The Bangkok Podcast10 Okt 2023

Greg Gets Schooled: Linguist Stu Jay Raj Critiques a Thai Conversation Part 2 [S6.E60]

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This is the second part of Greg's interview with resident Thai language expert Stu Jay Raj, in which Stu critiques a conversation that Greg had in Thai with a co-worker. The two begin by discussing the unusual role that linguists have in digging deep into exactly why language works the way it does, something the average person never thinks about. He even contends most linguists could be on the autism spectrum!

As for specific advice, Stu begins a fascinating explanation that Thai doesn't really have a word that means 'yes' directly; the word 'chai' actually translates more closely to the English expression 'it is.' Hence, to indicate an affirmative response, Thais will simply repeat the verb used in a question. This fascinating difference with English is continued with a discussion of other ways to indicate agreement, with words that sound almost equivalent to a grunt in English. As always, the context and nuance dictate the appropriate meaning, and what us foreigners are taught in class is often an oversimplification of a complicated concept.

The lesson continues with more useful advice on improving your Thai. One thing for sure, there's a lot more going on in Thai conversations than is immediately apparent when you are just a basic speaker of Thai!

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