Thailand forum

Danny!

The Thai word for "ouch" or "it hurts" is "jep." That should help you during your Thai boxing training. If you are asking your opponent if it hurts, you can say "jep mai?"

Good on ya for taking the plunge and trying to learn some Thai before you arrive. I've always thought that Thai was a difficult language to learn, but I suspect your enthusiasm will more than make up for how hard it can be.

If you find you can't find a tutor to hang out with you as Somtam suggests, lots of my friends picked up quite a bit of Thai while hanging out at the ubiquitous beer bars in Bangkok and other places. You'll be able to chat for as long as you wish with a hostess, while you are both having fun. Take along a Thai language book or something like that with words you want to learn spelled out in both English and Thai. You won't spend much money, just the cost of a few beers or sodas and a tip for the young lady's time, and you'll get native Thai pronunciation guidance and probably even learn some great idoms.

If you wind up in Chiang Mai, the AUA language center there has classes for foreigners learning Thai (although there main focus is Thais learning English). If the class schedule doesn't match yours, you can ask them for a list of available tutors too.

Good luck learning the language. You'll find that a little bit can go a long way, and the Thai people very much appreciate the effort. Cheers.