Customer Reviews

Outrageous Thai: Slang, Curses and Epithets

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The first and only book of its kind for Thai slang. Thai teachers only want you to learn perfect correct polite Thai, but considering few actually speak that way, you'll be left confused in any conversation. This book will get you started to everyday language.

That said, the number of spelling mistakes (in English, in Thai, and in karaoke) is just horrendous. One out of almost every six Thai examples has a spelling mistake.

The content of this book is excellent and unique. I don't understand the criticisms that the book teaches slang and dirty words - I think the subtitle "Slang, Curses and Epithets" gives a clear enough warning of what's inside, and any reader can decide if this topic is valuable to them. It is probably most suitable for advanced learners, and covers material that you can't find anywhere else. Actually the first chapter "Slang Basics" is not particularly dirty at all, and explains some very common ways of speaking that you will hear all the time but never learn about in school or other books. This was my favorite chapter - it shows what pronouns people really use and explains some really common abbreviations (e.g. people always say "gin khao yang?" but many other sources will only teach the longer formal form.) This is really helpful and saves a lot of wondering if you're reading/hearing it right. It also gives Thai equivalents to common English phrases like "it's like", "I'm gonna," "I don't get why", etc. There is an especially outstanding treatment of several of the many ending particles - "sa","la","wa",etc. It is actually the best explanation I've seen of these particles.

The next chapters are divided by subject, focusing on topics like how to greet people, how to talk about people's physical appearance, how to describe their personalities, and, of course, how to use curses and epithets. Because it's specific to those topics, I didn't find it as helpful as the more general first chapter, but I've dipped into it to use as a phrasebook or figure out the Thai I'm hearing around me. It also includes quite a lot of entries with the author's understanding of Thai society. He talks about racial discrimination in Thailand, attitudes towards drinking, Thai dating conventions, and so on, along with the associated words to talk about it.

With that said, I deducted a star for the printing that detracts so much from the book. First, I don't know if this is just an intentionally "cool" font to match the edgy nature of the book, but the Thai font is non-standard and is missing a line on some of the vowels, making it a bit hard to read. The Thai tone marks are also floating strangely far away from the rest of the letters. Second, in an effort to help learners, they put a space between each Thai word. This again makes the book hard to read, because the Thai language usually puts a space between sentences where we would put a period or comma. There are lots of entries that would naturally divide up into 2 or 3 sentences in Thai, but in this book they're missing their natural punctuation (a space) because ALL the words have spaces between them. Finally, the book is filled with careless errors - there were maybe a dozen cases where the Thai romanization actually spelled out something different and incorrect from the Thai above it. All of these made an otherwise-excellent book a lot less enjoyable to read than it could have been. Hopefully there will be a revised edition.

This is an interesting read if you're learning Thai, because you do get some flavorful language that most language books don't touch. What the author doesn't make clear is where he learned this stuff and with what groups of Thais. I'm assuming he's an expat living in Bangkok who interacts primarily with a certain group of Thais, who if you've been there you may be familiar with.

Unfortunately this doesn't really represent the rest of Thai society, and most of the slang in here is really, really specific to those groups. I couldn't figure out how to get something across to a Thai friend, and this book had something similar to what I was trying to say. They had no idea what the Thai phrase presented in the book meant, and neither did another Thai person I asked. They browsed through the book a bit and recognized some of the common stuff (the basic curse words and so on) but almost none of the rest. This was in Chiang Mai, and my girlfriend and other friends who looked at the book are from all over the northwestern region.

So if you're a budding Muay Thai boxer and want to learn some colorful language to use in the rough Bangkok Muay Thai scene (and it would probably work in other southern areas), I'm guessing this book might help you. For most, it won't.

The worst part is that there's a section with "romantic" stuff, and there are some useful words and phrases included (not bargirl stuff, there are entire books for that if that's what you're interested in) but even most of those are obscure slang. Kind of pointless trying to say romantic phrases that come out as gibberish to most Thais.

The thing that sort of saved it for me is the discussion of culture that goes along with each section. The author tries to get across Thai social norms, and how slang fits in. Even if the phrases included don't mean anything to the Thai people you meet, it's still useful to know how slang fits into the language and the culture, and that's not something that many other books cover.

I looked through a few similar books (including the books meant for bargirl interactions) in a bookstore in Thailand and I think this was probably the best one, so if you're really looking for something like this it's a decent option. Might be a better idea to get two or three of them, you might get a little more balance that way.

This ground-breaking book deserves five stars because it is the best, most comprehensive resource for Thai slang and colloquialisms available. Becker's slang book is pretty good, but Outrageous Thai is superior. I believe that only a foreigner would dare to put to paper all those words that Thais use but tell us we don't need to know. I wanted to know. I was not disappointed.

Be warned that the book indeed contains vocabulary and expressions that are vulgar; hard-core slang that's offensive. The book also offers a wide range of useful suggestions on ways to get your Thai to sound more natural, less bookish. So, the book teaches you words that you are likley never to utter, but are interesting to know and you may encounter, while providing a wide range of vocab./tips that can be put into daily use immediately.

This book is a must for anyone serious about not only learning, but really using the Thai language.

I've been reading this book with my wife and it's been very entertaining for us. My wife is from Isaan and I'm an intermediate Thai speaker with a bit of Lao. This book is not about learning to speak Thai for a business man, this book is about learning what the tuk tuk driver just said to his friend and if you don't understand the difference this isn't your book. In short it's a great book as long as you understand what it means to speak that way in front of Thai people...

I enjoyed dipping into this book and browsing the wide variety of examples of Thai colloquial language and slang. The examples of language have good transcriptions and translations, and there is also a lot of interesting text explaining the meaning and providing anecdotes of usage. A lot of fun!

I bought this one along with Becker's "Speak Like A Thai Volume 2 - Thai Slang and Idioms," and Outrageous Thai is far the superior!

Looking over the other reviews, I can agree that this is just one of those books that takes some common sense to use; but the author does, repeatedly, say when and when not to use particular words and phrases, so I think the guy covers himself pretty well in that regard.

I'd have to say that this is the best book in the market right now for Slang in the Thai Language hands down!

I bought this book based on the fact that I would like to improve my Thai by adding a few coloquisms and maybe some amusing dialect. And I did read the note that the slang words in this book were to be used with care. On receiving the book I was disappointed as the language is just filthy. I would say that almost any of the slang idioms used in this book would if used in normal Thai society cause deep offence particularly if used in mixed company at any class level. Thais are notably tolerant particularly of foreigners that can speak their language, but to display alacrity in the use of this sort of language will do nothing for your street cred and will result in colleagues and friends avoiding your company. For my money this book should only be usd to discover how not to speak Thai.

It's hard to know what audience this book is written for. I've spent much of my life learning a variety of languages, and if I've learned one thing, it's this: unless you've achieved near-native fluency in the language, avoid using coarse or, shall I say, "overly-idiomatic" expressions. YOU DON'T EVER HAVE TO use them. You will be well understood if you never use them, and you'll stay out of a lot of trouble. To understand why this is true, we need to understand just what learning a foreign language is all about, and the kind of skill required to use it.

First, a learning a language is not just a matter of knowing what certain "words" mean, and then stringing them together to make sentences. Thai is a very good example of this. In the written language, users of the language don't break up a sentence into "words," because the script is written simply a sequence of consonants with their embellishing vowel signs. And this is quite natural, because Thais don't speak their language in staccato units which we call "words." Nor, for that matter, do speakers of English, French, German, or any other language I'm familiar with. Words only mean something because they're part of larger, more-encompassing linguistic units. And the meaning of the latter is inseparable from some real-life context in which they appear.

Secondly, this context is always present, whether a speaker or listener is aware of it or not. Without it, no language would be understood by anyone. Now, it's just this context that the non-native speaker of a language lacks. And it's something that no book, surely not this one, can teach. It can only be learned gradually, over a very long period of time. It is what makes using language a form of life, not merely a "tool" which people "use," but which they could do without. As a student of Thai, I've had this lesson driven home to me many times. As you already know if you're considering buying this book, meaning in Thai is conveyed not merely by monosyllables, but by tones which are inseparable from them. Get the tone wrong, and the same "word" can have a very different meaning. Why do I mention this? Because I've learned that even if you don't always get the tone just right, you'll be understood if the listener is expecting to hear what you're saying. If he or she is not expecting to hear what you're saying, you probably won't get through to him or her. And this expectation is part of the context I'm referring to.

I'm reminded of Wittgenstein's observation that "if a lion could speak, we would not understand him." There's much that constitutes the context of a linguistic utterance, not merely making sounds--facial expressions, gestures, "body language," time and place, and many more. And unless you've been brought up speaking a language, you can't possibly know how to construct that context as you speak. If you're a non-native speak of Thai (or any other language), you will NEVER "know" Thai the way a native speaker does, no matter how long you study it. If you doubt it, watch yourself the next time you're speaking on the phone. Why are you making those hand gestures and changing your facial expressions when the person on the other end can't see them? Because you don't really know how to speak without them. AND IF YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO SPEAK ENGLISH WITHOUT THEM, THEN YOU SURELY WON'T KNOW HOW TO SPEAK THAI WITHOUT THEM. And don't assume that such "body language" is universal--that it's the same for any language. It follows that neither is the linguistic context, of which gestures and facial expressions are a small part, universal.

Over many years I've worked with non-native speakers of English, who love to embellish their conversation with expressions which everyone who speaks English knows, but which I'm not a liberty to repeat here. And I can count on one hand the number of times I've heard them use such expressions correctly. They get it wrong ALMOST EVERY TIME. Most of the time their attempts are laughable, but once in a while they create serious misunderstandings. And in no case were they ever in a situation where they had no choice--where they had to use them.

The fact that the author of this book includes transliterations along with the Thai script allows us to conclude that it's not meant for native speakers. In fact, if you view transliterations as anything more than a tolerable nuisance, then you really don't know the language well enough to qualify as anything more than a beginner. So, if you're a native speaker of Thai, then buy this book if you think you need it. I'll bet you the money you pay for it that you don't. If you're not a native speaker of Thai, then, for the sake of testing what I've said, click on "Search Inside this Book" and write down some of the expressions. Then, the next time you're talking with Thai friends, try using them, and see the response you get. If you know Thai people, you'll know that they are all about decorum, about being "polite." I can assure you that there are many ways of being polite, but repeating the stuff in this book is not among them. Thai people always appreciate non-natives, especially speakers of English (which they all want to learn) who make the attempt to learn their not-so-easily-mastered language. You are ill advised to blow it by overplaying your hand. Just stick to the everyday language you can learn by going through one of Benjawan Poomsan Becker's books such as "Thai for Beginners," or the more recent book, "Everyday Thai for Beginners," by Wiworn Kesavatana-Dohrs, both of which are available from Amazon, and both of which I highly recommend, and listening to the accompanying CDs. If you decide to move to Thailand, you'll have more than ample opportunity and the necessary cultural context to learn more idiomatic Thai. And you'll learn when and when not to use it.

This review will be admittedly a little unfair. First, I have not seen the published book itself and second I know the author personally.

How can I write a review of a book I have not yet read you might ask. This is easy. I have seen and heard the author using what can only be described as "Outrageous Thai" in action. His command of Thai words and phrases that I never wanted learn in the first place was impressive to say the least. Most of the time the context was humorous. In these cases no one got offended but an eye or two was raised. In other case people got very offended which resulted in awkward situations for my friend but very humorous situations for the rest of us.

The value in this material is that it explores a side of Thai that you really can't find anywhere else. Even if you never use a single one of the phrases provided it will give you some insights into the Thai language. Standard phrase books are always missing something the material provided here helps fill some of those holes.

To truly enjoy the material imagine your friends or even yourself saying this stuff to a variety of people. The images it will evoke should, at the very least, produce a chuckle.