Thai language forum

That's funny. Someday over a beer I'll tell you how I learned the Thai word "key".

oh yeh and don't forget
'riding a horse'.
getting that wrong can get a few hoots of laughter.

or asking for some dog dirt, or telling everybody you need a toilet fast!
I expect the learner you heard was directly tranaslating 'a dishy girl.'
I just hope he hasn't been put off learning and trying more.The Thais don't really have much patience with learners which I find really funny considering the atrocious English I've heard from Thai people.
I once met a lady at a bus station somewhere in Isan who was keen for me to speak to her daughter who was, as she proudly explained,Head of the English Dept at the local school.
She phoned her and handed me the phone.It was one of the most embarassing moments I've had in Thailand.I couldn't understand a word she said.Now I know why the English spoken by school kids is usually so atrocious.

Oh dear, how did we get onto masturbation so quickly?!

But in the spirit of inter-cultural understanding, if you are going to Thailand you should be aware that for a boy the literal translation is 'To fly a kite' [chák wâao] and for a girl it's 'to go line fishing' [dtòk bèt]. Or for the unisex version: 'to help yourself' [chûay dtua ayng].


All of the above phrases are of course used to convey their literal meanings too, so hilarity can often ensue when a Farang decides to slip one out ... erm ... so to speak.


There are lots of fun idiomatic phrases. Perhaps a post on the more common ones should be on the cards.

Ok, Madmac...My younger brother and his Thai wife will be visiting us soon. My wife gets on really well with her, and I am pretty fond of her, too. How do we welcome her in her language?

Please excuse me wading in here, but just a couple of tiny tweaks to MADMAC's transliterations.

First, there is no V sound in Thai. For some reason the W sound is occasionally (erroneously) represented as a V.

A greeting should be Sa-wat-dee krap/ka. Krap for a man saying the greeting, ka for a woman saying the greeting.

How are you is Sa-bai-dee mai krap/ka. The answer in the affirmative is sa-bai-dee krap/ka, a negative answer is mai sa-bai krap/ka

Try copying and pasting this สวัสด๊ครับ and สวัสดีค่ะ and สบายดีไหม into [url=http://www.thai-language.com/dict]http://www.thai-language.com/dict where there are sound files for each.

Thanks, both.
That Thai language site is terrific - I've bookmarked it, and will be studying it.

And be careful how you ask for a bannana :)

Chang lek, mai dee
Chang yai, pon luhy

Small Chang, no good.
Big Chang. Result!

... is a pretty good translation.

And anyone whose had the pleasure can surely attest. ;)

haha thanks!