Firstly, if you come to Thailand, here's my cheat sheet that I'm using (with phonetic sounds out).
Cheat Sheet
To be verb – (places – yu) (people/objects – pben)
Hello – Sawadee kap
Sleep – non
Thank You – Kob koon ka
Excuse me/sorry – Ko Tot
How are you? – Sa by dee my kap
I’m fine – Sa by dee
Me / I – pom
You – Koon
Hungry – hew (eat – gin) (rice – kaow)
Thirsty – Gra Hy nam (nam – water) (Thirsty [non-proper] – Hew Nam) (drink – duem)
Where is – (object) you Tee nye
Hotel – rrong rram
What’s your name? – Koon sheu a rye
This – nee (that – nan)
How do i? – Pom kooan tam yang rrai (tam – do)
Small – lek
Big – yiy
Hospital – rrong pa ya ban
Full – eem
Already – laew (think laew)
Be careful – rra waang (dangerous – an ta rye)
Cute – na rrac (beautitful – suai)
Go – pbai
Pom shu mikolka shu len Micky –my name is mikolka but my nickname is micky
Pom ayue sip ped p – My age is 18 years.
Pom ma djak America – I come from America.
Pom dee jy tee dye ma tee nee – I am happy to be here.
Yin dee tee die rru ja – nice to meet you.
Koon shu a rrai - Whats your name
Pooaagk koon a yu tao rrai – how old are you all?
Pom pood thai dye nitnoid – I only speak a little thai.
Pom tam dye – I can do.
Pom chaaaap len kap dekdek
Pom chooop – I like
Koon chooop computer my? – you like computers?
Koon chooop tam a rrai – what do you like to do?
A rrai – what
Ti nye - where
Kam laan = ing
Jsa = future (will do)
Kuuy – past (ed)
My crap cap koon – no thank you (and walk away)
Pom mya me ban ha – I don’t want any trouble
Pood – speak
Pood chsa chsa doiee crap – speak very slowly please
Rreo rreo – very fast
Mag mag – very very
Mye before verb or adjective = not
Laww = handsome
Jsing = true
Feeeen – gf bf relationship
Sooot - single
So there's some language for you all. Interesting thing is that Thai is a tone language, meaning they have 6 different tones and each one can mean something different in a word. For instance, mye said like at the end of a sentence in a question, makes a sentence a question, but if you say mye flat and monotone, it becomes no or not. Also, they have different letters that are actually incredibly difficult to pronounce. For example, their "j" actually sounds like a "js" because they don't separate their teeth when they say the "j", thus making it get a "s" sound with it. Try it once or twice!
So interesting things about the culture! Feet are considered very dirty. Much like we would consider a butt to be dirty and inappropriate, feet are considered the same thing. When sitting, you never point your toes at the person or at whatever you're facing, it's considered extremely rude. Thai is obviously an asian culture so there is a lot less touching as well. Only very close friends, girlfriends/boyfriends, and family really ever touch. Shaking hands is even considered a nono. When you say hello to someone, you bow with your hands in a praying position with your two index fingers just in front of your mouth. As I said in my previous post, women cannot touch monks. No head touching except on babies.
Anyway, there are more but those are the basics. Trying to remember these things can be quite a challenge during a regular day and trying not to cause offense is a pretty key part of dealing with everything.
Hope you enjoyed it! Remember, put any questions in the comments!
(by the way, i know a lot of people are having trouble commenting. When you comment, you need to write your comment, then select one of the accounts from the drop down menu. Unfortunately, this site requires that you have one of those accounts to comment so as to reduce the amount of drivel that random people can post. If you don't have any of those accounts, you can email me your comment and I'll add it to the bottom. Thanks!)
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