Dawn of Language

Sukhothai

This is a translation of my new Thai language Sukhothai elevator speech. I think my weak language skills really come through:

I will live in Sukhothai. It's in North Thailand. It has lots of fried peanuts and a historical park. It has some mountains and lots of chickens. The name means Dawn of Happiness. The people are nice in Sukhothai. In Sukhothai I will work at an office and help farmers.

Historical Park

There Will Be Cheese

Sometimes it feels like I grew up too fast. It's how I feel celebrating my 21^st birthday in Thailand post-grad. I can’t help but feel like I’m missing out on the debauchery of American 21^st birthdays. A quiet dinner with my host family is not the rowdy climax I anticipated for turning legal.

 Because my birthday would not involve trashy college bars and vodka, I made sure it did include my third favorite thing, cheese ;) Cheese in Thailand comes at a high price. The going rate is 80 baht, which should buy  dinner buy dinner for a family of four. Still a Sconnie needs cheese on her birthday, especially when someone else is paying.

There were other highlights on my special day. Several volunteer friends showed off their art skills and made  birthday cards.  I got lots of birthday hugs. I capped off the workday with a birthday bee-ah lee-oh, Beer Leo.

My host family was waiting in the car when I got home, ready to take me out for a birthday dinner. The food at the restaurant was actually so good it reminded me that I like Thai food.There were relatives and cake and presents. I received a big stuffed penguin. My host family said, "Geng Mak" when I learned the Thai word so quickly (the word by the way, is penguin).

On the way home I couldn’t help but smile to myself. It’s incredible to be half way around the world and have a second family and friends who make sure I had a happy birthday. Growing up too fast lead me to Thailand and I can't complain about that.

And as I final birthday treat to myself, I am about to watch several illegally downloaded episodes of 30 Rock. Then it’s off to bed for some sweet Alec Baldwin dreaming.

A Sanitary Rubber Bag

As someone who used to sleep with a linguist I'm very interested in the co-development of language and culture. It's fascinating how a culture meets it's lexical needs and in turn how the vocabulary that is created further shapes the culture.


 Some may have heard my favorite example of this idea (because I talk about it all the time). Us gringo-farangs, generally think that your future lies ahead and your past is behind. For me this cultural bias wasn't challenged until I studied Quechua. In Quechua, the word  for future shares a root work with the word for behind and conversely the word for past shares a root word with forward. I don't pretend to understand all of the cultural implications of this paradigm but I'm guessing Back to the Future is not an intriguing film.

After a month in Thailand I don't feel ready to make sweeping judgement about the Thai language either, but I'll share an interesting observations. Thai is a mono-syllabic language, meaning that most simple ideas have one syllable words. More complex thoughts are made into words by stringing together several simple words. Here are some of my favorite Thai compound words (so far) broken down for you. Note that it may be impossible to over-emphasize the cultural importance of the first term on this list.



Meal- กินข้าว
gin-khaao- eat rice


Condom- ถุงยางอนามัย
thoong-yaang-a-naa-mai- sanitary rubber bag


Ice- น้ำแข็ง
nam-khaeng- hard water 


Economics- การแจกจ่าย
gaan-jaaek-jaai- the activity of exchanging money


Telephone- โทรศัพท์
toh-ra-sap- remote vocabulary

Nap- นอนเล่น
naawn len- play sleep


Development- เจริญก้าวหน้า
ja-reern-gaao-naa- to take a step towards progress

The Joke's on Me

I value self-deprecating humor. Knowing someone can laugh at themselves puts me at ease. If I had mantra it might be, "I'll make fun of me first."

There is always risk associated with cracking jokes at your own expense. If the joke is not particularly funny your ego is doubly crushed and there's always with the chance that people will laugh too much, implying that they agree with your self-criticism.  But in general, not taking yourself too seriously is valued in American culture.

Thais, I am told, do not make fun of themselves, which actually makes sense. Instead they direct their jabs at friends and family. The pain distribution is probably the same for both cultures it's just a matter of who can dish it and who can take it. 

This puts the American ex-pat at a disadvantage in Thailand. She can't help but be the target of her own mocking quips even while mild insults pour in from all directions. She is from now on the butt...and head of all jokes. And maybe she will be a better person for it.

"Not a Finger"

In just under three weeks I have managed to have six flat tires. This has left me feeling like Ralphie's Old Man in one of my favorite movies, A Christmas Story. The Old Man's tires are said be only tires "in the academic sense" because they are round and once made of rubber. My tires are also more patch than rubber.

But I'm no Darren McGavin. Despite all of my best intentions to be the most feared flat tire fighter in central Thailand, everytime I get a flat somebody fixes it for me. I've never seen really seen myself in the role of "damsel in distress," but I must look pretty pathetic fixing my bike because men come out of the wood work to patch my tires.

Don't get me wrong, Langland's are not what you would call "mechanically-minded" so I appreciate the help. But eventually I will be alone at sight and need to the Old Man, pretend I'm in the pit of the Indianapolis Speedway, and fix my own tires.

Until then I angrily say to fra-gee-lay bike tires, "not a finger" and hope there is someone around to bale me out.

Certificate of Incompetance

In Thailand, by day I am an adult. I go to training classes, conduct interviews, and network . I discuss nuanced development topics with other adults. I forage for my own lunch and pay for it with my Peace Corps salary. I moonlight as a child.

Yesterday morning I was greeted with bad news. The "handsome" host brother I have yet to meet is in the hospital in BKK. My host parents would be leaving for the capital within the hour.

After I was assured in Thainglish that he would make a full recovery from the moto-cy accident and was not in a coma (nothing feels more calloused than acting out comatose), I started to wonder child-like things like,  "How will I find food for dinner?" and  "What am I going to do all night with no one to entertain me?"

Peace Corps presents a strange dichotomy. Volunteers simultaneously take on the responsible role of development worker- requiring maturity, responsibility, and technical training- and of host child to a family that understands your language and cultural proficiency is that of a four-year-old. Taking the boldest step of my life thus far- joining the Peace Corps- has left me feeling juvenile and naive.

It is exhausting having my competency stripped away, exhausting and humbling. I guess it's good to not feel feel like the shit all the time. I'm sure my sister, Claire, will want to thank my the nation of Thailand for wiping the "perpetual smug look" off my face. And someday soon, I do hope to progress, at least to metaphorical puberty.



By the way, my host brother is doing well and I did eventually find food to eat.

Good, Pretty, Spicy, Delicious

I only know four Thai adjectives. This means everything in my world is either good, pretty, spicy or delicious.* Luckily I can also negate the adjectives, mai or add a superlative, mak.

Geng- Good

My ajaan, teacher, Nopparat feeds my appetite for praise when she says, "Geng mak," after all attempts at speaking Thai. I must be very good because she says it a lot ;)

Suay- Pretty

My host mother is training the neighborhood two-year-old to call me suay. When I'm introduced to a family friend usually the only word I can pick out is suay. This was very flattering until I showed my host mother I picture of my now-deceased Great Aunt Pat (referred to by a cousin as Grandma Lipstick), "Suay, suay, she is beautiful." Now I realize suay is thrown around a lot.

Arroi- Delicious

Everytime I say arroi (aloi in the local accent) at dinner I make a mental note to look up a new word for deicious- maybe something akin to tasty or even yumster. Then I forget and point to all of the following night's dishes and say, "aloi mak."

Pet- Spicy

My Thai chuu-len, nickname is Nong Prik, roughly, Sister Chili. My host family knows that this farang likes her food pet. 


*Note, sexy and wow are generally understood.