Juicy Pusti Posted August 20, 2006 Report Share Posted August 20, 2006 Most of the girls from the NE speak Khmer, it's not Thai. Most of the girls from the NE speak Lao (or rather the Isan dialect of Lao), not Khmer. I don't recall the excact figure, but I believe it's less than 10% of the Isan population that is of Khmer origin, and they mostly come from the lower northeastern provinces (Buriram, Surin). As I understand it, NE Thailand (Isan) was part of Lao until 1917, when the French colonial powers in Lao gave the land to Thailand. Someone probably knows more about this than I do... Staying on topic of the polite words, I noticed when traveling around Lao that noone ever used Kha/Khrap. Do they not exist in the Lao language? But traveling around Isan I heard Kha/Khrap used all the time. Is that a difference between Lao-Lao and Isan-Lao? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Hippie Posted August 20, 2006 Report Share Posted August 20, 2006 My teacher here always says to use Krap a lot. She says it is polite, it is also a good way to mark the end of a sentence. The Phra Ajarn (Abbot) or the temple where I study says it is o.k. to start an affirmative sentence (if you are agreeing) with it as well such as "do you like the food?" you could reply Krab, Pom chob mak Krup...thoughts on this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Hippie Posted August 20, 2006 Report Share Posted August 20, 2006 Most of the girls from the NE speak Khmer' date=' it's not Thai. [/quote'] Most of the girls from the NE speak Lao (or rather the Isan dialect of Lao), not Khmer. I don't recall the excact figure, but I believe it's less than 10% of the Isan population that is of Khmer origin, and they mostly come from the lower northeastern provinces (Buriram, Surin). As I understand it, NE Thailand (Isan) was part of Lao until 1917, when the French colonial powers in Lao gave the land to Thailand. Someone probably knows more about this than I do... Staying on topic of the polite words, I noticed when traveling around Lao that noone ever used Kha/Khrap. Do they not exist in the Lao language? But traveling around Isan I heard Kha/Khrap used all the time. Is that a difference between Lao-Lao and Isan-Lao? As I understand it, Khmer is spoken in Buri Ram, Surin and Si Saket, Lao or "Issaarn" is spoken all over the North east. As for Krup, see my last post in this thread, I hear it used a lot, same with Ka. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vintage_Kwai Posted August 21, 2006 Report Share Posted August 21, 2006 Fair enough. I was only trying to point out the fact that a different language is spoken in the NE, not a dialect. The best way to pronounce any word is to read it in it's original language; once you learn written Thai you will see how inadequate the English phonetic spelling can be. As for shortening the 'krab' to 'kap' or 'kab', it can be looked on in the same way as shortening a 'Yes, sir.' to 'Yezzir!' - not really disrespect as per se but in trying to rush through a response it may be seen like that from some people's point of view. As I have said before, good manners will always hold you in good stead anywhere. It's no different here. I also find that if you treat the bargirls with some respect they will give you a pretty good time no matter where you go. However, if you go straight for the crotch before your beer has even arrived, she will be aiming to get as much baht as she can out of your ATM from the start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juicy Pusti Posted August 21, 2006 Report Share Posted August 21, 2006 Fair enough. I was only trying to point out the fact that a different language is spoken in the NE, not a dialect. I believe Thai and Lao/Isan are so similar that you could, in fact, consider them dialects of the same language. It's like with Danish and Swedish. If I speak to a Swede, I'll speak Danish and he'll speak Swedish and we'll understand each other (at least if we don't rush through sentences). In Laos, people seemed to understand most of what I said to them in Thai, whereas I had a really hard time understanding what they said to me. Also, if you can read Thai, you can sort of read Lao too. Their writing systems are quite similar though not identical. It's totally different with Khmer. Khmer is, if I remember correctly, of Indo-European origin and not a tonal language. My ex-gf was from Buriram and of Khmer heritage. Within her family they would speak mostly Khmer, though none could read or write the language. Everybody could speak, read, and write Thai, though. The best way to pronounce any word is to read it in it's original language; once you learn written Thai you will see how inadequate the English phonetic spelling can be. This I couldn't agree more with. Transliteration is rubbish, in particular the official "Royal Thai Transliteration System". But the problem really is our own alphabet being so primitive and inconsistent compared with the higher complexity of the Thai writing system. Because of this, it's difficult to devise a useful transliteration system that doesn't include a lot of "obscure" characters accounting for the extra vowel and consonant sounds (not to mention the tones). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YimSiam Posted August 21, 2006 Report Share Posted August 21, 2006 Neither Lao-Lao nor Lao-Isarn use 'khrap', as far as I know - I would guess that in Isarn you heard people speaking Thai if they were saying 'khrap' or 'kaa', or mixing in Thai with Isarn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Hippie Posted August 21, 2006 Report Share Posted August 21, 2006 Yeah, I've heard Krap, Krup, Kup Krub etc, depends a lot where and who. One thing my teacher did tell me about was was the danger of speaking "above someone." as in possibly sounding snobby or such. Example: I was ordering food, and I used the polite "Dtungan" instead of "ow" for want. The woman serving corrected me and said this was to formal. My teacher said it was acceptable, but as I know that woman, it was in fact overly formal, and though acceptable, not necessary. Agreed, Khmer and Lao are indeed different languages. I also heard of another Khmer dialect spoken by mahuts and such from Surin. Moot or something? Forget now. Lao, though similar to Thai is a different language, different alphabet, etc...I think a lot of the words may cross over, or have spread between Thai and Lao, but they are indeed different languages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juicy Pusti Posted August 21, 2006 Report Share Posted August 21, 2006 Agreed, Khmer and Lao are indeed different languages. I also heard of another Khmer dialect spoken by mahuts and such from Surin. Moot or something? Forget now. Lao, though similar to Thai is a different language, different alphabet, etc...I think a lot of the words may cross over, or have spread between Thai and Lao, but they are indeed different languages. Lao and Thai, different languages, I suppose, but still to some extent mutually understandable, at least by native speakers. See: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/lao.htm Quote: "Lao, a Thai-Kadai language spoken by approximately 15 million people in Laos and Thailand. It is closely related to Thai and speakers of Lao are able to understand spoken Thai without too many difficulties. Thai speakers find it more difficult to understand Lao due to lack of exposure to the language." Regarding the alphabet, they are indeed different but again of the same origin. Quote: "After the unification of the Lao principalities (meuang) in the 14th century, the Lan Xang monarchs commissioned their scholars to create a new script to write the Lao language. The scholars adapted an early version of the Thai script, which was developed from the Old Khmer script, which was itself based on Mon scripts. The modern Lao script retains many aspects of the appearance of the early Thai script which have disappeared from the modern Thai script." Based on my knowledge of Thai and with no prior knowledge of the Lao alphabet I found it possible to read a lot of the Lao writing I was presented with in Laos. Just had to get used to a few anormalities, like ror-reua being an L-sound, nor-noo looking like mor-maa, etc. Other than that, they are really quite similar. Lao writing is like simplified Thai. Only 27 consonants compared with the 44 in Thai. Compare the above link with this one: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/thai.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juicy Pusti Posted August 21, 2006 Report Share Posted August 21, 2006 See also the sample texts in the above-mentioned links. If you can read Thai, you should actually be able to read the one in Lao too (admitted, with a little effort and some guessing here and there). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pescator Posted August 21, 2006 Report Share Posted August 21, 2006 The Phra Ajarn (Abbot) or the temple where I study says it is o.k. to start an affirmative sentence (if you are agreeing) with it as well such as "do you like the food?" you could reply Krab, Pom chob mak Krup...thoughts on this? You are quite right, it is very common to reply in that way. You can use Khrap/Kha/Ja on it`s own as an affirmative although in your example above it will sound a bit abrupt. cheers hua nguu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.