Back To Basics - Polite Articles & Phrases

So I realized there's probably not much in this blog for people just starting with Thai as yet, so in this post Ill look at some of the more fundamentals aspects of Thai in the form of polite articles and requests.Polite articles in Thai are fairly easy to grasp once you're acquainted with them and start listening out for in everyday conversation.


Most people when starting to learn thai will have picked up the different polite particle endings depending on whether you're a guy or girl -


ครับ - kráp (think less in terms of how we say 'crap' in English but more  hybrid between the b and p --> Krabp with a soft p)
ค่ะ - kâ (i often associate this word with the ford Ka advertising if you're from the UK you know the adverts im talking about - said with high then falling tone on the vowel)




Then, comes the most useful polite request phrase: kŏr-tôot (ขอโทษ) - use this when approaching someone you don't know or apologizing:


For males: ขอโทษครับ ---- kŏr-tôot kráp
For females: ขอโทษค่ะ ---- kŏr-tôo kâ


To put this into action a typical polite request would be:
ขอโทษครับอันนี้เท่าไหร่นะครับ - kŏr-tôot kráp an née thâu-rai kráp
Excuse me, how much is this one please?


Not the addition of another particle นะ to soften the sentence a lot. This is used a lot in spoken Thai together with other 'softner' particles such as:  จ้ะ - já, ละ or ล่ะ - la or สิ - si


Or for a girl/woman would be:
ขอโทษค่ะอันนี้เท่าไหร่นะค่ะ  kŏr-tôot kâ an née thâu-rai kâ


Of course there are a variety of ways to frame the same question, and beginners may be tempted to over use the polite particles, but as long as you finish the sentence with a ครับ or ค่ะ most Thais will be appreciative of this!

สวัสดีปีใหม่

Happy New Year to all Readers!

(And also a very late สุขสันต์วันคริสต์มาส) 

Back Once Again With The Renegade Thai Language Lessons and Round Up News

So the last time I posted, I was preparing to go back to Thailand for a short vacation. I went back expecting lots of eventful drama, as it was still the time of protest of the Red Shirts. I thought my friend was pretty foolhardy wanting to get right up and close to the barricade near MBK, although he had long changed careers his journalistic tendencies were still shinning through. But, luckily for us we went at a time that not much was going on, it was a Saturday and people were even venturing into MBK for some food and shopping. I noticed some tourists didn't seem to deterred either, had we gone a week latter when one of the Red Shirt Leaders was shot it would have been a different story perhaps. My flight out of Bangkok on the Sunday and the journey to the airport was perhaps more reminiscent of the kind of chaos I had expected, with rising smoke from various points in the city it resembled the kind of apocalyptic Bangkok I had seen on the news. The whole holiday was a bit surreal from the start, as down South one could be forgiven for thinking that there was not any kind of turmoil happening in Thailand, and there seemed to be plenty of tourists enjoying Thailand's famed beaches.


Anyway, it's been a while since I've checked up on some of the more interesting Thai blogs and news items.
In my stumblings today, I found a number of interesting highlights I'd like to share. The first one being from Richard Barrow's blog (whom you should all follow on Twitter if you don't already: @RichardBarrow) - it's good to see the boys in brown up to their usual tricks with their http://www.thai-blogs.com/index.php/2010/09/12/the-litter-scam-in-bangkok?blog=5


Also I revisted Thaivisa language forum for the first time in months, and once again we can rely on David Houston to post an interesting news snippet: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/400993-%26-3605;%26-3636;%26-3604;%26-3652;%26-3617;%26-3657;%26-3605;%26-3636;%26-3604;%26-3617;%26-3639;%26-3629;%26-3652;%26-3611;%26-3613;%26-3634;%26-3585;/"ติดมือไปฝาก


and just for fun, a subject that's been done to death already, but just for good measure the topic of Thai-farang sponsorship: http://thaiwomantalks.com/2010/05/10/thai-women-and-the-question-of%C2%A0money/


Till next time.


Dom

Thai Blog Latest

So it's been some while ive written on this blog, been meaning to post something about the current situation in bangkok with those pesky red shirts, but seeing as ill be back in bangkok this coming weekend ill be able to gain a more accurate view of what's actually happening. When I was living in Thailand, I remember the events of 2008, when the yellows managed to close the airport down for a good few days, and the protests and clashes that ensued in 2009 during songkran. I never at any point felt in danger though, but now returning to thailand in the present state it's in feels a little dicier. And am having second thoughts about my trip. Anyone that's currently in bangkok, please send me a message or email and let me know what it's actually like - presumambly people are still going to work, going about their daily business and somehow getting around the red shirts camps and clashes between the police. It just seems like total madness:


http://www.thairath.co.th/content/pol/80424

ตำนานสมเด็จพระนเรศวรมหารา(The Legend of King Naresuan The Great)

Was happy to see this Thai movie showing on the start of Chinese New Year over the weekend. Its always interesting to learn more about Thailand's history, and one of the Thailand's great leaders: King Naresuan. The film features some fantastic performances from Wanchana Sawatdee, Jirayu La-Ongmanee as the guiding monk. I remember when I used to live in Ayutthaya, there was always a great yearly re-enactment of the battle between the Burmese and the Thai soldiers of the then Siamese kingdom of Ayutthaya. This film is an epic, and it sets of the triology quite nicely, amidst the long serious scenes there's also some humour in there as well. 
Definitely worth a watch.

Thai Twitter

I was over at Rikker's Thai 101 blog today, http://rikker.blogspot.com/, which I find a great resource for learning Thai especially when it comes to Thai Cinema, this guy knows his shizzle...(not just about films and stuff...innit) 

Okay enough of me pretending im down with the kids. 

Anyway reading his blog there was a mention of วันเด็ก or Children's day on Twitter. Now, my job requires a certain level of web savvyness and use of web 2.0 technologies for internet marketing, so of course i was already familiar with tweeting in english as most of us are. But, before today it never would have occurred to me to tap into this resource for learning and improving my writing and reading. (something i desperately need to do, given my position outside of thailand now). 

So, if you havent already why not start following some Thai celebrities, find your Thai friends on Twitter and start reading what they're tweeting. It can be a great way to find some good abbreviations, and get some valuable pointers when you come to start tweeting in Thai!

สวัสดี ปี ใหม่ (sawasdee pee mai)

Happy New Year To All My Readers!
Hope you all had a great Christmas and New Years.
Looking forward to 2010, and keeping the blog updated with hopefully some useful nuggets for learners of Thai at all levels. Unfortunately, as I'm no longer living in Thailand, it's harder for me to maintain my level, as I'm concentrating on learning Mandarin for the moment. So if you spot any glaring mistakes in my written Thai, please feel free to point them out.

Anyway happy new year to you all, and here's to a cracking 2010!