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Chai: |
Fráenk fǒn
tòk bāo bāo yàng ní phāsǎ
āngkrìt phût wá àrāi |
á¿Ã§¡ì ½¹µ¡àºÒæ ÍÂèÒ§¹ÕéÀÒÉÒÍѧ¡ÄɾٴÇèÒÍÐäà |
Frank, in English, how
would you describe this gently falling rain? |
|
Frank: |
phût wá
“It’s drizzling.” |
¾Ù´ÇèÒ “It’s drizzling.” |
I’d say, “It’s drizzling.” |
|
Chai: |
thâ tòk
nàk kwà ní ìk nòi lâ |
¶éÒµ¡Ë¹Ñ¡¡ÇèÒ¹ÕéÍա˹èÍÂÅèÐ |
What if it rains a little
heavier than this? |
|
Frank: |
chà phût
wâ “It’s sprinkling.” rǔe “It’s spitting.” |
¨Ð¾Ù´ÇèÒ “It’s sprinkling.” ËÃ×Í
“It’s spitting.” |
I’d say “It’s sprinkling.”
or “It’s spitting.” |
|
Chai: |
ô láeo “It’s raining?” chái
mûearài lâ |
ÍéÍ áÅéÇ “It’s raining.” ãªéàÁ×èÍäÃÅèÐ |
Ah, I see. And when do
you say, “It’s raining”? |
|
Frank: |
mûea phût
thǔeng fǒn tòk thûa thûa pāi
mâi bòk wâ nàk rǔe bāo |
àÁ×è;ٴ¶Ö§½¹µ¡·ÑèÇæ ä» äÁèºÍ¡ÇèÒ˹ѡËÃ×ÍàºÒ |
When we talk about rain
in general, not being specific whether it’s heavy or light. |
|
Chai: |
láeo khām
wâ “shower” lâ |
áÅéǤÓÇèÒ “shower” ÅèÐ |
And what about “shower”? |
|
Frank: |
chái mûea
fǒn tòk pēn wēlā sân sân
khām ní chái kàp hìmá
láe … kôn námkhǎeng thî tòk
lōng mā mǔean fǒn dûai ná |
ãªéàÁ×èͽ¹µ¡à»ç¹àÇÅÒÊÑ鹿
¤Ó¹Õéãªé¡ÑºËÔÁÐ áÅÐ … ¡é͹¹éÓá¢ç§·Õ赡ŧÁÒàËÁ×͹½¹´éǹР|
It’s used to describe
a short period of rain. It’s also used with snow and … with large
balls of ice (hail) that falls like rain. |
|
Chai: |
… ǒ phāsǎ
Thāi rîak wâ “lûk hèp” |
… ÍëÍ ÀÒÉÒä·ÂàÃÕ¡ÇèÒ “ÅÙ¡àË纔 |
… Ah, we call that luk hep in Thai. |
|
Frank: |
rǒe phǒm rúchàk khām
mài wānní |
àËÃÍ ¼ÁÃÙé¨Ñ¡¤ÓãËÁèÇѹ¹Õé |
I see! I learned a new
word today. |
|
Chai: |
bāngkhráng
phǒm hěn khǎo chái khām wâ “It’s
pouring.” |
ºÒ§¤ÃÑé§¼ÁàËç¹à¢Òãªé¤ÓÇèÒ
“It’s pouring.” |
Sometimes I see the term
“It’s pouring.” |
|
Frank: |
sàdāeng wâ
fǒn kāmlāng tòk nàk |
áÊ´§ÇèÒ½¹¡ÓÅѧµ¡Ë¹Ñ¡ |
That means it’s raining
heavily. |
|
Chai: |
thâ tòk
bàep mâi lūem hǔ lūem tā lâ |
¶éÒµ¡áººäÁèÅ×ÁËÙÅ×ÁµÒÅèÐ |
What if it’s an eye-shutting-ear-blocking
rain? |
|
Frank: |
… phǒm khît
wâ nâ chà trāng kàp “It’s raining
cats and dogs.” |
… ¼Á¤Ô´ÇèÒ¹èҨеç¡Ñº “It’s raining cats and dogs.” |
Ah, in that case, I think
that’s precisely what it means. But what about “It’s raining cats
and dogs”? |
|
Chai: |
nâ sǒnchāi
mâk bāngkhráng phǒm hěn sǎmnūan
“It’s bucketing down.” |
¹èÒʹã¨ÁÒ¡ ºÒ§¤ÃÑé§¼ÁàËç¹Êӹǹ
“It’s bucketing down.” |
Very interesting! Sometimes
I see this idiom “It’s bucketing down”. |
|
Frank: |
nân kô mǔean
kàp It’s raining cats and dogs.” láe “It’s pouring.” |
¹Ñ蹡çàËÁ×͹¡Ñº “It’s raining cats and dogs.” áÅÐ
“It’s pouring.” |
That means the same as
“It’s raining cats and dogs.” and “It’s pouring.” |
|
Chai: |
khòpkhūn
mâk mâk Fráenk
tò pāi ní phǒm chà mâi
chái “rain” yù khām dīao làeo |
¢Íº¤Ø³ÁÒ¡æ á¿Ã§¡ì µèÍ仹Õé¼Á¨ÐäÁèãªé
“rain” ÍÂÙè¤Óà´ÕÂÇáÅéÇ |
Thanks a lot, Frank.
From now on, I’m going to use some of the other colourful expressions
of “rain”. |
Vocabulary check: How
do you say these words and phrases in Thai? 1.
It drizzles. = ……………… 2.
It’s pouring. = ……………… 3.
It’s an
eye-shutting-ear-blocking rain. = ……………… 4.
hail = ……………… 5.
snow =
……………… 6.
a shower = ……………… Answer keys: 1.
fǒn tòk bāo bāo 2.
fǒn kāmlāng tòk nàk 3. fǒn tòk mâi lūem hǔ
lūem tā 4.
lûk hèp 5.
hìmá 6.
fǒn tòk pēn wēlā sân sân |
Read our other phuut phaasaa Thai columns here.
| Comments to Ajaan Sunee
at
suneec@bangkokpost.co.th |
| © The Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd.
All rights reserved 2006
Last modified: July 24, 2006 |
Welcome back
to a new adaptation of Phût
Phāsǎ Thāi after our transitional Songkran
break. As per the valued suggestions of our readers, the transliterations
now follow the Royal Institute's system (http://www.royin.go.th/th/profile/index.php),
which includes tone markers. In terms of content, the column will
continue to provide you with
everyday language on specific topics.
|
òõ karakkadakhom òõôù ( 25 July 2006)
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Phût phāsǎ Thai
There are many ways to describe the falling rain. Some people would say: It's raining cats and dogs; it's coming down in buckets; it's pouring, it's just a shower, it's only a sprinkle, it's spitting rain, or it's drizzling! Using the correct word or phrase to describe the various types of rain can be mind-boggling to non-native speakers. As a Thai, the only word I use when talking about this weather phenomenon is simply "rain". Even after many years of living in America, using words like pour, spit or bucket to describe rain don't come to me naturally. Last week, we talked about how Thais describe different types of rain, as well as how to talk about rain in general. This week we'll look at how English speakers talk about rain.
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