![]() On the other hand, I have found that many foreigners adopt the magic words when speaking to Thais, although this may be because they are among the few Thai words they actually know. “Like, if you text me ‘I’ll meet you at 10,’ I’d text back ‘Okay, ja’ instead of just ‘Okay,’ because it sounds too blunt,” she said. If we don’t say it to another Thai person, we feel we’re not being polite.” We were raised to say these words, and it became a habit since we were young. ![]() However, they may adopt “ja,” or the unisex, less formal version, in conversations between friends.Ĭhoti, 28, who admitted to texting ‘ja’ to her friends said: “I think it’s our culture. “‘Krub’ and ‘ka’ are commonly used among Thais who chat on Facebook or Line using ‘karaoke language.’ They are so accustomed to it that they fail to leave the words out when they speak or write in English,” Tirote added. This might simply be because the English-language keyboard is much easier to type on than Thai, as many Thais agree. It’s Thai style,” she added.īesides the world of business, Thais commonly type “krub” and “ka” while texting on their phones in English. Then she started to use ‘ka’ too,” Ninee said. ![]() “I’d say to her ‘Good morning, ka.’ At first, she didn’t understand, but after a while she did and thought it was cute. Meanwhile, Ninee, a secretary to a Korean businesswoman, said she only uses “ka” with her boss to soften the tone of her statements. Thai people are too worried about not sounding polite when they speak or write in English,” Tirote said. “The two politeness particles inserted after English sentences are caused by the L1 interference. Tirote Thongnuan identified this phenomenon as an “L1 interference,” where speakers or writers use language forms and structures from their mother tongue when attempting to speak another language. “Because we think in conversational Thai in our heads, even when we write or speak the message in English,” Thiya, a 28-year-old who speaks fluent English, pointed out. One possibility is because we think in our first language, Thai, in our heads, therefore, the need to end a sentence with “ka” never goes away. ![]() The question becomes: Why can’t we commit to speaking full English sentences without using those magical endings? Could there be other reasons than simply trying to sound polite? My Thai friend Thiya, who works at a large Thai corporation, said she witnessed a Thai woman giving an impressive presentation in fluent English, yet she still couldn’t drop the “ka.” There is no difference in meaning between “Thank you very much” and “Thank you very much ka,” yet, as a Thai person, I find myself writing to a senior Thai co-worker asking if she could “do an illustration for this article ka?” In the same way, I receive a business email from a Thai PR agency, saying “Thank you for your prompt response krub.” ![]()
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