Bangkok Blogger|Tales from Thailand

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Same Same, But Different

I’ve seen the above slogan on quite a few t-shirts worn by the Thai folk and wondered if it might be some joke about Thais trying to speak English.  After a quick Google search I found out that I was right and it refers to Tinglish which is a mutation of English spoken by some Thai people.  Here are some examples that might help you better understand Thais speaking English:

• same same (similar, as usual) and same same but different (seems similar but different in some ways);
• open/close the light (means “To turn on/off the light”);
• no have … (means “there is no …” or “I do not have a …”);
• I send you to the airport (means “I will take you to the airport”);
• I love you too much;
• I’m not pretty sure (means “I don’t know”);
• I have ever been to London;
• I’m interesting in football (means “I am interested in watching/playing football”);
• wash the film (means “develop the film”);
• I very like it (means “I really like it”);
• I’m sad when my mother angries me meaning is angry with me;
• I used to go to Phuket meaning I have been to Phuket before;
• take a bath referring to taking a shower;
• “Do you know how to eat this?” referring to food with taste that may be unfamiliar, or food requiring special eating method (such as wrapping it in lettuce) that may not be known to the listener;
• I play internet (I go on/use the internet);
• “This is suck!” means “This sucks!”;
• omission of pronouns and of the verb be;
• use of present tense + “already” instead of past tense

Stolen from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinglish

Anyone got any photos of signs in Tinglish?