As I try to reach the upper echelons of high Thai society,Im trying to learn proper Thai,not the Thai spoken by go go boys.Although theres nothing wrong with it. Anyway,Im finding two different ways to say thank you,one is korp khun krap(cop coon crap),and the other is khob khun krub(cob coon crub) Why are there two different versions? IN one lesson the male says krub after just about everything.I realise its formal politeness but its very distracting. :scratch:
The sound of "krub" or "krap" is halfway between the two. You aren't hearing two different versions.
Of course, our resident linguist (Smiles -- who thinks there's an accent on the last syllable of Suvarnabhumi) might have a differing opinion.
I hear a difference between the two from the lesson speakers.And what about the beginning,korp and khob,they are different. Having said that,when I pronounced it cop ccon cop,they acted like I said it right. While were at it chai mai means no,but I was saying mai ow cop and they said that was fine,I guess different way of saying no? Or better yet they were saying to themselves,let the dumb falang think hes speaking thai.
You are hearing differences where there are none. The first word "khob" is just that -- no variations.
"Chai mai" means, "isn't it?" or "right?".
OOps,I meant to say mai chai instead of chai mai. Mai chai must be the same as mai ow Im presuming. Do you speak fluent thai BB?.
Yes, I do -- and read and write. And I have a certificate from the Ministry of Education to prove it.Originally Posted by rocket
Mai chai and mai ow are not the same.
Mai chai means "no it isn't". Mai ow means "I don't want".
Rocket, I entirely approve of your ambition to speak correct Thai, and not the peasant drivel perpetrated by the average bar boy. Here in my luxury high-rise condo overlooking Dongtan beach, where appearances count (at least on the upper floors), my Thai boy and I sometimes take matters one stage further and drift into Royal Thai just to add a pleasant note of formality into our intercourse. It slows things down, as you tend to use the grammatical third person rather than the first, but it gives us good practice for that moment when we eventually receive the royal summons to a reception at Hua Hin.
Thai vowels and diphthongs, as you are discovering, can be a little indeterminate and mislead you into thinking you have heard something other than what you've been taught, but here's one little tip which most of the farangs in Pattaya would benefit from: the masculine courtesy word is 'khrap', not 'khap' as you will hear all over town. 'Khap' in this context is broken Thai and should not be used. It actually means 'tight', as in 'my pants are too tight'. Enjoy your lessons.
Agreed. "Khap" is the Thai equivalent of "ain't". Though when in Rome...ie, when among barboys and the common rabble, it fits in just fine. One should always strive to speak in a way that suits ones company, the situation, and surroundings.
When I hear the word "khrap" (or krub or krap or however you want to spell it in English) spoken in the south half of Thailand, the "r" often sounds half way between an "r" and an "l."
However, up north (e.g., Chiangmai), it's pronounced "khap" and you almost never hear it spoken with the "r"/"l" sound in there.
all you are hearing are slight differences in pronunciation. like anybody, Thai people can be lazy and drop bits out of syllables, khrap often ends up losing the 'r' in casual conversation.
if you want to learn to speak properly, forget about learning from friends, books and CDs, you need to go to a school and learn properly. and i recommend learning to read Thai as early as possible, the countless romanisation systems are a waste of time in the long run. they are all inadequate and confusing.
usually, what you are trying to say is written something like: 'khop khun khrap' -
kh is like english 'k' (some romanisation systems use 'k' but this can be confused with other systems which use 'k' for the 'g' sound of р╕Б at the start of a syllable),
'o' is similar to a long 'o' like in 'often' (here is one of the problems with romanisation systems - there are 4 different thai vowels - 2 long and 2 short - which sound like an english 'o'. representing the 4 different sounds in romanised script is a problem)
the 'p' on the end is a very short sound something between a b and a p sound (some romanisation systems write it as a 'b', some use 'p')
'u' is a short 'oo' sound, like in 'took' but shorter
'n' is easy, just 'n'
'r' is pretty much like an english 'r', and is often dropped in casual situation
'a' is between a short version of the 'a' in 'after' and 'u' in 'up'.
then there are the tones to worry about if u really want to speak properly, 'khop' with a low tone, 'khun' with a mid tone, 'khrap' with a high tone.
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