Travelers must learn some basic Thai phrases at least before you enter Thailand. Out of Asian countries, Thailand is at the bottom when it comes to learning English. The government has a massive campaign for students to learn English to be globally competitive. In some places like Phuket, Krabi, Koh Samui, Bangkok and some tourist destination places, they can speak and communicate at least.
Street vendors, public transportation drivers and most of Thai, can't speak English. Most of them, can't speak and communicate well. Thai people that can speak English, those are the people who always expose themselves to the foreign people. They call foreign people "farang". Any nationality that is not Thai, they refer to it as "farang". Some tuk-tuk drivers near Lee Garden Plaza at least can communicate to you on basic English.
If you didn't learn simple Thai language, I'll be a headache for you and to the person you talk to. So be patient to learn or have some notes for English to Thai translation. But nowadays, you don't need to bring those notes. Translation app is available on your phone.
Sometimes my Thai friends speak English, but when I can't understand and so I ask again "what did you say", and they replied "mai pen rai 2x"means never mind. They must be shy that they think they speak "pasa anggrit (English)" with a wrong grammar. Some are proud that at least they can speak English, so they are trying to communicate with you. Parents are happy to see that their children can speak English a little.
It's very hard to communicate, so just saying Sawadee ka (female) sawadee kap (male) is not enough. It's a Thai greeting anytime of the day. You must learn Thai phrases, or else you will experience a headache.
Below is some common Thai phrases.
Always put "ka" (female) and "kap" (male) at the end.
for example:
khob khun ka - female
khob khun kap - male
khob khun- thank you
pi hong nam - go to the toilet
hongnam - toilet
pi - go
pi talat - go to market
chob - like
Aw - like
tao rai - how much/how many
sabaii - happy
sabaii di mai-Are you happy?
mai sabaii - not feeling well
mai khao jai - can't understand
chan - I, me
khun - you
ahan- food
aroi - delicious
mai phut pasa Thai - can't speak Thai
phut pasa anggrit - speak English
hong - room
chai - yes
kapom - yes
tang - money
Most of the time when you are traveling to southern Thailand. Thai people said "aloi" instead of saying "aroi" this make me confuse so I ask my Thai friend why on the internet it says "aroi" but I heard it "aloi". She said that in southern Thailand people speak it that way. All the Thai words that have an "r" sound they replace it with "L" sound or sometimes not even pronouncing it.
Next time you hear them saying "pasa Anggit" it means "pasa Anggrit" which means "pasa" for language and "Anggrit" for English.
Let's go for the sound of the Thai language. Be careful using the sound of the words. Some words are the same but differ in sound. Say for instance the sound of the Thai words "suway" means beautiful but if you mispronounce it or the sound is not the same as they pronounce it. The meaning is bad luck. So sometimes if I speak Thai, my student laugh at me if I pronounce it incorrectly. They teach me how to pronounce it correctly but most of the time I am having a hard time trying to pronounce it with the correct intonation.
So don't try to laugh when they speak English correctly because you can't also say their language correctly. The feeling is mutual. So be understanding and avoid laughing when they speak to you in a wrong grammar. Instead, try to encourage them to speak English and correct them if necessary in a nice way.
