SabaaiSabaai

Language is an amazing reflection of any culture and after just a month in Thailand the more I learn about the language the more insight I have into the people and customs of this region. I am lucky enough that my school is providing a basic Thai intro course for the new teachers and I have been graciously taking advantage of the weekly speaking lessons. In addition, the same teacher (Holly) has started another weekly course focusing on navigating the insanity that is the Thai alphabet. Thai is a phonetic writing system consisting of 44 consonants, 32 vowels, 4 tone marks, 8 punctuation marks, and their own symbols for numbers. The characters are an art form in themselves and while it is completely overwhelming, I am determined to take on the challenge and learn as much as I possibly can!

A few of the interesting features:

• Thai has no future or past tense, everything is about the here & now; there is a word you can add to say “will” (ja) or “already” (lay-ow), but there is no conjugation of verbs
• There are no articles (a, an, the) and you usually speak about yourself in the 3^rd person
• The tones as well as the vowel length are of utmost importance in pronunciation, if you get these wrong you will not be understood no matter how close you think you have said it
• They don't put spaces between their words, and rarely use punctuation
  
  

Phraseology

To ask someone “how are you?” they use the phrase “Sabaai dee mai”  translating roughly as “relaxed & good?” and then my favorite response, “Sabaai sabaai” meaning “I'm chill” or “relaxed relaxed.”

Another way to ask how someone is would be to say “Gin cow ruu yang,” meaning “have you eaten rice yet?” – but they don't literally want to know what you had for lunch, they are asking if you are doing well! So the appropriate response if you're good would be to say, “yes I've eaten rice already” or “gin cow layow ka” (also, side note—any time you say the word “gin” or eat, you always say “gin cow” or eat rice, obviously you wouldn't be in Thailand and have a meal WITHOUT rice!)

Pretty much, as long as your relaxed and you've had some rice, life is good :D

Another common phrase is, “Mai bpen rai” meaning “it's all good,” “no worries” or “it doesn't matter.” Thais in general do anything and everything to avoid conflict, this phrase is a perfect example. Any time there is a complaint or confusion or problem it can easily be ended with “mai bpen rai” and a smile! Thais are very polite, and it is not culturally acceptable to show anger or frustration.

Last week at school my kids had to join the other K2 class for “Kru Nok Time.” Kru Nok is the principle of the school and takes time each week to teach the kids about social and moral issues (like not smoking, anorexia, obesity, keeping clean nails, healthy diet, etc). So Thursday she started singing “If You're Happy & You Know It (Clap Your Hands)” then “If You're Sad & You Know It (Say Boo-Hoo)” and finally, “If You're Angry & You Know It (Go Like This--> She did 2 thumbs up & smile!)” and at first I was confused, thinking maybe she had the wrong translation for angry??!! But then she finished and explained to the children, if you're angry you don't hit or kick or yell, you smile and put thumbs UP! What a great way to learn how to control your own emotions and refuse to let anger get the best of you. I think this is an extremely healthy philosophy of life, and while I had known this concept before, I found her simple song for the kids to be the best illustration of it yet. No matter what happens, its all good, mai bpen rai <3