Jason & April Ruggles

Studying in the Car

Posted on 09. Feb, 2009 by April in Thai Culture, Thailand, language

“Kau toad ka.  Kun kow jai pa sa ang grit mai ka?”

We actually know what this means now! (Excuse me.  Do you speak English?)

Jason found a Pimsleur cd set at the library and we’ve been listening to it in the car.  The way it teaches the language is entirely aural.  You hear a phrase, and repeat parts of it as instructed.  There is lots of repitition to make sure you get it.  It’s broken up into 30 minute lessons.  We’ve listened to lesson 1 three times now so that we can feel confident with it.  It doesn’t teach us how to read or write at all, but the basic phrases and grammatical structure will be very useful as we get started in Thailand.

“Dichun pen cone a-may-ri-can ka.”

(I am an American)

At the end of most phrases, there is a word that has no equivalent in English.  It is a word added simply for politeness.  It’s different for a woman than for a man.  A man says “krap” at the end of his sentence to be polite, while a woman says “ka.”  Also the words for “me” or “I” are different (”pom” for a man and “dichun” for a woman).  Unlike Spanish, the words don’t change for who you’re speaking to, rather it changes depending on who is speaking.

One lesson down, many more to go.

Tags: language