a little language goes a wrong way

[a447]

just wondering how to ask the guys to do something in Thai. Do I use karuna.....? or Chuay......? (e.g. Karuna tord. hehe) Are those words too polite when speaking to younger guys?? Is there another word I can use?
I don't want to offend anyone, but then again, I don't want to sound too polite and look stupid. It's like the whole "wai" thing. Silly old me...I wai-ed the guys when I did my first trip to LOS, only to be told that a simple nod was all that was required. Apparently, wai-ing someone younger and of "inferior" status makes you look ridiculous.
Does anyone have any other language do's or don'ts? If so, please share them with us.
I'm finding the tones hard - I think I'm tone deaf! - but it's a fun language to learn. I'm trying to get passed "Phom yaak yet khun" and into something a bit more deep and meaningful.

[thonglor55]

I'm trying to get passed "Phom yaak yet khun" and into something a bit more deep and meaningful.Why? Is your hope to have the same sort of conversation with them as you'd have with friends back home? Are you hoping for a deep and meaningful relationship? I've got by on a vocabulary of around 200 Thai words for the last 20 years but then I don't expect to discuss the meaning of life or Thai politics or global warming with the sort of boys I meet in the flesh trade. Every Thai I mix with socially speaks better English than I would ever want or need to speak Thai and I discuss the meaning of life or Thai politics or global warming with them in English. You can meet some very pleasant ex-pats (many of them gay) at, say, the Anglican church in Bangkok and as it's an Anglican church there's actually no need to believe in God in order to belong. What's in it for you to learn to speak Thai?

[cdnmatt]

What's in it for you to learn to speak Thai?

Maybe he'd like to have a chat with the hair barber, instead of that awkward silence. What does it matter to you?

As for the OP, I don't know, but I always just say, "chuay pom daai mai" (can you help me?), which always gets an "alai" (what?) or "yangkor" (what? in Lao) response, at which time I beak off whatever I want. Whether or not that's right, I have no idea, but it gets the job done. :)

Maybe thonglor,you ignorant cockhole, like me, he just has a general interest in learning a little bit of Thai.

[thonglor55]

Does anyone have any other language do's or don'ts? If so, please share them with us.
I've got by on a vocabulary of around 200 Thai words for the last 20 years
Maybe he'd like to have a chat with the hair barber, instead of that awkward silence. What does it matter to you?
Maybe thonglor,you ignorant cockhole, like me, he just has a general interest in learning a little bit of Thai.As I've said, I know a little bit of Thai - certainly enough to exchange a few words with a barber. I've found a vocabulary of 200 words to be quite sufficient. The OP explained he was struggling. Why are these posters so sensitive?

[pong]

just wondering how to ask the guys to do something in Thai. Do I use karuna.....? or Chuay......? (e.g. Karuna tord. hehe) Are those words too polite when speaking to younger guys?? .
yes, I know about the tones. However-one trick (well, it wont cure everything is not to worry too much about it-do NOT only learn/use single words-then it gets tricky) learn some basic frases-they have some kind of melody in them-and change the basic word in it.
About this Q; do not worry too much. Most Thai are delighted that you even take the effort to speak a little of their native tongue-which BTWfor many a rental boy is not even Thai. The most fitting word for it would be ''koh''. But as Thai is so immensely status-related (and you-as both a visitor, a whiter farang , older and a paying customer) there is no real need to use it from high to low. You gain more status when you use polite Thai, like not ''ao'' for want, but tongkaan (=wish). In requests polite Thai often make it look smaller by adding ''noi''= a little.
Chuay (=help) is more used when you really need some help, like finding a place or the like-say: koh chuay=please give me help. In ho-sex it mainly means: help (your)self. So that is another thing-even with the same tone many words (yes, MANY!) have different meanings-it makes big fun to try to find those. That may explain the sudden laughters on some words you cannot figure out!

Hi,

I hardly think you need to worry at all about being overly polite to Thais using terms such as ' Phom yaak yet khun' which is gutter Thai to say the least, and you would be looked at with disgust outside the confines of the go go bar!

If you were lucky,if you were not,then slapped around the face. :evil4: :evil4:

Would you use such terms to people in the West in any situation?

[a447]

Would you use such terms to people in the West

Yes, if I was in the approapriate situation. In a bar (or the gutter for that matter), I would probably say "I wanna fuck you" rather than "I would like to have anal intercourse with you."

...In a bar .. I would probably say "I wanna fuck you" rather than "I would like to have anal intercourse with you."

Really? I normally just ask for a Gin and Tonic.

[zinzone]

Hi,

I hardly think you need to worry at all about being overly polite to Thais using terms such as ' Phom yaak yet khun' which is gutter Thai to say the least, and you would be looked at with disgust outside the confines of the go go bar!

If you were lucky,if you were not,then slapped around the face. :evil4: :evil4:

Would you use such terms to people in the West in any situation?

Correct! in the West we would usually not say 'Phom yaak yet khun' or its' english equivalent. In the west we are more likely to say: "fuck off". Thats why we have left there and come to live here in Thailand!

Hi,

I hardly think you need to worry at all about being overly polite to Thais using terms such as ' Phom yaak yet khun' which is gutter Thai to say the least, and you would be looked at with disgust outside the confines of the go go bar!

If you were lucky,if you were not,then slapped around the face. :evil4: :evil4:

Would you use such terms to people in the West in any situation?

Correct! in the West we would usually not say 'Phom yaak yet khun' or its' english equivalent. In the west we are more likely to say: "fuck off". Thats why we have left there and come to live here in Thailand!


OMG,

Too coarse for my tender ears!........................ :laughing3: :laughing3:

[Jellybean]

Perhaps a less aggressive approach might be better a447. For example, you might like to ask:

Would you like to be f*cked? (Phom yet khun dai mai?)
If тАЬyesтАЭ he will answer - dai. If тАЬnoтАЭ he will answer тАУ mai-dai!

Or alternatively:

Do you like to be f*cked? (Khun choop thuuk yet mai?)
If тАЬyesтАЭ he will answer - choop. If тАЬnoтАЭ he will answer - mai-choop!

[thonglor55]

I can't remember the last time I came across a Thai sex worker who didn't understand "I fuck you, ok?" There is no need whatsoever to learn Thai if that's all you need it for.

Does anyone have any other language do's or don'ts? If so, please share them with us.
I've got by on a vocabulary of around 200 Thai words for the last 20 years
Maybe he'd like to have a chat with the hair barber, instead of that awkward silence. What does it matter to you?
Maybe thonglor,you ignorant cockhole, like me, he just has a general interest in learning a little bit of Thai.As I've said, I know a little bit of Thai - certainly enough to exchange a few words with a barber. I've found a vocabulary of 200 words to be quite sufficient. The OP explained he was struggling. Why are these posters so sensitive?



Not sensitive, just like to read intersting posts without people being nasty and bitchy in their replies.

This is a good forum, I enjoy it but don't like seeing people get attacked when they are posing reasonable topic or a question, it quenches discussion and makes people hesitant to post items that stimulate discussion.

How did my aggressive response make YOU feel, it sucks doesn't it ?

[cdnmatt]

Would you like to be f*cked? (Phom yet khun dai mai?)

Not to nitpick, but just so you know, that's wrong. You're basically asking, "can I fuck you?", and not, "would you like to be fucked".

I'm not very good in Thai, but instead, say, "khun yaak pom yet khun mai". Not exactly eloquent, but it'll get the point across.

Would you like to be f*cked? (Phom yet khun dai mai?)

Not to nitpick, but just so you know, that's wrong. You're basically asking, "can I fuck you?", and not, "would you like to be fucked".

I'm not very good in Thai, but instead, say, "khun yaak pom yet khun mai". Not exactly eloquent, but it'll get the point across.


Yeah,

And the Thai kid is thinking, ' just go have a shower,leave your wallet out on the bed or in your jeans, and I'll show YOU who gets fucked! ' .................... :laughing3: :laughing3:

[Jellybean]

ThereтАЩs nothing wrong with nitpicking cdnmatt if you happen to be right and I am wrong.

As an aside, at the end of our lesson, I had actually raised the subject with my Thai teacher, but had substituted the word тАЬkissтАЭ (juup) for the тАШfтАЩ word. She laughed and thought it an odd question to ask. Her written note back to me read as follows:

"Would you like to be kissed? (Phom juup Khun dai mai)"

Maybe the odd nature of my question had thrown her? Well, as my Thai teacher says (all too frequently!), pit pen kruu (learn from your mistakes). So thanks for the correction. Happy Songkran - stay safe!

[cdnmatt]

ThereтАЩs nothing wrong with nitpicking cdnmatt if you happen to be right and I am wrong.

As an aside, at the end of our lesson, I had actually raised the subject with my Thai teacher, but had substituted the word тАЬkissтАЭ (juup) for the тАШfтАЩ word. She laughed and thought it an odd question to ask. Her written note back to me read as follows:

"Would you like to be kissed? (Phom juup Khun dai mai)"

Maybe the odd nature of my question had thrown her? Well, as my Thai teacher says (all too frequently!), pit pen kruu (learn from your mistakes). So thanks for the correction. Happy Songkran - stay safe!

More than likely, your teacher doesn't know English worth a shit. There's a chance she means, "would you like me to kiss you", as that's the best I can come up with. Actual interpretation though would be, "can I kiss you?". I'll admit I don't know Thai as much as I should, but this is very basic & beginner stuff, so I'm confident in saying I know what I'm talking about on this one. :)

Anyway, happy Songkran to you too!

[newalaan]

Why the need for dramatic exaggeration with regards to learning a little Thai, like thonglor55s suggesting that anybody would need to be discussing the 'meaning of life'......it's just about basic communication, being able to understand eachother a little easier, and if some Thai can help it along, that can only be good.

I only started to learn a little Thai to avoid misunderstandings during the first couple of years I was coming to Thailand. I found it was so easy to think you were on the same line of thinking only to arrrive at a different conclusion. I use it more for just confirming what I consider is actually being said. E.g. if a Thai said 40 baht, I would just say see-sip? yes..so confirmed.


I can't remember the last time I came across a Thai sex worker who didn't understand "I fuck you, ok?" There is no need whatsoever to learn Thai if that's all you need it for. I can see exactly what you mean, that, along with all your other Thai socialite friends being so proficient in English it would appear you now have around 200 totally redundant Thai words at your disposal. How silly to move to a country with a different language and actually bother to learn some of it when all we need to do is surround ourselves with locals who can speak our own language, quite right thonglor55! if only we could all be so victorian and colonial in our thinking. But how to get the rest of the Thais round to your way of thinking? Then we can just dispense with the damned Thai languange all together! Thonglor55? over to you dear boy.

Personally, although I can speak a few words and be understood, unless Thais talk very slowly i find it near impossible to understand them. But if I didn't at least speak quite a few Thai/Lao words/phrases when visiting my bf's village, i would be like some of the farangs I have witnessed so often where they just sit there like a zombie until his bf/gf decides to feed him a few scraps of what they want him to hear, irrespective of what is actually being said. Also it means I can wander around the village myself without the need to be attached-at-the-hip to my bf all day.

If your whole Thailand world revolves around Boyztown, Sunee and the journey between them, then four words would probably be sufficient.

[Beachlover]

Are we really discussing how to ask someone if you can top them?

What happened to leaning over him, going through the motions a little and looking into his eyes with a grin?


This is a good forum, I enjoy it but don't like seeing people get attacked when they are posing reasonable topic or a question, it quenches discussion and makes people hesitant to post items that stimulate discussion.
Yep... I agree with this!

[thonglor55]

Then we can just dispense with the damned Thai languange all together!I'm sure the Thais find it useful but these days (unlike 25 years ago when I first came to Thailand), we can certainly dispense with it altogether. I do occasionally find some use for my 200-word vocabulary, perhaps on those rare times where I buy groceries in Tops myself. However there is absolutely no likelihood that I'm going to some village at the back of beyond to rub shoulders with the yokels.

[a447]

Are we really discussing how to ask someone if you can top them?

No, I said I'd actually like to move ON from that. I lived and worked in Japan for 10 years and am fluent in all aspects of the langauge. I was always amazed when I came across gaijin (farang) who couldn't even order a cup of coffee in Japanese, even though they'd been living there for 20 or more years. When I asked how they managed, the reply was that they just went to supermarkets to buy food and hung around fellow gaijins. If you don't speak Japanese, forget about entering a gay club.
If only they knew what they were missing!