Short words in English vs Sentences in Thai

[spitfire]

I'm not really an expert here on this, but I've often come across the problem of saying something in English only to find out that the Thai translation is a description or sentence of what I've said.

For Example - If you say towel, the Thai equivelant translation is literally 'cloth wipe body'. Seen some very long translations for simple ideas.

But when I bump into the wife's grandfather, he comes out with 'Hello', 'Twilight' etc. Bit confusing sometimes.

Anyone in the know to set this one straight? My Thai is average at best but there must be some out there that can 'lay it down' on this.


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Friendly fire - Isn't.

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[BaaBaa.]

I understand what your saying about the translation "cloth wipe body" but
I dont understand what your asking people to contribute to the thread.

[Wanderlust]

spitfire,
Not quite sure where you are coming from on this, but English and Thai are so different that this happens in both directions, so often the Thais will have just one word for something which in English requires several, or possibly cannot even be translated. And vice versa, as well as both languages employing words from other languages because they do not already have a word to fit - in English we use words from French (e.g. cafe, restaurant), Latin (e.g. vice versa, e.g), Greek (e.g. alphabet, encyclopedia), and a whole host of others, and Thai does the same, particularly with English and French (e.g. farang derives from Francais apparently).
I'm no expert either but equally I'm not sure what the question is!

[BaaBaa.]

[Randy Cornhole]

I had a few Thai lessons about 2 years ago. Although it was very hard it did give me a very good insight into the Thai language. I recomend it to anyone. Just have about 10 lessonsor so, you wont be fluent (far from it) but it will cover the basics and will help a lot...
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[Terry]

Now I know why

Spoon becomes sa-poon
School becomes sa-kool
Spice becomes sa-pice
Spy becomes sa-pie
Snooker becomes sa-nook-errrr
Slice becomes sa-lie

I know quite a few Sa-teves too

Sa-till it's nice to be called Telly or Tree

Criticise and poke fun though we may - at least if you are English speaking then you can afford to be lazy with other languages - not that it's a good thing.

My two young lads are both fluent in English and Thai and take great pride in trying to teach me new words - mind you it's like talking to a brick wall
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Tel:- 081-927-1271 (Eng / Thai)
089-837-4079 (Eng)

Adveho in super, vos vires adepto camur!

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www.huahinfishing.com/fishing-tours

[spitfire]

True WL and BaaBaa, it is a bit ambiguous when I looked at it again this morning.

Suppose what I was asking for is if anyone had any guidelines for this as it can be a total nightmare when I find myself describing things instead of just saying a word(and that's if you've got the right tone).

Another thing I would also like to mention is the problems I come across with connotation and collocation(words that go together).

For example:
In English we talk about a tall building and a high mountain, not a tall mountain and a high building. Sure you all get the drift.

In Thai they have a lot of connotation traps too and I'll give a good example of one I fell into a couple of years ago. I always remember this because it's funny.

Went into a restaurant on my own, had a look at the menu and decided to have chicken breast with chips/veg. OK, fairly normal I thought, even if the waitresses don't speak English(which they didn't).

So when it came to ordering it I casually asked for 'Nom ghai', thinking it would just translate into 'breast chicken'. Oh no, my hubris had got the better of me.

All the waitresses started laughing and getting embarrassed saying I can't say that. Turns out that I had asked for 'chicken tits'.

OK, got my meal but they couldn't stop taking the p*** out of me and smiling. Looking back it's very funny.

Any words of advice on this, feel free to laugh your asses off, I don't mind at all.


_________________
Friendly fire - Isn't.

Nothing is absolute, apart from vodka.

[Randy Cornhole]

[Randy Cornhole]

I was once on that mangrove swamp tour thingy in pak-nam-pran with Mrs C, the tuk tuk driver and his wife (you know how it go's)
I looked down and in my best Thai exclaimed 'do do hoi' now as we all know hoi = snail, but it is also the name for a womans area!! (with a diffrent accent)
Everybody fell about laughing including me. I had in fact said 'look everyone, womens areas'...
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Why drink and drive when you can smoke and fly!
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www.thaidelights.blogspot.com

[Bamboo Grove]

Years ago, in Ban Chang beach, I happened to ask for Nuea nam hoi instead of nuea nam MUN hoi (beef in oyster sauce).
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[VincentD]

SF,

many Thai words are centered around a key word. As in your towel example, it was somewhat generalised.
The root word here is Paa (=cloth).
So, (bath) towel = paa chet tua, cloth wipe body, as you would normally only wipe your body after a bath.
Face towel = paa chet naa, cloth wipe face, also means handkerchief
Blanket = paa hom, cloth to cover

Same with naam = water
naam manao = water (of) lime, lime juice
Naam jai = water (of) heart, pity
Naam jim = water (of) put in, dipping sauce - be careful of this pronunciation as it can allude to something quite crude...

Continuing,
hong naam = room water, bathroom
Mae naam = mother water, river
Loog naam = daughter water, stream

The noun comes first, followed by the adjective. Put them in the wrong sequence and they will mean something else.

Take the word for 'heart' - hua jai, head of mind.
Now, with 'rorn jai' = hot mind, is impatient. However, if you do this
'Jai rorn' = Mind hot, it gets translated to anxiety...

On a seperate note, you do sometimes need up to two pages to translate some Thai words, or even try to define their usage. Even then, it can still defy logic. 'Mai Pen Rai' is one classic example...
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วินเชนท์

[Bamboo Grove]

I like the word "responsibility" which is "rapphitchop"
rap or rup - receive
phit - mistake, fault
chop - like
i.e. to receive (admit) a fault and like it
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[BaaBaa.]

[Guess]

[spitfire]

Good post VincentD, nice one, can see you know what you're talking about.

Everyone else, glad it's not just me that falls foul of this.


_________________
Friendly fire - Isn't.

Nothing is absolute, apart from vodka.