Hoping for my good knowledge of English and our outstanding abilities in terms of acting, we naively set off live in non-touristic Thailand, not knowing a word in Thai and not taking with you a phrase book. And it turned out to be our mistake because in the northern part of this country more than often you can to meet a Thai who does not speak or understand in English.
The content of the article
- 1 Specificity of communication
- 2 Cheat Sheet, how to communicate with the Thais
- 2.1 In the old manner
- 2.2 Applications for Android and iOS
- 2.3 Calculator to help
- 3 Pronunciation in Thai English
Contents
Communication specifics
When we talk about communication, we mean simple Thais, with that you come across every day at the store counter, in a cafe, on reception at the hotel, not those who work at a prestigious job in office and higher level. With such we talked only during hitchhiking and my soul just sang when we were driving the most interesting conversations in good english! So consider this moment, not demand too much, I doubt that in the same Moscow / St. Petersburg / Your City saleswomen in stores do speak at all English
One of the most common crafts in Tae
Smile for Thais is common
Our impressions of our vain attempts to communicate with simple Thais I described in another article, I will not repeat. I will remind only that it is hard, because guys they are modest and shy confess, if they do not fully understand you. It’s easier for them to do pretend that they all understood and answered “yes”, which in the end sometimes leads to not quite pleasant consequences for us.
In fact, the problem is not in modesty, but in culture (it’s impossible lose face and make the other one lose), therefore It is sometimes very difficult for foreigners to understand how to behave better, and how to solve this or that question. And here, or you are “embedded” in local culture, learn local language and all that (if you come live for years), or just accept the rules for a while games (while relaxing / wintering).
Cheat Sheet, how to communicate with the Thais
In the old manner
Well, to somehow make your life easier, and reduce to a minimum misunderstanding situations, we made a magic wand: asked your friend who knows English to write well to me in a notebook with Thai “hieroglyphs” some we need for surviving phrases .. It seemed that now life would become easier. Yelping finger in the desired Thai phrase, and misandendinging will no longer be. In vain …
We were surprised to find that you will drive off a little from the city, and you there is every chance to meet a man who cannot read your own language. It is about the north of Thailand, in the south is not collided. Of course, it could have seemed so simple to us, but a couple of times. ran into the fact that you show them the phrase in Thai in a notebook (written by Thai), and they even refuse to look or uncomprehendingly written by the eyes sharyat. Our notebook went on hands, until he found someone who could still read, more often with this Someone turned out to be children who are still in school. May well be Thais simply didn’t want to contact foreigners (to face do not lose), or there may be different dialects (in the north there are many Burmese, Chinese live).
Here are the phrases that we have collected in the process of living here, we the presence of these in written form has helped a lot, maybe for you will come in handy.
Common useful phrases
Our heroism was only enough to learn correctly. pronounce two words in thai:
Hello – Sawadi khap (as men say), Sawadi ka-ah (women say so) Thank you – Khap-khup-khap (as they say men), Khap-khup-ka-aa (women say so)
Food related phrases
Food related phrases
Food related phrases
Food related phrases
Phrases on Renting and Shopping
Phrases on Renting and Shopping
Applications for Android and iOS
UPDATE. The post was written several years ago, when we don’t There were also smartphones with a bunch of various useful applications. So here Now communication in any country has become much easier if you have modern phone. I have several dictionaries, but more often I use the usual Google Translate.
Google translate – an application that can translate text between multiple languages (it is better to use a bunch Английский=>Тайский, она более корректно работает), произноситьwords and phrases, translate a photographed text. Moreover, with for some time it can still work without the Internet (will only translation is available), for this you need to download the necessary in advance language packs.
For sure, there are other applications created specifically for Thai language, but we did not need them, always enough google. Moreover, most often we are in developed cities and resorts, and almost everyone speaks English, even if very simple and warped.
Calculator to help
Thais deal with numbers easier. Most likely your question “How much” (how many), you will be asked to look at their calculator where the seller has collected the desired amount. Can show fingers, for example 25 show first with fingers 2, then 5. Even if your Thai interlocutor knows English numbers, three digits all it is equally better to pronounce by numbers, for example 524, to call as five, two, four.
Pronunciation in Thai English
Thais have specific English. It manifests itself as in pronunciation and grammar of the language, and when we first arrived in Thailand, I did not immediately learn to understand addressed to me English phrases. Here are some of the features of their pronunciation, who can help you to understand their Thai English.
Our country is recognized with you only if it is pronounced as Rasia, if the Thai are to say that you are from Russia (Russia), most likely he you will not understand the first time.
Keep in mind that they rarely pronounce the sound “c”, but the sound “p” almost always replaced by “l”. Because of this, the English word Guesthouse (English Gesthouse) in Thai version will be Gethau, the words rent and room will sound like “tapes” and “lum”, and a fried rice dish (fried rice) will be – fly barking.
In general, for the same reason, Thais slaughter and swallow specific sound of English, denoted by the letter combination “th”, therefore the word month (English month) in Thai English will be sound like “man”, monthly (eng. monthly) – like “manly”.
Well, if the question “Do you have …” you say “No have”, it means you have just been answered “No, I don’t have …”. Well so Note already for advanced polyglots. 
P.S. In general, do not be afraid of the language barrier in this country, English is spoken there in all tourist places (in Pattaya and they speak Russian), you just need to get used to the pronunciation, but with using weapons such as ingenuity and gestures, generally abyss it will be difficult
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