Speaking Thenglish

Spoken communication is one of those things we take for granted. Mostly because we live in the country of our choice and most people there speak your language. Deeds and I are temporarily out of our spoken element here in Thailand. It isn't hard to get by, in fact the Thai people make it very easy on you. The big reason why our vocabulary is limited to a half dozen phrases and 44 used words. The Thais try very hard to stay with you.
Now of course there are pockets in Bangkok where english will do you absolutely no good. It is rather useless in fact. Just go back a few blogs and look at Diane trying to find out what is in the soup at a small alleyway just down the street from our house. Or even in one of our favourite restaurants, try asking for asparagus!!

Now there is another level of spoken word that does occur here. What I cal ThaiEnlgish. Or Thenglish for short. (In Thai you never pronounce the "H" after a T. Thai = Tie. Not thigh. Got it. So Thenglish is pronounce tinglish.) Ok now that we got that straight the thing that happens in Thenglish is that vowels take on a different pronounciation. Usually the vowel sound is drawn out. And of course you put the emphasis on the wrong syllable. (Said the way Jean Chretin would say it, U putt the Mfasis on the wrong Celabl).
Thai women say a lot of drawn out sounds. Like when you are walking down the street and they call you over for a massage. Excuse me misssaaaaaa. You want to have massaaaggge. Or Madammmmmme you want maaasaaaaage.
So you have to be aware of this when you are trying to communicate with people to get your point across. You have to learn to understand and speak Thenglish.

Shelly and Carolyn were at our favourite hotel in Pattaya when they discovered the deal of the resort. You can rent a cabana for 1,000 baht per day and you get a bar / restaurant credit for 1,000 baht. This is good cause look at the place that you get to sit and relax. Especially for people who are still experiencing their honeymoon!!

The cabana is shown on the right and below.

A few of them have their own little sitting areas off to the side with big armchairs and coffee style tables so when you want to have a bite (using up that 1,000 baht) you can sit around a regular style table. Very civilized. Waiters come round with your drinks and make you feel above the hoi polloi who are seated out by the pool in cattle lines.

 

This was a brilliant find. Deeds, Lena and I utilized one the next weekend and it was truly fantastic.

Here is where the thenglish comes in.

Shelly and Carolyn had the misfortune to get rained on their second day there. So round about lunch time they were told no trouble, since you have paid for the cabana you can use the credit in any of the hotels bars or restaurants not just poolside in the cabana. They decided to have lunch in the restaurant above and to the right of the pool as shown in this pic to the left.

When they had there lunch brought over they explained to the waitress that they had rented a cabana for the day so the food bill will just work against that charge.
``Oh yes madame but vely vely lain today.``
Uh, no says Shelly `We rented a cabana for today and because it is raining, as you mentioned, we will use the credit for the cost of the cabana to offset the actual cost of the food and beverages that we will consume here in the restaurant.``
``Oh yes madame``.
``No, no, you misunderstand........... I.... HAVE.......PAID......FOR......A......C A B A N A.``
Ohhhh, Cabannaaaa madame. yes, yes cabannaaaaa. Vely good madame, cabannaaaa.
And as she walked away talking to the other wait staff you could hear off in the distance cabannaaaa, ahhh, cabannaaaa.

Thenglish.

There are more pics posted on Picasa for you to look at. This latest batch all comes from Lena, the folder is LenzinBKK. Here is the link  ..... PICS.

One day I will put up the odds and sods. Photos of stuff that we just seem to have but hasn`t been published. Need to decide what to take down first.
Sawadee Krup