Malaria in Thai??

[Guest]

Anyone know how to say malaria in Thai? My wife's two nephews have both come down with some serious condition in the last month and my wife thinks it is malaria. I think it is odd because they both live in Patum Thani. I guess it is possible, a lot of stagnant water in that area, but two people in three weeks seems too much. One is still in hospital with high fevers, chills and other malaria like syptoms. Anyway, if you can tell me how to say malaria in Thai I'll post back to tell you if should apply DEET before heading to the jungles of Patum Thai.

[Guest]

VC

Just asked the GF she says "kai malaria" - just means fever caused by malaria.

Other malaria related words

Yung - Mosquito

Mung - Mosquito net

She also suggested that your relatives may have Dengue Fever, also known as breakbone fever. Similar symptoms to malaria but with intense joint pain.

Always a good idea to spray DEET anyway. I use a hat impregnated with 100% DEET......

no flies on me!

[ June 18, 2001: Message edited by: coquetislander ]

[Guest]

She also suggested that your relatives may have Dengue Fever, also known as breakbone fever.

Any idea how to say dengue fever in Thai?

Thanks

[Guest]

VC

"kai dengue" ?...... doesn't seem to be a specific Thai translation. All these kinds of thing are referred to as kai ????. Just another illustration of the inadequacy of Thai to describe anything 21st Century.

[BkkShaggy]

quote:

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Originally posted by coquetislander:

VC

...Just another illustration of the inadequacy of Thai to describe anything 21st Century.

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Stickman and Bangkok Phil,

Is this comment considered "flame"? To me, it is !!! If I were you I would delete it asap.

BkkShaggy.

PS.I just corrected my spelling from frame to flame.

[ June 20, 2001: Message edited by: BkkShaggy ]

[Guest]

BkkShaggy

I presume you mean "flame"......... Bollocks.

To be a flame the comment must be aimed at a board member not an institution or in this case a language. I have not seen a board member with the handle "Thai Langauge".

In any case, it is my considered opinion as a professional linguist (BA English, MA Applied Linguistics, Cert.Ed, C.E.L.T.A.)it is a wholly inadequate communication system. Thai has a comparatively small range of meaning and lamentably small vocabulary.

Two Thais talking together must know the context of any given conversation to be able to undersatnd each other. A third party eavesdropping such a conversation, can draw wrong conclusions. Thai is full of, in my opinion, euphemistic short phrases about many aspects of life. This is because there is no single word to describe a particular action, article or state of mind.

You only have to look at (or weigh) an English or even Turkish dictionary to see this is true.

(I fully expect now to be accused of flaming Turkish because I wrote "or even Turkish")

In conclusion, I shall not be deleting this post unless instructed to by the moderators.

PS. I think only Bismala Pidgin has fewer tenses than Thai.

[ June 19, 2001: Message edited by: coquetislander ]

[Flashermac]

Well, back in the 20th century and even much earlier, dengue fever was known as KAI (falling) SAH (low). No idea what they'd call it in the 21st century.

Now, if they were smart, they'd used ancient Greek and Latin like we do for modern inventions. Shows how primitive the Thais are, actually using their own language!

p.s. There is malaria in some of the remote Thai border areas. Haven't heard of it much anywhere else, though there's always got to be an exception.

[Guest]

Then it just goes to show the inadequacy of the Thai educational system, because 8 Thai speakers could not tell me that.

I agree with your Latin/Greek comments. I think this stems from the fact that English speaking scientists used ancient langauges in new coinages as a form of snobbery. As these words are now entrenched as English they are now part of the langauage.

I can see the same thing happening here with words "borrowed" from English.... like Mo Sai, Mo Bai, I-suh creem, etc. Are these words Thai or English? Or are we seeing a form of Thaiglish evolving?

[Guest]

SB

I do get your point Scum-Baggio, I think you may have missed mine somewhat though.

I suggest that instead of coining a new word to describe "something" Thai merely makes a little phrase or multi compounded noun.

In terms of tense it is very prone to misunderstanding and frequently needs clarification by two speakers so as to gain the correct meaning.

I take on board what you say about English borrowed words but at least we use them.

English is less than 800 years old in a form we understand today, yet we have a HUGE vocabulary. I admit that we have many compound nouns and borrowings but they are nevertheless "English" now.

I draw a comparison with the French movement to "protect" French from such borrowings and new non-French coinages. Thai needs such words to describe modern "things".

PS Don't be so schadenfreudeistic (new coinage there, I think.) LOL

[Guest]

Originally posted by coquetislander:

'"kai dengue" ?...... doesn't seem to be a specific Thai translation. All these kinds of thing are referred to as kai ????. Just another illustration of the inadequacy of Thai to describe anything 21st Century.'

Being somewhat a linguist myself (having studied languages as diverse as Sanskrit, Hindi, Russian and a few others), I can't see any inadequacy here.

"Kai" is Thai for "fever" and together with "dengue" or "malaria" it denotes a feverish affliction of a particular kind. I don't think dengue or malaria are called anything else in any other language of the world - at least in the languages that I've learned the very same words are used, even if the pronunciaton may be different. Occasionally, there may be a synonym; in Hindi malaria is "maleria", but it also called "sheetjwar" ("cold fever"), though I'm sure hardly any Indian knows that word. And the term is not a great stroke of genius anyway.

If you can come up with any language in which malaria or dengue are called something radically different I'd be very grateful. I'm always willing to learn.

I do admit that Thai is probably not one of the most refined languages of the world, but to say it is inadaquate to express anything 21st century is - I believe - simply wrong.

To drive home the point: I wouldn't call English an inadaquate language just because there are no equivalent words for, say, the German terms "Gemuetlichkeit", "Weltschmerz" or "Wanderlust".

If I'd measure the English language by your yardstick, I'd have to say that English is inadaquate to express anything vaguely philosophical. Or what about "Blitzkrieg"? Any English word for it? "Lightning war" sounds darn clumsy by comparison.

Or do you have a better word for "savoir-vivre"? And don't you know that "mutton" comes - like so many other culinary terms -from French (mouton)? Could that mean that Britain has no decent food culture of its own? God forbid. In English you use the Dutch term "yacht". Does that mean the British don't know how to build ships?

I'm sure you get my point.

Cheers, SB

[ June 19, 2001: Message edited by: Scum_Baggio ]