common words and build from there. The next 9 or 10 days is the vegetarian festival in Thailand......you'll see lots of roadside stands and restaurants hawking 'vegetarian' dishes during this time. One area was especially busy today......near Maya Restaurant, between Phosri and Srisuk Rds.
You'll see signs advertising 'vegetarian' throughout the year....but more so during the festival.
เ = has the vowel sound of long A (Abe, ape, age)
+
จ = has the consonent sound of a J (jet, joe)
เ+จ = เจ = jay
The signs are almost always in yellow and red.

When you see the sign, tell yourself you 'can read' Thai........okay, maybe just a little bit, but now you can identify vegetarian restaurants from the comfort of your vehicle. That's more than many other expats can do.

[parrot]

It seems more and more of the Thai language requires less and less vocabulary knowledge....at least for most expats. The topic of this Sunday's Thai Rath cartoon is an example:

[vidmaster]

The font styles don't help either

[parrot]

No doubt about it, script is difficult to decypher. When I decided to try and tackle reading script, I stuck with a single cartoonist in Thai Rath newspaper. It took some doing, but eventually I figured out the guy's style.....and that has helped me read other styles as well. Sometimes it can still be a battle......but it's sort of like a crossword puzzle for me.

[parrot]

Sometimes it doesn't help being able to read the English part of a Thai sign......although I didn't snap a photo of the sign, I saw a small shop sign this morning that said:
(in English) Pines Copy Writings

I suppose the shop might produce term papers or book reports for the lazy student or do speeches for a first lady.

But the Thai says: Pines ถ่ายเอกสาร

On the other hand, maybe Rajabhat University should have posted the sign below in Thai only.....rather than confuse the English reader.

[parrot]

International stop, yield, warning signs are pretty easy to read.......but signs like the one in the photo aren't. The sign warns motorists that 7 people have already lost their lives on the road ahead (curves).
ระวัง...! warning
ตายแล้ว died already
7 ศพ 7 dead people
ถนนข้างหน้า on the road ahead

[parrot]

When I'm at banks, stores, checkouts, I often try to read the person's name.....and thank them, using their name, when I'm finished. Sometimes the names aren't familiar......or I don't have enough time to decypher an unfamiliar name.
Today, while in Bangkok Bank, my teller's name struck me as unusual.......so I snapped a photo.......to which I was politely admonished for taking a photo inside a bank. Who'd'a'known?!
Anyway, anyone want to take a stab at this person's name?

[d p meijer]

samarad

[parrot]

The การันต์ gar ran over the final consonant in his name is a give-away (for me). It's a signal that the word may (big MAY) not be a Thai word at all, but more likely an English word.
So take Samarad..............and think "English" word


Smart

[parrot]

Of course, Thais would say sa-mart

[parrot]

gboard is a google feature (android) that gives your smartphone keyboard a boost. Extremely accurate glide typing.....or, press the mike key on the keyboard and your spoken message will be typed automatically.......with a high degree of accuracy. Here's the better part: add Thai language to your keyboard and you can do the same things with Thai. You can use it to test your pronunciation. I've tried, on a number of occasions to purposely mispronounce a Thai word (close, but no cigar, as my Thai teacher would say) and the program won't recognize the word. But if you get the pronunciation reasonably close, it will.

[parrot]

If you succumb to the package advertising (in the US) that proclaims an Oreo cookie to have "no transfats" or "zero cholesterol", you might do the same to the Kewpie Sesame Salad Dressing sold at Makro that advertises as:
สูตรใหม่
ไม่ใส่
ผงชูรส
Reason #1032 to learn a little Thai.

The salad dressing is our favorite.

[parrot]

There was a time, not so many years ago, when 99.9% of what you read in Thai was Thai. But that's been changing........newer generation replacing Thai words with English. It sometimes makes me wonder what a non-English-speaking, Thai-reading, foreigner would do!
To make matters worse, Thais will decide it's not important to say '7-11', instead, they'll just say "say-when".

This sign is at the 3 way intersection near the airport. As with almost all advertisements for new subdivisions, it's offering something free. In this case, the English word has been shortened:
Any takers?

[Chuchi]

With a picture of a chair underneath,I'm gonna guess it's furniture

[parrot]

Yes, it's furniture. But the Thai says "เฟอร์" fur.............it's not a mink stole though.

[parrot]

Thai's like most any language, you learn a base word, then a number of other words that build on the base. So you learn กัน (prevent) and then you have เสื้อกันฝน for raincoat, and แว่นกันแดด for sunglasses, and กันน้ำ and กันยุง for waterproof and mosquito repellent respectively.
46 years ago I learned one of my first ever Thai words. Today I learned a word that builds on that word.
1971 - กัญชา
2017 - กัญชาแมว