Little Miss Noi: A Sanook Guide to the Thai Language (With a Reverse Glossary)

By Jay Walken

Jay Walken's popular and humorous partial guide to the Thai language for foreigners and expats (and mainly for men) has been expanded considerably--almost 50 percent--since its original publication, and is now published in a separate edition with a partial reverse glossary (from English to Thai). This book contains all the words in the LATEST edition of "Little Miss Fon", and will be useful to those who purchased an earlier edition and cannot download the latest edition.

To summarize, here are a few possible reasons to have “Little Miss Noi” on your e-reader:
--As a conversation starter to make Thais smile, and also to invite help.
--Because words that you look up in dictionaries and word books are often easily forgotten. But with a single silly verse such as “Little Miss Fon Sat on Her Kon”, you will learn ten words that you are unlikely to forget: because the verse makes you laugh.
--Many words are explained with context and commentary. The nearly 200 words are explained with over 10000 words of commentary and background.
--An economic aid, and for self-protection. When you can speak a few crucial Thai words, prices drop quite fast! You might also be able to spot or foil a scam by listening for key words (the general assumption among Thais being that foreigners are gullible idiots).
--As a learning aid: you pronounce the word as it sounds in the book, usually by using rhyming equivalents in English rather than a pronunciation key, and give it your best shot, asking a Thai person to correct you if you are wrong.
--Because a few of these words and phrases are not to be found in many guidebooks, but are words that Thais commonly use among themselves. With their help, you may have a better idea of what's going on around you.
--Even if you already know 200 or 300 words of Thai, you may not know a few of these words, and this book will refresh and reinforce your knowledge of those words that you already do know.
--As a gift for your farang boy friend, husband, girl friend, friend.

This book is a subjective guide helping you choose WHICH of thousands of Thai words to focus on. For accurate pronunciation, use the Internet or a Thai friend, and keep listening to spoken Thai. Meant for NON-PC, liberal, non-uptight readers with a sense of humor. Please read the Author's Disclaimer before purchasing it!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jay Walken
• Release date: Aug 26, 2015
• ISBN: 9781516320042

Book preview

Little Miss Noi

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A Sanook Guide to the Thai Language (With a Reverse Glossary)

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Jay Walken

Copyright Page

Copyright © 2014, 2015 Jay Walken

(This edition revised July 2015)

All rights reserved by the author. This book may not be reproduced in any form, whether mechanical, electronic, or by hand, without the written permission of the author or the publisher. The exception is brief quotes for legitimate review purposes.

Jay Walken may be reached at [e-mail] ; he is a New Yorker who has spent more than seven years in Southeast Asia, and more than three years in Thailand, and has written many other books.

Table of Contents

Copyright Page

Acknowledgments

Author’s Disclaimer and Preface

I Love You Maak Maak

Pai [Bpai] Doo Eye? Random Observations

Oh My, Oh Mai: Thirty M-Words

Aloy to Dee: The A-D words

Fon to Jai-Dee: F-J words

Cows and Chaai: The K-words

Lay-Ow to Nom: L-N Words

[B]Pai-Rong-Rame: P-R Words

Sabaay to Soovye: S-Words

Thooth-Ya Ya Ying: T-Y Words

The Numbers

The Naughty or Bad Words

Simple Food Words

Thinglish or Thai English

Thai Philosophy 101, and a Nursery Rhyme

Glossary or Reverse Dictionary: From English to Thai

Other Books by Jay Walken

Acknowledgments

The author wishes to gratefully acknowledge the following Thai women, who taught him much of the little Thai that he knows:

A, B, D, E, F, G, M, P, U, V . . .

and especially the lovely and soovye maak Naam, for giving him the best language lesson any mortal has ever received from a Thai angel since the beginning of time—by teaching him how to count from 1 to 20 in Thai by using all of his fingers and all of his toes. It is a lesson he promises to remember in all his future lives as an ant, an elephant, and as a ma-aa.

Author’s Disclaimer and Preface

This book is a guide and supplementary learning aid written mainly to help a select few liberal, non-uptight, non-pc tourists and expatriates (not serious students of the language) to improve their knowledge and comfort with speaking and effectively using a few important Thai words. Making mistakes is the definition of being human, and if someone travels to a completely foreign country and culture and is terrified at the thought of being laughed at for making an honest mistake, perhaps he should consider staying at home.

This book not only includes a few words that might be missed by other guides, it also provides contexts in which these words might effectively be used.  Though primarily designed for non-pc men, non-p.c. women and others with a sense of humor and a capacity to use what is useful and ignore the rest may also enjoy it and be benefited by it.

Despite its imperfections, my hunch is that most average Western foreigners (including a few expats) would benefit. One reader (who wrote a review) gushed that within two days of reading it, he was being asked how he knew so many interesting and pertinent words, and whether he had a Thai wife.

As it could take six months to two years of serious study to speak near-perfect Thai, this book is for those with limited time, resources, and access, and who don’t mind taking a risk on an unconventional book by an expat. Please confirm the accurate pronunciation from a Thai person or Internet source (even then, pronunciations vary from region to region and depending on the speakers’ social class and education, and phonetic spelling from guide to guide; Google spells the Thai word for go as pi; other guides spell it pai or bpai; listening carefully is probably the best solution).

This book is for readers who do not have rigid and preconceived moral prejudices about how the relations between the sexes ought to be for all people and for all time, and are not missionaries hoping to teach other societies how to behave.

Perhaps what makes this book unique is its light-hearted approach and humorous mnemonics. Also, it zeroes in on a few so-called rude words and suggests certain conversational strategies, all of which could save you many times the price of this book,