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Pii Mai – Thai New Year
Sawatdee Pii Mai! สวัสดีปีใหม่! As in much of the world, Thais celebrate New Year on January 1st, and indeed, in Thailand New Year is a major occasion for gift-giving. But that, as with many things in Thailand, is only half the story. If you have ever visited Thailand during April, you will have realised that Thailand also has a second ‘new year’ celebration occuring in April. This, of course, is Songkran, or the famous ‘water festival’, when Thais and foreigners alike delight in dousing each other with large quantities of water. Songkran, the date of which once depended on astrological calculations, but is now fixed for April 13-15th, marks the new year in the traditional Thai lunar calendar, while January 1st marks the new year in the solar calendar, adopted by King Chulalongkorn in 1888 as the Thai equivalent to the western Gregorian calendar. While day-to-day life is now conducted in accordance with this latter calendar, the former still prevails for religious festivals. More on this in later posts.
Moreover, Thais didn’t celebrate the beginning of 2010 this year, but the beginning of 2553. This is because Thais calculate their dates according to the Buddhist Era (พุทธศักราช – commonly abbreviated in English to BE) rather than the Christian Era (AD or CE). The Buddhist Era, which was adopted as Thailand’s official dating system in 1911, starts from the day on which the Buddha passed to Nirvana. The general rule of thumb when determining dates in the Buddhist Era is to add 543 to the CE date. Naturally this system was in common use in Thailand prior to 1911, but it was also used in conjunction with several other calendrical systems, and indeed, did not become the sole dating system to be used until 1932. Other systems have historically included Chunlasakkarat (minor era), which was often used in manuscripts and Mahasakkarat (major era). Another dating system, the Rattanakosin Era, is also found on manuscripts and books during the first five reigns of the Chakri dynasty (1782-1910).
The Thai calendar and Thai time are fascinating topics, of which more in later posts. But for now, a rather belated Sawatdee Pii Mai!
Note: Apologies for the hiatus in posts – I have been on maternity leave for the past 9 months. My little boy (the youngest of my four children) is now 8 months old, and I will endeavour to update this website when the children let me.
Add comment January 5, 2010
Polite v. vulgar: Part Three – The body
In the Thai conception of the human body, the head occupies an almost sacred position, while the feet, conversely, are considered the lowest of the low. That is why it is considered extremely rude to touch a Thai person on the head, and equally uncouth to point to something with one’s feet (indeed, the Thais have perfected a sitting position in which one’s feet are firmly tucked away).
Such conceptions of the body are reflected in Thai vocabulary. As with much other Thai vocabulary, the politer versions of the words tend ultimately to be derived from Sanksrit, while the vulgar or informal words are original Thai.
The body itself can be referred to in a number of ways in Thai. At the bottom of the rung, as it were, of informality, the body is tua (ตัว). This carries connotations beyond the physical: tua eng, for instance, means oneself, while tua lakorn is a character in a play. However, it is at the same time deeply rooted in the physical, being the classifier for animals (more on classifiers in a later post).
Even more physical is the word rang kai (ร่างกาย), which very much refers to the body as a physical, as opposed to psychological, entity. In certain contexts the body may also be referred to by either one of the two components of this word: rang or kai.
The head, meanwhile, is referred to in informal usage as hua (หัว), which extends into the metaphorical realm in the same way as the word ‘head’ does in (English (the head of an organization, for instance, is referred to as hua naa). Much more specific to the physical human head is the polite word seesa (ศีรษะ), which is what you’ll normally see in written Thai, and is the word you would use when talking to, say, a doctor.
If you want to talk about the foot, meanwhile, you would use the word thao (เท้า), a word acceptable in both formal and informal usage. However, some people use the word dteen (ตีน), which is thought of as being considerably more vulgar, and indeed is found in the construction son dteen (ส้นตีน), which literally means ‘heel’, but by extension is used as a swearword to mean something (or someone) base and vulgar. Finally, you often come across the word baat (บาท) to mean ‘foot’, particularly in reference to the Buddha’s footprints. Baat is also found in the word baat withee (บาทวิถี), the formal word for a pavement, although a Thai version of the word ‘footpath’ is more often used in general conversation.
Add comment November 17, 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
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
Those little niggling words: part one – ‘na’
One thing that often really flummoxes students of Thai, particularly if they are not learning by immersion, are the little words that are frequently interjected into Thai conversation. I have already looked at kha and krap as words that make speech seem more polite (and indeed, are essential in some situations if one is not to sound rude), but these are far from being the only words of this nature.
One of the most common of these little words is na, and like kha and krap it does not have a direct translation. It is often, although not always, placed before kha or krap in speech, and is not used in formal written Thai.
Probably the best way to describe na is as a softening word; that is, it makes what one says sound less harsh and more mellifluous. For instance, chok dee na kha (good luck) not only trips off the tongue more easily than it would without the na, but also carries with it a slight entreaty, as if one were saying ‘I do hope you have good luck’ rather than simply ‘good luck’. Equally, nang thee nee na kha (sit down here) sounds less harsh when the na is added, as if one is saying ‘do sit down here please’. Remember, Thai has no commonly used direct equivalent of ‘please’ (the word garuna does mean ‘please’, but is not generally used in conversation, of which more in another post) so words like na are used for similar effect.
Although na is a gender neutral word, unlike kha and krap, it does tend to be used slightly more often by women, perhaps because the ’softening’ it gives a phrase is seen as somewhat feminine. That is not to say, however, that men do not use it. Listen next time you hear Thai people talking, and see how often it comes up.
Add comment September 30, 2008
Manipulating Thai tones
When you learn Thai, you’ll always be told that the tone of a word is vital for its meaning. While this is true, it is equally true that Thais often manipulate the tone of words to give added emphasis.
I’ll give the example of the word khao (rising tone), which means ‘white’. Thais greatly prize white skin (to the extent that you can even purchase skin-whitening deodorants to ensure that your armpits are as light as the skin elsewhere on your body), and will often comment on how white one’s skin is (the Thai for ‘white skin’ is phiw khao – both words spoken with a rising tone).
To say someone has really white skin, one could say phiw khao maak (very white skin) or phiw khao jing jing (truly white skin), but what people often say is phiw khao (falling tone) khao (rising tone). Note that in this instance, the initial khao spoken in a falling tone doesn’t mean anything in itself – it is merely a manipulation of the correct tone of the word khao (rising tone).
Similarly, if something is really good you might say dee (falling tone) dee (flat tone), or (something one often hears said of Thai women) if someone is particularly feminine they might be described as phu ying (falling tone) phu ying (rising tone).
Note that in all cases, the word is repeated, and that the first instance of the word is said in a falling tone, the second in that word’s correct tone.
Such tone manipulations are probably not something to be attempted unless you feel very confident with your Thai, but they are something worth looking out for in conversation, and storing up to repeat in the future, as they lend more authenticity to Thai speech.
Add comment September 26, 2008
English loan words in Thai
There can be few mainstream languages today that do not contain borrowings from English, despite the often desperate attempts by governments to ensure that languages be kept ‘pure’. Some of these words relate directly to new technology – it is easier, for example, to use the word ‘computer’ than to create an entirely new word – while others may be more subtle by-products of globalization.
In countries such as Thailand, where the ability to speak English is seen as enhancing one’s social status, peppering one’s speech with foreign loan words can often be seen by the young as being trendy – a sign that they are listening to the latest imported pop music, watching the latest American films.
Technology, as mentioned above, is one area in which Thais regularly use English words. However, it should be noted that the Thai words for television (thoratat) and telephone (thorasap), both taken from Sanskrit words meaning ‘far’ and ‘vision’ and ’sound’ respectively, are commonly in use alongside their English counterparts. No Thai words have yet caught on for computing technology, however, and even where there is an acceptable Thai equivalent (as in the case of television and telephone, above, or with klong thai roop, meaning camera) the English words are more often those used, especially among young people.
Other words unrelated to technology that have become part of the Thai language include beer and guitar, and most young Thais will know, and probably use, words like ‘movie’.
However, another set of English words has been adopted into Thai but with the meanings altered. Most foreigners will at some stage come across the word faen, which derives from the English ‘fan’ (as in supporter), but in Thai has come to mean girlfriend/boyfriend/husband/wife. Indeed, use of the word faen avoids the difficulties inherent in the Thai equivalents for these words, which vary according to the social setting and can seem rude or inappropriate if used incorrectly.
Similarly, tom, from the English ‘tom boy’ has come to mean not any girl who acts in a masculine manner, but specifically the more masculine partner of a lesbian relationship (what in English we might call a butch lesbian). A dee, by contrast, from the English ‘lady’, is the feminine partner, or ‘lipstick lesbian’.
Hi-so, from the English ‘high society’, refers to Thailand’s monied classes (particularly those whose photographs constantly appear in glossy magazines), and this has been intentionally subverted by the popular rock band Loso, who make a feature of their common origins.
These are, of course, just a few examples of English loan words in Thai, and you will probably hear more if you are in Thailand. But even the scant examples shown above are testimony to the fact that loan words do not necessarily signal language death, but instead can lead to new linguistic creativity.
Add comment September 25, 2008
You, me and Thai – a look at personal pronouns
In an earlier post, I stated that even such an apparently simple phrase as ‘I love you’ could be very tricky to translate into Thai. In fact, the only uncomplicated word in this phrase is rak, meaning ‘love’, due to those little niggling things that grammarians refer to as personal pronouns.
For those not familiar with grammatical terms, personal pronouns are those little words that we used to refer to ourselves and other people, such as ‘me’, ‘you’, ‘I’, ‘we’, ’she, ‘he’ and ‘they’. Now a Westerner might be forgiven for thinking that ‘you’ and ‘me’ are basic cross-lingual concepts, but the reality is far from the truth. Indeed, a French or German speaker, who alters the word for you (tu-vous, Du-Sie) depending on the relationship and the concomitant level of politeness required, might be better placed to grasp this than an English speaker, for whom (or at least for the majority of speakers), the pronouns ‘thou’ and ‘thee’ have long since gone out of fashion.
Foreigners are often told that the word for ‘I’ in Thai is dichan for a woman and phom if one is a man. However, these are quite formal terms, and are not often used between close friends. Indeed, dichan itself can sound quite stilted, so is often shortened simply to chan. To make matters more complicated, chan can also be used my men to mean ‘I’, and one frequently finds it cropping up in Thai pop songs in which a Thai man croons of his love for a woman. However, chan is only really used by males when talking to their lovers, and would sound completely out of place in other contexts.
Similarly, the word that foreigners are often told means ‘you’, khun, is very formal. While it is used in stock phrases such as korb khun (‘thank you’), it is otherwise reserved for formal settings.
So how do Thai people address one another? The simplest way is often just to avoid pronouns altogether. It is amazing how much of a conversation can be carried on in which the pronouns are simply deduced from the context. The greeting pai nai for instance, means ‘where are you going?’, but literally translated it is simply ‘go where?’. Thai can be a very economical language.
The second easiest way is to address people by their names, and to refer to oneself by your own name, so that if a boy named Keng wanted to tell a girl named Moo that he wanted go to the cinema with her, he might say ‘Keng wants to go to the cinema with Moo’. Such constructions may sound very strange to Western ears, but they are perfectly normal in Thai. Equally, you might address a friend as phuen, which simply means ‘friend’, or a teacher as khruu, meaning – yes – ‘teacher’.
Another common way to address people is to address them by a kinship title, respective to the relative age of the speakers. For instance, one might address someone slightly older than oneself as phi (older sibling), and that person in turn might address you as nong, or younger sibling. Other commonly used kinship terms include lung (uncle) and bpa (aunt). However, it is not always easy to guess someone’s age (although Thais, unlike Westerners, have few qualms about asking), and in some cases someone might address you by a senior kinship title to reflect social, as opposed to chronological, seniority. An example of this is an elderly fruit seller in a Bangkok market who insisted on addressing all his customers as phi, even when they were clearly decades younger than him.
When addressing children, or anyone significantly younger or less senior to oneself, one might call them nuu, which literally means ‘mouse’, and is a term of endearment by which most Thai children are referred. Thoe (pronounced a little like ‘ter’) is another affectionate word to mean ‘you’, and is particularly used by men speaking to their lovers or close female friends. Again, it is often found in song lyrics, in which ‘I love you’ is rendered as chan rak thoe.
Close friends, meanwhile, might use meung to mean ‘you’ and kuu to mean ‘I’, but these terms are considered very vulgar outside of closely defined contexts, and foreigners should probably treat them with the same caution they would red-hod chillies.
This discussion of Thai personal pronouns is by no means exhaustive – I have not even touched on words for ‘he’, ’she’, ‘we’ and ‘they’ – and there are many more ways in which Thai people might address each other. The only really way to gain an understanding of the myriad of terms used is to go to Thailand, and to spend as much time as possible speaking with Thai people, until eventually they become second nature.
3 comments September 19, 2008
