Tired and Wired

How to say "I" in Thai

tewson — Thu, 08 Aug 2019 21:14:50 +0000

How to say "I" in Thai tewson Thu, 08/08/2019 - 22:14

Every time someone asks me how to say something in Thai, I freeze for a couple of seconds before giving them a translation that is technically correct but probably sounds unnatural.

This is because there's usually little time to go through all the intricacies of navigating one's social standing, mood, gender identity, etc, to come up with the perfect words for the situation.

To illustrate this conundrum, let's look at the myriad of ways to say "I" in Thai.

Note (1): This is hardly academic so I'm skipping the pronouns for when you're talking to a member of the royal family, which requires absolute preciseness. For those pronouns, I suggest you consult the Office of the Royal Society.

Note (2): Some pronouns are easier explained in relation to others. The reference numbers are there so the table is a bit easier to navigate. The numbers by no means indicate any sense of social standing.

Note (3): This list is by no means exhaustive. I don't know a lot about regional dialects. Besides, I haven't spoken Thai on a regular basis for almost a decade so please cut me some slack.

Protip: Use Google Translate to listen to the pronunciation.

How to say "I" in Thai

Ref	"I"	Context
1	กระผม	You identify as male. You're probably trying to show utmost respect to whomever you're talking to, borderline implying that you have a lower social standing.
2	ผม	You identify as male. You're trying to sound polite. Maybe you're talking to a stranger or someone older.
3	ดิฉัน	You identify as female. You're trying to sound polite to the same level as (1) or (2).
4	ข้าพเจ้า	Gender neutral. You're trying to sound ceremonial or ceremonious. Or maybe you're writing a very formal official letter?
5	เดี๊ยน	A slurred derivative of (3). You identify as female. You're trying to sound polite but also a bit casual.
6	อิชั้น, อะฮั้น	A humourous derivative of (3). You identify as female. Your tone is absolutely casual but you're trying to get that air of politeness.
7	ยาย / ย่า	Literally "grandmother" ("ยาย" for maternal and "ย่า" for paternal). You identify as female. You're old enough to be a grandmother of whomever you're talking to.
8	ตา / ปู่	Literally "grandfather" ("ตา" for maternal and "ปู่" for paternal). Same context as (7).
9	ป้า	Literally "aunt". You're old enough to be an aunt of whomever you're talking to.
10	ลุง	Literally "uncle". See previous explanations.
11	ครู	Literally "teacher". You teach whomever you're talking to. This one is interesting. I don't think there's anything similar for other professions.
12	อาจารย์	Similar to (11) but with an air of officiality.
13	อาตมา	You're a monk talking to a layperson.
14	ข้า	You identify as male. Rather old-fashioned. You're addressing a peer or someone with a lower social standing.
15	กัน	So old-fashioned I don't even know if this is gender neutral or not. Used among peers (according to what I've seen in old books).
16	ฉัน	The default translation of "I". Gender neutral. Polite, if not bit old-fashioned. Sounds rather stiff.
17	ชั้น	A more casual derivative of (16). Gender neutral. Still polite but kinda indicates that you're either friendly or a peer. A bit old-fashioned still.
18	เรา	Gender neutral. Depending on context, this word can mean either "I", "we" or even "you (singular)" for some reason. Probably the same level of politeness as (17) but more colloquial.
19	หนู	Gender neutral if not a bit feminine. You're either a child speaking to an adult or you're an adult trying to sound cute.
20	อั๊วะ	Gender neutral. You're indicating that you're of Chinese descent.
21	เค้า	Gender neutral. You're trying to sound cute.
22		You're either not sure which pronoun to use or you're trying to sound cute.
23	กู	Gender neutral. You're either among close friends or you're trying to sound rude to a stranger.
24	กรู	Gender neutral. A softer, more playful version of (23). Probably invented to get around profanity filtering in online forums.

Now ask me again how to say "I love you" in Thai.

Collect your achievements

tewson — Thu, 02 Mar 2017 23:38:58 +0000

Collect your achievements tewson Thu, 02/03/2017 - 23:38

"What was the most difficult problem you have solved?"

"What have you worked on that you're most proud of?"

These are two of the most common questions I've encountered in interviews. After hearing them the first time, I went back and tried to retrace every single project I'd worked on in order to prepare for the next time.

In the process, I realised that I'm creating a list of my achievements, albeit professional ones. It is a list of impacts I've made in my work for the past 10 years. It is a list that I can look at and reflect on my worth. It is a list that needs to keep growing.

From now on, I'll be collecting my achievements. I'll be collecting my achievements not just so I can tell people "Hey, I've done these.". But I'll be collecting them so I can ask myself "Hey, you've done these. Now what will you do next?".

Publishing Your PGP Public Key on Facebook

tewson — Wed, 03 Jun 2015 09:22:58 +0000

Publishing Your PGP Public Key on Facebook

tech

tewson Wed, 03/06/2015 - 10:22

Facebook recently announced that users can upload and publish their PGP public key on their profiles. This seems like a great way to assure you that you are getting a genuine key, assuming that the key owner's Facebook profile is intact.

I created my first PGP key a long time ago, hoping that I'd be exchanging encrypted (or at least signed) emails all the time. But it takes two to communicate. I have already published my public key on my profile. So if we are friends on Facebook, you can try downloading the key and send my an encrypted message.

"Since 07 March 2008 you have read a total of 128,844 items."

tewson — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 15:28:57 +0000

"Since 07 March 2008 you have read a total of 128,844 items."

tewson Thu, 14/03/2013 - 15:28

Google is shutting down Google Reader.

Google Reader has been the heart of my information consumption. It's not just a really fast feed aggregator. It allows you to dig through a blog's history conveniently. I'm quite disappointed to see it go.

I've now moved my feeds to Feedly. The process was smooth. Let's see how it will live up to the expectation.

Windows 8

tewson — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 20:28:32 +0000

Windows 8

tech

tewson Wed, 13/03/2013 - 20:28

Couldn't believe I'd say this. I kinda prefer Windows 8 over Ubuntu 12.10 now. Had to install Windows for thesis writing and it feels faster and smoother. Maybe I fucked Ubuntu up a bit (continually upgraded since 7.04). Also the bonus is games! Still have to go back to Ubuntu for coding stuff though. Too many dependencies.

Remnants

tewson — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 19:30:09 +0000

Remnants

life

tewson Fri, 15/02/2013 - 19:30

Have you ever moved into a new place and found stuff the previous occupant left behind? Notes, CDs, small appliances. I like that. There's some weird feelings attached to it. It's not the joy of getting free stuff. It's something alluring. Almost voyeuristic. It makes you feel like you've inherited a part of their life. A part of their experience they had in the very same intimate space.

I was rummaging through the living room cabinet the other day to collect electricity bills previous occupants left. I found a CD. It's a folk album by an American artist named Pat Hull. It's lovely. I wonder if the owner listened to it in the morning like I do.

There's also an old laptop left in the house. The screen's backlight is broken. I thought of bringing it to my office and connect it to a monitor, and I did today. It seems like the previous owner was a talented painter and musician. There's some scanned paintings, some recordings and a massive library of jazz and Irish traditional music on it.

Thank you, my flatmate(s) whom I never met.

How does Google Reader retrieve RSS feed posts from the past?

tewson — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 18:44:55 +0000

How does Google Reader retrieve RSS feed posts from the past?

rss
google

tewson Wed, 06/02/2013 - 18:44

I was wondering how you can keep digging in Google Reader for old posts from an RSS feed.

It's actually very simple. Google have been archiving posts from every feed people have subscribed through Reader.

Rediscover

tewson — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 17:43:58 +0000

Rediscover

tewson Tue, 13/12/2011 - 17:43

Lately I've been getting these strange encounters with my past self. There are several times that I followed links or searched for something and found that they're already visited. Sometimes I recognised it. Sometimes I didn't. It seems like the information overload has rendered some information insignificant to my brain in the past. But then why did I stumble upon it again?

oblivion

tewson — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 23:07:04 +0000

oblivion

thought

tewson Wed, 13/07/2011 - 00:07

I feel somehow touched by things that go on over an extremely long course of time.

It took around 500 years for Stonehenge to be completed. Considering the life expectancy that time, it's like more than 10 generations. I don't think the last generation of the builders would have any idea about the first, let alone us.

The same feeling happened to me when I read a Japanese comic called "Blame!". The protagonist happens to be immortal. His mission has been going on for so long that he forgets the exact purpose. How long is it? In one scene he has to walk through a room the size of Jupiter.

Recently Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com just funded a 10,000-year clock project called The Clock of the Long Now. It's just like Stonehenge of our generation. People in the future would be totally oblivious of the purpose of it.

Maybe it's not how long it takes that touches me, but how relatively insignificant life is. In Arthur Dent's words, what a sad little blip of an existence...

Browser - Phone Bookmark Sync Indecision

tewson — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 13:47:53 +0000

Browser - Phone Bookmark Sync Indecision

tewson Tue, 22/03/2011 - 13:47

Surprisingly, there seems to be no perfect solution for me to synchronise website bookmarks between my web browser (Google Chrome) and my Android phone. Maybe it's too much to ask for something free, secure and effortless.

Many people suggest PhoneMarks, which seems to be nice, but I just don't want to grant my Google Docs access to other companies than, well, Google. People also say that Dolphin Browser supports bookmark sync but it seems to use bookmarks in my Google account as well.

Maybe the problem is I'm so used to Google Chrome. The soon-to-be-released Firefox 4 looks quite nice and has a native bookmark sync feature (to Firefox Mobile). Still, I don't know if it will convince me to leave Google Chrome.