I apologize for the bad pun, but I couldn’t help myself. Given the considerable amount of media attention on the very serious flooding that’s going on as I’m writing this, it would be very useful for you to communicate your thoughts on flooding in Thai.
Let’s start with the basics (apologies to the experts).
Water came into the house.
น้ำเข้ามาในบ้าน
Nam4 kao3 maa1 nai1 baan3
Now for the unavoidable harder vocabulary . . . given this is Thailand, I’m sure you’ll get to use these words several times a year =P
evacuate อพยพ awp2pa4yop4
natural disaster (resulting from water/flooding) อุทกภัย ud2tok4ka2pai1
The other day I was shoveling dirt out in the hot sun all day to fill sandbags to help save the city from flooding. It was hard dirty work, but fun too. There were plenty of other young-folk helping out, including farang. There were also plenty of Thai girls prettied up in stylish clothes and makeup digging right next to me . . . odd, but who’s to complain? Anyway, if you could stand to lose a few pounds . . . I mean build muscle . . . here are a few more useful words for you.
volunteer (the verb) อาสาสมัคร aa1saa5sa2mak2
sand ทราย sai1
bag ถุง tung5
sand bag ถุงทราย tung5 sai1
block กั้น gan3
basic relief supplies ยังชีพ yang1 cheep3
pack แพค paek1
Place sand bags in front of the door to keep out [the water].
เอาถุงทรายมากั้นหน้าประตูบ้าน
ow1 tung5 sai1 maa1 gan3 naa3 bra2dtuu1 baan3
And now for the hardest of them all . . . Just say ‘saw1 baw1 paw1’ and you’ll be understood.
FROC (Flood Relief Operations Centre)
ศปภ. (ศูนย์ปฏิบัติการช่วยเหลือผู้ประสบอุทกภัย)
Now go and practice your new vocabulary with this neat info-graphic that explains Thai flooding:
