My Thai wife and I spend more and more time outside of Thailand and though she’s acclimated pretty well to the changes, the one thing that she always misses (besides really, really, really spicy Thai food and her family) is television shows from Thailand. Her English is good enough to watch farang television but what …
Yep, I said it! I am officially now Thai. Wait a minute, what the heck you ask? Allow me to explain. For starters, I am not a FARANG to the natives here, well, not so much in words anyway. And if you are wondering what that word means…well, everyone seems to have their own ideas. …
My brain feels like it is swimming in thick oil and my body is aching but that’s what happens when you party in Bangkok two nights in a row. But it was worth it! OK, back to the night before yesterday. Pete had arrived on Friday but he didn’t tell his girlfriend that he was …
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 …
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 …
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. By the age of 5, …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …