Listen to Kat teaches Thai Episode 3
On the last episode, I taught you how to say kob-koon, which means thank you. I also taught you how to say pobe-gun-mai, which means to meet again. Remember not to get the two words of mai and mai confused. One has a lower tone and means new. The other one has a higher tone and you add it at the end of the sentences to form questions.
On this episode, I teach you how to say ma-jarg-nai, which means where did you come from? Ma is exactly like the word "ma". Jarg uses the a sound in "shark". Nai uses the i sound in "lie".
The word ma means come. The word jarg means from; also means going away or depart. The word nai means where? When you put the meanings together, you form a phrase, "come from where?" or where did you come from?
If you notice the differences in Thai language and English language, our grammars are different. We don't really use nouns in the sentences. Most of the time, the conversations are between person 1 and person 2.
To reply to the question, you would answer, "ma-jarg-America; ma-jarg-Spain; ma-jarg-Italy, etc." Basically you fill in the name of the place in place of the word nai at the end of the sentence. If you haven't noticed, we put our question words at the end of the sentences rather than at the beginning of the sentences like English.
I also teach you, ma-narn-reur-young, which means have you been here for long? Ma is like the word "ma". Narn uses the a sound in bahn. Reur uses the u sound in "blur." Young is like the word "young."
The word ma means come. The word narn means long length of time. The word reur means or. The word young means not yet. When you put the meanings together, you form a phrase, come for long length of time, or not yet? Another way of saying, have you been here for long?
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Intermission Lesson 1
Let's take a break and learn more of the Thai language dialects. There are four main ones: Northern region, Northeastern region (Esaan), Central region, and Southern region.
Northern dialect has a very soft tone and the dialogs are quite slow-paced. Majority of the people from the northern region are more calm than the rest of the country. I don't know much about the northern region except that my brother and my dad had spent a lot of time in the area. We have a property up north that my dad makes a visit at least twice a year or so. People speak really calmly that you can't really tell when two people are arguing with each other. I'm sure they too have lots of bad words that you and I don't know about. It's like a "well-known" rule of thumb that you always learn the bad words before you learn the rest of the language. Of course, we're not going to get into that.
Northeastern dialect or Esaan has a very upbeat tone. The dialogs are quite "entertaining" when you listen to them. Laos and Esaan use very similar dialect, so if you understand the language, you can travel in both Thailand and Laos freely. The reasons why Thailand and Laos are sister countries are that we look alike, we eat alike, and we speak alike. (Our cultures are similar) Much like how earth and Venus are sister planets. Laos was once a part of Thailand before France took over. I was told by an unreliable source that Thailand is the only country in the world that has never been ruled by any country in the world. Please correct me if I'm mistaken.
Central dialect has a relaxing tone. What I teach you is the central dialect and it is the main language of the country. Central dialect is easy-going and most people agree that the central dialect is the dialect of the educated people. Of course, I personally think it's cooler when I see a foreigner tries to speak Esaan to me at the restaurant. I don't know much of it, but I'm proud to say that my brother grew up in Bangkok around Esaan people that he can actually speak Laos.
Southern dialect has a course tone and the dialogs are compressed. We have a joke in Thailand about the fastest Thai dialect (Southern) and the slowest Thai dialect (Northern). Train is one of the main transportation in Thailand and many are open air. Basically you'd sit in the train with the windows rolled down and the electrical fans rotating on the ceiling. It's quite fun! Anyways, the joke is that, if two southerners sit on two different trains on two separate tracks coming toward each other, the two can yell from across the train and understand each other as the two trains pass.
Southern dialect:
Person 1: Where?
Person 2: Market.
Northern dialect:
Person 1: Where are you going to?
Person 2: I'm going to the market.
If you have been on a train before and have seen how fast the trains pass each other between tracks, you would understand the joke. It's amazing how languages contribute to our communication Process. You don't need to be good at something for another person to understand you. You just need to know it.
Northern dialect has a very soft tone and the dialogs are quite slow-paced. Majority of the people from the northern region are more calm than the rest of the country. I don't know much about the northern region except that my brother and my dad had spent a lot of time in the area. We have a property up north that my dad makes a visit at least twice a year or so. People speak really calmly that you can't really tell when two people are arguing with each other. I'm sure they too have lots of bad words that you and I don't know about. It's like a "well-known" rule of thumb that you always learn the bad words before you learn the rest of the language. Of course, we're not going to get into that.
Northeastern dialect or Esaan has a very upbeat tone. The dialogs are quite "entertaining" when you listen to them. Laos and Esaan use very similar dialect, so if you understand the language, you can travel in both Thailand and Laos freely. The reasons why Thailand and Laos are sister countries are that we look alike, we eat alike, and we speak alike. (Our cultures are similar) Much like how earth and Venus are sister planets. Laos was once a part of Thailand before France took over. I was told by an unreliable source that Thailand is the only country in the world that has never been ruled by any country in the world. Please correct me if I'm mistaken.
Central dialect has a relaxing tone. What I teach you is the central dialect and it is the main language of the country. Central dialect is easy-going and most people agree that the central dialect is the dialect of the educated people. Of course, I personally think it's cooler when I see a foreigner tries to speak Esaan to me at the restaurant. I don't know much of it, but I'm proud to say that my brother grew up in Bangkok around Esaan people that he can actually speak Laos.
Southern dialect has a course tone and the dialogs are compressed. We have a joke in Thailand about the fastest Thai dialect (Southern) and the slowest Thai dialect (Northern). Train is one of the main transportation in Thailand and many are open air. Basically you'd sit in the train with the windows rolled down and the electrical fans rotating on the ceiling. It's quite fun! Anyways, the joke is that, if two southerners sit on two different trains on two separate tracks coming toward each other, the two can yell from across the train and understand each other as the two trains pass.
Southern dialect:
Person 1: Where?
Person 2: Market.
Northern dialect:
Person 1: Where are you going to?
Person 2: I'm going to the market.
If you have been on a train before and have seen how fast the trains pass each other between tracks, you would understand the joke. It's amazing how languages contribute to our communication Process. You don't need to be good at something for another person to understand you. You just need to know it.
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