Thai Language Thai Culture: Thai Roots

13 thoughts on “Thai Language Thai Culture: Thai Roots”

1. Very good way of learning. 🙂

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2. Todd, definitely check it out. I don’t lug mine around but I do have two copies so I can keep one at home and one at my mom’s house.

   Looking at mine now I don’t actually see the words ‘Library Edition,’ not in English anyway. If it’s two volumes and it’s about 8 inches by 11 inches and has lots of sentences, that’s the one you want.

   The more abridged editions save space by taking out some or most of the sentences. At that point, it’s lost what I love about it.

   And thanks for the info on the Domnern Sathienpong Dictionary. I will be getting that, too, as soon as I figure out how to order it from here (USA)

   And Hugh, great post as always. Thanks.

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3. I have found you hafta be careful with jumping on the bandwagon of “let’s break compound words down to their base words” concept.. I mean it can work fine sometimes, but there are more than a few times that the meanings of the base words which comprise a compound word will give you NOTHING close to the meaning of the word which has those components. Still it can certainly get your recognition of Thai words up to speed..

   I don’t have that So Sethaputhra Thai-English Dictionary, but I should probably go look for it. I think I might have seen it but it appeared too “clunky” for me to lug around all the time being a two volume set..

   Gaelee; is there a big difference between the Library Edition and the Desk version?

   FWIW: the Domnern Sathienpong Thai-English Dictionary has 4 PAGES worth of เป็น entries with hundreds of examples.. (Plus it comes with a C/D with spoken sound files too) so it’s not so bad either 🙂

   Note to Hugh; missed the ม on your recap of Rick Bradford’s contribution of จานดาวเทียม ;P

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4. Hugh,
   I’d like to second your choice of So Sethaputra’s New Model Dictionary (Library Edition) as my favorite as well, except that I prefer the Thai-English version.

   For those who haven’t seen it, yes there’s a sentence for every word, but some words warrant many sentences.

   เป็น for instance has almost 2 pages of 50+ sentences.
   ต่อ has almost 3 pages (no, I didn’t count the sentences for this one). You get the idea.

   Bernard, I was in Chiang Mai in 2011 and DK Books was exactly where I saw it. Yeah, 2 years ago now, but that’s where I would look.

   Btw it’s two volumes. Don’t leave the bookstore with only half the alphabet!

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5. Hi Bernard!

   It is my impression that French and Thai are more sensible and pragmatic languages than English. But again, my command of the first two is limited, French more so than Thai. 🙂

   English does have occasional success in combining multisyllabic words such as “workbench” or “worktable” which might be similar to โต๊ะทำงาน, but I suspect that breaking apart Thai words to understand their meaning might yield greater results than trying to do the same with English words. 🙂

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6. Rick,

   Good catch. ศาสตร์ /sàat/ is an often used suffix. In fact there are lots and lots of them – which just gave me an idea for a future post.

   For those who might be confused how about the word จานดาวเทีย, how about breaking it down this way.

   จานดาวเทีย

   จาน = dish, plate
   ดาว = star
   เทีย = artificial, fake, false
   ดาวเทีย = satellite, artificial (man made) star
   จานดาวเทีย = satellite dish

   5 for the price of 1.

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7. You can also try this using common suffixes, such as -ศาสตร์ (science). So there is แพทยศาสตร์, ดาราศาสตร์,ดาราศาสตร์,คณิตศาสตร์ and a whole heap more.

   The great thing about learning words in combinations is that you often get two words for the price of one, and context to go with them as well.

   Let’s say you are a complete novice at Thai, and the TV guy fixes you up with what he calls a จานดาวเทียม — you get 3 for 1; plate, star, and false.

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8. Reading the dictionary (especially a good Thai-to-English one) is an excellent way to thai err, tie words together.

   I spent so much time reading mine that it’s exactly why I reviewed the Domnern Sathienpong Dictionary for this site;
   http://womenlearnthai.com/index.php/review-domnern-sathienpong-thai-english-dictionary/

   I’d look up a word and before I know it I’d end up reading the dictionary and the various entries for an hour or more!

   I have found English to Thai dictionaries not all that useful, but man goin’ the other way from Thai to English and you can really get some useful stuff outta them..

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9. Keith,
   French as latin languages (Italian, Spanish…), and of course also English (that uses so many French words even if nowadays it is difficult to tracks them) doesn’t build multi syllabus words the same way as thai. French speaking doesn’t play “puzzles” ! And we neither have the so typically Thai serialization of verbs.

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10. Thank you Hugh.
    I will try to find it at DK books Chiang Mai, or an another one with use examples.
    That’s what missing in the Benjawan’s (and other electronic dictionaries). But Benjawan’s has very other good features as Keith reported above.

    I would like also that the electronic dictionaries will have some questions/games/flashcards integrated functions. Why give so many words, without making fun to play/discover them ?

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11. Bernard,

    The “paper” dictionary I like best is So Sethaputr’s (pronounced Saw Set-a-buut”) New Model English-Thai Dictionary (Library Edition). I don’t even know if you can still get it as they are mostly selling the PC version now. The reason I like it best is because every translated word comes with a sample sentence showing its use. Lots of good reading practice. In fact, when I started teaching myself to read (not too long ago comparatively) I would use his book daily for practice. BTW, my copy is almost 40 years old, and well used. The have recently updated the entries.

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12. One of my favorite features of the Talking Thai iPhone dictionary is its “Find Words Inside” feature. I agree that knowing the constituent parts of a word not only improves comprehension, but aids memorization as well.

    I think that might be one of the key strengths of the Thai language. Perhaps it is like French in that way, but my knowledge of French is not sufficient to make me sure.

    It can also offer insights into our different living situations. For example, I would be more likely to ตักหิมะ than กวาดหิมะ after a big snowstorm. I think the last time snow fell in Thailand was what we would call a “dusting” and was about 60 years ago in Chiang Rai.

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13. Very good Hugh. It’s good to learn words, and it’s also – if not mainly – good for the brain which needs to exercise as much as the body !

    And, by the way, this story reminds me that I have to buy a thai dictionary.
    I mean a “book”, a real one.
    I have many electronic dictionaries on my Mac, my iPhone and iPad mini. And I use mainly the Benjawan Becker’s one Talking English-Thai. These dics are very practical to make quick searches and picking up words, but it is impossible to “read” them. Electronic dictionaries are good to find, not so good to learn, new words.

    Thanks for that. Have a nice day in Chiang Mai. The weather is morning is cool and the hilly mountains around my place in Doi Saket are all crowned by beautiful clouds.

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