I guess you have to love Thai culture. I’ve recently started a beginner Thai course here in Bangkok and on the second day of class we were learning how to ask questions about whether or not you have something. The teacher (Thai female) wrote on the board:

Question: Khun mii faan may khrap? (Do you have a boyfriend / girlfriend?)

Answer: Phom mii fann laaw khrap (I have girlfriend / boyfriend already)

Answer: Phom yang may mii faan khrap (I don’t have a boyfriend / girlfriend yet)

Answer: Phom mii faan laay khon khrap (I have many girlfriends / boyfriends)

Then she went around the room of all male students and asked us each if we had a girlfriend. Everyone either said yes or many. The teacher sat down somewhat disappointed and said “Dichan yang may mii faan khrap” (I don’t have a boyfriend yet).

I guess only in Thailand would that shoot up to the top of the list of phrases a Thai instructor thinks you need to know.

Just a cool little tidbit for those of you who correspond with Thai people or would simply like a rough translation of websites that are written in Thai.  Google has added Thai language support in Google Translate.

The only gripe I might have about it is that it translates English -> Thai Script or Thai Script -> English.  You cannot simply type in “Sawadee” and get back “Hello.”  Likewise if you type in “Hello” you get สวัสดี.  That’s great if you can read Thai Script but you can’t ever be too sure of the translation if you don’t read Thai Script.

One of the best ways to test of translator (in my opinion) is to give it text in a source language, translate that into your target language, and then use the same tool to translate the target language back into the source language.  This will give you a pretty good idea of whether or not things are keeping their meanings during the translation process.

So for a test I took one of the stories appearing on the homepage of Bangkok Diaries and gave it a shot.  For the sake of keeping this as simple as possible I only selected the first sentence from author DougBangkok’s post How to Learn Thai Like a 4 Year Old Kid.

The original text:

How does a child learn a language? They are born unable to speak, and for the first 12 months, just make noises. But after 12 months, words come. Single words initially, but by 24 months, most children are speaking in simple sentences and have a vocabulary of several hundred words.

And Google’s translation of the above:

อย่างไร เด็กเรียนภาษา? กำเนิดพวกเขาจะไม่สามารถพูดและแรก 12 เดือนเพียงทำให้ noises. 12 เดือนแต่หลังจากคำมา. เดี่ยวคำชั้นแรกแต่ 24 เดือนโดยส่วนใหญ่มีเด็กในพูดง่ายๆประโยคและมีคำศัพท์หลายร้อยคำ.

It seems to have choked on the word “noises” and doesn’t really do numbers though there probably isn’t any need to translate numbers so no points off for that.

So now the real test is to translate it back into English and see how closely it resembles the original text:

How children learn language? Origin, they can not say the first 12 months and just make noises. 12 months, but after word came. Single word at first, but by 24 months most children are speaking in simple sentences and a vocabulary of hundreds of words.

I’ve finally decided to apply myself and learn Thai.  I’ve tried in the past.  I’ve bought the CDs and books and I usually get one or two chapters into them and then I lose interest.  Then the books and the CDs collect dust for a few months until I pull them out and get to the same exact point and give up on them again.

Right now my understanding of Thai is what I refer to as Bar Thai.  Essentially, my Thai is good for bars or restaurants where you don’t necessarily have to do a lot of speaking.  My vocabulary is about 50 or so words and I essentially speak English except that I replace the words I know in Thai.  I don’t think it necessarily helps me communicate any more effectively as I’m sure the receiver would have understood the word in English but it does make Thai people smile when you throw in a few words here and there (hmmm . . . not really sure if that smile is a good or bad thing).  Sure, I can string together a complete sentence here and there but my Thai pretty much stinks.

I want to improve my Thai and get to the point where I can speak and read it near fluently.  I would like to be able to hold a conversation in Thai or read and write Thai at a level that would allow me to effectively communicate with Thai people.  So that’s my goal.

My plan is to commit to spending 15 – 30 minute each day studying Thai.  I’ve read somewhere that the human brain tends to learn best in small chunks.  It’s a diminishing returns sort of thing.  The sweet spot seems to be in that 15 – 30 minute range.  By making it daily it will be repetitive and familiar which are also key for learning difficult material like languages.

I’ve amassed an arsenal of learning tools to help me.  The latest one and the one I’ve been seeing good results with is Its4Thai.   A hat tip goes to Smitty for turning me on to this one.  You can go over there and get 10 lessons for free.  I played around with it and ended up buying the 60 course version which runs about $20 or so if I remember correctly.  It really is a nicely put together little package and I like the fact that doesn’t rush you too much through the material.  Plus the fact that it’s all online means you can go in and complete a lesson from just about anywhere you have an internet connection.

That being said, I did learn the hard way that trying to learn in an environment with lots of distractions really does impact your ability to retain information.  I decided to try and sneak in a short session at work and I went from getting 100% on my lesson reviews to . . . well, let’s say less than 100%.  The material wasn’t really that much harder than previous lessons I had completed so I can only attribute the decline in performance to the fact that between emails, phone calls, and impromptu conversations it’s very difficult to stay focused.

I also decided to pick up Speak Easy Thai based on several good reviews I had run across.  While I think it’s a wonderful tool, the user interface might use a little working on.  Regardless, I’ve done a few lessons there as well and generally find it to be very effective.  I do notice that there is a different focus between Its4Thai and Speak Easy Thai.  This may be only my opinion but I feel that Its4Thai has a relaxed pace in terms of how quickly it introduces new words and concepts while Speak Easy Thai is much more aggressive.  It’s interesting to switch back and forth between the two.

I also liked that Speak Easy Thai came with some bonus features.   It comes with a HTML book called Fundamentals of Thai as well as a Thai / English dictionary and mini-keyboard.  Overall I think it’s an excellent value for the price and would recommend it.

I mentioned the CDs and books that I had previously purchased but never got far into.  Well, my apologies go out to the very talented Benjawan Poomsan Becker who is behind the whole Thai for Beginners book, software, and CDs.  I apologize because I’ve never really committed myself previously.  Her products are excellent but I’ve been too lazy.  I’m sorry for letting you down. 

Speaking of Becker, I also have her Practical Thai Conversation volumes I and II which I picked up about a year ago while I was in Bangkok.  Again, like the Thai for Beginners, these are excellent products and I really appreciate the way that watching something on DVD can make the material stick better.  Alas, much like the Thai for Beginners materials, those DVDs have mostly served to gather dust sitting in my DVD library.

I also acquired the Pimsleur Thai CD which I’ve used in the past.  I like the Pimsleur method though I do think it gets a little bogged down at times.  I want to move on to something more challenging but you have to go through it step by step.

I will also sheepishly admit that I own a phrase book called English*Thai Bar Guide.  But before you let that smirk settle in, I have found it very useful for things other than talking to bar girls. 

There are some really outstanding websites for helping people learning Thai.  The one that has been invaluable is thai2english.com.  Thai Language is another great site for doing translations.  They also have lessons and a forum so it’s more than just a dictionary / translation service.  Last but certainly not least is the Learn Thai Podcast.  I really enjoy that program and they pick very useful phrases to help you learn Thai in small chunks.

So that’s it.  Hopefully along the way I’ll have some posts that help others making the same journey.  Any advice from grizzled Thai language vets would be much appreciated.

Farang (ฝรั่ง), or as it is often pronounced by Thais – falang, is a word that seems to confuse many people.  The confusion mainly stems from either the origin of the word or its meaning.

Meaning of Farang

Farang is most commonly used to describe white Westerners although black people from the US or UK (or other Western countries) may also be referred to as farang or farang dam (black farang).  These is some debate on whether or not the term is offensive.  In general it is a neutral word intended as nothing more than a description of the person.  It can be used as an insult though which is why there is some debate.  It depends on the context of how it’s used much like many other descriptors.  For instance if someone were to say “She has a farang husband,” then it’s a neutral word communicating the fact that her husband is non-Thai.  If someone who you know well were to use the word in a sentence like “Here comes the farang,” it is probably meant as an insult.

Farang also happens to be the word for guava fruit so if you wish to amuse your Thai friends to no end, eat a guava fruit so they can make jokes about farang eating farang (ฝรั่งกินฝรั่ง).

Farang is also used as a descriptor in many foods that were introduced by Europeans.  For instance, parsley is known as phak chii farang which would translate into farang cilantro.

Origin of Farang

The origin of the word farang is often debated and you’re likely to see it attributed to many different sources.  As far as I know nobody is 100% certain on the exact origin of the word.

One common theory is that farang is based on the word farangset which is the Thai pronunciation of francais (French).  Though the French were early traders with the Thai people other Western countries were trading with Thailand long before the French so it seems unlikely that this would be the origin of the word.

Another theory is that the Portuguese who introduced the guava fruit to Thailand lived in an area called Baan Farang (Guava Village) and the name may have become synonymous with the Portuguese traders and then to all foreigners.

The theory which seems to point to the most likely origin of the word is that is derived from the Persian word farangi which means foreigner.  Farangi is also used throughout India to describe foreigners and it may have been simply a shortening of the Persian word which led to the word farang in Thai.

One day I was surprised to find out that I had offended one of the Thai female teachers from my school. The truth is that, during an informal chit-chat, I might have used Thai slang, and thus I involuntarily offended the Thai teacher I was conversing with.

The funny thing was that I found out about my rudeness, a few days after my conversation with that Thai teacher, from my superiors. The subject was brought up very carefully, but as I am a straight forward person, I asked to be told exactly what the problem was. I would have liked to be told by the teacher who got offended by what I had said in Thai, but she chose not to, and rather preferred to let the rumors go around the school and eventually reach the ears of my bosses. If I had been offended by anyone, regardless of nationality and/or social position, I would have told that person straight away! But, I guess, that’s just me.

Now, the question is why did I speak that way to that teacher? The answer is simple: because that’s the way I speak Thai. For me, learning a new language just happens. I don’t need to put too much extra effort into it. I learned Italian, while still a kid, by watching Rai Uno and Rai Due; I learned French by not paying attention to what the French teacher was saying in class; I can understand Spanish just because I am familiar with 3 other Latin languages – Romanian, Italian, and French; and I learned Thai by listening to the people on the street. I had some failed attempts at studying, in a proper classroom, Japanese and Arabic, but as I was not exposed enough to these two languages, I can remember only a few phrases I had memorized (which can be used in any situation!).

So, today (after years in Thailand) I am able to speak the language Thai people speak on the streets. But sometimes (in fact most of the times!), the every-day Thai is not polite, and it is taboo to use it at work or in the hi-so. But the Thais forget that I’m not a native speaker of Thai, and maybe they don’t even know that I have never studied Thai the way languages are learned at school. Nobody taught me how to say the five tones; nobody told me the exact subterfuge meanings of common words, that when used in certain contexts (or pronounced in certain tones), are very rude. I just picked everything up in my daily interactions with the Thais. And, as I have no dealings at all with the high society, my Thai probably contains a lot of slang.

Having said all these, I have to admit that I am aware of the “correct” way of speaking Thai, but it’s just not me! This is it, and I admit it, and that is why I am ready to apologize for the rude words I might have said.

As I was writing these lines, I had an epiphany. I realized why it is so difficult for the Thais who have reached adulthood to learn English! It is because their minds are corseted to the strict rules of a society that, when it finds itself in a classroom situation, cannot open its mind wide enough to receive someone else’s language. As for me, just bring it on. Good or bad. After all, I’m just another learner who tries (not too hard though ) to achieve fluency in a language that is considered to be amongst the most difficult languages on Earth.

Are you a short story writer?
Why don’t you submit your best short story to the
New Asian Writing Short Story Anthology?

The main problem with learning to speak Thai is that the basis of the language is not European-based. English and the other Euro languages have Latin, Greek, Viking, etc., roots; Thai does not, so you have to memorize hundreds, if not thousands, of strange and unrelated sounds. This is difficult, unless you use some sort of memory trigger.

Speak Easy Thai is a low-cost (about US$25) CD-ROM that helps solve this problem by presenting a picture and a sound file; all words are spoken by a native Thai speaker, so you hear the correct tone.

If you see a Thai word printed in a book, such as a travel guide, chances are you will not remember the word because there is nothing to hang your hat on.

But when you see a picture of something and hear it spoken properly in Thai, your brain will find it much easier to remember the word because it seems to set up more associations (hypertext links, if you will) in your brain.

It’s a fact that most people learn better visually and aurally than they do by simply reading and trying to memorize. This is, in fact, how children learn. They hear the words spoken by adults and other children, and repeat them. Young children learn to speak a language well before they can read.

Thai uses its own alphabet, rather than pictograms like Chinese, which makes it much easier to learn than Chinese. You just have to get over the hump of reading the Thai characters. The alphabet contains the same letters as English, but they are drawn differently. For example, all the common consonants and vowels exist in Thai, but a Thai G (or P or M) does not look like an English G (or P or M).

But the best part of learning Thai is the grammar, believe it or not, because there is very little to learn. There are no, absolutely NO verb conjugations, which will please anyone who has ever tried to learn one of the Latin-based languages like French, Italian, and Spanish. Future tense is handled with “ja”, meaning “will”, or by adding an adverb of time, like “tomorrow”. Past tense is handled by putting “already” at the end, or by adding an adverb of time, like “yesterday”. For example, instead of saying, “I went to the market”, you use the present tense (“go”) but add “already” at the end, as in “I go market already”. Easy peasy.

Also, adjectives do not change form, you don’t have to worry about the sex of a noun because all nouns are neuter. Adjectives always follow the noun, without exception; you say “house big” rather than “big house”.

General plurals are done by doubling the noun: “house house” instead of “houses”. Specific plurals use the same construction we use in English for groups, as in “The farmer has three head of cattle”. You can’t say “I have three children” in Thai, you must say “I have child three person”; “child” is the noun, “person” is the group word, also known as a “classifier”.

Adverbs are easy too, no variations. You can add emphasis by doubling the adverb: “He runs quickly quickly”.

The most difficult part of learning Thai is that it is a tonal language. English uses tones on sentences. Compare these three statements:

“You’re going to the party.”
“You’re going to the party?”
“You’re going to the party!”

They all use the same English words, but the tone (flat, rising, falling, respectively) gives an entirely different meaning to each sentence.

Thai uses tones on words, but not on sentences. For example, “seu-ah” spoken with a flat (mid-range) tone means “clothing”; “seu-ah” spoken with a rising tone means “tiger”. So you must be careful to learn the correct tone for each word, otherwise you might be saying “my tiger is dirty” when what you meant is “my clothing is dirty”. There is no doubt that this is the hardest part of learning Thai, and the only way to learn the correct tone is to listen to a native Thai speaker saying the word.

I wrote Speak Easy Thai to help me remember Thai words. It has a picture and sound file for over 5000 words; you see the word in Thai, see a memorable picture, and hear the word spoken by a native Thai speaker. Hundreds of people now use it daily to learn a few words a day.