ShopPING!
I never go shopping, but, well... I went shopping. I came across a 50% off, end of the season sale and went a little overboard. A serious case of thinking in dollars (very cheap!) rather than baht (not so cheap...). But hey, prior to this, I had bought exactly zero articles of clothing here in Bangkok, so maybe it all averages out...
As for the "ShopPING!", let me explain. One of the bizzare things that happens to English in Thailand is that without fail, with every English word I've come across, the last syllable gets the stress. A very, very enthusiastic stress.
My name at Thai class, until my preference for "Dan" took hold, was "DanIEL." Other students include HanNAH, HeaTHER, RichARD, AllAN, MiCHAEL.
A favorite place to go shopPING is CenTRAL World PlaZA.
Favorite activities of mine include: runNING, walKING, fitNESS, guiTAR, eaTING pizZA, spagetTI, and drinKING cofFEE.
I vacillate between finding this very amusing, slightly endearing, and kitten-claws-on-a-chalkboard grating. And it's not just when Thai's without much exposure to English speak English. This occurs with every single English word that has made it's way into the regular, everyday vernacular of Thais speaking in Thai. Things like fitNESS (word used for gym), tee-SHIRT, pizZA, compuTER, microWAVE, ToyoTA (ok not English but still), taXI, etc...
The truly maddening part of all this is that this doesn't occur with Thai words. I mentioned CenTRAL World PlaZA above, but another mall, is pronounced Siam ParaGON. The Thai word gets a normal stress, but the English word inexplicably gets the last syllable shout.
It's enough to drive you craZY.
posted by Dan at 10:42 PM
2 Comments:
I know what you mean about the final syllable stress. When I teach speaking, I always begin with stress-timing, and I use the Thai department stores as examples: CenTAN (Central) and LobinSAN (Robinson). I ask: how do you say "Central"? And they always answer "Central". So I say, if you were in a taxi, how would you ask the driver to go to Central? And they then all say "CenTAN".
PS. The naked time entry was useful! I've been here 2 years and I still hadn't thought of that!
You seem to dress a bit more formally than I would expect... (i.e. button up shirts and long pants). I assume Thailand is in the upper 90s F most of the time. I'd be as limp as steamed carrots if I dressed that much in that kind of weather.
PS though you are guilty of not regularly updating your blog... I'm guilty of not being a regular reader... IMHO mine is the most dubious of our collective neglect. But the "shopPING" is one of the most interesting of your anecdotes (aside from naked time). How's that for a long postscript... hehehe!
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