And 'nit noy' will only take you so far. . . .
My Thai speaking ability is not progressing at all as I had planned or imagined. While conveniently still in America, I had imagined that three months in the country would find me able to stumble along in more or less complete sentences, and AT LEAST able to ask the way to the alcohol. Alas, it is not so. And I've figured out why. It is impossible, as a speaker of a language that is, well, not Thai, for me to visualize anything.
What I mean is, you can't even translate Thai into a Latin alphabet because the sounds are as different as me and. . .well, as different as me and someone very sober, sane, and interested in working hard. One just can't put most of the language into letters. So one has to memorize a random sound, and one is not very good at remembering anything that isn't written down. For example, Monday thru Wednesday I teach at a school that is rendered in English as "Pakklong." But it isn't "Pack-long," like it looks. In reality you kind of emphasize the "pack" but it's more like "pach," with a bit of throat-breathing, and you kind of skip the "l" in the "long." It's more of a suggestion of an "l," not really articulated. The "g," too, is a soft g, so it's not really "long," it's more like. . well, I can't really explain. And "Sawatdee kha," which is a polite "hello," isn't really pronounced like it looks. The "t" is sometimes written as a "s," but neither is really correct. You kind of say both, if that makes sense, which I know it doesn't because it didn't to me at first. And you drag the "kha" out a ways, and sort of lilt up at the end (that's if you're a woman. Men say "khap."). The point being, you just can't render most Thai words into a recognizable vocabulary. So you have to either learn the Thai alphabet or memorize these very difficult random noises, and both require the kind of extra brain space that I just don't have.
Or I have but is earmarked for useless celebrity gossip, names for future children, and decorating of future ginormous mansion/penthouse/yacht.
P.S. New photos! I managed to more or less fix my camera using the aforementioned very useful tweezers and a little elbow grease (which I think is a totally disgusting expression, reminding one of eye boogers or similar). I say more or less because sometimes it requires me to take pictures with the camera's battery door open. Not sure why, but who am I to argue with the almighty Kodak LS743?
P.P.S. These pictures are mostly from the Students' Day fair at Wat Khodtimtaram. Basically this fair consists of dressing up in insane colors and playing insane games in the insane heat. Most of the kids pictured are my Prathom 6 students from Wat Khod school, which, despite the name, is not very near Wat Khodtimtaram ("wat" basically means "temple," but most schools are affiliated with, and named after, a temple. So you often have schools called Wat something.)
What I mean is, you can't even translate Thai into a Latin alphabet because the sounds are as different as me and. . .well, as different as me and someone very sober, sane, and interested in working hard. One just can't put most of the language into letters. So one has to memorize a random sound, and one is not very good at remembering anything that isn't written down. For example, Monday thru Wednesday I teach at a school that is rendered in English as "Pakklong." But it isn't "Pack-long," like it looks. In reality you kind of emphasize the "pack" but it's more like "pach," with a bit of throat-breathing, and you kind of skip the "l" in the "long." It's more of a suggestion of an "l," not really articulated. The "g," too, is a soft g, so it's not really "long," it's more like. . well, I can't really explain. And "Sawatdee kha," which is a polite "hello," isn't really pronounced like it looks. The "t" is sometimes written as a "s," but neither is really correct. You kind of say both, if that makes sense, which I know it doesn't because it didn't to me at first. And you drag the "kha" out a ways, and sort of lilt up at the end (that's if you're a woman. Men say "khap."). The point being, you just can't render most Thai words into a recognizable vocabulary. So you have to either learn the Thai alphabet or memorize these very difficult random noises, and both require the kind of extra brain space that I just don't have.
Or I have but is earmarked for useless celebrity gossip, names for future children, and decorating of future ginormous mansion/penthouse/yacht.
P.S. New photos! I managed to more or less fix my camera using the aforementioned very useful tweezers and a little elbow grease (which I think is a totally disgusting expression, reminding one of eye boogers or similar). I say more or less because sometimes it requires me to take pictures with the camera's battery door open. Not sure why, but who am I to argue with the almighty Kodak LS743?
P.P.S. These pictures are mostly from the Students' Day fair at Wat Khodtimtaram. Basically this fair consists of dressing up in insane colors and playing insane games in the insane heat. Most of the kids pictured are my Prathom 6 students from Wat Khod school, which, despite the name, is not very near Wat Khodtimtaram ("wat" basically means "temple," but most schools are affiliated with, and named after, a temple. So you often have schools called Wat something.)
posted by Laura at
5:56 PM
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