My Thailand Diary

Thai language is very difficult ! I used to think of myself as very good in languages. That was till I started Thai ! Out of the window went all my talent. I couldn’t ‘hear’ the tones. Thai has ”only” 5 tones. So you can have the same word but it has 5 different meanings. Like this word mai, whose meanings include "wood", "not", "silk", "burn", and "new" depending on what tone is used to pronounce it! I’m glad I can laugh about myself. Once my husband introduced me saying…. ”aa nii poonlamai phom” which means ” this is my fruit”. Instead of the word phanraiyaa. Meaning wife ! Or I once got a take away lunch. Oh I love thailand, you can buy food at any street. Anyway, I ordered and said ”dichan tja rap 10 aatiit.” meaning, I will pick it up in 10 weeks, instead of saying ”… 10 naatii.” in 10 minutes/ Everyone was smiling and being super friendly. I had no idea of what I had said and smiled back. I felt so good about myself and thought Thai people are so friendly . Back in the car my husband asked me what I had said.. so I told him and suddenly we burst out laughing !! No wonder everyone was so friendly ! I said I would pick up the food in 10 weeks. Just for the record that food was ready when I picked it up 10 minutes later
Unfortunately I’ve made other mistakes that I don’t want to write here, because my mum reads this web too xxx