Learning the Language

Thais are really nice people. Almost all the time I feel they are just about the nicest people, always friendly and courteous. The problem comes when I try to communicate of course, as not a large percentage speak English. I'm not complaining, it's their country not mine, and also the reason I have work here. I've been here more than six months and I still can't carry on even the most basic of conversations. There really hasn't been much incentive for me to study, like the Mexican or Vietnamese who has been in the U.S. 30 years but is incapable of participating in a rudimentary exchange about anything. I never thought I'd be that guy, but I'm well on my way. Anybody who has studied till the wee hours for an exam has wished the top of the head could be unscrewed and knowledge poured directly in. 

I bought an online course called Linguaphone because it was "on sale". I kind of see why. Though it does a pretty good job of presenting the language, it seems very old-fashioned. I know, not the most horrible thing to be. It would probably turn out to be good if I would sit down and use it regularly, but it seems to be totally oriented to the tourist. Granted, I haven't gotten that far in it, so can't really complain much. 

I've begun making a list of words I think a 4 year old probably knows in "karaoke English". Honest, that's what they call it. You can find Thai karaoke videos on youtube where they spell out Thai words at the bottom using the English alphabet rather than the Thai alphabet. So it's my basic vocabulary I started, with words I should know and which are not (generally) presented in the beginning of this course. Most of these were compiled by my fourth and fifth grade classes on the last day of summer school. I told them they could teach me Thai this time. It was fun watching them all come to consensus on the karaoke spelling. The Thai teacher even chimed in (she can't speak any better than most of the kids). I started using ٧ and ٨ to indicate go up or go down at the end of the word. 

General dialogue

English	Thai	English	Thai	English	Thai	Eng.	Thai
faster	leaw	please	ko long	yes	chai	bring	ow mah
slower	cha	harder	yah	no	mai chai	take	ow pai
drive	kub	softer	baow	on	bon	get	dai
walk	den	drink	duh	off	pit	work	tam ngan
run	wik	outside	kang nog	eat	ghin	short	san
up	ghun	inside	kang ni	also	la gor	long	yaw
down	luong	under	kang tei	looks younger	wai loon	high	sung٨
toilet	hong nam	sleep	non	inappropriate	mai mor som	low	tam
beautiful	suwai	soft sound	siang	hard difficult	yak	play	len
handsome	laaw	soft feel	nim	hard feel	kang	stop	yud
loud		smooth	liab	rough	kru krah	go	pai
sticky	niau	good	dee	bad	mai dee	learn	liund
fast/quick	lieaw	scared	kuwah	sad	sao	itch	kun
brush	pang	comb	wi٨	happy	mee kwam sonk	stink	pee akk
wash	lang	sanook	fun	shampoo	ya sap um	really?	reuu

Food

English	Thai	English	Thai
hungry	hiw	full	tem
rice and duck	kow na ped	crispy pork w/rice	kow moo krob
BBQ pork w/rice	kow moo daeng	mixed veg. w/rice	kow pad pak ruam mit
pork omelet with rice	kow kai jiaew moo sub	shrimp	goong
check please	kit tang	rice noodles w/black sauce	pad see ew
spicy sour soup	tam yum /goong/ moo/gai/etc.	I bought for you	sue mar fan
I’ll have that too/“also”	la gor

At the Doctor 

English	Thai	English	Thai
doctor	mor	fever	kai
nurse	payaban	swelling	buom
pain	puod	poison	yapit
stomachache	puod tong	leg	ka٨
headache	puod hua	arm	kaan٨
fever	kai	head	hooah٨
diarrhea	tong sia	neck	kaw٧
cost	nun/jai	thank you	kob khun