Hi,
I was wondering if anyone on the forum speaks Thai? Or at least has a translation to Thai for these for me?

Vegetarian - No, meat, chicken or fish food/sauce
Diabetic

Thank you very much

I used to be reasonably fluent, but a long time ago.
Can you give me an idea of the context? Is this for you to speak while you are in Thailand (ie, do you want to tell people you are vegetarian, and that you don't want any meat products?), or for a menu here?
If it's for speaking, what sex are you? (It makes a difference).
With a bit more information, hopefully I can assist.
Cheers
Jill

I have a couple of things to add to Jill's informative message:
Thai is a tonal language. This means that if you say the same sound but in a different tone (high or low or starting-low-and-raising-tone-at-end or the opposite), it is a different word.
A non-audio forum may not be the most suitable medium for you to learn to say the words correctly.

Ex: for a woman to say "I eat vegetarian only":
"Dee Chaan kin jay"
Now how do I convey to you the tones ?
- Lengthen "deeee"
- Drop tone in "chaan" then raise it at the end of the vowel.

Jill, kindly correct my very rusty Thai. Make certain I didn't confuse it with "pile on the hot sauce please". (Just kidding.) I am especially unsure of the tone up-and-down for "chaan".

The guidebook Lonely Planet has a long, very informative foreword on Thai culture, society and language. It has a useful food glossary that can help you out. The glossary has the word in English, English transcription and also the orignal Thai writing. If you show the Thai writing to the restaurant people, then you don't have to deal with the tone problem.
The problem with he guidebook is that it is about 1000 pages. No kidding.

I was going to add a long rider about tones too. I lay in bed last night thinking, 'How in the world would I explain how to pronounce the word for meat?"

Perhaps the best thing is for me to copy in some phrases in Thai script, with some rough (I emphasis rough) pronounciation hints. You can print off the phrases and put them on a credit card sized piece of cardboard and pull them out, if needed, when you have to say what you want to say. I don't want to sound patronizing when I suggest this, but the tones are both difficult to master and essential.

For example, "Ma" to us is just "Ma", no matter how you say it. In Thai, it can mean "come here", "dog" or "horse" depending on how you say it.

Lonely Planet phrasebooks are great. I'm not sure if they have one in Thai.

"Dee chaan kin jay" .... I'd write it "De jun gin jaa" because that's how I'd pronounce it. It's a polite feminine way of saying "I eat vegetarian". If you are male, you'd say "pom" instead of "de jun". You probably should also add to anything you say that you don't eat any meat or fish. Meat is very difficult to pronouce.

I think the flash card idea is a good one.

Thank you very much!

This is for travel. For wait staff/restaurants. I had thought I would take a "flash card" as when I was last in Italy I was often given a little laminated card saying "Vegi".

I had actually wondered if most people would have written language skills and then I decided I would probably only be eating at places that probably would!

Thanks so much!

So although the phonetics is great, it is the words. Oh, and I didn't realise they had masculine feminine in Thai. I'm female!

Right. Here goes.
I'm not going to bother with the tones, on the whole, because unless you can hear them first, it's pretty well impossible to say them correctly.


ดิฉันเป็นโรคเบาหวาน

I am diabetic (fem) Pronounced: Di-chun ben roke bao waan.

The sequence of tones for this one is Di (mid) chun (slightly higher) ben (middle) roke (falling) bao (mid) waan (rising) - see what I mean?).

(the chun is as in "chunder" - sorry, can't think of a better way to describe it )

ผมเป็นโรคเบาหวาน

I am diabetic (masc) Pronounced: Pom ben roke bao waan.

(whenever you say "Pom" you need to say it with a rising tone, otherwise you'll be describing your hair as diabetic.)

ฉันกินแจ

I am vegetarian Pronounced: Chun gin jaa. (as in jam, without the m at the end)

ฉันไม่กินเนื้อ

I don’t eat meat: Pronounced: Chun mai gin neua.

ฉันไม่เอาน้ำปลา

I don’t want fish sauce. Pronounced: Chun mai ow narm bla.

ปลา - fish: pronounced: bla

ไก่ - chicken Pronounced: Gai (say it with a low tone)

หมู - pork Pronounced: Moo (rising tone).

Let me know if you want any other words/phrases. I hope I haven't scared you off!

(Just about everyone in Thailand reads and writes, so you shouldn't have any difficulties with flash cards).

Hi

Have you check out travlang.com ?

Where did you take your nick from by the way? From Norse mythology?

Thank you so much - this is excellent

I will print a few copies - I am sure it will save my life!!

Yggdrasil? Yes, from Norse mythology

I checked Lonely Planet's website, and it does produce a Thai Phrasebook. It might be a worthwhile investment, for a meagre $9.95.

Just a quick note to say thanks again for this info - I'm just printing off my "phrases" as I leave for Tiger Temple and Thailand tomorrow

Have a great trip. We'd love to hear about your trip when you return. Please tell us more about Thailand and how the phrases work out.

I am back!

Not really a trip report as such, just to let you know it was great

I went with my son, and had a four day cruise on the River Kwai in Kanchanaburi, which was excellent. And then did our own thing for 7 more days.

This included
Bangkok, and the reason for our trip, visiting the Tiger Conservation Project run by the Abbot of a Buddhist Monastery. The heat was incredible, and I would recommend anyway travel earlier in the year, January & February, as we were ruled by my son's University break for Easter Week.

It was unforgettable in many ways, and was very much more comfortable out in the country, rather than the Capital of Bangkok.

I only had to resort to my "Language Sheet" for two restaurants, but it was a comfort to have it with me!

Thanks All !

Welcome home. Thanks for the update. It sounds like a great trip.

Marta