Baludi, Aislay L.; Bahian, Evander James; Castillo, Seth A.; Galinada, Jesamae B.

;
Oponda, Claire; Porras, Marlou; Quintanilla, Verte Mae N.
ENG 102, 29C
November 20, 2020

The Thinglish: Thailand English Dialect

Thinglish refers to any form of English heavily influenced by Thai. It is commonly

produced by native Thai speakers due to language interference from the first language.
(Lambert, 2018). Thailand is classified as an expanding circle country (Kachru, 2005)
where they consider English language as a foreign language. The Thailand English
originated because of the vital role of English language in terms of Businesses and
communication to perform better in global contexts. The fact that Thailand was never
been colonized before, made their culture well preserved and few of its population is
English literate and can speak English. Only a small population can speak English and
they are spread out all over the country, but most of the English speakers are found in
Bangkok, the capital city of Thailand. Bangkok is a city with educational establishments
that offers English proficiency and literacy for Academic, Business and Economical
purposes. As they adopt English language, their culture remained and affects their
English accent, and as time passes by, they even considered making their own local
Thailand-English words which also has a distinct definition and quality from other Asian
English dialects (Bolton K. et al. 2020)

Glossary of Thailand English (Thinglish) Words/Phrases

1. Archan/Ajahn - อาจารย ์ (noun)

- is a Thai language term which translates as "professor" or "teacher", a person
who teaches, especially in a school It is derived from the Pali word ācariya, and is a term
of respect, similar in meaning to the Japanese sensei, and is used as a title of address
for high-school and university teachers, and for Buddhist monks who have passed ten
vassa. The term "ajahn" is customarily used to address forest tradition monks and the
term Luang Por, "Venerable father" is customarily used to address city tradition monks in
Thai Buddhism.
Example: My archan thought us that knowledge is power.
2. Biew - บิว๊ /bíew/ (verb)
- in Thinglish slang, it is often used in the sense that someone is trying to “build
up” or “stir up” a feeling or interest usually in a certain audience in a manipulative way.
Example: Someone is trying to biew the interest in his product.

3. Chew - เจ้าชู ้ (verb)

- combination with the code‐mixing of lexical items, adapted from English,
meaning to calm down or to chill out.
Example: Annas so angry, she needs to chew a little.

4. Comp - คอมพิวเตอ (noun)

- clipping and ellipses in combination with the code‐mixing of lexical items,
adapted from English which basically mean as electronic device for storing and
processing data, typically in binary form, according to instructions given to it in a variable
program.
Example: Using comp in attending online classes is easier than using mobile
phone.

5. Copy - ก๊อป /kóp/ (verb)

- which means to make a duplicate of something.
Example: Copy this key for mom and dad’s use if ever we left the house an attended.

6. Farang - ฝรง่ ั /faràŋ/ (noun)

- is a generic Thai slang and scorn word for white people no matter where they
may come from. The "farang" word is a cognate and originates from old french "franc”.
The term is also blended into everyday terms meaning from the white race.
Example: My farang husband is visiting UAE this weekend.

7. Farang Man - ชายต่างชาติ (noun)

- means a guy from another country. The "farang" word is a cognate and
originates from old french "franc”. The term is also blended into everyday terms meaning
from the white race.
Example: I’m a farang man in USA
8. Fin - ฟิ น /fin/ (verb)
- is a Thinglish slang, often used to mean to “have an orgasmic experience”
equivalent to “finish" or with a pleasurable feeling (very happy) and used after finishing a
task. Another often quoted word origin is “finale".
Example: I’m glad that this English assignment of Mr. Grey is so easy, that I’m fin doing
it earlier done expected

9. Firm - เฟิ ร ์ม (verb)

- a chopped loanword from “confirm.” which means to give approval or assurance.
Example: I need you to take a closer look to firm if that organism moves a little that means
it’s still alive.

10. Forest Monk - พระป่ า (noun)

- means a monk who lives as hermit in a forest. The Forest Monk tradition of
Theravada Buddhism could be understood as a modern revival of ancient monasticism.
Although the term "forest monk tradition" primarily is associated with the Kammatthana
tradition of Thailand, today there are many forest traditions around the world.
Example: I saw a forest monk near our cabin in Sanchez peek.

11. Fossil - ฟอสซิล (verb)

- in Thailand English it signifies the act of leaving a university program in order to
take up a new degree.
Example: I was going to fossil before I got my head crazy over this course. It doesn't suit
me.

12. In - อิน /in/ (adjective)

- which means captivated or focused.
Example: You’re definitely in on Mr. Greys assignment.

13. In Trend - อินเทร (adjective)

- literally, “in trend” which actually means “trendy. It is a change or development
that occurs to dress, fashion, clothing, cosmetics, etc. people who look like the trend are
people who do their own time. fashion closely or in the line of fashion people who do not
follow fashion, not modern, slang is used as "out" [teenage term]
Example: Andy wore sneakers like his in trend
14. Ment - เม้นท ์ (verb)
- a chopped loanword from "comment" which means to express opinion.
Example: Dunica left a ment on Aprils post yesterday.

15. Mor-Sai - รถจักรยานยนต ์ (noun)

- clipping and ellipses in combination with the code‐mixing of lexical items,
adapted from English which means an automotive vehicle with two in-line wheels
Example: Auntie Arsad bought a mor-sai for her son's 21st birthday.

16. O – โอ /oh/ (adjective)

- “O” in Thinglish slang means "Ok" or "Alright"
Example: Is laughing good in our mental health? she replied, O definitely

17. Out - เอาท ์ (adjective)

- a chopped loanword which means out of trend.
Example: Sneakers are way out, but Andy still wears one of those in school.

18. Papaya Pok-Pok - ส้มตา (noun)

- is a spicy salad made from shredded unripe papaya locally made from Thailand.
The term pok‐pok functions as an onomatopoeia to indicate the lively sound of a green
papaya being chopped
Example: Amirs papaya pok-pok is so delicious.

19. Social - สังคม

- refers to social media but can also be used to mean society. Lexical creativity
of how Thailand English refers to English words
Example: Anna always stay to social that she's very updated about the things happening
around her school

20. Wer - เว่อร ์ /wôoe/ (adjective)

- is shortened from “over”, since ‘v’ does not exist in Thai sounds and it was first
used decade or decades ago, which means over the top, excessive, exaggerated, or
too much.
Example: My mom always buys a lot of cheese for our 2 days trip. She’s totally wer!
Principles of Grammars and Pronunciation

Although many Thais can speak some English, understanding them, can often
still prove difficult. This is because, especially among those with a limited education, Thai
phrases are often translated word for word into English and they pronounced it in a
uniquely Thai way.

Phonological Features

The sound and tone of phrases and words is very important when considering the
Thai Language. Native Thai words are characterized by their monosyllabic nature with a
number of words derived from Pali and Sanskrit.
Complications in English pronunciation can be encountered by Thai learners of
English due to variations in language structure, and confusion when converting specific
tonal sounds related to the consonants /l/, /r/ /w/, and /v/. Stress is sometimes placed on
the final syllable of nouns.
Example: University is pronounced as /uːnɪwəːsɪˈti/.
In terms of vowels, Thai vowels are comparable to English vowels, but one major
difference exist with regards to length of vowel production where "laxness and tenseness
are relevant for English".Tsukada (2008,2009) Thai Speakers produce distinctively
shorter monophthongs than Australian speakers, and that /εI/ and /oY/ are often equated
by Thai speakers with the Thai long vowels /ε:/ and /o:/

With consonants, Trakulkasemsuk (2012) notes that the consonants /tʃ/, /dӡ/, /θ/,
/ð/, /ʃ/, and /ӡ/ do not exist in Thai. Instead they tend to substitute these with the closest
consonants in their Thai consonant inventory, where, for example, /tʃ/, /ʃ/, and /ӡ/ are often
approximated to the Thai /tɕʰ/. The consonant /dӡ/ in English is often replaced by /tɕ/,
while /ð/ is substituted by /d/, and /θ/ by /t/, /tʰ/, or /s/. Finally, the /v/ consonant in English
is pronounced as /w/ like university that pronounced as /uːnɪwəːsɪˈti/, while the English
consonant /z/ is closest to /s/ in Thai, resulting in a lack of distinction between minimal
pairs like vest and west and rice and rise (Trakulkasemsuk, 2012).
Lexical Features

English spoken by Thais is typified by the utilization of lexical borrowing, or so‐

called loanwords employed to describe cultural elements which are typically Thai, and for
which no English equivalents exist. Other lexical features include hybridization, where
Thai speakers combine a Thai word with an English one as in a farang man (‘a foreign
man’). In this way, many compound words can emerge, indicating perhaps an element of
bilingual creativity among Thai English speakers. Other prominent features include the
habit of Thai speakers for reduplication in order to emphasize or exaggerate, as in many
buildings or big schools. (Chutisilp, 1984).
In a different situation, reduplication can creatively convey a sound, as in papaya
pok‐pok (‘papaya salad’), a popular dish throughout Thailand. The term pok‐pok functions
as an onomatopoeia to indicate the lively sound of a green papaya being chopped. This
linguistic creativity retains the word papaya as the main lexical item but adds the
onomatopoeic pok‐pok to reflect the culinary culture of Thai people.

Syntactic Features

Salient syntactic features of Thai English include: subject less constructions; tense
and subject‐verb agreement; plural marking; and aspects of word order. Chutisilp (1984)
provides a comprehensive analysis of subject less constructions and concludes that the
omission of subjects occurs in various types of sentences, including (i) affirmative
utterances, as in (I) watch movie; (ii) negative utterances, as in (I) not go to university;
and (iii) interrogatives, as in (Are you) coming? It is normal in the Thai language to omit
the subject of a sentence where the meaning of the omitted word is understood from the
context.Pechapan (2007) noted a similar pattern of subject omission among the
affirmative statements made in an English guided‐tour commentary by a Thai tour guide.
Examples are shown below:
1. [The Buddha image] Come from the Indonesia in the reign of King Rama
the Fifth.
2. [He] Offer the four Buddha image to the King Rama the Fifth
Both subject‐verb agreement and verb inflection do not exist in Thai, which helps to
explain examples below:
1. He swim in the canal near his home yesterday.
2. If I know about your problem, I will not criticize you at the meeting
yesterday.
 Accordingly, Thailand and Thai English are very much aligned with Bolton’s (2003)
view that speakers “of English seem to be developing their own styles of speech and
writing that are used to communicate about the realities of their own societies and
cultures”. This can be notified in some word order of Thai English as exemplified by the
sign on many Bangkok taxis that reads taxi meter (rather than meter taxi), and in such
phrases as movie cowboy (‘cowboy movie’), a form online (instead of an ‘online form’), a
game computer (instead of a ‘computer game’), and padthai vegetable (‘vegetarian
padthai’).

Discourse Features

Thais, as Expanding Circle users, are greatly influenced by the unique cultural
context of their society when they express themselves in written English. Chutisilp (1984)
lists a number of distinctive patterns of Thai English written discourse, asserting that (i)
sentences in Thai English are often lengthy, incoherent, and unconnected; (ii) Thais
frequently write one‐sentence paragraphs with many modifiers; (iii) Thai English appears
to be spiral, redundant, and wordy, rather than direct and to the point; and (iv) Thai writers
in English often attempt to employ a sophisticated mode of expression, which all too often
results in an unnecessarily inflated style of language. Other structural features associated
with this type of writing can be exemplified by the use of the conjunctions ‘although …
but’ and ‘because … so’ in sentences such as:

1. Although I don’t have a lot of money, but I am happy.

2. Because it is flooded, so I cannot go to class.
References:
Bolton, K., Botha, W., & Kirkpatrick, A. (2020). The handbook of Asian Englishes.
(Page 636 -639). New Jersey, USA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Thanissaro Bhikkhu. "Thai Forest Traditions, Selected Teachers". Retrieved 2011-
08-17. The footnote referenced here very usefully elaborates further on various
monastic titles using ajahn.
Royal Institute Dictionary 1999] (in Thai). Royal Institute of Thailand. (2007). Thai Woman
Talks Language, Society, Politics, and Love. A Taste of Thinglish Slang (2012).
Retrieved from https://thaiwomantalks.com/2012/08/25/a-taste-of-thinglish-slang/
Lambert, James. 2018. A multitude of ‘lishes’: The nomenclature of hybridity. English
World-wide, 39(1): 1-33. DOI: 10.1075/eww.38.3.04lam
Kachru, B. B. (2005). Asian Englishes: beyond the canon. New Delhi: Oxford University
Press nto Asia. Making Sense of Thinglish, The Thai Version of English. (2018).
Retrieved from https://www.into-asia.com/thai_language/thaienglish.php