This lesson is not really a class teaching just a friend talks to friends but I will teach only formal Thai language only.....

*** after read pls give me some comment or vote.I want to know if someone read them

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When Thais meet someone they always say "SAWADDEE" and do "Wai"

When you meet someone or talk to someone on the phone you must say ÊÇÑÊ´Õ (SA-WAD-DEE) first

ÊÇÑÊ´Õ (SA-WAD-DEE) = Hello

Pronunciations :

1. you must pronounce SA as S in Snake

2. pronounce WAD only half A and remember that Thai words do not have final sounds as English words so forget to expose "D"

Something more:

You can make your Thai words more polite by putting "KRUB" or "KHA" at the end of your sentences or words

KRUB will be used by men

KHA will be used by women

Example :

"SA-WAD-DEE KHA"

"SA-WAD-DEE KRUB"

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Something you should know:

Where does ?SA-WAD-DEE? from?

We have been using this words for 64 years.PRAYA (lord) UPAKITSILLAPASARN who was a lecturer in a faculty of Arts Chulalongkorn University was the first one who used it greeting his students and The Field Marshal PO PIBOONSONGKARM (he was a priminister ) agreed to use it as informal greeting.

SAWADDEE mean good, nice, safe, grow

So this words is not just only greeting words.?It is blessing?

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Thai Culture

About greeting :: WAI is Putting the palms together----> like this _/||_

Wai is a form of Thai culture which represents various aspects of Thai honorific system. For example, wai shows Thai politeness, respect, honor, and friendship. Thais wai when greeting or leaving. Along with a wai, Thais usually say ?sawasdee,? which means ?hello? in English. The wai tradition has been succeeded to the present generation since Sukhotai Period, approximately A.D. 1238). Wai can also be used in articulating apology or gratitude. For these purposes, a person who wais usually says, ?khor-thod? or ?khob-khun,? respectively.

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How to wai

1. Put the palms together. According to Buddhism, Thais call wai ?pra-nom-mue? (keep waiing all the time) or ?unchalee? . When waiing, put your palms together, straighten and press your finger tips together. Raise your palms to your chest and keep your elbows close to your body. When talking to priests and the royal family, Thais always ?pra-nom-mue.? When leaving these respectful people, the younger usually ?unchalee? them.

2. Bow your head. Wai can be in the form of ?wan-ta.? In so doing, Thais bow their heads and high their palms up until the index fingers touch their mouths or noses, depending on the person who they wai.

Tips

There are many kinds of Thai wai, depending on the social status, power, age, and prestige of a person/people who receive the wai. There are three major groups of people of higher status in the traditional Thai society.

1. Monks/priests/royal family

To wai people in this category, bow one?s head and raise one?s hands until the thumbs touch the forehead.

2. Teachers/parents

To wai these people, do the same as in (1). However, the waier?s index finger must touch the nose. This is similar to a culture in which people raise their index fingers to touch their nose when paying respect to parents and touch their mouths when paying respect to the teacher.

3. Ordinary people/acquaintances with older age.

To wai someone who is older, simply raise the pressed palms to the lips/mouth.

To wai the monks,teacher,older poeple you have to blend your head down a bit

4. someone younger and friends

To wai someone who is older, simply raise the pressed palms to the chest

For all these 4 types, keep your hands and elbows close to the body.

**When you pay respect to Buddha image is not ?WAI? it is ?GRAB? there is something difference between ?WAI? and ?GRAB?, I will tell you later.

Why they do Wai?

We assume that when you put your hand together for WAI.Your hands are making a lotus shape

We do believe that our Buddha lord was born on the (big) lotus (as he was born to be the great person his body could not touch the earth ~it was very long story ,I will tell you next time)

Then the lotus shape mean you pay the highest respect to someone.

Very tired now ,

Your Fay

I found this on internet .......

A young foreigner meets a Thai girl for lunch. She does the wai and he returns the gesture. To go back to his hotel he hails a taxi. The older driver, upon receiving a good tip, wais him, then drives off. The foreigner waves his hand to mean 'never mind.'

Some days later, the girl invites him to her house. An old man walks out and she introduces her father, whom he instantly recognizes as none other than the taxi driver.

Now, should the westerner, say a manager of some firm (status), recognizing the taxi-driver father (elder person), wai first? Or not wai but mumble something in English as a detour? Or merely extend a hand for a handshake? Do nothing to see what happens first?

Before he can sort himself out, a woman looking younger than he walks in and his girlfriend introduces the woman as her stepmother. Should he wai this younger woman first or wait for her to do it first? An elderly woman now comes in and it turns out she is the chief servant. He becomes confused. Wai quickly?

I will tell you on the next journals ............WAI or not WAI?

It's great you take the time to try and teach some ppl some thai but the truth of the matter is the only way to properly learn Thai is by learning how to read it. A person from America and one from England will read the "way to pronounce translation" differently, let alone someone from countries which don't speak english as a native language.

The dialects are murder, the trick is to learn to speak it by knocking out anything you know to say and start from scratch WITHOUT karaoke lyrics to help guide someone. So don't expect any dramatic results from your friendly effort

This is the first lesson ...........when you read more you will learn more....

again I will put some sound files on so soon

That story about the wais was so funny...

I can hardly wait to find out if there are any hard and fast rules in the event of this happening.

I don't know if, as Don says, there would be any hard or fast rules on your scenario faycyber, but for me personally, even if I, and we're talking about status, were CEO of the Bangkok bank and 60 years old, walked into the girls Dad's and step Mum's home and were introduced to them, I would give them a polite Wai, purely out of respect for the fact that I WAS in THEIR home.

That goes for the first time. After that, when things get a bit less formal, I would probably offer a handshake.

Interesting, but I have a question.

In the beginning, you describe sa-wad dee krub/kha, but in the chapter "Thai culture", you write sawasdee, with an "s" in the middle. Is there a difference?

I would also like to say thank you for taking the time and effort to explain some of these things. If and when I move to Thailand, I plan to take Thai language lessons, so this is interesting to me.

a little question:

all farangs know how many large is thai alphabet........for example you use differents consonant for the sound "k"

how can we know the tone??????

kha is the some tone of krub?

i know a single word can have different uses like ma= horse, dog or go

thanks for lesson teacher........we wait your next

Good job!!!!!

This is great! Though I'm Thai but I do enjoy reading your journal since the 1st one so take my thankfulness for sharing such a great information ka.

thank you for your comment

ok this is some answers

1. words SAWADDEE and SAWASDEE are the same

We pronounce SA-WAD-DEE but when we write in thai we write SAWASDEE

ÊÇÑÊ´Õ

Ê=s

Ç=w

´=D

You may see that we have 2 Ê on ?SAWASDEE?

Because we borrow this word from Sanskrit (dead language from India- we believe Sanskrit and pale are god language ,from Buddhism)

2. about the tone it will be on another lesson maybe next 3-4 lessons and i will try to find the way to put sound on

fay