Luke with Farang Pok Pok: Episode Two

This article was originally posted on WomenLearnThai.com.

Farang Pok Pok with Luke: Episode two…

Thanks to everyone for taking the time to watch the first episode of Farang Pok Pok and to leave comments. One comment, from Emil, stands out in that he asked if it was possible to turn off the subtitles. The subtitles are added by me to the video files about a week or two after the air on channel 73, and since they are hard-coded you can’t turn them off. It got me thinking that going very low-tech and using a post-it to cover up the subtitles would be a good way to test how well you understood things. With this episode, you might want to cover up the subtitles and watch a clip. Then take a moment and tell yourself what you think it was about, then watch it a second time with the subtitles uncovered.

I should warn you though, that I do have a bit of an accent when speaking Thai … Thai people, hearing my voice at the other end of the phone, always know that I’m foreign (although, they never seem to know where from). So if you hear a word and worry if it’s pronounced wrong, it very well may be.

ฝรั่ง ป๊อก ป๊อก | Farang Pok Pok: Episode 2: Part 1…

This first clip starts out with me waking up on the grataeng, which gives the episode a bit of verisimilitude. I’m not sure if the producers want me to tell you this or not, but I didn’t sleep on the grataeng. Our original plan was to pretend-sleep on the grataeng and then return to a small bungalow on the shore as it had the proper electricity that we needed to charge our camera batteries. But, once we saw how pretty it was out there, we changed our minds and decided to figure out a way to sleep in the middle of the ocean. Problem was that at dusk, trillions of mosquitoes invaded so we went back to our original plan.

Key Thai phrases:

ป้า ไป ไหน ครับ
bpâa bpai năi kráp
Auntie, where are you going?

ไป นัด
bpai nát
To the market.

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NOTE: I chose this short dialog because of the slang that the Auntie used. The full phrase ตลาดนัด /dtà-làat nát/ means a market setup for a fixed period of time (like JJ in the city), however she cut the first part of the word off and just called it a นัด /nát/. The slang was new to me, but easy enough to understand given the context.

ไปดู กัน ว่า มี อะไรบ้าง
bpai doo gan wâa mee à-rai bâang
All right … let’s check out what they have.

๓๕ บาท ราคา ไม้ ๓๕ บาท
săam sìp hâa bàat raa-kaa máai săam sìp hâa bàat
Each skewer is 35 baht.

ฝรั่ง ป๊อก ป๊อก | Farang Pok Pok: Episode 2: Part 2…

Diving into the mud and picking up a handful of clams is much harder than it seems. I really did fail just about every time I tried to pick them up … this time the verisimilitude wasn’t faked.

Key Thai phrases:

อันนี้ คือ ฟาร์ม หอยนางรม
an née keu faam hŏi naang rom
This is how we raise oysters.

พี่ ครับ ทำ อะไร อยู่ พี่
pêe kráp tam à-rai yòo pêe
What’s going on here?

น้อง ยก ได้ ทำไม พี่ ยก ไม่ เป็น
nóng yók dâi tam-mai pêe yók mâi bpen
You can lift that? Why can’t I?

ฝรั่ง ป๊อก ป๊อก | Farang Pok Pok: Episode 2: Part 3…

Ok, so keeping with the theme of breaking through the verisimilitude of this show … I’ll tell you that the bit in the beginning where I pretend to talk on a cell phone and then pretend to send a pic was staged in hopes of enticing a cell phone company to sponsor the show.

Key Thai phrases:

เหมือน … เหมือน เย็บ เสื้อผ้า นะ
mĕuan … mĕuan yép sêua pâa ná
It’s like stitching up clothing.

เป็น ผู้ชาย ที่ เย็บ จูน และ ผู้หญิง ที่ เย็ย ผ้า
bpen pôo chaai têe yép joon láe pôo yĭng têe yai pâa
So men stitch nets and women stitch clothing?

เขา บอก ว่า โคลน ที่ นี้ รักษา ผิว ได้
kăo bòk wâa koh lon têe née rák-săa pĭw dâai
They tell me the mud here is good for your skin.

Thank you for watching the second episode in my Farang Pok Pok series! Stay tuned…

Luke Cassady-Dorion,
Goldenland Polygot
luke.org