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Pud Phasa Thai Dai Mai?
Pud phasa Thai dai mai? means Can you speak Thai?... When you are on holiday in Thailand, you will find out that not many people can not speak English accept in tourist area, so prepare yourself with some useful Thai, it will come in handy! |
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"Sawatdee Khrab!" That is how we say hello in Thai. If you are a girl you will say
"Sawatdee Kaa". When you are on holiday in Thailand, you will find many young people like me who can speak English. Most places you go to you won't have a problem. However, we like it a lot when we meet a foreigner who has tried to learn some Thai phrases. Most web sites and phrase books just write down the Thai words using Roman letters for you to try and read. That is a waste of time because Thai is a tonal language. You need to listen to native speakers.
When visiting a foreign country it is always a good idea to learn some words. You probably won't need to use much if you stick to the main tourist destinations. However, the Thai people you encounter will be impressed for sure if you try and use a little Thai with them. Before you start, I need to warn you that Thai is a tonal language so unless you "sing" the word in exactly the right way you probably won't be understood. That is why learning Thai from a phrase book and some web sites is a waste of time. If you are serious about learning Thai then please take the time to learn to read Thai.
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History of the Thai language
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Thai is the national language of Thailand, spoken by around eighty percent of the sixty million residents of the South-East Asian country. Linguists consider it an "uninflected, primarily monosyllabic, tonal language" in the "Ka-Tai group." The spoken language is believed to have originated in the area which is now the border between Vietnam and China, an idea which provides clues to the origin of the Thai people, an area of continued scholarly debate. Linguistically, the language is related to languages spoken in eastern Burma, northern Vietnam, Yunnan, and Laos.
The written Thai Language was introduced by the third Sukothai period king, Ramkamhaeng, in 1283. This writing system has undergone little change since its introduction, so inscriptions from the Sukothai era can be read by modern Thai readers. The writing was based on Pali, Sanskrit, and Indian concepts, and many Mon and Khmer words entered the language.
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Regional Variation
Within Thailand, there are four major dialects, corresponding to the southern, northern ("Yuan"), northeastern (close to Lao language), and central regions of the country; the latter is called
Central Thai or
Bangkok Thai and is taught in all schools, is used for most television broadcasts, and is widely understood in all regions. Nowadays, English is also taught in all public schools. There are a few minor Thai dialects such as Phuan and Lue, spoken by small populations. Also within Thailand, small ethnic minority groups (including so-called "hill tribes") account for around sixty languages which are not considered related to Thai.
The four primary dialects of Thai should not be confused with four different "languages" used by Thais in different social circumstances. For example, certain words are used only by Thai royalty, creating a royal language. There are also languages used for religious figures, polite everyday interactions, and gruff or crude communications.
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Alphabet, Tones and Grammar
The Thai alphabet uses forty-four consonants and fifteen basic vowel characters. These are horizontally placed, left to right, with no intervening space, to form syllables, words, and sentences. Vowels are written above, below, before, or after the consonant they modify, although the consonant always sounds first when the syllable is spoken. The vowel characters (and a few consonants) can be combined in various ways to produce numerous compound vowels (dipthongs and tripthongs).
Unlike the Chinese language, the system is
alphabetic, so pronunciation of a word is independent of its meaning (English is also an alphabetic language). On the other hand, Thai is
tonal, like Chinese and unlike English. This means that each word has a certain pitch characteristic with which it must be spoken to be properly understood. The Thai language uses five tones, called mid, low, high, rising, and falling.
Each syllable, consisting of one or more consonants and a simple or compound vowel (possibly
inherent or implied, and thus not written) has a "default" tone determined by several factors, including the type of consonant(s) present (consonants are divided into three
classes for this purpose). The syllable's tone can be modified by one of four tone markers. Some people incorrectly assume that the tone marks identify all necessary tones, or perhaps force certain tones, but neither of these is correct. Actually the final tone of a syllable is determined by the tone mark in conjunction with the type of syllable, as determined by the vowel and consonant characters present.
The grammar of the Thai language is considerably simpler than grammar in Western languages, and for many students, this makes up for the additional difficulty of tones. Most significantly, words are not modified or conjugated for tenses, plurals, genders, or subject-verb agreement. Articles such as
a,
an, or
the are also not used. Tenses, levels of politeness, verb-to-noun conversion, and other language concepts are accomplished with the simple addition of various modifying words (called "particles") to the basic subject-verb-object format.
Many westerners do not make time to learn written Thai, focusing instead only on speaking. One problem with this approach is that the various reference materials you will accumulate each have a different transliteration (phonetic spelling with a western alphabet) scheme, and it thus becomes difficult to recognize connections between your multiple sources of information. Although only
you can decide whether to make the extra effort to study Thai script, I think it can provide a valuable and rewarding foundation for continued learning of the Thai language.
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Language Tips:
- Whenever you speak Thai language if you're a man, you should end the sentence with the word khrab and kha for woman. You should say it after sawatdee (Greeting / Hello, Hi) and kharb koon (Thank you). Sometimes we use khrab and kha for "yes". If you hear Thai people talk on the phone you might here them say only "khrab khrab khrab" all the time.
- If you want to speak Thai you should listen to Thai people speak English because they will do it in a Thai accent for example they won't say the letter at the end of the words, like "important" will sound like "importan", "most" will sound like "mose", etc. Also Thai people won't have the little explosion at the end of map, we will close our mouth after "p" but English people will end with their mouth open. A good example in Thai is "khrab", don't open your mouth after "b".
- Thai people will also break the word up for example "smile". We will say it as "sa-mile", "sport" will become "sa-port", "summer" will become "sum-mer" and in this case Thai people will make the last part louder.
- One of the most difficult things about speaking Thai is the tones because there are 5 tones to remember. There are low, middle, high, falling and rising, if you say it in the wrong tone, the word will have a different meaning. For example if you say mai mai mai mai in the right tone, it will mean "New wood burns, doesn't it?".
- There are some Thai words that most backpackers get wrong. For example, most people say Ko Samui for the islands. The word island should be pronounced with a short "Goh" sound. The popular Thai beer Singha is called "singer" by most foreigners. Really, you should say "beer sing"! One more that I can think of now, Siam Square in Bangkok should be pronounced "Sa-yam".
- Vowel length is very important when you speak Thai. If you make the sound of a word longer you might change the meaning! I know in English you can say "helooooo" if you like but you can't in Thai.
- It is very difficult to write the Thai words using English letters. I have only done this on some pages as a guide. I think it is much better if you try and learn theThai alphabet. It is not as difficult as it sounds.
If you are coming to Thailand on holiday and you don't have much time to learn many phrases then this is the right page for you. We have compiled what we think is the Top 10 Most Useful Phrases for your holiday in Thailand. To make a request or greeting sound more polite, male people should add "khrab" to the end of a sentence and female "kaa".
1.Hello (sa-wat dee)
For sure this is the word that all tourists need to learn first. It is used for both "hello" and "goodbye".
2.Thank you (khorb koon)
When you are in Thailand don't forget you are representing your country so please always try to be polite. This is a useful word to say "thank you" if someone gives you something.
3.How much? (gee baht)
If you are shopping you wil need to ask "how much?" You don't really need to learn "..is this?" or "...is that?" as you can use sign language at the same time.
4 . Where is ...? (... yoo tee nai)
I think you will find this phrase very useful. Just point at a place on your map or in your guide book and say "yoo tee nai". Also useful when you are trying to find the right bus to go to Phuket etc.
5. I don't want (mai ow)
When you are walking down the street or even sitting on the train you will sometimes be approached by vendors who are trying to sell you something. Some of them are very insistent so try this useful phrase.
6.Sorry (khor toat)
Another useful phrase to help you be polite. Use this when you have to push by someone on the train or you accidentally stepped on their feet.
7. One-ten (neung-sib)
I recommend to everyone that they should at least learn how to count up to ten.
8. Can you make it cheaper? (lot noi dai mai)
If you are doing a lot of shopping then try this handy phrase. By speaking a little Thai you might get a better discount.
9. Delicious (a-roi)
After a delicious meal the cook would love to hear that you found the food delicious. You never know, the next time you go back to the same place she might give you an extra helping!
10. Never mind (mai ben rai)
One of my favourites. If someone apologizes to you for doing something wrong (khor toat) reply with "mai ben rai". If someone says "thank you" for a present just say "mai ben rai".
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