My Old Blogs at Yahoo!360 / MTP

"LadyExpat" posted "Learn to speak Chinese"
(See her blog HERE   (* All the posts at Y!360 are long gone)
and I thought I should post Learn to Speak Thai.

Don't worry.   Thai is a lot easier than Chinese.

First of all, you should remember how to greet.   You can use this for good morning, good afternoon, good evening, hello (on the phone), and good bye. Here it is:

If you are male, say:   "SAWAD-DEE KHRAB".
If you are female, say:   "SAWAD-DEE-KHAA."
But regardless of your gender, in fact you can feel free to choose one of the two above and I guarantee no one will stare at you.
* Remarks added in Oct 2019:
Some people choose the ending word according to the gender that they want to be recognized with, or according to the gender of the younger people whom they are talking to.

The ending of "khrab" or "khaa" is to show politeness.  Remember to use one of them for the ending of all of your Thai sentences.   To omit the ending word, unless you are talking to a younger person or close friends, is showing one's arrogance and bad breed.

LOL....

(I am serious though!)

The other day VK left a quick comment on my page that ended with "5555". I was surprised to find myself pronounced it "hahahaha".   Only Thai speakers do this.   Obviously VK knows the Thai language!   In Thai, the number 5 is "ha", with a nasal sound.   Methinks "5555" is better than "LOL" or "LMAO".   But, what do you say?

Some easy-to-remember Thai words:

"do" = to look
"do arai" = what are you looking at?
"hen" = to see
"my hen" = cannot see
"look" = to get up from your seat

If you act like a jerk, you might hear someone say: "I hear" to you -- without the rolling of the tongue (the way a Brit or an Aussie pronounces the word).   Watch out.   This is something like a four-letter word in English.   In the Thai culture, "Hear" is Varanus salvator, a reptile that is believed to bring bad luck.  

See the pic of a 'hear' at Wikipedia HERE:

Never say this word to anyone or you might get hurt.


In Thailand, we have many kinds of vegetables.   You will be surprised that many kinds have the names that begin with the pronunciation of the English four-letter "F" word.   Allow me not to show the spelling of that in full, or my page will be deleted by Yahoo Big Brothers and Sisters.   LOL...!!!

"F-tong" is a pumpkin,
"F-kiao" is a kind of gourd, delicious! (Google Image)
"F-maeo" is a chayote, or choko, or Sechium edule. (Wikipedia)

Screenshots:   (left: F-kiao,   right: F-maeo")
   

Yesterday I was very annoyed when my sons listened to a rap song in English that was full of the "F" word.   However, my cleaning lady did not feel it annoying since she did not speak English at all.   She might have doubted why the foreign singer mentioned so many times of the gourd or pumpkin!

5555....!!!!