Thailand
Information
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When arriving
in Thailand ask for free copies of Thaiways magazine and Thaiways
maps from the information counter at airports or hotels.
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(For more information about the Thai language,
see Romanization System of the
Thai Language section.)
As you know, Thailand is a land of smiles. The Thai people are easy to
approach and will be all smiling when you try to speak to them in Thai
and that will add to your pleasure during your stay in Thailand.
There is one important thing you should remember in learning to speak
Thai, that is the Thai language has five tones with four tonal marks.
They are the mid tone, low tone, falling tone, high tone and rising tone.
There are many groups of words which have the same sound but with different
tones and meanings. For example, the word suai can mean bad luck
(suai), bribe (suai1) or beautiful (suai4), depending on the tone.
To prevent you from pronouncing with the wrong tone and unintentionally
cause misunderstanding to the listeners, here we will use four numbers
to represent four tones: 1 = low tone, 2 = falling tone, 3 = high tone
and 4 = rising tone. The mid-level tone syllable will be unmarked.
Listed below are some useful Thai words and phrases for travel in Thailand,
with their romanized spellings, tonal marks and their meanings.
(Note : Thais use the word 'khrap' (for men) and 'kha'
(for women) to end the sentence or phrase spoken to show politeness. For
example, when you want to say 'hello' in Thai, if you are a man, you say
'sawatdi khrap' and if a woman, 'sawatdi kha'.)
| General |
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suai4 mak2 |
very beautiful |
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mai2 suai4 |
not beautiful |
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chop2 mak2 |
like a lot |
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mai2 chop2 |
not like |
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na2 rak3 |
lovely, nice |
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sa1 nuk1 |
It's fun. |
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sa1 nuk1 mak2 |
It's great fun. |
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mai2 sa1 nuk1 |
no fun |
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di |
Good |
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di (mak2) |
(very) good |
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mai2 di |
not good, bad |
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a kat1 ron3 |
The weather is hot. |
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a kat1 nao4 |
The weather is cold. |
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a kat1 yen |
The weather is cool. |
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fon4 tok1 |
It rains. |
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phoum4 rak3 khun |
I love you.(used by men) |
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chan4 rak3 khun |
I love you.(used by women) |
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phoum4 chop3 khun |
I like you.(used by men) |
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chan4 chop3 khun |
I like you.(used by women) |
(For more information about the Thai food, desserts and fruits
see Thailand Tourist Information : Dining
section.)
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