Tag: Thailand

Do you know why we have ศ ษ ส in Thai?

In Thai language, there are 3 /s/ sounds in high class consonant. Students might wonder how to use them and why we have 3 different symbols just to represent only one sound.

Actually, we follow the origin of words in writing system although we might not pronounce them as the native speakers do. In Sanskrit language, there are ศ ษ and ส because they pronounce them differently.

If you know how to read and write Thai, you will notice that Pali language and Sanskrit language influence Thai language deeply. In Pali and Thai, there are only ส while the 3 consonants are used in Sanskrit. That means all words with ศ or ษ are originally from Sanskrit.

During 1940 – 1944, the government of Field Marshal Plaek Phibunsongkhram specified to use only ส; however, ศ and ษ resumed again after that. Nowadays we write ศ ษ or ส following the writing rules of Pali-Sanskrit.

If you don’t have any clues about Pali-Sanskrit, I’d like to suggest you to remember words by heart. If not, feel free to learn both before coming back to learn Thai. LOL Have fun!!!

Some example words of ศ

ประกาศ (n/v) announce; announcement

พฤศจิกายน (n) November

พิศ (v) look, watch

เลิศ (adj/adv) excellent

ศรัทธา (v) believe in

ศัตรู (n) enemy

ศาล (n) court; shrine

ศาสนา (n) religion

Some example words of ษ

กษัตริย์ (n) king

พฤษภาคม (n) May

พิษ (n) poison

ภาษา (n) language

ภาษี (n) tax

รักษา (v) medical treat, cure

Some example words of ส

ทาส (n) slave

พฤหัสบดี (n) Thursday

วาสนา (n) fortune, destiny

สงฆ์ (n) monk

สวรรค์ (n) heaven

สัตย์ (n/adj) honest

สัตว์ (n) animal

สาร (n) text, message

สูตร (n) formula

หงส์ (n) swan

โอกาส (n) opportunity

Do you know ขนมจีน /kà-nŏm-jeen/ didn’t come from China?

ขนมจีน /kà-nŏm-jeen/ is one kind of noodles, made from rice flour, in Thailand. In the northern part, it is called ‘ขนมเส้น’ /kà-nŏm-sên/. Esan people call it ‘ข้าวปุ้น’ /kâaw-bpûn/ and it is known as ‘โหน้มจีน’ /nóm-jeen/ in the southern part.

ขนมจีน /kà-nŏm-jee/ has a ridiculous name because it’s totally not ขนม /kà-nŏm/ in Thai people’s eyes and it’s not from China if you must know.

What is ขนม /kà-nŏm/?

If you look it up, you will see meanings such as sweets, dessert, candy, etc. Actually, the definition of ขนม /kà-nŏm/ is a lot wider than that. We count snacks, such as potato chips, French fried, biscuits, dried fruits, nuts & seeds, etc. as ขนม /kà-nŏm/. With this range, ขนม /kà-nŏm/ can be sweet, sour, salty, even spicy. Thai people especially girls love having it any time.

When a student asks me what ขนม /kà-nŏm/ is, I always answer simply “It’s something that you enjoy eating. Normally it’s not healthy. It can’t really make your stomach full but it tastes soooooo good!” LOL

If ขนมจีน /kà-nŏm-jee/ didn’t come from China, where was it from?

It was originally Mon food from Burma. The word ‘ขนมจีน’ /kà-nŏm-jeen/ was from ‘ขฺนํจินฺ’, คะนอมจีน /ká-nom-jeen/, ‘คะนอม’/ká-nom/ means noodles and ‘จีน’/jeen/ means be cooked.

Thai people love having ขนมจีน /kà-nŏm-jee/ with various soup or curry. They like to eat fresh vegetables together with it. Some people like me also love having it with ส้มตำ /sôm-dtam/, aka Thai green papaya salad.

Surprisingly, ขนมจีน /kà-nŏm-jee/ provides less calories than other rice noodles and glass noodles. So, let’s eat ขนมจีน /kà-nŏm-jee/ if you are on a diat. LOL

Do you know the differences between ครู /kroo/ and อาจารย์ /aa-jaan/?

If you are looking for a free Thai lessons online, you will hear teachers call themselves ‘ครู’ /kroo/

ครู /kroo/ is originally from a Pali ครุ /kru/ or Sanskrit คุรุ /kuru/. It means heavy; someone with respectful behaviors and a teacher.

Normally people use it to call teachers in kindergartens and schools. It can be a noun and a pronoun. That means students will call their teacher ‘ครู’ /kroo/. It’s pretty common to hear teachers call themselves ‘ครู’ /kroo/ when they talk with their students, too.

What’s about อาจารย์ /aa-jaan/?

Do you know ‘www.ajarn.com’? It is a famous job-listing website for foreign teachers in Thailand. I think that you can guess by now how the word ‘อาจารย์’ /aa-jaan/ relates to teaching job.

อาจารย์ /aa-jaan/ is from Sanskrit meaning a role model; a teacher and an instructor.

Normally, we use this word to call lecturers or professors in colleges and universities. We also use it to address someone as a master of any kinds of knowledge although that person might not teach for a living.

I hope that you enjoy learning Thai with your present ‘ครู’ /kroo/ or ‘อาจารย์’ /aa-jaan/. J

P.S. Since there is no official, mandatory standard of Thai Romanization, not like Pinyin for Mandarin. That’s why, you might see various ways of romanizations. Some very academic schools might prefer to use phonetic symbols. Other schools prefer different romanizations. I also prefer to use the romanization but my version might not be exactly the same as any others.

Anyway, if you are certain that you will live here and you prefer to blend in the society or at least understand them from the eyes of local people, learning the language is the first door for you. Being able to read Thai is also very important in order to improve your comprehension in language and culture in a long run.

I wish you luck! LOL

Do you know why we have ฃ and ฅ?

If you’d like to learn how to read and write Thai, normally you will start with alphabets, right?

In Thai language, there are 44 consonant letters. It’s funny because there are 2 characters which we don’t use anymore, but we still count them as part of our alphabets. Any ideas?

Right, I’m talking about ฃ and ฅ.

So, when did ฃ and ฅ be created and for what reason?

For the first question, we have got evidence from the King Ramkhamhaeng Insription, aka Ram Khamhaeng Stele (composed in 1292), that we did have these two letters starting from the beginning.

Referring to the inscription, you could find some examples of ฃ and ฅ, such as ฃึ้น, ฃุน, ฃาม, ฅำ, ฅู้ม, ฅวาม etc. and these two still be used until Rattanakosin Era (1782 – present).

ฃ and ฅ were left from the writing system firstly when the first Thai typewriter was developed by Edwin Hunter McFarland in 1892. Why? No space for all letters!

Although these two were still be used popularly in King Vajiravudh’s reign (1910 – 1925), their usage became less and less after that until there were only one word of each left: เฃตร and ฅอ.

When Field Marshal Plaek Phibunsongkhram, locally known as Chomphon Por; contemporarily known as Phibun in the West, served as the Prime Minister of Thailand (1948 – 1957), many consonant letters and vowels were eliminated from the writing system. Of course, ฃ and ฅ were included.

The others consonants have resumed their usage after Chomphon Por’s period of time but not these two consonants.

So, we are back to the second question. If they were not that important why did we have them?

From many of Thai specialists’ assumptions, they do believe that at the beginning, ฃ and ฅ must represent different sounds from ข and ค respectively but nobody really knows which sounds exactly.

Do you know all the Thai consonants which represent /k/ sound?