www.experiencethai.com

[joe]

With a bit of luck, this will be the first thread in a series of basic lessons in Thai language. I have been learning Thai for the last few years and although I would still consider my skills quite basic, I would like to share some of the basics. First up - greetings and thankyou.

The first thing to know about the Thai language is that every sentence in polite speech should end in a 'polite' word. If you are a woman, this is 'Ka' - ค่ะ and if you are a man this is 'Krap' - ครับ. Whichever one of these should follow every phrase you say in Thai.

Greetings: - The Thais greet eachother by saying ' sawat dee ' (followed by 'ka' or 'krap'). They also Wai if it is a more formal greeting situation - Wai

Saying goodbye is, conveniently, the same as saying hello!

Thankyou: - Thank you is pronounced 'korp kun (ka/krap)' and is often accompanied by a Wai like in saying hello and goodbye.

Excuse me: - 'Kor Toad (ka/krap)' - this is useful if you have to try and negotiate the Bangkok skytrain or metro system at rush hour.


Next time: - Asking for things and counting to ten.