Lately I've also been wondering what people back home do when they first meet and say "hello" for the first time... without "waiing"... what do you do with your hands? Just awkwardly have them at your sides? Of course sometimes you shake hands, but depending on your profession that doesn't occur extremely often, so really... most of the time... you just have your hands at your sides? How awkward and strange is that? And when you see a teacher or someone older or are thanking someone older, you don't wai to them... weird. I swear when I go home I'll still wai people. It already seems weird not to...
Sometimes when I'm speaking Thai I just stop and think about the words I'm saying. I realized recently that I've been spending a fair amount of time simply musing over how much sense they make. It's just common sense... of course "leow gaw" means "and then"... right? When I stop and think a bit further though... I realize that there is absolutely no basis for me to think that "dee" is the perfect word for "good"...
But I do have a few examples of places where Thai does make sense... The Thai language has very few words compared to the English language thus many words are simply two or more words added together. The word heart is appropriately used in many emotion words. Here's a few examples...
Thai Direct Translation English
jingjai true (jing) + heart (jai) = sincere
jaidee heart (jai)+ good (dee) = kind
dtokjai fall (dtok) + heart (jai)= surprised
See? So where English has to make up a whole new word that has no similarities to the defining words, Thai makes it easier by using the defining words to make up a compound word! Of course... it's quite easy to get confused though... after all... "jai dee" and "dee jai" have two entirely different meanings...
So there's your first Thai lesson! Also don't forget "sawadika" (female) and "sawadikrap" (male) means hello or goodbye!
Sawadika! Chok di na ka! (good luck!)
-Kearn
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