Thai Word of the Day?

Thai language section, ask your language questions here.
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BaaBaa.
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Post by BaaBaa. »

Pompooey is playful, like chubby.

Uaan means overweight.
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Randy Cornhole
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Post by Randy Cornhole »

I used to know a really nice Thai taxi/resturant owner named Tommy (he owns the boat resturant)

He used to call me 'oo-an cow' and I called him 'oo-an dam' Oh what fun we had... :mrgreen:

Seriously nice guy though... :thumb:
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Post by BaaBaa. »

Randy Cornhole wrote:I used to know a really nice Thai taxi/resturant owner named Tommy (he owns the boat resturant)

He used to call me 'oo-an cow' and I called him 'oo-an dam' Oh what fun we had... :mrgreen:

Seriously nice guy though... :thumb:
Had a few drinks at Tommys last month with Lekky and co Randy.

Good place to start the night, top bloke.
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Randy Cornhole
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Post by Randy Cornhole »

Did you also happen to see Big Steve or Geordie Brian by any chance...?
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BaaBaa.
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Post by BaaBaa. »

Randy Cornhole wrote:Did you also happen to see Big Steve or Geordie Brian by any chance...?
Both of em, and the rest. It was somebodys last night in HH. :thumb:
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dtaai-maai
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Post by dtaai-maai »

BaaBaa. wrote:
Uaan means overweight.
This is my main problem with Thai - not so much the meaning in the above sense, but the variety of meanings of what is effectively one word with slightly different pronunciation/tone/vowel length.

wan/waan = day, fat and sweet (any more?)
kao/cow = rice, white, mountain, nine
mai/mye = silk, not, wood
etc, etc

I tend to pronounce them all pretty much the same way - I certainly can't remember which tone applies to which meaning. I've picked up what Thai I know from listening and speaking. What about you guys who've had formal lessons? Is there a trick to learning the tones?
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Randy Cornhole
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Post by Randy Cornhole »

I get it wrong everytime. I pointed to some snails in a mangrove swamp once and exclaimed...'hoy' which is also the word for a womans area... :oops:

Luckily everybody laughed... :mrgreen:
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Post by dtaai-maai »

Randy Cornhole wrote:I get it wrong everytime. I pointed to some snails in a mangrove swamp once and exclaimed...'hoy' which is also the word for a womans area... :oops:

Luckily everybody laughed... :mrgreen:
That reminds me of the day Mrs D-M and I were walking in the middle of nowhere. She suddenly started yelling "Ngoh!" and pointing in my general direction. I thought she was just calling me stupid again, but it turned out there was a snake behind me.
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Randy Cornhole
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Post by Randy Cornhole »

There is a certain brand of snake that is called 'gnu how'

Mrs C decided her task for the day was to teach me how to pronounce this devilish tounge twister.

'No No No' was all she kept saying.

'Stop saying bloody no' I retorted 'im saying it right'

This went back and forth for several hours and ended up with me huched double on the sofa with one finger up my nose in a vein attempt to get it right.

All of a sudden she said 'yes thats it youv'e got it'

Ha I exclaimed I knew my linguistic skills would prevail. I then pronounced it again to further ram it home.

'No thats not it' she said.

'But I just said the same thing' I stammered.

'No you didn't'

To this day there is a coffee stain on the living room wall... :cry:
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Post by raphoedon »

I agree, small mistakes - huge complictions.

Please forgive my phonetics!

Tam mai khun suey Jung / Tam mai coon sooway jung.

Which one means "why are you so beautifull"

I think sooway is someone lower than a snakes belly?
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Post by lomuamart »

dtaai-maai wrote:
BaaBaa. wrote:
Uaan means overweight.
This is my main problem with Thai - not so much the meaning in the above sense, but the variety of meanings of what is effectively one word with slightly different pronunciation/tone/vowel length.

wan/waan = day, fat and sweet (any more?)
kao/cow = rice, white, mountain, nine
mai/mye = silk, not, wood
etc, etc

I tend to pronounce them all pretty much the same way - I certainly can't remember which tone applies to which meaning. I've picked up what Thai I know from listening and speaking. What about you guys who've had formal lessons? Is there a trick to learning the tones?
After a million years here, I'm no closer to being able to speak Thai than I ever was. However, what I have been told is that the language has classifiers. If you use the classifier correctly the word will usually make sense to the Thai listener despite the tone.
So with kao/cow, if you want to say the colour, preceed the word with see/si. A Thai person will understand what you're getting at if you want a packet of Marlboro "see cow".
Mind you, you just might end up with Marlboro flavoured white rice!!!
Maybe our cunning linguists, Roel and Buksida, could confirm/clarify?
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Post by Roel »

Okay then. First of all "see" (สี) is not a classifier, it is a word but it is often omitted in spoken language by Thais. It is a good idea especially for beginners not to try to speak at native level but always use the full words. Talk written Thai so to say. A red car = rot see daeng (รถสีแดง). Following a linguistic universal rule "by nature all language users are lazy" most Thais will say "rot daeng". You can start omitting things in a second language as soon as you are fully aware of what you are doing.

Remains the fact that (unfortunately) in the end getting the tones correct is absolutely necessary. No way to work around that I am afraid.
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Post by lomuamart »

I've got another million years of frustration then - to say nothing about how the Thais perceive my attempts at speaking the language :thumb:
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Post by Roel »

But lomuamart, I thought your motto was "no attempt, no frustration". What made you chance your mind?
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dtaai-maai
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Post by dtaai-maai »

Roel wrote:Okay then. First of all "see" (สี) is not a classifier...
Ah, the famous classifier! Tell us more please Roel/Lev.

If I wanted to say '4 girls', I'd use 'Poo-ying see khon' - i.e. 'Girl, 4 people'.
At least, that's what I've heard people say - does that mean either poo-ying or khon is a classifier in this case?

Can you give a couple of examples?
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