Tinglish Totally Explained

Everything about Tinglish totally explained

Tinglish (also Thenglish, Thailish or Thainglish) is the imperfect form of English produced by native Thai speakers due to language interference from the first language. Differences from native English include incorrect pronunciation, wrong word choices, misspellings, and grammatical mistakes.

Examples

Some common examples (direct translation) are:

same same (similar, as usual) and same same but different (seems similar but different in some ways);
open/close the light (means "To turn on/off the light");
I love you too much;
I'm not pretty sure (means "I don't know");
Is this soup? (means "are you drinking apple cider?");
I have ever been to London;
I'm interesting in football (means "I am interested in watching/playing football");
wash the film (means "develop the film");
I very like it (means "I really like it");
I'm sad when my mother angries me meaning is angry with me;
I used to go to Phuket or I go to Phuket already meaning I have been to Phuket before or I went to Phuket;
take a bath referring to taking a shower;
"Do you know how to eat this?" referring to food with taste that may be unfamiliar, or food requiring special eating method (such as wrapping it in lettuce) that may not be known to the listener;
I play internet (I go on/use the internet);
"This is suck!" means "This sucks!";
omission of pronouns and of the verb be;
non-use or incorrect use of articles, declension and conjugation.
addition of Thai final particles, for example I don't know na

Particles

The words of Thai prefix particles and their implied meanings:

khun (literraly mister, miss, or mrs.) or k. = mister or miss (for example Khun Somchai will have a meeting on Friday.) Following is the list of Thai final particles and their implied meanings:

la = to give suggestion (for example Why don't you ask her la?), to inform the listener of something (for example I'm going to bed la.), or to ask if the subject would do something that the subject of the previous sentence does (for example I'm going to have dinner now, how about you la?)

na = to give suggestion (for example You must do your homework first na.), to inform the listener of something (for example I'll be right back na.), or to express opinion about something that the speaker think should have been done but have not yet been done (for example Why don't you ask her na?)

ja = to add informality to the conversation (for example Hello ja.)

krab (or, alternatively, krub) (for male speaker only) = add at end of sentence to make the conversation polite/formal; also as confirmation (Yes!) (for example Hello krab.)

kha (or ka) (for female speaker only) = same as krab (for example Hello kha.) Particles can also be combined, as follows:

la na, for example I've to go la na.

na ja, for example Don't go too far na ja.

la ja, for example Where have you been la ja?

na krab/kha, for example Please excuse me na krab/kha. Some less common particles:

munk/mung = to guess/estimate something (for example The shop already closed munk. / He's 25 years old munk.)

leoy = totally or immediately (for example I don't understand leoy la. / See you there leoy na)

laew = already or done (for example I've to go laew la.)

wa = to give suggestion (it's likely to be used with someone who's close to you, such as your close friend) (for example I don't know at all wa, why don't you come with me wa?)

Pronunciation

As some sounds in English just simply don't exist in Thai language, this affects the way native Thai speakers pronounce English words:

shifts the stress to the last syllable of the word

omits consonant clusters

final consonants are often omitted or converted according to the rules of Thai pronunciation: l and r become n, while s becomes t

"sh" and "ch" sounds are hardly distinguishable, for example ship/chip, sheep/cheap, wish/witch

"v" sound is almost always replaced by "w" sound, for example vow -> wow, ville -> will

"g" and "z" sounds are usually devoiced, for example dog -> dock, zoo -> sue

"th" sound is often replaced by "t" or "d" sound, for example thin -> tin, through -> true, then -> den

ambiguity between the short "e", as in "bled", and a long "a", as in "blade"Further Information

Get more info on 'Tinglish'.

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