11 June 2014

Learning Thai

Continuing our efforts with the language, I thought I'd share some basics with you and days of the week.  I learnt languages at school, right through to year 12.  I can still speak reasonable Italian, my French is still a little bit "school girl" but I had never heard the Thai language until I landed in the country. 

Unlike European languages, where you get a different word for a different object Thai, being tonal, means you can have one word which, when pronounced differently can mean five different things.  This adds to the difficulty of learning the language but just like everything, it takes practice.  On a more positive note, there are no verb tenses.  By this I mean that if you use the verb "go" it never changes whether you mean yesterday, today or tomorrow. 

One key thing to remember is, if you are female, you end some words with "ca" but if you are male, you end some words with "crap".  This is different to European languages in that the objects themselves can be male or female.

Good luck with todays lesson!

Basics:

Hello = sawadee / ca (f) crap (m)

Thank you = kob kun / ca (f) crap (m)

How are you = za-ba-dee-my

Days of the week:

Monday = wan chan

Tuesday = wan ang khan

Wednesday = wan poot    this is my favourite, go on, say it out loud

Thursday = wan pha-ru-hat

Friday = wan sook   another favourite

Saturday = wan sao

Sunday = wan a tit  Mr John's favourite!

Have fun!

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