Is it 'ka' or 'krup'?

After living here for some time, one would guess that I'd be fluent in Thai. Wrong! Before I came here, I went for Thai lessons in Singapore thinking that I'd be conversant once I moved here. Wrong! What I learnt in the classroom was a very formal way of speaking. Like any language, the day-to-day usage is very different from the textbook.

I'm hopeless at languages. When I speak Mandarin I'm told I sound constipated, my Hokkien is non-existent and my Malay is limited to 'how are you' and 'eat'. So, when faced with Thai which has not 1 or 2 tones but 5..... you can imagine some comedy of errors along the way.

So, how have I picked up the language? I've learned from my maids who all spoke Thai only, from taxi-drivers, vendors etc...

I've learnt that ladies use 'ka' (for yes/OK) and men use 'krup'.

Ladies use 'chan' (me) while men use 'phom'. However, most Thais will refer to themselves by name when talking. Instead of saying "I am going", they'll say "Eunice is going". Took me some time to get used to it but I do it now unknowingly while speaking English.

Thai grammer is like Mandarin. Eg, we'll say 'I am going" while in Thai, it is 'going am I'. For a while, when TH first arrived he he thought he was saying 'my car' but was actually saying 'I am a car'! No wonder they looked at him funny.

A bit of trivia: A vegetable with an interesting Thai name is the pumpkin which is called 'fark'. So now, instead of cussing, I have friends who go 'pumpkin'! I seriously thought that the vegetable vendor was kidding me when she told me it's name.

Some of the words sound like they were derived from Chinese. Example is 'chair' is called 'kaw yi' and 'leg' is 'kar'.

Thais generally appreciate a foreigner trying to speak their language. They will laugh at your mistakes but it's not done in an unkind way. They especially find it amusing that my 8 year old son, Sean speaks Thai. His Thai is better than his Mandarin and that is because he came here when he was 3 months old. Children's minds are really like sponges. His grammer and intonation is way better than mine.

I am still learning but I think when it comes to the really important stuff ie anything pertaining to shopping and food, I've got it covered!