In continuing on the mid-service theme, from our last group article, this month we asked our Sticky Rice staff to write about a Thai word or phrase that they felt summed up the first half of their service, first year living at site, or just their favorite Thai phrase in general.
P.S., For more musings on the Thai language, Snake Snake Fish Fish is an ongoing series based around Thai idioms/phrases/colloquialisms written about and illustrated by Cloé Fortier-King and guest contributors – Kayla Kawalec guest wrote on this topic for a recent edition.
Bradford Reszel, 134 TESS
My favorite Thai word/phrase is คนป่วน “khohn bpuaan” which translates to “troublemaker”. I’m able to use this word at my school to playfully joke with students – and the students give it right back! Building camaraderie through jokes helps break down the communication barrier while establishing trust all at the same time.
I also enjoy hearing/saying, “mai pet mai aroi” or “if it’s not spicy, it’s not delicious”, which is a very Isaan way of describing food.
Finally, I’ll end with my favorite English phrase from my Thai counterpart. He often says, “the plan is not the plan” when something unexpected happens and interrupts our teaching schedule. That, along with his uttering of (what I think is), “subtly Thai”, reminds me that things out of our control are usually unable to change. Go with the flow and embrace the moments that present themselves – that’s all we can do!
Cloé Fortier-King, 134 YinD
A year at site in Thai words and phrases:
My inner voice tends toward the rational, seeks order, and often shouts that life could be bigger, better, more efficient, more accomplished. It’s an exhausting chorus.
But Thailand’s voice whispers the opposite, a bit louder each day. Over the past year at site, it has presented me with a new reprise, a soaring symphony. Here’s a glimpse into the wisdom it has shared:
อะไรจะเกิดมันก็ต้องเกิด (Arai ja gert man gaw dtong gert). Whatever will happen, will happen. This isn’t to say, “it is what it is” and settle with a shrug—it’s a reminder that so much is beyond our control. No matter how much we prepare and worry, plans will change, students will run amok, communication will be misunderstood. We can drive ourselves crazy trying to predict and alter the uncontrollable, or we can embrace ชีวิตธรรมดา (chiwit tamada), the simple life. Some days it’s all I can do to show up for my students and buy enough fruit and vegetables for one day…and that’s a victory. The smallest moments—the smiles we share, the patience we have for ourselves and others, the solitude we savor—have the greatest impact. We are so tiny but our connections to other people aren’t. I’m slowly realizing that in many cases the peace we seek is already there, already built into our lives. We are fortunate to be given the chance to choose it.
Bianca Palese, 134 TESS
My favorite Thai phrase is the Isaan/Lao phrase “ee-yang waa“, which you can say after something happens to mean the equivalent of “what in the world?!” I picked this up from the students who frequently employ this phrase when they don’t understand what I’m telling them to do or they think my foreign mannerisms are funny. I like to throw it back at them outside of the classroom when I catch them doing something silly.
My counterparts also say it to each other jokingly when someone does something amusing. For example, when we went to the Loy Krathong beauty pageant and a contestant answered the question: “What would you do if you won a million baht in the lottery?”, by saying, “I would give it the hospital (hold for applause) so they’d have to name a building after me.” My counterpart and I turned to each other and in unison whispered, “ee-yang waa??” while cracking up. I think this phrase pretty much sums up my service so far because I am constantly confused and amused by the people around me.
Dito Montaña, 134 YinD
It’s a funny thing to reflect back on this past year and not think about how fast it’s gone by. It’s not hyperbolic to say that it’s been the most eventful, the busiest, the most challenging, the most fulfilling, and the most fun year of my life. So much has happened: from funerals to birthdays; countless holidays and events both at school, and the SAO; day trips and weekend excursions, it feels like I’ve lived a lifetime in one year.
But with all the things I’ve experienced, my favorite moments at site have been the brief moments of pause: the random moments when time stands still and I take a second to live purely in the present, appreciating where I am and how far I’ve come. In these moments, nothing exists outside of my immediate surroundings. I can breathe a little bit deeper, see a little bit clearer, and for a brief moment I can truly appreciate the crazy reality that I’m living a novel life thousands of miles away from home.
My favorite of these quiet moments was on the last day of my host dad’s funeral last November. After five days of making merit and helping serve food to our guests, the funeral was finally beginning to wrap up. As I biked home late at night, with the stars in the night sky peeping through the darkness and a subtle breeze in the air, I felt bliss. Despite the sad circumstances of the past week, I felt like I was finally home at site and felt a deep appreciation for where I was and who I was becoming. I remember every breath I took felt profound. I stopped for a minute to take it all in, looking up as more stars began to fill the dark landscape above me, and when I was ready, I pressed play on time and continued riding my bike back home.
The Thai phrase that sums up my past year is “mâi dtông rêep” (ไม่ต้องรีบ) and it means “no need to hurry.” It’s my reminder to not take things too seriously, to not rush progress, and to savor those fleeting moments.
Teresa Derr, 134 YinD
It is really hard to pick a favorite Thai word, as I love the variety of expressions and emotions that we don’t have words for in English. So instead, I choose a word that I love saying and has been something of an inside joke between me and some of my counterparts: จริง (jing) which means really.
It can be a question: “Really?!”, if you say จริงหรือ (jing-reuu/law); or, an emphasized answer: “Really!!”, if you say it twice: จริงๆ (jing-jing). It isn’t the most polite of things to say, only said between family and friends, so when I heard it from my students and tried to say it to my counterpart teacher, she feigned scandalous expressions and asked who taught me that. I thought that meant I couldn’t use it! But then the next time I said something funky and she wanted to make sure I wasn’t pulling her leg, she nudged me and said, “จริงหรือ” (really?!).
It is a fun word to say, to repeat, to emphasize, and to use to make sure I really just heard what I think I heard. It relates to my Peace Corps experience in that a lot of my time is spent going “Really? You want me to eat/do/see what? Really?” And the answer, of course, is “Really. Really!!“
Kyra O’Connell, 134 TESS
เลย “luey”
For many Thai words, it’s often a useless pursuit to try and find the perfect one-to-one English translation. Instead, you have to learn to get the “feel” of a word after a lot of listening and testing it out through trial and error—discover the connotation rather than google translate the denotation. Alas, easier said than done, but still extremely rewarding once you do figure it out!
เลย is one such word. I love this word so much. It’s the best word in the entire Thai language, surely.
It took me a while to understand what it means and how to use it. I’d hear Thai people say it all the time tacked onto the ends of their sentences, but it didn’t seem to be a “politeness” particle, and it was used just as easily in positive contexts as negative ones. When I asked Thai English-speakers, they were equally stumped on how to describe it saying, “I don’t know how to say, but you can just use it any time.” Unfortunately, this is a common response when I come across these somewhat difficult to translate Thai words. Essentially, เลย “luey” intensifies whatever precedes it.
As an American, I am prone to exaggeration, emphasis, a little bit of excess to add some razzle-dazzle to a conversation. I don’t want to say something is “cute”, I want to say it’s “so cute!!” (Narak mak luey). I don’t want to just say “go”, I want to say, “Let’s go already!!” (Bpai luey). And when something startles the shit out of me (like opening a drawer and finding a cockroach in my face), I can’t help but say, “Dtok jai moht luey!!!”
เลย enables me to comment on the world around me to the exact degree of intensity that I require. I use it every day.
Sticky Rice 