Hi Jodi,

Question for you......hope you can help!
Many times when I'm with the wife and/or her family,whenver I'm eating they always ask "Aroi mai?"
But of course it comes out like "Alloy mai"? as they have difficulty pronouncing "r".As I'm sure many others do.
Now.....I CAN pronounce "r" quite well....so.....should my reply be "aroi maak!" or "alloy maak!"

Mai lu...er...mai ru...er...oh..what's a man to do?

Hope you can use your years of scholarly activities to help me solve this burning issue!

Kob khun krap.
klap.
Er....khap.


PS see you in 2.5 weeks.

Hmmm...perhaps the esteemed professor has escaped to some Eastern European country......

Perhaps, but word has it she's preparing for a major performance and every minute of her day is occupied until sometime this weekend. Hopefully she'll find time to respond soon.

Posted By BkkSteve on 18 Aug 2010 09:03 AM
Perhaps, but word has it she's preparing for a major performance and every minute of her day is occupied until sometime this weekend. Hopefully she'll find time to respond soon.

Wha?
More important than this cultural issue???

M'kay...I'll be patient...and hope her performance is a great success!!

We're just the little people..

Her performances are usually outstanding.. a real treat.

I'd say do the "r" .. do it the right way..

In the past it used to be only people from the countryside who spoke central dialect with a strong accent. Now sloppy people picked it up and it has become common that a lot of people just opted for the L..

It's my pet peeve that they pronounce Thai that way..

Thai people wouldn't care much when a Thai person pronounce it that way but being a foreigner speaking with the L where it should be an R, people most likely will make an assumption that you've learned your Thai from the wrong crowd.. Ironically we don't think much about Thai people doing the same thing..  Double standard or what.. 

My performances were great. Full house on both days we did on last Thursday and Friday. We even had to add a lot more extra chairs to seat all those people. Was a blast and some of the best shows ever!

Intense preparation but it all paid off.

I'd say it also depends on who you are with, and where. If i'd be in company of Isan friends, or in Isan, I'd probably say "alloy" or more likely use their language "sehp Lai"

Its important to keep the geographical areas in mind.. I've had GF's from the south and GF's from the north and GF's from Bangkok. They all think their versions are right. The real skill, just like in English, is recognizing where you are, who you're talking with, and adjust accordingly. I do this all the time in the states to make people from different regions of the states feel comfortable.

I don't know.. English is my second language and I'm not sure I want to learn all these variations of regional pronunciation to make people from Louisiana or Chicago comfortable when they're talking to me.. That would be too much for my little brain to handle!

My family moved to the north when I was seven and moved back to Bangkok when I was thirteen. We weren't encouraged to learn the northern dialect because parents say everyone in Thailand understands the official (central) dialect, but not everyone understands regional dialects.. which is so true.

What, you don't want to learn a southern drawl or adopt a hillbilly twang? Personally I find an Asian lady with a southern drawl irresistible!

Position is now open for a gik with Southern drawl.. lol

"adjust accordingly" . . . not good advice because it is not practical. And you have to factor in how any thing that comes out of a farang face is going to be taken. If I say 'r', they correct me and say 'l'. If I say 'l', they correct me and say 'r'. After a little of this nonsense you stop trying.