Sunday, November 27, 2005

The Thai Connection

iKelah and I were having fun bantering at Pycnogenol's blog, writing in the language we managed to pick up albeit just a little, during our first year in varsity.No we were'nt in the same class as he was a year senior. I badly wanted to take Arabic as my elective subject then but I was amongst the last to cue (I hate to wait in line!). As the Arabic class was already full, I was only left with the Thai class. Having no choice, I registered. iKelah too faced the same predicaments but he opted for English Translation in one semester and Thai in another. So I can boast that my Thai is much, much better than his! Ehehe.

Thai is a fairly easy language to pick up, a bit like Malay where the words are spelled according to the sound. We had Khun Serm Suk as our teacher, a motherly lady. So for every lesson both semesters, we drilled on the basics of the language, talking like pre-school children. 'Khun jak pai nai kha?' where are you going to?'Chan jak pai rong rem' I am going to the cinema. The Thais must love going to the movies as this was one of the many oft-repeated sentences we learn everyday!

And one of the percularities of Thai language is the soft melodious intonation that accompanies it. Kun Serm Suk would time and again stressed that we had to learn that aspect too or else our Thai would only be half-baked, so to speak!

Ours was a small class, about 15 I think. The boys were always the cheeky and adventurous ones, making daring statements like 'I am going to the cinema with my girlfriend tonight'or "I love my girlfriend so much as she's pretty' in what little Thai vocabulary they possess.They were never shy to try making sentences whenever they acquire new words.They always turn out sounding so funny and most of the time we were laughing our heads off making Khun Serm Suk all the more exasperated! And most of the time, these boys would put on a straight, serious face ! They are such clowns, I tell you! We girls prefer safe , mundane statements like 'I am going to the library now', 'How many brothers and sisters have you?''I love eating rice with Tom Yam' or "what day is today?" Yes, we girls always play it safe.

iKelah related to me on how he would use his standard answers whenever Serm Suk asked him to make sentences. It goes like this : 'Kun sebai di krab? Pom sebai . Kun phut pha sa thai krab? Pom phut pa sa thai mai keng. Pom put pha sa thai nit noy." Translation: How are you? I am fine. Do you speak Thai? I dont speak good Thai. I speak a bit of Thai." Another standard answer of his when he was lost for words would be 'Pom mai kao jai, pom phut pha sa thai nit noy'. Translation: I don't understand, I speak little Thai'.

So Pycno and Bea are going to Bangkok this December. Since they don't know Thai 'sepatah haram', I , drroza, am being kind enough *coughs* to offer my service as intepreter for them *coughs*. As the song goes, "all my bags are packed, I'm ready to go..."

Speaking of Bangkok, iFos went there alone (was it 2 yrs ago, Fi?) and met up with my sis,OG. OG requested that iFos help babysit her youngest daughter whilst she accompanied the eldest for a swimming meet. As they had travelled from Beijing, iFos had to travel alone from here. That was iFos', first major travel alone. Alhamdulillah, all went fine.

I take this opportunity to wish Pycno and Bea, a happy trip with their whole jingbang except for.........(can't say who!!). To you-know-who, I hope you are not feeling dejected for being left behind! *chortle*

Below is iKelah's Thai class picture taken then. ( iKelah is known to be a person who takes photos and keeps them for old time sake and I am not, so that's why I have no pics to share!) Many in the picture have become renowned figures. One of them is the President Of Mercy. One is a plastic surgeon (HOD Surgical Dpt USM). One is successful diversified businessmen. One is manager of Medic Online.One is HOD of O&G UPM. One is Consultant Paediatrician. And one is a professional Blogger. heheheh. And the list goes on....

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

i wonder which one is u lah dr roza, was it u in the black and pink floral baju kurung holding the black file with the grey head scarve? i guess dr jemilah must be the one holding the red and white paper bag..betul tak??

Nusayba said...

When I was in uni, I wanted to take up Thai as well. But the classes usually more often than not, are full. Bummer. I took Arabic instead, but that was more of wanting to boost up my gpa since it was class for beginners aje.

I wonder, do language learning tapes actually work? Sampai boleh bercakap like youre a native? I've seen many of those during the Int. Book Fair in KL tu, but well, can't help feeling awry of such claims.

Em said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Em said...

I luv other languages and speak a smattering of Mandarin

So wen I was in Beijing in Dec 2002.I tried my lingustic skills

I managed to get a seat in a busy market cos I told dem I was leng (cold) and needed to chow sia (sit down) veri badly.I was dead tired.

Hehe hee but den I brought my Mandarin/Eng dictionary wif me so I got by.

10:59 AM

dith said...

NB- I 'm not in the pic as it's iKelah's class not mine, he was my senior :))

23- So you can speak arab? :) I dunno whether those tapes realy work but I believe to master a language you have to speak it everyday! Btw- I hope my kids will be so thoughtful as you when my time comes to 'rest'..even now I feel like taking a long respite!

Em- Senang2 cakap melayu jek laa..:) tak payah bawak dictionary..pastu guna sign language, hehhe...my sis OG who resides in Beijing pon guna dictionary mandarin to communicate with her maid...once when she was so exasperated with her maid, her small daughter gave her the dictionary and said :mom I think u need this!

abdullahjones said...

saya cuma tahu 'krong tep'.

Em said...

Heheh betul kata Dr

If all else fails do wat jus keep pointing n drawing... tak boleh juga hv a time-out and choc..hehhe

Anonymous said...

Thai Language?
Hmm.. I never understood a word, except 'Sawadikap' (is that how you're suppose to spell it?).. I'm into Nihon-go! =)

HCI said...

Ha ha ha ha ha ha, this just makes my day today. After dok geli hati with the pic sent to me by my friend, now I am having a geli hati time here.

Dato' Jemilah sekali pandang dah kenal, but what's on earth was mat noor doing in that pic? I thought dia pakistan nya mari, he he he.

Was he in same class as jemilah?, and which class was that (let me guess class of '85). Yang grey tutup kepala tu budak pinang ker? Rasa macam kenal jer,,,

He he he post lagi banyak pic ler,,,

HCI said...

yang mana ikelah?
kalau ler betul mat nor dalam pic tu, nanti saya jumpa dia saya beri dia satu kopi,,,keh, keh, keh or bui ke marizah.

HCI said...

la dok fikir sambil ronda, plastic surgeon kat usm bukan HOD Surgery, tu yang konpius with mat nor tu, tapi yang baju biru, kelek file tangan kiri tu sebiji macam mat nor zaman muda2 dulu, keh, keh, now i am having tough time finding si plastic man pula, yang mana ye?

HCI said...

aii skrang dok fikir2 rosa kita ni maybe ramai kenal orang yang sama, what a small world, keh, keh, keh. Memang pun small, in blog world, i dok asyik ulang alik my blog dgn your blog aje sekarang, in reality pun dah tak berkawan dah, too introspective now, probably for my own good. sorry bikin kacau kat this comment segment, but you got me excited with that picture. salah hari bulan, my own ex class mates will follow me back to my own dustbin. tapi tak per, bukan nya dok mengata fasal orang kat sana kan?

Anonymous said...

Hahaha..... Its good to know that our pending trip to Bangkok has inspired you with an entry here and an interesting and unique one at that!! Thank you. Some of the Thai words and sentences will definitely be useful for us on the trip (if we can remember them).

Why is it that I suspect that we are still going to end up using the sign language. Am not too worried though, for pycno will always be able to do his shopping in whatever language - verbal or non-verbal.

HCI said...

yang plastic tu yang pakai spec, baju biru, kelek file hitam tangan kanan, rambut ala afro tu kot....he he lain dari sekarang, tapi the closest I boleh matched kan (from the way he stood in the photo) Yang berdiri tepi dia tu nampak ju'rus (org trg kata), he he hopefully tu ikelah.

you nak gi mekah ke? tak berapa fahan comment ke pakchik aki tu,,somethinga bout KT 8-

Anonymous said...

Having met ikelah at the gathering recently, I dont think he is in the pic, or is he?? He must be the one who took the photo, kan?
Looking at all those afro-hairstyles, I can just imagine the bell-bottoms that go with them.....hehe..
Groovy....groovy habis!!!

And, drroza, thanks for the free lessons in Thai language. :))

Ikelah said...

yang berdiri tepi yang kelek file hitam tu cucu arwah datuk mt nasir, bekas menteri besar kelate, bukan iKelah. yang afro tu tak tau pulak dia jadi plastik. yang sah plastik berbaju biru tua dok tepi sekali kat belakang.

aku dok belakang sebab kamera aku, depa yang tak de camera semua nok posing depan. hehehe

Anonymous said...

Ikelah - yang nombor tiga from the left ke? Standing at the back, sandwiched in between yang kelek file biru and file or kertas putih??
Kalau yang tu, memang nampak baik dan handsome. Kalau drroza fell head over heels pun , faham benar!!!! :))
Now, we have to wait for drroza to post her pic pula, to understand why ikelah cannot wait to marry after graduation!!!

dith said...

AJ- krong tep apa?

Em- so kena bawa writing pad and pen along

Ayumi- the end of sentence for female is kha and men is krab

Has- I tak berapa kenal depa dlm gambo tu sbb bukan class I. Dr Mercy I kenal lah plus the number of girls. Kena tanya iKelah. Mat Nor tu UKM ke? U UKM gak ke?

Pycno- iKelah is in the picture. He is the most handsome guy there. He was dubbed "ryan O'Neal' of Malaysia! heehhahah. Serious he is there. Get your magnifying glass! He might have changed in size a 'lil' bit...
he stands behind but face clear.
Chan chop iKelah mak!!! hahaa

Ikelah said...

hahaha.... pandai laa.... but ur guess betul, dok belakang takun khun serm suk panggil tanye soalan... khun=cik.

yang kelek file hitam, 4 th from left di depas tu doc cum towkey komputer, towkey barang makanan, buat occumed dan latest jadi gembala kambing(news last sunday), very successful brother dalam business. base dia kat ngganu.

Em said...

Allo

Ialah bawa notepad.. Tapi I realised kan wif tourist spots like Bangkok dey more or less will paham what u try to ask or tell dem

HCI said...

He he Ikelah & Roza, no i am not UKM'S Alma Mater, but have many friends from it.

Girl in the middle yang pakai kurung and grey cap tu from penang ke? macam kenal jer.

Anonymous said...

Drroza, we've seen proof of the Ryan O'Neal of Malaysia.
We have yet to see our Ali McGraw.
:))

dith said...

Em- yes Thai and Malays- we are from the same rumpun..isnt it?

Has- Love ur house in kitchen...bila nak jempot? hehe

Pycno- I am no Ali Mcgraw...sorry to disappoint....never percieved iKelah as Ryan either! Got to know of this 'gelaran' after I married him! iKelah ramai peminat- once masa election, gambar dia yg pasted all over, habis kena curi, tengok 2 penuh kat bilik girls...but I never had the urge to keep those pics, hehhe

Anonymous said...

i LOVE looking at old photos like this, hehe. seems like a candid shot though... many had their attention elsewhere.

The only word I know in thai is sawwadikap.. and even that I once got the meaning wrong! but yes, i also noticed their lilting pronunciation which i found fascinating whenever i got the chance to watch those thai dramas.

tomyam is my favouritest dish after asam pedas btw :)

pycnogenol said...

Ye lah drroza, we can understand why you dont have the urge to keep those pics of ikelah, for you got to keep the man himself - ALL to yourself !!! ;))


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