Which Thai phrases just roll off your tongue?

[buksida]

A couple I use almost daily:

ช่างมัน - chang mun - let it be/forget it.
ตามสบาย - dtaam sabai - do as you please.
แล้วแต่ - laew dtae - up to youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!

[deepee]

Pete, Mrs D is such a great cook I would never think of using that phrase for her. Man does she know how to spin a wok. I am blessed to have her.
But with her she does not hold back with her comments towards poor food and has been know to use it now and then too. Seems to get away with it some how.
Deepee

[Siani]

I wonder why the Thai's always say "same same" instead of same?

[crazy88]

Pete

Try "Muay maak maak, maa mai degg" next time nd see how friendly that knee to the crotch is. Mai ow chang naam also achieves the same result.

Crazy 88

[lomuamart]

"beer chang lek neung kourt, yen yen rao rao, kap"
'LM deng nueng song, kap"
Dii faa - better
gon - first (ie pom bai ab nam gon - I'll shower first)
The last two I've only learnt recently after 13 years here. Pathetic really, but I use them a lot now to get them ingrained in my ruined brain - as Pete said.

[Vital Spark]

ตามสบาย - dtaam sabai - do as you please.

That's an interesting phrase as I've heard it used in two different contexts, although I've never used it myself. It's often used when Mr.VS and I are at a restaurant and (I think) the restaurant owner wants us to pick the table that suits us - usually in the sunshine. It was also used by a British friend of ours, who speaks excellent Thai, to get rid of a Thai 'friend' who was interrupting our meal. He said it was a really polite way of saying 'bugger off and go back to your table with your drunken Thai mates'. The chap went away smiling, so I guess it caused no offense.

VS

[margaretcarnes]

ตามสบาย - dtaam sabai - do as you please.

That's an interesting phrase as I've heard it used in two different contexts, although I've never used it myself. It's often used when Mr.VS and I are at a restaurant and (I think) the restaurant owner wants us to pick the table that suits us - usually in the sunshine. It was also used by a British friend of ours, who speaks excellent Thai, to get rid of a Thai 'friend' who was interrupting our meal. He said it was a really polite way of saying 'bugger off and go back to your table with your drunken Thai mates'. The chap went away smiling, so I guess it caused no offense.

VS

Yes - if you think about it it could be pretty much same same in English context wise. I.E a polite 'as you please' or 'as you wish' - against a less polite 'do what the f... you want'! (which could also be said in a quite polite way.)
The problem with Thai is that we don't pick up the intonations easily - I don't anyway - just as the Thais don't pick up on faults with our intonations when they are a bit amiss.
So is it possible for a farang to ever be fully fluent in Thai? I personally think not, with a few exceptions who are those farang born and raised in Thailand and - although they do exist - are few and far between.

[migrant]

ตามสบาย - dtaam sabai - do as you please.

The wife just translated as "make your self at home" She says it is told to visitors to the house also (well maybe not in-laws!!)

[hhfarang]

Here's one for the single guys to use down in the beer bar district:

Poom La Khun Mak!

I won't translate, but try it out on your favorite bar girl and see what reaction you get!

[thebears]

Poom La Khun Mak!

I've been trying to understanding this, and now I see what you mean. You mean ผมรักคุณมาก.

[PeteC]

Poom La Khun Mak!

I've been trying to understanding this, and now I see what you mean. You mean ผมรักคุณมาก.

I think the second word should transliterate as 'luk'. Some would use 'ruk' or rak'. Pete

[margaretcarnes]

Here's one for the single guys to use down in the beer bar district:

Poom La Khun Mak!

I won't translate, but try it out on your favorite bar girl and see what reaction you get!

Bakwaan!

[Pleng]

"beer chang lek neung kourt, yen yen rao rao, kap"

Is that not really, really rude?

Unless I'm mistranslating yen yen means 'very cold' - but in this context it seems to me like you're essentially saying 'make sure its a cold one' (you expect they're going to try and fob you off with a warm one), and rao rao I'm translating to 'quick quick' or 'very quick'.

So in the context I'm seeing something like this:
"One small bottle of beer Chang" (nothing wrong with that, good start! ), followed by "make sure it's cold, and make it snappy!" At least you're putting "krab" on the end

[Lung Per]

Chuck wao rather than chuck dee was my first serious mistake...

[Vital Spark]

So is it possible for a farang to ever be fully fluent in Thai? I personally think not, with a few exceptions who are those farang born and raised in Thailand and - although they do exist - are few and far between.

I agree with you there Mags. The few farang that I've met here who purport to speak Thai fluently invariably end up upsetting someone in Thai. It's the little nuances, that only a native speaker knows, that can turn an innocent phrase into a mildly offensive one. I think that you're forgiven mistakes if you speak halting Thai, but once you become proficient at the language the tolerance for mistakes is much lower.

Sorry
One of my favourite little phrases is: 'Jer gan mai' (roughly translated: See you again).

VS