Cha-Am blog by onlychaam

Welcome to the second edition of Language Corner, your monthly guide to speaking Thai, brought to you by Insight English Cha-Am and Onlychaam.com.

You would expect that using the words “I” and “You” would be very easy to master in any language; however in Thai this subject becomes a little bit more complicated. The use of the pronoun “I” is used sparingly, with most Thais rarely using it in daily conversation. The most commonly used pronouns are Phom and Dee chan which are used by males and females respectively. Khun translates as “You” but often the name of the person being spoken to is used instead.

The following pronouns are also commonly used and can be used as either “I” or “You” depending on the situation.

Phii – someone older or respected
Loong – an older but familiar male (literally – uncle)
Thur – a very close friend or partner
Thaan – a highly respected person
Nong – someone younger (often used with waiters/waitresses)
Bpaa – an older but familiar female (literally – aunt)
Nuu – a young child (literally – mouse)

HOW ARE YOU?

A question you will hear again and again is “How are you?”. The formal version is “Sa-bai-dee mai khrap/kha?” or the informal Bpen yang ngai bang?

Practice the following dialogue between Parichat and David:

Parichat: Sa-was-dee kha Khun David. Sa-bai-dee mai kha? (Hello. How are you?)
David: Sa-bai-dee khrap. Khun la khrap? (Fine thank you. And you?)
Parichat: Mai dee ka, wan-nee, tam-ngarn yung maak. (Not good today. Work is very busy.)

Vocabulary:
Mai = No
Dee = Good
Wan-nee = Today
Tam-ngarn = Work
Yung = Busy
Maak = Very

Language Corner is brought to you by Insight English Cha-am.

For Thai Classes contact 032 - 470 681 and for on-line study visit www.insightenglish.com

The Kingdom celebrates His Majesty’s 82nd brithday on December 5. As it falls on a Saturday, Monday will be a day off in lieu. Thai people will thus enjoy a long week-end, and Cha-am will probably be packed with Thai people coming from Bangkok. There will be a ban on alcohol sale on December 5th (and bars will be closed) and a crackdown on drunk driving is announced, but you still want to be very careful if you drive around, as there will be a lot of traffic.

Please note that December 5 is also Father’s day in Thailand, so we wish all the best for all the fathers out here. Yes I’m also a happy and proud one!

We wish His Majesty The King a very happy birthday and a good health for the many years to come.

I already wrote about hitchhiking in Thailand in this blog, strongly advising tourists against doing it. Not because it is dangerous, though it could always be, but mainly because the Thais don’t hitchhike, they don’t know what it is and thus they wouldn’t stop to pick up a hitchhiker. But some people don’t do their homework before they leave, and yesterday in Hua Hin we saw a Farang, walking and sweating under the sun with his thumb up.

My wife asked me why he was carrying a big sign with “Prachuap” written on it in Thai letters. I said that’s because he wants to go to Prachuap. She said ‘What, he’s going to walk to Prachuap? He must be crazy!’ See? That tells you how much Thai people know about hitchhiking. So I explained my wife that he was hoping for a free ride, and she said no Thai would ever stop for him, as they had no clue what he was doing. I said yes, of course, I already wrote about it in my blog! But she said my blog was not that famous, and I had to agree.

Anyway I laughed and said only another Farang could recognize a hitchhiker and stop for him, so he could as well have spared the trouble of writing Prachuap in Thai, English would have been enough. But instead of laughing with me, my wife asked me why I didn’t stop to tell him!

Last night we found a tokay (gecko) inside our house. I always thought Thai people saw that as a sign of good luck, so I told my wife we should be happy because we would have plenty of luck. Well, that was probably another cliché about Thailand, because my wife just urged me to catch the gecko and kill it! I tried the usual “you’re the Thai here, you should be used to catch those things”, but she objected with her usual “you’re the man here, so you do something”.

I had no idea how I would catch the beast and I was pretty sure I would miss it if I tried to beat it with a stick, which seemed better anyway than not missing it and having to clean the butchery. So I did the only sensible thing to do and used a broom to chase it out of the house. Any chance of luck should be preserved…

Short weather report: it hasn’t rained for several days now and the weather is still hot. Nights are a bit cooler though.

The weather is quite unusual compared to the previous days, with a cool wind blowing. It looks like the rainy season is ending, and we are now entering the cool season. No need to wear a jacket or a pullover yet, but we can turn off A/C and use hot water in the shower. For tourists it’s the perfect weather to rent a bicycle and go for a ride along the beach or in the countryside…

The moon will be full on Monday night, November 2nd, and this will be Loy Krathong day. Like every year, Thai people will make or buy a krathong, which is a little boat made from a banana tree and decorated with banana leaves and flowers. They will light candles and incense sticks and release the krathong on a river or a lake. It will float away, carrying with it all the bad things and bad feelings, so that only good luck remains.

It’s always enchanting to see all the illuminated krathongs on the water, in a peaceful atmosphere. Make sure you don’t miss this event! In Cha-am the main celebration will take place at Wat Neran, this is on North Cha-am beach after the bridge that leads to the fishing pier. See you there!

Welcome to the first edition of Language Corner, your monthly guide to speaking Thai, brought to you by Insight English Cha-Am and Onlychaam.com.

Today’s edition looks at “Greetings” and Kha and Khrap. Kha and Khrap are used at the end of sentences and questions and show you are being polite. Kha is used by females and Khrap is used by males.

In formal situations males use the more formal Khrap and in informal situations the simplified Khap is used. They can also be used to show acknowledgment of what someone is saying, and can often be used to replace “Yes”.

GREETINGS

Often the first thing a foreigner hears in Thai is Sawasdee kha/khrap meaning hello. The next question is inevitably “Khun chue a-rai kha/khrap?” or What is your name? and this is closely followed with “Khun ma-jak tee nai kha/khrap?” or Where are you from?

Practice the following dialogue between Parichat and David:

Parichat: Sawasdee kha. (Hello)
David: Sawasdee khap. (Hello)
Parichat: Khun chue a-rai kha? (What is your name?)
David: Phom chue David khap. (I am David/My name is David)
Parichat: Khun David ma-jak tee nai kha? (Where are you from?)
David: Phom ma-jak Angkrit khap. (I am from England)

Vocabulary:
A-rai = What?
Ma = Come
Jak = From
Tee nai = Where?
Angkrit = England
Phom = “I” used by males
Dii Chan = “I” used by females

Language corner is brought to you by Insight English Cha-am.

For Thai Classes contact 032 - 470 681 and for on-line study visit www.insightenglish.com

The driver of the train which derailed in Hua Hin said he fainted (”pen lom” in Thai) before approaching Khao Tao station. The investigation is still going on and the driver will have to take a medical exam to confirm his claim (source). A lot of people “pen lom”, like this old man in my neighbourhood who died after he fainted, and was found lying under a tree. Was it a heart attack? Did he fall and hurt himself? Nobody knows. He just… pen lom!

I went to Hua Hin yesterday and didn’t notice anything particular concerning the upcoming ASEAN meeting. But when I got back home I found the soldiers were at my house! Only two of them, from the “Soldiers police and civil association in Bangkok”. They were here to raise money for hospitals who take care of soldiers in the South. I sponsored half a wheelchair (boy these things are expensive!) and got an official receipt. I will keep it in my car, it migh come handy some day if I get stopped at a checkpoint…

As I’m writing these lines the weather is beautiful over Cha-Am, but it rained a lot yesterday and I almost lost control of my car on entering the bridge over the railway. When it rains, all the water falls down and stays at the bottom of the flyover. When you leave Cha-Am in the direction of Bangkok, you have to pass through a big pool of water, but the road is straight so it’s not much of a problem. When coming into Cha-Am, though, the road is still bending. I was not driving fast but I went aquaplaning for maybe one second, while I was still taking the curve, and in a split moment I saw myself hitting the rail. I almost pen lom!!! Fortunately I got the car back on the track. Then I remembered seeing a car which had crashed and spinned round at that same spot. At the time I didn’t understand how it had managed to do that, as no other vehicle was involved. Today I took a closer look and I saw that the kerb was bearing the marks of many accidents, and there was still broken glass and pieces of bumpers on the ground. There are plenty of watersports available in Cha-Am already, aquaplaning we can do without!

The leaders of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) will meet in Cha-Am and Hua Hin from October 23 to 25, for the 15th ASEAN Summit. To ensure that things will go smoothly and to avoid the chaos we saw in Pattaya last April, the government will impose the Internal Security Act, which is likely to come into effect on October 12. Unauthorised gatherings will be prohibited, and 10,000 military and police officers will be deployed.

If you live in Cha-Am or Hua Hin, maybe the “poo-yai ban” paid you a visit to gather information about your vehicles (brand, colour, registration number). It’s because local residents (Thai and foreigners) will be issued passes (stickers to put on vehicles) to ease the passing of checkpoints.

As a tourist you shouldn’t notice anything special, apart from the military presence along the main roads. As you may know, the country is divided between two political currents who distinguish themselves by wearing red shirts (pro-Thaksin and anti-government) or yellow shirts (anti-Thaksin, to state things simply). Wearing a red tee-shirt won’t get you into trouble, but let’s say it is preferable to avoid showing off two much of these coulours these days, especially red.

There was a train accident early this morning, near Hua Hin. Train #84, coming from Trang and due to arrive in Bangkok around 8.30am, derailed in Khao Tao, 13 kilometers south of Hua Hin, under a heavy rain. At least seven people were killed and many others were injured. The train is always praised as the safest means of transportation, but this reminds us that accidents do happen. Let’s hope the driver will be able to shed some light on the circumstances of the accident (provided we don’t have another typical ‘Somchay fled the scene’ case).