Thai for the un-initiated
As a prelude to my experience of checking in at the Bella Villa, some insights into understanding English as spoken by Thais.
Try to say the words as they are spelled, it is ssoooooo much fun! E.g.: W should be pronounced “weh” as in “went”
Another important aspect of Thai English is that there is no “R” well there may be but they can’t or won’t say it….so an R is replaced with an L or W if in the middle of a word or omitted entirely if at the beginning or the end of a word.
Bar is baah, important is impolant, reservation could be lellalation or wehewayhun, easy enough?
No, coz they don’t really like the L, so often, they will replace L with N, so impolent becomes imponent, easy enough with a word like important, but you get two or three words in a row, in a sentence, that have R’s and L’s and you can get really lost. It is so much fun!
Try this one: Fried Rice could be as we hear in the movies, fly lice, but more commonly here, faai waai (aai as in guy) so in context…..
I order pork stir fry, 60 baht on the menu, the waitress asks, You wan faai waai with?
Huh!? Blank stare. She tries again, slowly this time, faai…….waai…….with? pointing to the menu.
I am not registering sweetie…………
waai……waai………faai…waai….she tries again!
This sort of communication is usually followed by a long pause with me looking imploringly at the waitress, her looking at me waiting for the penny to drop. We get there in the end and I end up with STEAMED RICE!
Try to say the words as they are spelled, it is ssoooooo much fun! E.g.: W should be pronounced “weh” as in “went”
Another important aspect of Thai English is that there is no “R” well there may be but they can’t or won’t say it….so an R is replaced with an L or W if in the middle of a word or omitted entirely if at the beginning or the end of a word.
Bar is baah, important is impolant, reservation could be lellalation or wehewayhun, easy enough?
No, coz they don’t really like the L, so often, they will replace L with N, so impolent becomes imponent, easy enough with a word like important, but you get two or three words in a row, in a sentence, that have R’s and L’s and you can get really lost. It is so much fun!
Try this one: Fried Rice could be as we hear in the movies, fly lice, but more commonly here, faai waai (aai as in guy) so in context…..
I order pork stir fry, 60 baht on the menu, the waitress asks, You wan faai waai with?
Huh!? Blank stare. She tries again, slowly this time, faai…….waai…….with? pointing to the menu.
I am not registering sweetie…………
waai……waai………faai…waai….she tries again!
This sort of communication is usually followed by a long pause with me looking imploringly at the waitress, her looking at me waiting for the penny to drop. We get there in the end and I end up with STEAMED RICE!