How Can "Mai Mee Arai" Mean "Nothing"??

[MooNoi]

I consider myself a pretty good speaker of Thai.

 

But sometimes the language and how it works has me beat!

 

Take the Thai word/phrase for "nothing" - which is "mai mee arai".

 

Literal translation is "no have what".

 

How does that work?

 

Same same for a phrase like "mai bpen rai". Again, the literal translation (to me at least) doesn't really equate to "never mind / you're welcome / no problem".

 

Hua Nguu, Samak et al... can you shed some light on the situation? Khop jai lai lai!

Moo Noi.

[Stickman]

Literal translations are dangerous between any two languages. Even in English, some things just do not translate into other languages ? and also, English had a huge number of idioms which really screw things up!

[PhilAnders]

I consider myself to be a terrible speaker of Thai.

 

In one context that I thought I understood, the meaning of

 

mai mee arai meant "no have (the question) what."

 

 

In that conversation, the context was I thought she had a question about something, but then she meant to say she did not have a question anymore.

 

or should that have been "mai mee arai na?"

 

::

[Khun_Kong]

Hey Slackman- get back to work!

[chuckwoww]

It's the way the language has evolved....also it sheds some light on the way people think. The positive becomes negative. Mee, mai mee...have, have not. Same in Mandarin...'shi' is yes....'bu shi' is not yes. It's used like the prefix 'un' in English.

[Boo Radley]

MooNoi said:...Take the Thai word/phrase for "nothing" - which is "mai mee arai"...Literal translation is "no have what"....How does that work?

I think ARAI ÃÃäà can also mean something or anything, in addition to what, so you could translate MAI MEE ARAI äÃèÃÕÃÃäà as not have anything/something.

[Flashermac]

So if someone asks in English, "Can you ride a motorcycle?" ... how can one reply, "Should do" ???

 

Or if someone asks, "You've never been to PNG, have you?" ... why will a person reply "No" when they mean "Yes, you're right - I haven't" ???

 

Or how can someone describe something as "exactly similar" to something else???

[preahko]

the problem is you're assuming each word in thai has one exact equivalent in english, and that's simply not the case.

 

in addition to meaning "what," arai also means "anything," or for that matter "something". all depends on context.

 

preahko

[Pescator]

Similarly with Mai Pben Rai, where Rai is a colloquial shortening of arai.

So meaning: that/this/it is nothing, you are welcome, never mind.

 

Makes good sense in my language.

 

You are familiar with the common expression: Arai Go Dai, anything will do.

 

Cheers

Hua Nguu

[Old Hippie]

I forget the movie we were watching in BKK, but the California "Valley Girl" character was saying "...WHAT EVER..." and rolling her head and eyes and it was translated to "Arai Go Dai." The next day, the girl I watched the movie with was rolling her eyes and head and saying "Arai GO DAI!" it was just so cute!