Archive for October, 2008
Polite v. vulgar: Part One – animals
In many languages, there are certain words that are used in everyday language, but which have politer versions for use in more formal settings. Bodily functions, of course, present many examples of this, as do body parts.
In Thai, this polite versus vulgar language is perhaps more encompassing than in English, and in the next few posts I want to address some of the areas in which it is used: with animals, for body parts and for bodily functions.
In part, the distinction in Thai is between formal written Thai and that spoken amongst ordinary people, but this division is far from being clear cut. The ‘formal’ version of a word might be more appropriate used in particular social settings (such as talking to a doctor or a teacher), while the ‘vulgar’ version might be used in written form when quoting speech or simply for a more informal effect.
The three animals to which the polite/vulgar distinction applies are the pig, the dog, and, somewhat surprisingly to westerners, the water monitor. The two former of these, of course, are considered dirty in many cultures, and the words for these animals are often insults. Interestingly, in Thai the common words for pig and dog are not considered particularly insulting, but they are merely considered too unrefined for formal usage.
In informal usage, ‘pig’ in Thai is moo (หมู), while the formal equivalent is sukon (สุกร), the latter word deriving from Sanskrit. Similarly Sanskrit-derived is the formal word for dog, sunak (สุนัข), as opposed to the informal maa (หมา).
The case of the water monitor is somewhat different. For some reason, calling someone a water monitor, or hia (เหี้ย), in Thai, is considered a particularly grave insult. While the word may be used with a degree of affection among close, usually male, friends (it is sometimes prefixed in front of a name and used almost as a title, indicating a degree of toughness on the part of the person thus named), in general usage it should be avoided.
Formally, therefore, a water monitor is often described as a taguat (ตะกวด), but strictly speaking this is inaccurate, as the latter is in fact a Bengal monitor, as opposed to the substantially larger water monitor. This distinction is, however, rarely observed. Another way of avoiding usage of the word hia is to speak of a tua ngern tua thong (ตัวเงินตัวทอง), or ’silver and gold creature’ instead.
Add comment October 30, 2008
Phasaa Thai Tai: spoken in Southern Thailand
One of the first things you’ll hear when spoken to by someone from Southern Thailand is…Well, you probably won’t hear it, because they speak so fast. Southern Thais have such a reputation for the rapidity with which they speak that many Thais from other regions struggle to understand them for that reason alone. Added to this are the facts that words are often spoken with different tones than they would be in Central Thai (in some areas of the South seven tones are used), and that there are a number of vocabulary differences, in part due to influences from Malay.
Southern Thai can be broadly divided into three regions. Southeastern Thai is spoken in Nakhon Sri Thammarat, Phattalung, Songkhla, parts of Pattani, Satun, and, despite not being in the Southeast, Trang. The pronunciation of Southeastern Thai can be distinguished by the fact that the ‘g’ sound (kor kai - ก.ไก่) is clearly articulated.
In Krabi, Phang Nga, Surat Thani and Chumporn, which belong in dialect (if not necessarily geography) to the southwestern group, the sound kor kai is absent, so that dork mai (‘flower’) becomes do mai, sam yaek (‘three-way intersection’) is sam yae, and so on.
Finally, in parts of Pattani, Narathiwat and the northernmost provinces of Malaysia, the dialect is known as je he (เจ๊ะเห) or the Tak Bai dialect. Particularly incomprehensible to outsiders, even to other Southerners, je he is thought to have been directly influeced by the language spoken in the former Kingdom of Sukhothai, possibly due to having been ruled by Sukhothai in the distant past.
Although generally written in Thai script, Southern Thai is sometimes written in yawi, an Arabic-inspired script used to write the Malay language, and is thus often found in religious (Muslim) settings.
Add comment October 22, 2008
Kham Mueung: the language of the North
My previous post looked at the Lao dialect spoken in Thailand’s Northeastern region, but today, I want to move westwards and look at the language spoken in the North.
Northern Thai, or kham mueng (คำเมือง) as it is locally known, is predominantly spoken in the northernmost provinces of Chiang Mai, Mae Hong Son, Chiang Rai, Phrae, Nan, Lamphun, Lampang and Tak, although it is also spoken less widely further south. It is also the main language spoken by the Thai Yuan ethnic group, and thus pockets of it are found wherever members of this group have migrated, particularly in Saraburi, Ratchaburi and Nakhon Ratchasima provinces.
Kham Mueng has is origins in the Lanna Kingdom, which ruled northern Thailand together with parts of China and Burma from the 13th to the 16th centuries. Originally it used its own script, known as Tua Mueng (ตั๋วเมือง or ตัวเมือง), derived from the Mon alphabet, although this is now only found in Buddhist manuscripts in the region.
For the most part, Kham Mueng is very similar to Central Thai, and where it does differ, it is largely a matter of tone. Thus while the word for ‘ten’ in Central Thai is pronounced with a low tone, in Northern Thai it has a high tone.
One noticeable difference is that the letter ‘r’ in Central Thai is generally transformed into an ‘h’ in Kham Mueng, so that, for example, rao (‘we’) becomes hao, and rak (‘love’) is pronounced hak.
Some words, however, differ entirely between Central and Northern Thai. Yee sip (ยี่สิบ) or ‘twenty’ in Central Thai is sao (ซาว) in Kham Mueng, chorp (ชอบ) ‘to like’ is mak (มัก), and dern (เดิน) ‘to walk’ is variously translated as tiaw, tew, or yaang (เตียว, เตว, ย่าง). These are just examples, and the list is fairly extensive; not so extensive, however, as to make it impossible for speakers of the two dialects to understand one another.
2 comments October 17, 2008
Speaking Isan: the dialect of the Northeast
If you have ever been in a Bangkok taxi, the chances are that you will have been driven by someone whose native dialect is Isan, or the dialect of the Northeast.
The word Isan is often used to refer to both the dialect and the region from which it emanates, but many Thais simply refer to the dialect as ‘Lao’ – a somewhat derogatory term, given the low esteem in which both Laos and Thailand’s Northeastern region are held in by the rest of the nation.
To call it ‘Lao’, however, is not to imply that it is a separate language. Both Thai and Lao are extremely closely related, and most Lao speakers, even those living in Laos, can understand Thai perfectly easily (the obverse is not always quite so true; while Laotians are exposed to Thai from the pervasive Thai media, not all Thais are quite so exposed to Lao).
Nor is it to imply that the dialect spoken in Isan is identical to that spoken in Laos. While in the past both Laos and Isan were ruled by the Lan Xang Kingdom and shared the same language, their subsequent political divergence means that the Isan dialect has become more closely influenced by Central Thai. Nonetheless, the fact remains that Isan is more closely related to the Lao language than it is to the language of central Thailand.
Moreover, speakers of the Isan dialect use the Thai alphabet in which to write their language, while Laotians use a Mon-derived script.
In order to asscertain whether someone is speaking in the Isan dialect, there are a few standard markers. The first you are likely to hear is the word bor (บ่) to negate a word, rather than the Thai mai (ไม่). You will often find bor used in newspaper headlines in standard Thai, when the headliner writers want to appear creative. Equally, bor is used as a question words, as in the phrase sabai dee bor? (‘how are you/are you well?’), which in Thai would be sabai dee mai?
Secondly, you will notice that Isan speakers almost universally pronounced the Thai letter ‘r’ as ‘l’, so that, for instance, rot (รถ), or ‘car’ in Thai becomes ‘lot’ in Isan. While this is by no means confined to the Isan region – it is very common for ‘r’s and ‘l’s to be interchanged throughout Thailand – it is particularly prevalent in the Northeast. In some instances, ‘r’ becomes not ‘l’ but ‘h’, so that nak rian (’school student’) in Thai becomes nak hian in the Northeastern dialect, a trait shared by the dialect of the Northern region.
Another letter pronounced differently in Isan is ‘ch’, which in the Northeastern dialect becaomes ’s’. Equally, there are certain consonant clusters that Isan speakers do not pronounce, so that, for instance, the Thai word for song, phleng (เพลง) becomes pheng.
While some aspects of Isan might appear simpler than Thai, tone-phobic language learners will be disheartened to learn that Isan has six tones, compared to the five of Central Thai. Moreover, words pronounced in one tone in Central Thai might be said in a completely different tone in the Isan dialect.
To confuse matters even more, talk of a single Isan dialect is perhaps misleading, as there are several different dialects spoken around the Northeastern region. Just ask a taxi driver, and you might well learn some. Meanwhile, an excellent little introduction can be found here.
Add comment October 16, 2008
Talking about foreigners
No white Westerner travelling to Thailand will escape the fact that they are a farang. So prevalent is the word that it is often used in English-language publications in Thailand, in the knowledge that foreigners will understand its meaning. But what exactly is a farang and where does the word come from?
Simply put, farang (ฝรั่ง) in Thai refers to any white-skinned foreigner. While a black Westerner might possibly be called a farang, this is unusual, and the term is normally reserved for white people (black people are normally referred to simply as khon dam , or ‘black person’, unless they happen to be Tiger Woods, who due to his Thai ancestry is, of course, Thai). By extension, the word has come to mean anything foreign, hence man farang (มันฝรั่ง) is a potato (the word man by itself refers to any tuber, and in particularly cassava), while mak farang (หมากฝรั่ง) is chewing gum (mak is betel, traditionally chewed in Thailand – presumably mak farang was thus named because it is chewed in a similar way).
Another meaning of farang is guava, thought to be named after the Portuguese farang traders who first brought the fruit to Thailand. The sight of a farang eating a farang can thus be a cause for a few giggles among Thais.
Despite the word being common in Thai, no-one is entirely sure how it entered the language. It is clear that it ultimately derives from ‘Frank’, or French, but whether it comes directly from the Thai word for France (farangset) or not is a matter of debate. While the French established ties with the Siamese court of Ayutthaya in the 17th century, Thais had been familiar with Westerners, in particular the Portuguese, for several decades previously. Indeed, one rather improbable theory has it that the word farang comes from the fact that Portuguese traders settled in a village named Baan Farang (guava village).
The more likely etymology of the word, however, comes from the Persian farangi (which again derives from ‘Frank’), or from the Arabic ifranj. Similar words have been used throughout South and Southeast Asia to refer to foreigners – parangi in the Indian state of Kerala, parangiar in Tamil, barang in Cambodia.
Unlike other monikers used to describe members of an ethnic group, the word farang does not carry any derogatory connotations. Most Thais are respectful of Westerners (if finding some of their practices downright daft), and if you are followed by a horde of children shouting farang behind your back, you can rest assured that the children are merely being curious, and are probably delighted to have a foreigner in their midst.
Equally neutral is the term luuk krueng (ลูกครึ่ง), used to refer to people of mixed Thai-European race. Luuk means ‘child’ and krueng means ‘half’, so literally a luuk krueng is something like a ‘half-and-half child’ (not half a child – that would be krueng luuk). However, it has none of the connotations of the word ‘half-caste’, and indeed, most luuk krueng in Thailand, where physical beauty is deemed so important, are adored for their Western facial features.
The formal name for a foreigner is khon (or chao) taang chaat (คนต่างชาติ), which merely means ‘person from another nation’. Again, this term is very neutral, and is used in all official documents. However, this term is rarely used when speaking of people from Thailand’s neighbouring countries, in particular its three immediate neighbours, Laos, Burma (Myanmar) and Cambodia. Rather than being khon taang chaat, they are generally known as khon taang dao (คนต่างด้าว), which can be roughly translated as ‘person from another territory’.
There are no doubt historic reasons for this. Until very recently, Thailand’s borders have not been clearly demarcated, and even now, disputes remain over some border regions (most recently the Khao Pra Viharn temple on the Thai-Cambodian border). Territory in the region has changed hands from one kingdom to the next over the centuries, and for many people in Thailand, the relinquishing of what was once Siamese or Thai territory still smarts. Hence in some ways, neighbouring countries are not separate nations in the same way that more far-flung places are
However, in many ways they are entirely separate nations – Burma, Laos and Cambodia (despite its rocketing economy) remain significantly poorer than Thailand, and many nationals of these countries flock to Thailand to work. Here they are given ‘alien registration cards’ as opposed to the work permits handed out to farangs, and are often blamed for no end of disease and crime.
Somewhat conveniently, the word khon taang dao differs only in the tone of the last word from khon taang dao (คนต่างดาว), meaning alien in the sense of those little green men from up there, and indeed, the word ‘alien’ is generally used as a translation of both. Khon taang dao are indeed Others in popular stereotypes, impoverished, dirty, disease-ridden and criminal, as different from law-abiding Thais as men from Mars. Of course not all Thais subscibe to these stereotypes, but the media perpetuation of them, and the continuing use of the term khon taang dao, do little to help. Not all foreigners in Thailand are farang, and not all foreigners are equal.
Add comment October 15, 2008
Thai dialects
When foreigners learn Thai, what they most probably learn is the dialect known as Central Thai. However, Thai is far from being a uniform language, and although the dialects are mutually intelligible, even Thai people can sometimes struggle to understand someone from another part of the country.
Broadly speaking, Thai can be divided into Central Thai (spoken in Bangkok and the central region of the country, and taught as standard in all Thai schools), Northeastern Thai (spoken in the Isaan region), Northern Thai and Southern Thai. In addition, Thais living near the Cambodian border often speak Khmer as their first language, while many Chinese Thai speak the Chinese language known in Thai as tae jiw.
However, these sweeping categories in fact conceal a number of even smaller dialects. The Pattani dialect, for instance, is thought to be spoken by over 3 million inhabitants of the four southernmost provinces, while Khorat Thai is spoken by around 2 million people living around Nakhon Ratchasima. Mon, one of the languages of Burma (Myanmar) is spoken along the Thai-Burmese border, and even as far from the border as Lopburi and Nonthaburi, and some of the ‘hill tribes’ in the North have quite sizeable numbers of speakers of languages including Thai Lue (around 100,000 speakers), Akha and Thai Yai, to name but a few.
While the vast majority of dialects (around 90%) spoken in Thailand are members of the Tai-Kadai family of languages, smaller minorities speak languages belonging to the Austro-Asiastic family, Austronesian family and Tibeto-Burman family.
In the coming few posts, I will look at some of these dialects, and their similarities with Central Thai.
1 comment October 6, 2008
Rice, glorious rice – talking about eating in Thai
Given Thailand’s deservedly-renowned cuisine, it should come as no surprise that Thai people constantly talk about eating. Where we might greet each other by saying ‘hello’, Thai people will often say kin khao rue yang? (have you eaten yet?), regardless of the time of day.
While Thai doesn’t have quite as many words for eating as the Inuit language apparently does for snow, it is certainly true that there are many different ways to say ‘to eat’ in everyday use.
In the phrase in the first paragraph, I used kin to mean ‘to eat’. Kin is probably the commonest way to say ‘eat’ in Thai, but while certainly not vulgar, it is not considered particularly polite either. Therefore in a polite social setting, or particularly when talking to strangers or someone of a higher social status, the verb to use would be thaan. This means exactly the same thing, but is simply a more refined way of saying it.
If you know some Thai, you will also note that ‘eat’ in the first paragraph is actually rendered kin khao, which literally means ‘eat rice’. Of course Thai people do not eat rice all the time, and kin khao in this context isn’t confined to having eaten rice – it merely means ‘to eat some kind of food’.
However, to avoid any confusion, a really formal way of saying ‘to eat’ is rap prathaan ahaan, which literally means ‘to receive food that is bestowed’. It should be noted that this is extremely formal indeed, and is used more in written Thai than in the spoken language.
To move even further up the social scale, the verb ‘to eat’ when applied to monks is chan, which specifically refers to the partaking of the monk’s meal before midday (after which time monks are not allowed to eat). With the Royal Family, as I have mentioned in a previous post, one would use the word sawoei.
Climbing back down the social scale, the word mam is generally used to mean ‘to eat’ when talking to babies or young children, who are traditionally weaned on jok, or congee (Chinese-style rice porridge). I imagine the origins of this word are probably just standard universal baby talk.
A very vulgar way of saying ‘to eat’ is daek, which means something like ’scoff’ or ‘gobble up’, which may be acceptable among groups of close male friends, but is only a fraction off being a swear word, and in no account should it be used in ordinary conversation.
Add comment October 3, 2008
Talking of the King – Royal language
His Majesty King Adulyadej is, without doubt, the most loved and revered man in the whole of Thailand. Indeed, in a piece of market research I recently translated, in which respondents were asked to name the person they felt most epitomised the quality of chivalry, the majority of those questions named the King.
It should thus come as no surprise, given this supreme reverence afforded the King, that when one is speaking of or to members of the Royal Family in Thailand, one uses special words: kham rachasap. Fortunately for students of Thai (and indeed for Thais, who after all rarely get a chance to address the King personally), this is not a separate language, but rather a set of words that substitute for a few words in regular Thai usage. Most of the words one uses to speak to or of a member of the Royal Family, in other words, are identical to those one would normally use.
Rachasap words generally have their origins in Khmer, Pali or Sanskrit; indeed the word racha is a clue here, having obvious origins in the Hindi ‘raja’. To identify a passage written in rachasap, the most tell-tale sign is the word song (somewhat confusingly spelled ‘throng’ in Thai), which precedes most verbs relating to Royal actions. For example, while if an ordinary person opens a new building, the verb ‘to open’ is bpert, for the King one would say song bpert.
However, some verbs differ completely, especially those relating to bodily functions. The most common Thai word for the verb ‘to eat’ is kin (a separate post on other Thai words for this verb will follow at a later date), but if one is talking about the King, one would say sawoey. This word is preserved in everyday use in the name of one of Thailand’s most delicious mango varieties, khiew sawoey, which literally means ‘eat green’. Unlike most mangoes, khiew sawoey mangos are sweet and delicious even when eaten green and unripe.
Other words that differ relate to body parts; for instance, a Royal ear is not huu (common language) but phra kan, a Royal nose is not jamook but phra nasik, and so on. Interestingly, a Royal tooth is not fan but phra thon. Thon (or ton, as it is pronounced) – orthodontal, dentist. It is not hard to see the connection (almost certainly via Sanskrit).
Eye glasses, or waen ta in common language, are the charming chalong phra net, which literally means ‘celebrate the Royal eyes’.
If you can read Thai, and want to find out a few more Royal words, I suggest this link.
Add comment October 2, 2008
Those little niggling words: part two – ‘nor’
Nor, perhaps somewhat unusually in Thai, is one of those little particles that is convenient enough to have a direct English translation.
Many British people will be familiar with the phrase ‘innit’ (short for ‘isn’t it’) that is often tagged onto the end of an English sentence. Interestingly, while ‘isn’t it’ has been shortened to ‘innit’ in English for several decades, if not longer, this specific use of ‘innit’ as a tag word is thought to derive from the Hindi haina, meaning literally ‘is no?’ ‘Innit’ may even be used as a stand-alone phrase, for example in the following exchange:
Speaker One ‘It’s cold today’
Speaker Two ‘Innit?’
Nor (pronounced in much the same way as you would say ‘not’, but without the final ‘t’) is used in an almost identical fashion. For instance, one might say wan nee nao nor? (it’s cold today, isn’t it?) or a first speaker might say nao maak leoi (it’s really cold), the second speaker responding with nor?
Used frequently in Thai conversation, nor is once again one of those words that will make your speech sound so much more natural.
2 comments October 1, 2008
