Au Pair 2 - Thai - Language Space - July 29th, 2009

[tumsabai]

This woman is probably from the Northeast of Thailand. People there use an "L" in place of an "R". For example,

rian (to learn) becomes "lian". Rong Ram

(hotel) becomes "long lam". Also they

have a tendency to not pronouce an R or

L if it's the second consonant at the start

of a syllable. An example would be the

word for middle (glaang). Northeasterners would pronouce it as

"gaang". Greng jai ( concern for others)

becomes "geng jai.

[Gwindarr]

She is from Chiang Mai. People all over the country (the majority in my experience) will use 'ล' in place of 'ร' in many words in colloquial speech. This is not only in Isan.

[kitjohnson1]

Someone asked how เรา is used when referring to 'I'. Generally it's only used (when referring to 'I') with people of about you age or younger. It's perhaps a little more intimate /friendly than ผม. I'm open to being corrected if that's wrong.

Speaking Thai doesn't mean you have to follow mainstream Thai culture. If I choose to give a small wai back to my students or to waitresses then I choose... it's not the 'done' thing to do, but why not challenge hierarchy a bit?

[tommmmmer]

She says 'ออกเสียงแบบฝรั่งไม่ถูก... Mathew", would this be the flipside: "ออกเสียงแบบคนไทยไม่ถูก..." or "ออกเสียงแบบไทยไม่ถูก..."

1.40 - chan sang yan - งง

1.45 เงียบไม่songเสียงdang - be quiet, don't make any noise"??

the last 5 secs - งง :) เด็กเก่งno.....??

she says "laos or loaw" a lot, not sure what it is?

[tommmmmer]

Offtopic - a guy on a forum was saying "ไม่รู้" is bad Thai to use and that it's only kids that use it and I should be saying "ไม่ทราบ".This is one of the first phrases I copy learned off thai people and I only really use ไม่ทราบ for important things or more serious matters.

Any thoughts?

idea for a topic for them to talk about "Common mistakes farangs make when speaking thai"

[Gwindarr]

First thing that comes to mind is - Don't listen to guys on forums. Especially that one. People have a tendency to declare themselves experts a bit too easily.

"ไม่ทราบ" is a bit more formal/polite. There isn't anything wrong with saying ไม่รู้"

One of these days I'm going to write a book addressing the mistakes that every foreigner seems to make.

[tommmmmer]

I know what you mean actually, people get so competitive and defensive about their knowledge and the way they are learning.

On the thai-language website there are some knowledgeable people, though, some seem to just love talking about grammer and use english grammer terminology you need a degree in english language to understand :)

..But as a ruleo n there I listen to what the Thai posters recommend to say.

Good luck on the book, I expect a signed copy and shoutout, heh.

[tommmmmer]

I Remember in some sleezy bar in 'that' city in Thailand I politely mentioned to a guy that was chatting to me that waiing the barstaff (a high one as well) wasn't the thing to do, he replied that he was just being polite and that I should do the same as a guest.

Another funny thing he did was say 'krab' not just at the end of sentences.. but during sentences. e.g. "pom krab mi ow beer crab kob koon mak krab"

I guess i should lighten up, some don't take learning so seriously

[jamasama28]

LoL. The first time I went to BKK, I stayed with a host family. They took me to a restaurant and I wai'd the waiter--everyone's face turned bright red.

[Gwindarr]

1.40 ฉันสัญญา - I promise..

1.45 - ไม่ส่งเสียงดัง ..not to make any noise

she says แล้ว - this is used to connect sentences and can also be used as a thinking word

You can use ก็ for this as well.

I'll answer the other stuff a bit later.

[jamasama28]

Hi. The word she is saying a lot is "rao" (เรา). Technically, this word means 'we,' but MANY Thai people (including the speaker here) uses this word to mean 'I" during informal conversation. That is, speakers may use it instead of ผม/ฉัน. Oh, and yes, she is pronouncing the word 'rao' almost as if it were 'lao.' That is common too.

[Gwindarr]

Yea you're right. I didn't even listen to it before I answered. She does say เรา a lot.

Not so much แล้ว.

[tommmmmer]

Thanks guys helps a lot.

I actually thought it was "rao" with the r swapped for L which I find is quite common among thais, apparently more so in the north? I always thought this may be due to the ร being more difficult to pronounce perfectly each time

I never have really used rao to mean 'I' only for 'we', i know you can but I i'm never sure under which circumstances they differentiate.

[jamasama28]

Last 5 seconds...

LTFAWG: เด็กเก่ง no?

(he uses the English word 'no' here. This is quite common.)

Ae: เก่งมั้ย? เอาไปใช้ได้นะเนี่ย

(มั้ย = ไหม this is spoken thai. เอาไปใช้ได้นะเนี่ย--i think she's refering to the excuse the kid gave for wanting to watch her take a shower. That is, the kid said he wanted to see if Thai people showered differently than westerners).

[tommmmmer]

She is lot easier to understand, I sort of got the jist of this through out, have to have a few more listens to properly get it though.

[jamasama28]

LoL. I'm definitely gonna use that one! Hahaha...