Adding to the Fun of Thailand

[Guest RichLB]

After reading several of the posts here it has occured to me that many are missing out on the funnest part of being in Thailand - that is, actually talking to the people. In spite of what you might have heard, Thai is not a difficult language. Sure, if you wish to be a linquist and impress people with your language skills those tones and classifiers can appear daunting. But, if your goal is to communicate, the vocabulary is minimal and many concepts are mere combinations of common words. Why not learn Thai? I read somewhere that the average speaking (not reading) vocabulary of a US high school graduate is only 3000 words. If you wanted to converse with a Thai guy here it would take only a little over 10 months at 10 new words a day to speak as well as a US high school graduate. It's not hard. A good resource for those who want to start is www.thai-language.com. You'll be surprised at how quickly you'll pick up the language and how much fun you'll have talking with the folks you meet.

[Guest ear wig]

I know a good site to learn Thai or if you can give us all a daily lesson it will be great.........

 

http://www.learningthai.com/listen/con_47.htm

[Gaybutton]

I agree with RichLB. Certainly for the average person in Thailand solely for a holiday of a few weeks, learning Thai is not an essential necessity, especially since it is usually easy enough to find Thai people who speak English quite well, but it surely makes life much easier if you are able to communicate beyond the English most bar boys know. Many "farang" who live in Thailand are able to get along quite nicely without leaning any Thai at all, but without an ability to speak the language it definitely limits them. Many see no need to learn to speak Thai, but once you do learn that's when you'll wonder how you ever got along without it.

[Guest RichLB]

I quite agree with GB. I did not mean to suggest that learning Thai is necessary to enjoy Thailand as almost all Thais can either speak enough English or know enough sign language that communication is never a problem. But, I did mean to encourage everyone to learn enough of the language to say those things you wish to say. I also wanted to insist that those who throw up their hands and complain they are too old to learn, the language is too difficult, or it's just not worth the effort are wrong. Proper Thai might be tough to speak correctly, but pidgin Thai is remarkably easy and generally understood by all. It's easy to learn and will delight the Thais you meet that you've made the effort to learn. I frankly don't understand those expats who have lived here for years and still can barely utter Sawatdee krup. They're just missing out on a major source of fun in addition to opportunities to make some good Thai friends.

[Guest PeterUK]

I agree that even a minimal command of the language is better than none, especially if you live here fulltime, but it is really worth making the extra effort to learn the language properly. After about a year of study (5 one-hour lessons a week, plus about half-an-hour of homework a day), I can now read and write simple Thai sentences and make myself understood in conversation most of the time. Like most farangs, I suspect, I used to think that the tones don't REALLY matter, but of course they do and I have to repeat myself much less often now. Learning the language properly is daunting at first, but if you can weather the storm of the first couple of months it does get easier and the rewards in terms of feeling less isolated fully repay the effort. My one disappointment at the moment is that my level of comprehension when listening to Thais speak at normal (ie fast!) speed is still pretty abysmal; I pick out words and phrases but rarely enough to get even the gist of what they are saying. Quite often I end up holding conversations in which I speak Thai and the Thai speaks English, which is kind of amusing but frustrating too.

[Gaybutton]

I used to think that the tones don't REALLY matter, but of course they do

 

You betcha! The tones and extended vowels are very important. Without using them, quite often nobody knows what the hell you're trying to say.

 

If nothing else, at least try to get a little of the Thai right when you do speak it. People who have lived here for years still insist on mispronouncing "farang." They say "fah-rang", like you rang a bell or, worse still, "fair-ang" with emphasis on the first syllable on top of that. Wrong! It's pronounced "fah-rahng" or "fah-lahng," whichever you prefer (we've been through that debate before), and the emphasis is on the last syllable. I think most of them know that, and yet they still insist on mispronouncing it. Why?

 

Another one is "ya-ba," the illegal methamphetamines. It's pronounced "yah-bah" with emphasis on the last syllable. I can't tell you how many times I keep hearing "yaba" as if Fred Flintstone was saying "yabba-dabba-doo."

 

Is there a chance for these people to learn to speak Thai? Well, being an optimist, I hope so.

[Guest Snowkat]

I frankly don't understand those expats who have lived here for years and still can barely utter Sawatdee krup. They're just missing out on a major source of fun in addition to opportunities to make some good Thai friends.

 

They are also missing out on what Thai boys (including their b/f or b/s) really think of them !!

 

[Up2u]

I've enjoyed this thread and agree with what's been said so far. I have friends who have studied Thai for years and can both speak, read and write but still can not understand the slang and many of the colloqialisms. What the massage boys at the beach speak between themselves, for example, is like another language.

 

I think adding a Thai language forum to this site would be a nice addition. We could discuss "gay" terms/words that are often not talked about on other language sites. Perhaps someone who is fluent AND can read Thai should take the lead. Often confusion arises because of the transliteration system used and I wish there would be a standard one. This is why attempting to learn even a little on the Thai alphabet is important. I chuckle listening to farangs really butcher Thai (not that I'm at fault). One of my regular eating-holes when in Pattaya is the Pan Pan and listening to friends pronounce it like the Pan in Peter Pan (it's bpun bpun or phun phun or pun pun or bun bun, again on which transliteration system one uses)

[JayBee]

One of my regular eating-holes when in Pattaya is the Pan Pan and listening to friends pronounce it like the Pan in Peter Pan (it's bpun bpun or phun phun or pun pun or bun bun, again on which transliteration system one uses)

 

Are you saying that 'bpun bpun' means something in Thai, and 'Pan Pan' is a poor transliteration of the restaurant's Thai name?

 

Otherwise, it seems to me that the pronounciation doesn't change just because the Thais can't manage to say it. If you're Mr. Smith, your name doesn't become Sa-MIT the moment you arrive in Thailand.

 

Of course, it might occasionally be necessary to butcher a pronounciation (bpun bpun) if only to make yourself understood.

 

[Guest poseidon41]

I think anyone can learn anything to a fair degree if one puts a minimal effort into it. It is a bit of a grind learning the thai alphabet but if you don

[Guest RichLB]

We started this on the old GB board before its demise, but many might not have seen it or can still add to it. I laugh at some of the mistakes in the language I (and others) have made and the confusion they create. Here's a starter list.

 

When walking through Pattayaland and responding to doormen urgning me to visit their bar I used to respond "not yet" and generate gales of laughter. I have now found out that they though I was saying "na yet" which means "fuckable"

 

Similar giggles were created when I ordered "kao pat moo" (fried rice with pork) and discovered that without addiing the rising tone on the word "moo" I was ordering "fried rice with hands".

 

I still remember the look of horror on my boyfriend's face when i greeted his mother for the first time with "Sawatdee Krup, Ma" (Hello, mother". Because I had pronounced the word "ma" as "maw" and not "mae" I was actually saying "Hello, dog."

 

It took me severral years to realize that when boys would refer to me as "Pa" they were not meaning "father" and making a reference to my age. Instead, the word "Pa" is similar to the spanish "patron" and a word signifying respect.

 

I used to be mystified why friends of my bf would giggle when introducing their farang to my bf as ""my dahk ling". I thought they were mispronouncing "darling" but they were quite intentionally punning and saying "monkey a******".

 

And recently I had a problem with the installers of my new burglar alarm system (in my case closing the barn door after the horse has fled - grr). I continued to think he was putting in a "silent alarm" and was having trouble telling him I wanted a loud alarm to sound if someone came in. He nodded and insisted there was no problem because he had a very good "silent alarm". Becoming more confused and frustrated i finally figured out he was saying "siren alarm".

 

The list goes on, but I won't use them all up and would welcome hearing of similar language gaffs any of the rest of us have stumbled upon.

 

 

 

 

 

[Up2u]

Are you saying that 'bpun bpun' means something in Thai, and 'Pan Pan' is a poor transliteration of the restaurant's Thai name?

 

Probably. What it means?... I don't know. It could be somebody's name. I forgot the Thai spelling and don't have a Thai-English dictionary handy.

 

Otherwise, it seems to me that the pronounciation doesn't change just because the Thais can't manage to say it. If you're Mr. Smith, your name doesn't become Sa-MIT the moment you arrive in Thailand.

 

Yiou're right. If in fact Pan Pan is an English name then the Thai transliteration (there is small Thai script on their neon sign) is wrong. But in any case if you say Pan Pan to a Thai he won't know what you're talking about and if you say Bhun Bhun to most farangs they won't understand either. Similarily, if you say Koh Larn (a typical transliteration of the island off Pattaya) to a Thai he won't understand either. If we (farangs) took time to understand the transliteration system we would learn that phonetically Koh Larn sounds like Ga Lawn.

 

 

[Guest gonefishing]

If you wanted to converse with a Thai guy here it would take only a little over 10 months at 10 new words a day to speak as well as a US high school graduate. It's not hard.

 

Given the communication and linguistic skills of the average US high school graduate (potatoe!) maybe we should be aiming just a little bit higher?

 

Proper Thai might be tough to speak correctly, but pidgin Thai is remarkably easy and generally understood by all.

 

True for Pattaya or Bangkok, where they are used to the farang "accent", but unless you get the tones correct expect a total lack of comprehension elsewhere - even only a short distance outside Pattaya.

 

What the massage boys at the beach speak between themselves, for example, is like another language.

 

Hardly surprising, as it is another language! Nearly all will be speaking the Isaan dialect.

 

Seriously, I agree that understanding and speaking at least some Thai does make one's stay here a lot easier and a lot more interesting, although as I am virtually tone deaf I find comprehending the language far easier than speaking it.

 

[Guest mauRICE]

Similar giggles were created when I ordered "kao pat moo" (fried rice with pork) and discovered that without addiing the rising tone on the word "moo" I was ordering "fried rice with hands".

 

The word for pork ('muu' or 'nua muu' to put a finer point to it) is quite distinct from hand ('mue'/mer'). 'Mue/mer' for hand is is pronounced in mid tone, not rising. Surely they would have been able to guess from context what was being ordered, unless it was completely mispronounced.

 

I still remember the look of horror on my boyfriend's face when i greeted his mother for the first time with "Sawatdee Krup, Ma" (Hello, mother". Because I had pronounced the word "ma" as "maw" and not "mae" I was actually saying "Hello, dog."

 

Dog is pronounced as 'maa' with a rising tone, not 'maw'.

 

It took me severral years to realize that when boys would refer to me as "Pa" they were not meaning "father" and making a reference to my age. Instead, the word "Pa" is similar to the spanish "patron" and a word signifying respect.

 

Actually, 'pa' or 'bpaa' refers to one's aunt (specifically father's or mother's older sister). In Thai gay slang, it is invariably used to describe an older and usually flamboyant gay man. Bird Thongchai is often jokingly referred to as Bpaa Bird by younger Thais because of this. The honorific 'pii' (older brother or sister) which is how he addresses himself, doesn't quite suit him anymore. In Singapore, 'auntie' is used by the gay community to describe a queen who is past his prime. In Malay, we use the term 'makcik' (literally, 'smaller mother') for the same purpose. If I'm right, the use of 'pa' or 'bpaa' to address an older gay man in Thailand is derogatory or humorous depending on context, but not complimentary.

[Gaybutton]

The list goes on, but I won't use them all up and would welcome hearing of similar language gaffs any of the rest of us have stumbled upon.

 

On the opposite end, I always get a good laugh with the fractured written English used by the Thais. There are so many native English speakers available to proofread for them, but few places ever seem to have anyone do that (unless they've been asking Dan Quayle to proofread) and even fewer ever make corrections when mistakes are pointed out.

 

To me, the all time winner of the Fractured English award has got to be the sign that used to be outside of the Perfect Beauty Salon, near Center Condo. That barber shop is gone now, but the sign lives on forever. Here it is:

 

[attachmentid=71]

[Guest mauRICE]

LOL. I shudder to think what "Honey Fumigate," "Highlight the Flower" or the more risque-sounding "Highlight a Bunch" actually entails.

 

GB, are those prices only for farang or do they also apply to Thai potatoe queens?

[Guest pete1969]

Gonefishing did hit an important point: there are many Thai dialects. My BF when at home speaks in a northern Thai dialect/language that Thais in other places do not understand. I know the same is true of Issan. He also speaks a language used primarily among the northern mountain people that is different than the northern language spoken by those around Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. With his older Chinese relatives, he will speak Mandarin. My untrained ear can't tell the difference in the languages (except for the Chinese). I also guess most Thais speak regular Thai as well.

 

I am considering shelling out $200 USD for the Rosetta Stone Thai language course. Does anyone have experience with Rosetta Stone courses?

 

Pete

[Gaybutton]

LOL. I shudder to think what "Honey Fumigate," "Highlight the Flower" or the more risque-sounding "Highlight a Bunch" actually entails.

 

GB, are those prices only for farang or do they also apply to Thai potatoe queens?

 

I don't know, but maybe that sign was actually a clever thing. I was seriously considering shelling out 1400 baht just to find out and experience whatever "Fumigate the Infrared," "Rapidly", and "Highlight the Flower" were. I don't know if I would have paid 5000 baht to "Peel the New Face," but with a face like mine, 5000 baht for a new one might not have been such a bad idea.

[Guest Snowkat]

LOL. I shudder to think what "Honey Fumigate," "Highlight the Flower" or the more risque-sounding "Highlight a Bunch" actually entails.

 

The one that makes me cringe is "Suck the Acne". The mind boggles

 

[JayBee]

I am considering shelling out $200 USD for the Rosetta Stone Thai language course. Does anyone have experience with Rosetta Stone courses?

 

The Rosetta Stone program is good as an introduction to Thai. You'll build some vocabulary and start to get used to the sentence structures, cadence, tones, etc.

 

The Pimsleur CDs are also OK, but also limited in what you'll get out of them.

 

Either (or both) will give you a bit of a start on learning Thai, but that's about it. Ultimately I think you'd need to progress to more intensive programs, and probably work on learning the written form, if you really want to learn Thai.