December 19, 2008
About
6 Comments
Those of you who can speak Thai will know where I’m going with t้his one.
ตัวเงินตัวทอง
Swearing in Thai is not something I would recommend and probably wouldn’t normally include here. However, I’ve been asked twice recently to explain why a Thai person wouldn’t translate (or even say) the word to refer to water monitor (a species of monitor lizard found in Thailand) to them. So I looked it up on Wikipedia and found this interesting entry which I translated for one of them.
ในสมัยอดีต ชาวบ้านมักจะเลี้ยงไก่ไว้ในบริเวณบ้าน ตัวเหี้ยมักจะมาขโมยไก่ของชาวบ้านลากไปกินในน้ำ ทำให้เป็นสัตว์ที่ผู้คนเกลียดมาก จนถูกนำมาใช้เรียกคนไม่ดี และกลายเป็นคำด่าทอมาจนปัจจุบัน อีกคำหนึ่งที่ใช้ด่าทอกันก็คือ “อีดอก” ก็เพราะว่าลายบนตัวเหี้ยนั้นจะเป็นลายดอก (ไม่เหมือนกันกับตะกวดหรือสัตว์ตระกูลเดียวกันที่มีลายเป็นลายอื่นๆ ไม่ใช่ลายดอก) [ต้องการแหล่งอ้างอิง] คำนี้จึงเป็นคำด่าผู้หญิงที่ประพฤติตนไม่ดี อนึ่ง มีความเชื่อว่าถ้าเหี้ยขึ้นบ้านใคร บ้านนั้นจะมีแต่ความโชคร้าย จึงเปลี่ยนชื่อเรียกให้ฟังมีสิริมงคล โดยเรียกว่า “ตัวเงินตัวทอง”
In the past villagers often raised chickens in their gardens and water monitors (dtua hiia) would take them off and eat them in the water, which lead to people hating the animal so much that they began using the term to refer to bad people. A convention which continues to the present day.
Another phrase which Thai people use as a curse word is “ee dohk” because the colouring on a water monitor is like flowers - dohk means flower - (unlike other types of monitor lizard or animals in the same family which have other colourings).[citation needed] This phrase therefore is now used when cursing a female who behaves badly. Furthermore, there is the belief that if a water monitor climbs up into sommeone’s house, that house will be brought nothing but bad luck. So, the term used to refer to monitor lizards has been changed to a more fortunate one “dtua ngern dtua tong”.
So the translation for the first phrase is often something like ‘despicable person’ although that doesn’t quite do it justice but think of the worst thing you could call someone in English. The word dtua incidently means body (the classifier for chairs, tables and in this case animals) so what you’ll actually hear is just hiia or prefixed with the word aiy or ee (as in ee dohk).
Aiy is an insulting word to refer to a man and ee a female. The phrase ee dohk or ee dohk tong (flower/golden flower) is basicallly used to mean slut. Dtua ngern dtua tong just means silver and gold animal so as to avoid using an unpleasant or unlucky word, but could again be turned around to be used by a friend making fun of you.
I obviously don’t recommend anyone using any of the phrases, but you won’t have to listen out too hard before you hear them again. Young people use the phrases a bit more sparingly and, of course, it’s less insulting amongst friends. It’s much worse when used with people you don’t know.
November 12, 2008
About
No Comments
The Bureau of Education Testing has released a document ประกาศรายชื่อ เลขที่นั่งสอบ และห้องสอบในการสอบวัดระดับความสามารถในการใช้ภาษาไทย (Competency Test) สำหรับชาวต่างประเทศ with details of the seat numbers and room numbers for all the applicants. There will be 8 rooms each with 30 people in (a slight improvement over the one room last year). In the afternoon there will be 12 rooms each with 20 people for the speaking section.
At the end of the list of names there are the exam rules, pretty standard stuff.
I’m still feeling a little underprepaired but as anticipation sets in hopefully I’ll pull my finger out and do some revision.
Good luck everyone!
November 11, 2008
About
No Comments
Sorry it’s been a while. I’ve unfortunately been a little busy at work and not as busy studying as I would have liked.
The good news is I’ve registered for the new competency test. The webpage http://bet.obec.go.th/competency/applicants/apply appears to still be open, but I was under the impression that registration was only open until the 20th of Oct.
You’ll notice that despite the modern look of the site it still requires that you write your father’s name in Thai and your home address (because being a foreigner in Thailand means that you actually live somewhere else, right?)
I was starting to lose faith in my teacher as I didn’t feel we were really getting anywhere with our lessons. Part of the reason I haven’t uploaded any homework for a while is that I didn’t feel it was really helping me learn anything and I have been a little dissapointed with the seeming lack of thought put into the choice of assignments by my teacher. Thinking up a random essay title and telling me to try and write it from memory even though we haven’t actually been studying anything that might assist me writing it is a bit pointless as far as I’m concerned. As well as this, essay writing, although very important in the old P6 exam, is really only one writing skill and hopefully one the new test will stear away from.
My teacher has been trying her best recently in class though in setting my exercises more similar to what she believes will be in the new test. It is difficult for everyone, of course, because no one is 100% sure exactly what the new test will be like.
The test is at the end of the month and I’ll be honest I’m not as confident as I was last year. My main concern is spelling, but I’m hoping that if I spend the next couple of weekends cramming then I’ll be OK.
July 25, 2008
About
5 Comments
Hi and welcome to Ben’s personal blog at thailanguagelinks.com
Those of you who know me, will be aware that last year I took the Thai government’s grade 6 Thai language equivalency test (P6/prathom 6 test) or การสอบความรู้ภาษาไทยเทียบชั้นประถมศึกษาปีที่ ๖
Some of you may also be aware that this year the Office of the Basic Education Commission สำนักงานกรรมการการศึกษาขั้นพื้นฐาน has arranged a new ‘Competency Test’ การสอบวัดระดับความสามารถในการใข้ภาษาไทย There are two pdf files to download from the Bureau of Education Testing’s website One is the handbook for the new test คู่มื่อการสอบวัดระดับความสามารถในการใช้ภาษาไทยสำหรับชาวต่างประเทศ and one is details on how to register ประกาศ สพฐ. เรื่องการรับสมัครสอบวัดความสามารถในการใช้ภาษาไทย (Competency Test) สำหรับชาวต่างประเทศ. You’ll be able to register online (between the 1st and 20th of October) and pay via bank transfer. The test is on Saturday the 29th of November.
Having passed the prathom 6 test last year (and generally enjoying the experience), I have decided to take the new test this year.
Unfortunately, I have been a little out of practice since the test, so I have decided to start taking weekly lessons again, starting next friday.
The purpose of this blog will be to record those lessons each week, hopefully as an insight to others studying Thai, and also as a study aid for myself.
So anyway, welcome to my blog and don’t forget to check out my website ThaiLanguageLinks.com
Ben
