If you can’t read or speak Thai, you’d have no idea how much English has been adapted into the Thai language. English has been adapted throughout the Thai language, but it\u2019s all written using the Thai alphabet and so badly pronounced that the uninitiated wouldn\u2019t notice.<\/p>\n
For example, let\u2019s say you are walking down the street and see dozens of store signs all written in Thai. If you can read Thai, you’d notice that literally half of the signs are entirely English, just spelled out using the Thai alphabet! Why is this? Well, in the US its common to give restaurants and desserts a French name because it sounds fancy-smancy. Give your product a French name, and your customers wouldn’t know better. Why do you think Starbucks uses French words throughout the menu?<\/p>\n
Well, in Thai, anything with an English name is considered fancy and high quality. I often joke that if you can speak English with a strong Thai accent, you’d technically be speaking Thai and everyone will understand you.<\/p>\n
The Thais have a name for this, \u0e17\u0e31\u0e1e\u0e28\u0e31\u0e1e\u0e17\u0e4c<\/strong>. The word \u0e28\u0e31\u0e1e\u0e17\u0e4c<\/strong> means vocabulary, and \u0e04\u0e33\u0e28\u0e31\u0e1e\u0e17\u0e4c<\/strong> means vocabulary word. So tap1sap2 means a vocabulary word taken from English. In this post I’ll give you a list of \u0e17\u0e31\u0e1e\u0e28\u0e31\u0e1e\u0e17\u0e4c<\/strong> words you’ll see and use on an almost daily basis. And since they are taken from English, they’ll be easy to remember. The hard part is correctly mispronouncing it.<\/p>\n Now before we get started, I want to point out a few patterns you’ll notice. First, any word that ends in the letter L will, when pronounced in Thai, make an N sound. If it has an S, change it to a T sound. If the English word has ‘ter’ in it, change it to ‘dter’ with a mid tone. This is because the Thai language pronunciation rules of the Thai alphabet force these sound changes. As for spelling, English words will all use the more common Thai letters, with a preference towards the mid tone on each syllable. Lastly, as mentioned in previous posts, notice the heavy use of the \u0e2d\u0e4c <\/strong>character to silence a letter, a key hint that the word was taken from another language.<\/p>\n Try to pronounce each word as spelled in Thai:<\/p>\n \u0e04\u0e2d\u0e21\u0e1e\u0e34\u0e27\u0e40\u0e15\u0e2d\u0e23\u0e4c \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 computer \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 kawm pew dter<\/p>\n \u0e04\u0e2d\u0e19\u0e42\u0e14\u0e21\u0e34\u0e40\u0e19\u0e35\u0e22\u0e21 \u00a0 \u00a0 condominium \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0kawn do min nium<\/p>\n \u0e41\u0e2d\u0e1b\u0e40\u0e1b\u0e34\u0e49\u0e25\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 apple\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 aep poen<\/p>\n \u0e2a\u0e15\u0e23\u0e2d\u0e40\u0e1a\u0e2d\u0e23\u0e4c\u0e23\u0e35 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 strawberry \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 sa dtraw ber ree<\/p>\n \u0e41\u0e2d\u0e23\u0e4c \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0air conditioner \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 air<\/p>\n \u0e08\u0e2d\u0e2b\u0e4c\u0e19 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 John \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0jawn<\/p>\n \u0e0b\u0e2d\u0e1f\u0e15\u0e4c\u0e41\u0e27\u0e23\u0e4c \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0software \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0sof waer<\/p>\n \u0e42\u0e1b\u0e23\u0e41\u0e01\u0e23\u0e21 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 program \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0bpro graem<\/p>\n \u0e04\u0e38\u0e01\u0e01\u0e35\u0e49 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0cookie\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 gug gee<\/p>\n \u0e40\u0e04\u0e47\u0e01 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 cake \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 cehk<\/p>\n There are literally thousands more, and you’ll probably remember a few in my previous blog posts, such as words for mob and fake. Remember?<\/p>\n vocabulary:<\/p>\n \u0e17\u0e31\u0e1e\u0e28\u0e31\u0e1e\u0e17\u0e4c\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 tap sap, using English words in Thai<\/p>\n \u0e28\u0e31\u0e1e\u0e17\u0e4c \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0vocabulary<\/p>\n \u0e04\u0e33\u0e28\u0e31\u0e1e\u0e17\u0e4c\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 vocabulary word<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If you can’t read or speak Thai, you’d have no idea how much English has been adapted into the Thai language. English has been adapted throughout the Thai language, but it\u2019s all written using the Thai alphabet and so badly pronounced that the uninitiated wouldn\u2019t notice. For example, let\u2019s say you are walking down the…<\/p>\n