Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Fun With Language

I'm not one to throw stones, I know, living as I do in a glass house.  I know full well that when I speak Thai it is all who-done-what-and-ran all the time.  But I can't help but smile when I read some of the sentences that Asians come up with in English.

That's the real trick, making sentences in the other language.  It's very nice to know a lot of words, but sentences are a horse of a different color.  For instance, when someone says to me, "English I not good," we can see that it's not a good English sentence.  It's a pretty good Thai sentence though, "Angrit pom mai dee," not perfect but you'd get away with it.

We have signage on our elevators and in our common areas that offer advice for safe living.  Things like stay in the correct lane driving in the parking lot, and don't throw lit cigarettes off of the balconies.  Here's one that I particularly like:

"When leaving you warm up food cause to the fire.

Be careful for using the electrical equipments."   


As usual, the problems stem from the articles (of which there are none in Thai), the prepositions (which in Thai are used differently), and the verbs in general (which in English are controlled by a much more complicated grammar). 

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