(Newswire.net — April 1, 2020) — Thailand is one of the world’s most popular travel destinations. No surprise why. It’s warm year-round, it has hundreds of sandy, palm-studded islands. The proud and gentle Thai people are renowned for their collective grace and friendliness. As one who fell under the spell of the Thai Mystique years ago, I can confirm that the Land of Smiles delivers more than its fair share of joy.
But not all is easy in this island paradise, and one of the more difficult issues is the language. The Thai language is complex and difficult. It has 44 letters, 9 vowels, and 5 main tonalities to befuddle the meaning of what you say and hear. There are many opportunities for misunderstanding, much to the merriment of the locals on whom you practice – or butcher – their local lingo. You can either take a Thai language course, or have a professional translator from a translation company accompany you on your journey.
Allow us to add some language pointers to go with your other Thailand travel tips. They will stand you in good stead as you venture off the beaten path. Also, get to know whether or not your knowledge in or at the very least, appreciation of Tinglish will do you good in business marketing and medical emergencies! One thing’s for sure; when in Rome, do as the Romans do.
Should You Learn Thai? Or Take the Trouble to Translate It?
As one who has worked with translation companies, and an English freelance writer, I have been tempted to offer translation services for foreigners or to teach English to Thais – if, of course, I had permission to work here. Officially, of the 68 million population of Thailand, some 27% Thais speak English, while the percentage of English speakers speaking Thais is far lower in the low single digits. But since I am neither a Thai language translator nor have a work permit, I will content myself with imparting some hard-won wisdom about an unofficial pidgin language I have had the pleasure of learning.
There are hundreds of million people around the world who speak Pidgin English as a first or second language. Pidgin — spoken throughout West Africa, the Caribbean, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific — is a radically simplified and casual dialect of the Queen’s English. It’s used in the streets of Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Jamaica, and dozens of other countries. In Thailand –one of the world’s loveliest travel destinations – it’s called Tinglish. We’ll provide abundant and humorous examples of Tinglish as practiced in Thai streets and beaches – to prepare you for your encounters with the locals.
Why not Learn to Translate a Smidgen of Pidgin?
Tinglish is one of the world’s pidgin languages. Its usefulness is not for business: there is no translation need for profit. No market for a Tinglish marketing translation. No Tinglish document translation. No certificate for a certified translation of Tinglish. No machine translation will render your sales brochure into Tinglish. None of that. Tinglish is purely, or not so purely, the language of the soi – the name for the back alleys of every Thai city and town, large and small. Tinglish is the Pidgin language of the Thai people as they attempt to communicate with you, the foreigner, or farang, and you attempt to talk back to them.
Of course, Google Translate or Microsoft Translator or another of the leading translation apps can come to the rescue with a proper machine translation of English to Thai, or camera translation of a menu or roadsign from Thai to English. But much easier to learn some basic Tinglish!
10 Tinglish Phrases and their Translations to Make You Smile
Let’s begin. You, the neophyte traveler, have just arrived in Thailand. Sure, you will learn to say Sawadee (hello!), adding krab or ka at the end, depending on whether you are male or female. (Ladyboys, the non-offensive label for the local transgenders, can choose their suffix.) Thais will usually respond with a slight wai (bow), hands pressed together in the local version of namaste. Then the Tinglish fun can begin!
- Are you spicy? If a local asks this, they’re not making an unwanted advance or wondering how you taste. They are inquiring about whether your food has too much, or just enough, chili pepper.
- Are you boring? Your Thai friend is not making a rude critique of your conversation skills. They are concerned that you are bored.
- Same Same. You’ve seen the T-shirts. These are arguable of Thai origin, used to compare things that are mostly similar (but perhaps different in some way).
- My friend you – even before Facebook, Thais will jumble word order and use a friend as a verb. This can mean “You are my friend” or “Your friend” depending on the context. If someone says “Line me” or “Here is my Line” it refers to the WhatsApp like mobile app used by most in Thailand.
- I mad you – I am angry with you.
- I box you – should the dispute with your otherwise gentle Thai friend degenerate further toward violence or simply be a form of playful teasing (sometimes hard to tell which). Thai boxing is a popular sport.
- Check bin – “May I have the check or bill?” Thais, like other Asians, have problems with the L sound.
- Play – Thai’s tend to be playful, and this verb is used for any activity, such as participating in a Holiday (“play Songkran”, a water festival) or using an app “(“play Tinder”)
- Make erection – For some reason, Thais rarely use the word vote when referring to elections, and they have problems with confusions of the L and R sounds.
- Banana – (Most) Thais are conservative on expressing words of a sexual or lewd nature, so they will typically use the fruit to substitute for the male member, a connection emphasized by the fact the Thai words for each are near homonyms, easily conflated.
How to Learn Tinglish Before You Go to Thailand
Because Tinglish is unsupported by all those free translation tools, you may be at a loss about places you can practice before your long-awaited Thailand trip. Never fear. If you are a man, or a woman willing to catfish as one, use Tinder, Badoo, or a Thai dating website to engage a local to practice and develop your Tinglish skills.
For example, if you are curious about the gender of your comely and shapely correspondent, it would be rude to ask: “Are you transgender”? Rather, you would politely inquire: “Are you, 100% lady?”
Or, should you wish to be reassured that your new pen-friend is not selling disreputable services, you can query, politely: “nice girl or naughty girl?” Unlike in the liberated West, calling a female a “girl” is not likely to be perceived as insulting.
You may get one answer or the other, or the ambiguous “depends” or “a little of both”. But be forewarned and forearmed of the possibility that the response may be a terse: “Sorry. Not Girl.”
In other words: “Same Same. But different.”