Learning Thai?

Intro

Why do we need another web site to help people learn the Thai language? Well, I felt that there is a lack of Thai language sites that just give a simple list of good phrases and words. There are so many ways to say something and what you hear in school can be different from what you'll hear from a discussion between your neighbors. What you hear on the News is quite different than what you hear from the Thai soap operas. I thought I'd just start and collect all of my scribble notes from school and make a digital copy and figured, why not just put them up on the web.

I started by writing down words and phrases that I had heard either on TV or in a song or overheard someone say, but it can be hard to find a proper definition for "local" banter. I would bring my notebook into my teacher for definition and translation. It's a great way to encourage listening exercises outside of the classroom. The Thai language is absolutely ridiculous and purposefully difficult, so anything to keep you interested can go a long way. Hope this helps anyone who is just starting to learn the thai language and is interested in learning some bonus phrases and words.

Disclaimer: If you're not already taking lessons from a teacher, and you are looking for the usual budget phrases and words like "hello" or "i love you", have a look at the Online Resources tab above. There are already enough sites out there that give out the standard words and phrases.

Phrases and Words

Here is a list of phrases that are good to know. These are mostly good for your friends or someone you already know. However, if you use a phrase or two, you can simply soften the phrase with the proper ending of either 'ka' for females or 'krub' for males. You really don't want to say "Ao mar née" to someone you don't know without ending it politely. Note the tone marks.

English Phrase	Thai Phrase	Equivalent
Wait a minute	Raw gon	Hang on just a second. Raw gon na ka/krub. Can use "diaw na" or "bap neung".
Go visit	Bpai yîam	Go visit someone or someplace. Bpai yîam mae (Go visit my mother).
Go see	Bpai hăa	Same as above. Bpai hăa mae (Go seemy mother).
Give it to me	Ao mar née	When you want someone to give you something they have in their hands.
Give it back	Hâi keun	When you hand someone something and then want it handed back.
Take it back	Ao keun mar	Take it back from me, I don't want it.
I got it!	(Pohm) hâi eng	If someone says "turn the lights off when you leave" you can say "hâi eng krub".
I'll do it myself	Tam eng	Don't worry, I'll do it myself.
Just X (Past)	Pêung X	Pêung gin (Just ate) or Pêung bpai (Just left) .
Just X (Present)	Cheree cheree	Nâng cheree cheree (Just sitting) or Du cheree cheree (Just looking, as in window shopping).
What do you think?	Kít yang ngai	Say it fast, something like "kid-ngyai".
I agree	Hĕn dûay	A great rising tone/falling tone combination.
What happened?	Gerd à-rai kêun	If you listen long enough, you'll hear "kêun" quite a bit. It translates to "up". This might mean something more like "What's born up?".
How are you?	Bpen yang ngai bâang	More like a "Hey, how's it going?". Bâang is translated to "some".
Just sitting around	Nâng hăai-jai	The answer to "what are you doing?" or "Tam arai yu?". Just sitting and breathing.
Are you sure?	Nâe-jai reuu	For real?
I am sure	Nâe-jai	For real.
A moment ago	Mêuagee	It happened just a moment ago.
Really	Jing jing	Used to say "it's true!" and such.
Let's go	Bpa	Shortening of the word "bpai".
Is that right?	Cha ma?	Shortening of the question "Châi măi?".
2 packs	Sŏng song	To ask for 2 packs of cigarettes.

Times, things and good answers	Thai Word(s)
Usually	Bpòk-gà-dtì; Tam-má-daa
Maybe	Baang tee; àat jà
Probably	Kong jà
Might	àat jà
Should	Kuan jà; Nâa jà
Must	Dtông
Sometimes	Baang kráng; Baang tee
Somewhere	Baang têe
Anywhere	Têe năi gor dâi
Nowhere	Mâi mii têe
Something	Baang yàang; Baang sìng
Anything	à-rai gor dâi
Nothing	Mâi mii à-rai
Never	Mâi koie
Whenever	Mêua-rai gor dâi
Anytime	Wela gor dâi
No time	Mâi mii wela
Always	Sà-mĕr
Things	Sìng
Before	Gon
Until	Jon
Since	Dtâng dtàe
Later	Tee lăng
Depends/Up to (you)	Láew dtàe (ter)

Qs and As

Questions and Answers

Here are some common questions and answers you might hear along the way. I'll be adding as I go.

Question & Answer	Translation
Bpen à-rai?	What's the matter?
Mâi bpen à-rai.	Nothing is the matter.
à-rai na?	What's that? (misheard or didn't hear)
Mâi mii à-rai	Nothing.
Bpen yang ngai bâang?	How ya doin?
Sàbai dee	I'm doing well
Gerd à-rai kêun?	What happened?
Mâi róo	Beats me
Ráhd kao?	Over rice?
Ráhd kao krub gàp kài daao.	Yes, over rice with fried egg.
Kít yang ngai?	Whatchya think?
Kít sìng mâak	I think a lot of things
Gin kao láew yang?	Did you eat yet or not?
Yang mâi	Not yet
Tam à-rai yòo?	What are you doing?
Mâi dâi tam à-rai.	Not doing anything
Ao bâang mái?	Want some?
Ao, dtàe nít nói	OK, just a little

Misc

Miscellaneous

Just some extra phrases, sentences, funny remarks and some odds and ends.

Phrase	Translation
Mii kae née	All I've got
Fang mâi tan.	I can't keep up (perfect to say after 'Mâi kao jai')
Bpai (gin) têe derm	Go (eat) at to the same place.
Bplian bpai chông hâa	Turn to channel 5.
Ja tam yangngai dâi?	What can I do? or, "It's out of my hands".
Bplug dtua pôo	The male plug
Blpug dtua mia	The female plug
Nai dton née.	In the moment (zone).
Séu neung, tam neung	Buy one, get one.
Diaw dtúi dtaa dtàk loie .	I am going to punch your in the eye.
Mâi mii dtang pro wâa mâi thamngaan.	Got no money 'cause I got no job.
Bpai dern lên gap măa.	Take/took my dog for a walk.
Mâi châi túrá kon ter.	None of your business.
Tang wan, tang keun!	All day and all night!
Kid mâi ork.	Can't think of it.
Neung tăng sài náamkaeng.	1 big tank with ice.
Sát náam.	Throw water.
Mâi dtông, pŏm liáng.	No need, I got it (pay for dinner).

Advice

Some advice for beginners

I thought I would put together some of the advice that either I have been given and I believe it's worthy of passing on or from what I have discovered on my own which has helped me along the way. I will assume you live in Thailand and you deal with more locals than you do farang. I will also assume you are just beginning your foray into learning the Thai language. Caution, I am not qualified to teach anyone the Thai language, read with a bit of humor.

Advice. Never trust any Thai advice from someone not qualified to teach anyone the Thai language.

Careful where your conversation goes. If you are looking for dire information or are having some sort of difficulty and you need an absolute answer, ask in english first. You can always fall back to Thai if you are misunderstood.

There is no shame in approaching a Thai in english. Just smile when you're doing it. Thai is one the hardest languages to learn and the Thai people are very proud of that fact.

Listen, listen, listen. You will approach a point where you realize that you know many words and phrases but absolutely cannot pick out what your Thai friend is saying. Don't fret, it just takes time and here is all you need to do. This is certainly the most important piece of advice I can give you: Watch Thai TV, use YouTube, pay attention to what your friends are saying to eachother. If you do this over a remarkably short period of consistency, you will accomplish 2 milestones. 1) You will start to pick up on words and phrases that are routine to everyday conversation and 2) You will begin to discern one word from the next. Slowly as your listening improves, you will easily be able to begin hearing words you know, leaving you only to fill the gaps with the words you are hearing but do not know.

Wish I knew how to say that. When you find yourself in a situation where you have just said to yourself "I wish I knew how to say/ask that in Thai". Write it down! Ask your teacher or friend later. And write the answer down, dammit!

Use every resource. Find a good restaurant with a good waiter and good food. Go there often. Tip the waiter an extra 10 baht each time and talk to him/her in Thai. They'll ask you something crazy in Thai like "Care for that with holy basil and celantro?". When I hear things like that, I give up. I have no idea what you just asked me and from that point on, your brain kicks back into english (you can't prevent that instinctual reaction). Here is where you get your monies worth... Ask them to speak a little slower. Then after they have repeated it and you are still confused, just ask them if they know how to say it in english. See next bullet.

They will laugh at you. Do not get upset or feel embarrassed. If you haven't already witnessed it yourself, the Thai people use smiles and laughter for just about every emotion. Giggling at you is just an honest reaction to your attempt to speak Thai. While it feels like humiliation, it only stings for a second. Within no time you will have mastered when and what to say in Thai. More importantly though, when to say anything at all.

Get it? I am guilty of not following this next advice enough. If you don't understand, tell them you don't understand.

Tones 1. If you are unsure of the right word and/or correct tone, it's probably best you not try and guess. Please don't call your new mother-in-law "dog" (măa) instead of "Mom" (Mâe).

Tones 2. Speaking of tones, listen up, if you are not going to bother to listen and use the proper tones, don't speak Thai. You will make absolute zero sense to everyone you talk to. And, it makes you look lazy and unkempt. You're better than that.

Losing your shirt. Not so much language related but a good piece of advice for living in Thailand: Put your shirt back on, nobody wants to see that shit.

Find a teacher you like. Leave a teacher you don't like. When you have a teacher you would like to pay to teach you Thai, insist you are getting the Thai language you prefer. If you want to speak to locals using less formal words and a little bit of slang (you know, just everyday talk), let your teacher know that. Insist on getting a well rounded education. Learn the multiple words and phrases for things like "eat" and "want to" but ask what the common word or phrase is. I ask my teacher 10 times a class, "and what do you say when you are talking to your friends?".

Reverse advice. Learn to speak pigeon english. Learn talk english with friend, make understand. Any activity that makes your brain work harder when you are talking is good for the brain. As you learn pigeon english, you will have a great understanding on how to phrase words when speaking thai. Think about it. A phrase like "I am going to the market" in pigeon english spoken from a non-native english speaker may come out something like "I go market". It's not lazy or lack of education, in fact, it's a direct translation from Thai to English. "I am going to the market" in Thai is "Bpai dtà-làat" or simply, "Go market". So, a direct translation from Thai to English is "Go market". Plain and simple and enough said. You really don't need all that extra information. As you learn to speak pigeon english you will become that much better at phrasing into Thai.

Resources

Online Resources

Google will get you to a dozen well rounded thai language resources, I've collected a few that are crucial to me everyday. I tend to stay away from certain sites which give you nothing but formal words or phonetics that do not include tone marks. I also tend to stay away from sites that have learning chapters like "Buying fruit" or " Go Shopping". They are a dime a dozen and google will see you through. These are excellent ways to learn for sure, but you need a Thai teacher to teach you how to "go shopping". PDF and/or MP3 exercises can be draining and offer little entertainment value. If the internet has taught me anything, it's "I need something more, something better". So, if there is anything worth linking off to, it's the YouTube links, enjoy them, I would.

Thai Language Dictionary: The Internet's best online thai language dictionary. Translate Thai<->English, lookup thai words using phonetics (brilliant!) and full sentence translation.

Thai2English Online: Another excellent translation tool. Has a downloaded version, but unfortunately it's Windows only, so I cannot comment. But if he had a Mac version, I'd have long bought it because I use this site daily.

Women Learning Thai: I'm a guy so I have absolutely no idea what is going on over at this site, but check it out. There is so much worth reading, it's almost overwhelming.

Learn Thai from a White Guy: Excellent listening exercises. Whiteside is nice enough to give us a video of normal, everyday speaking with full Thai transcript. If you cannot read Thai, just use one of the sites I've listed above and translate yourself.

You tube links!

Aanon2550: This chap was nice enough to translate a Thai sitcom that is not only entertaining, but great for watching over and over again for it's educational purposes in "street Thai". This link is to Part 1. There are 4 parts in total.