Bilingualism has occupied my mind ever since my wife was pregnant. With which language or languages should we raise our child? I read quite a lot of literature about this, thought about it and together we made a decision, after which we drew up a strategy. I'll tell you more about it later, and I hope readers will share their own experiences with us.
Thai words you always wanted to know but were afraid to ask
Thai is a surprisingly visual and varied language, writes Tino Kuis. He illustrates this with sex words. 'I assure you that it is very nice to know these little words. After all, all Thais know them too, so why don't we?'
Counting in Thai
I have great respect for the Westerners who have made the effort to learn the Thai language. That is not possible for me. The misery starts with the letters of the alphabet, those wispy, stringy, almost string-like creatures that constantly laugh at you and start dancing around each other before you even recognize a few of them.
The Thai script – lesson 1
For those who regularly stay in Thailand or have Thai family, it is useful to familiarize yourself somewhat with the Thai language. With enough motivation, practically anyone of any age can learn the language. I really don't have a language knack myself, but after about a year I can still speak basic Thai. In the following lessons a short introduction with the commonly used characters, words and sounds. Lesson 1 today.
Mai pen rai
Almost certainly the first expression in the Thai language Gringo came to know was the well-known "mai pen rai". Gringo discusses the misconceptions with non-Thai about “mai pen rai”. It turns out that three syllables can cause a lot of confusion. It showed him how powerful a language can be and that using “mai pen rai” is not always correct for a good understanding.
Thai wisdoms
People communicate with each other through a language. Body language also applies, of course, but I mainly mean the use of words to make something clear. This can be done in a literal sense, e.g. “I love you”, but sometimes we try to make something clear through a proverb, idiom or wisdom.
About Tenglish, Dunglish and other coal English
We Dutch are quite convinced that we speak excellent English and laugh hard at the Tenglish of Thai. However, the coal English, which we usually speak, is also far from correct. With our Louis van Gaal as an exponent of this as a shining example.
Reader Submission: YouTube videos about the Isan language
We received a tip about the Isan language from René Chiangmai. He says: There are few YouTube videos about the Isan language. I found a new one. A pleasure to watch. Slang, sex, love, everyday language.
The time indication in Thailand
The time and time indication has already been discussed several times. But for me repeating remains necessary and I have written down structure as a guideline. Maybe others can benefit from that too.
Simple opening sentences in Thai
On July 17, I posted this article on thailandblog hoping to interest some readers in the Thai language. After the earlier Thai lessons of Rob V, especially about the Thai vowels and consonants, this seemed like a valuable addition. There were quite a few critical reactions to the article.
Simple opening sentences in Thai
In addition to Rob's very useful Thai lessons regarding vowels and consonants in the Thai language, among other things, now some practical opening sentences with which you can start any conversation with a Thai and also understand the answers of that Thai.
The Thai script – Dossier
For those who regularly stay in Thailand or have Thai family, it is useful to familiarize yourself somewhat with the Thai language. With enough motivation, practically anyone of any age can learn the language. I really don't have a language talent myself, but after about a year I can still speak basic Thai. In the following lessons a short introduction with the commonly used characters, words and sounds.
The days of the week in Thai language
It is interesting to compare the days of the week in the Dutch language with those in the Thai language. In English, all names of the days of the week end with: – day, mon-day, tues-day, etc. In Thai, the names of the days start with day: wan – วัน, wan ah-thid, wan tjan, and so on.
The Thai script – lesson 12 (final)
For those who regularly stay in Thailand or have Thai family, it is useful to familiarize yourself somewhat with the Thai language. With enough motivation, practically anyone of any age can learn the language. I really don't have a language knack myself, but after about a year I can still speak basic Thai. In the following lessons a short introduction with the commonly used characters, words and sounds. Lesson 12 today.
The Thai script – lesson 11
For those who regularly stay in Thailand or have Thai family, it is useful to familiarize yourself somewhat with the Thai language. With enough motivation, practically anyone of any age can learn the language. I really don't have a language knack myself, but after about a year I can still speak basic Thai. In the following lessons a short introduction with the commonly used characters, words and sounds. Lesson 11 today.
The Thai script – lesson 10
For those who regularly stay in Thailand or have Thai family, it is useful to familiarize yourself somewhat with the Thai language. With enough motivation, practically anyone of any age can learn the language. I really don't have a language knack myself, but after about a year I can still speak basic Thai. In the following lessons a short introduction with the commonly used characters, words and sounds. Lesson 10 today.
The Thai script – lesson 9
For those who regularly stay in Thailand or have Thai family, it is useful to familiarize yourself somewhat with the Thai language. With enough motivation, practically anyone of any age can learn the language. I really don't have a language knack myself, but after about a year I can still speak basic Thai. In the following lessons a short introduction with the commonly used characters, words and sounds. Lesson 9 today.