Staff Writer What is the biggest misconception for students learning Thai? Out of the 50, 22 focused on tones and pronunciation. But there’s a mixed bag. Some said tones tones are not impossible to master while others bounced between tones being important and not as unimportant as feared. And 14 mentioned the misconception that the Thai language … Read more
Do you know a cute Thai story behind these fruit words: banana, papaya, mango, and mangosteen? Here you go. Banana and Papaya This is the story of why กล้วย is called banana and มะละกอ is called papaya.ทีมาของทำไมกล้วยจึงเรียก Banana มะละกอจึงเรียก Papayatee-maa kŏng tam-mai glûay jeung rîak Banana má lá gor jeung rîak Papaya A long time … Read more
A long while ago I did a research paper that got published in Passa, the Chulalongkorn Linguistics publication, about the frequency of English loan words in Thai. Introduction to Loanword Borrowing words from English has been going on for a while. At that time I was under the opinion that words got borrowed from one … Read more
You can buy a wide range of small items from roadside carts. Food. Shoes. Clothes. Toys. And bumper stickers. Kept cool under the shade of overhanging freeways are carts covered on all sides with stickers. In Thailand they are called รถเข็นที่ขายสติกเกอร์ = rót kĕn têe kăai sà-dtìk-ger = vehicle push that sells stickers = sticker … Read more
Is it Kun, Pêe, Aa-jaann, or Pôo yài Moo?… There used to be a time in the west when calling a person by their first name was something you didn’t do until you had known them for a considerable length of time, and then only when you had become very close. Nowadays, the new generation … Read more
It is common for beginning students of Thai (or students of most foreign languages for that matter) to start off making sentences and answering the teacher’s questions. In fact, quite often the art of ASKING questions is frequently left to much later, and sometimes is forgotten altogether. This is a problem with Thai since Thai … Read more
The following chart is relationship words to call your family members in Thai. Note: Just to make things a bit more complicated, most of the following terms can be used with people who are not your real relatives but simply with people who are of a similar age to them. Thus you get the situation … Read more
Protest: ประท้วง /bprà-túang/. This is the verb “to protest”. A protest “demonstration” of which we are seeing a great deal lately is usually referred to as การประท้วง /gaan-bprà-túang/, the การ simply changes the verb to a noun. Rally: ชุมนุม /chum-num/. This verb normally means to gather or assemble but we are seeing it often now … Read more
We had to get away from Chiang Mai during this ridiculously hot spell and after the madness of Songkran (for which we stayed at home for four days). When we were asked where we were going (ไปไหน /bpai năi/) we answered with the typical Thai response, ไปเที่ยว /bpai tîeow/ “Going to have some fun.” You … Read more
Please One of the nicest things a Thai will say about you, besides how good looking you are and how well you speak Thai (which should always be taken with a grain of salt) is that you are such a polite person; that you are สุภาพ /sù-pâap/. Nothing will tell a Thai listener how สุภาพ … Read more