Country Names And Languages In Thai

I enjoyed learning country names and languages in Thai.
I am quite lucky to be in the situation of being a dual national, having
citizenship of two countries. Beyond just the obvious benefits that provide,
it makes me seem much more interesting. When I am meeting someone new, they
usually ask where I am from. I tell them that I am actually from two places,
which I guess is not the usual answer they receive to that question in
Thailand.

Knowing the name of your own nationality and others in Thai can be useful in
many different situations. There is the case of telling someone of your
nationality of course, but other situations like explaining what types of
cuisine you like or what language you can speak will also become possible.
That is why we will be covering some
nationalities in Thai
today.

Saying The Nationality Vs Country Name In Thai

In Thai, to say the name of a country you are meant to use the word ‘bpra
teht’ (ประเทศ) in front of the country name. This actually translates to
nation or country, so you would essentially be saying country French or
country Chinese for France and China respectively. However, in everyday
informal speech, you can drop this first part and just say the name of the
country by itself without any meaning being lost.

Now, if you want to say that you are a national of a country, you simply take
the word for person, which is ‘kon’ (คน) and put it in front of the country
name instead. So to say you are French, you would use the phrase ‘pom/chan
bpen kon fa rang seht’ (ฉันเป็นคนฝรั่งเศส). This is of course slightly
different than saying you are from somewhere, showing that you were
born there or grew up there for most of your life.

This isn’t always the case, however. Sometimes the word for the nationals is
different from the country name. Germany, for example, is called ‘yeh ra ma
nii’ (เยอรมนี), while the nationals are referred to as ‘yeh ra man’ (เยอรมัน).

How To Talk About Languages

For languages, there is a similar system. It involves placing the word for
language in Thai ‘paasaa’ (ภาษา) in front of the word. German, for example,
would be ‘paasaa yeh ran man’ (ภาษาเยอรมัน).

I am sure you are familiar with the phrase for asking whether someone speaks a
certain language, as it is one of the
top travel phrases
you should know.

You would ask ‘khun puut paasaa ang grit dai mai?’ (คุณพูดภาษาอังกฤษได้ไหม),
which means ‘do you speak English?’. However, if you want to say what language
you can speak, you say ‘chan puut paasaa ang grit’ (ฉันพูดภาษาอังกฤษ).

Vocabulary For Countries

What Is Your Country Called In Thai?

Since everyone comes from somewhere, this subject makes for a great
conversation starter. Likewise, it can be great for talking about what sort of
food you like and any other situations you may find yourself needing to
mention countries. Hopefully you have learned from this how to differentiate
between the country name and the nationality and some new vocabulary. You will
eventually have the confidence to use these when making introductions, if you
haven’t already.

Looking to find more
vocabulary for Thai? Try the Ling Thai app to get access to many different words and phrases
with different tests to help you remember them effectively.