Doing Business in Thailand

Focus: ว่า

• We use the conjunction ว่า (wâa) to link a verb such as "to speak," "to think," or "to know" with what was said, thought, or known.

• We would usually translate it in English as "that." It comes directly after the verb.

  • ผมคิดว่า... (phǒm khít wâa...) ➤ "I think that..."

  • คุณทราบว่า... (khun sâap wâa...) ➤ "You know that..."

  • สตีฟพูดว่า... (sà-dtíip phûut wâa...) ➤ "Steve said that..."

• The clause that follows ว่า (wâa) acts as the object of the verb. Here are some examples of whole sentences.

  • ผมคิดว่าผัดไทยอร่อย (phǒm khít wâa phàt-thai à-ràwy)

    ➤ "I think that pad Thai is delicious."

  • คุณทราบว่าผมไม่มีเวลา (khun sâap wâa phǒm mâi mii wee-laa)

    ➤ "You know that I don't have any time."

  • สตีฟพูดว่าจะไปประเทศไทย (sà-dtíip phûut wâa jà bpai bprà-thêet-thai)

    ➤ "Steve said that he's going to Thailand."

• We can also pair ว่า (wâa) with the verb "to call," เรียก (rîiak). Together, เรียกว่า (rîiak wâa) means "to be called."

  • นี่เรียกว่าอะไร (nîi rîiak wâa à-rai) ➤ "What is this called?"

  • นี่เรียกว่าขวด (nîi rîiak wâa khùuat) ➤ "This is called khùuat."

  • ขวดในภาษาอังกฤษเรียกว่าอะไร (khùuat nai phaa-sǎa-ang-grìt rîiak wâa à-rai)

    ➤ "What is khùuat called in English?"

Vocabulary & Phrases

• ไม่ได้เจอกันตั้งนาน (mâi dâi jooe-gan dtâng naan)

  • This phrase literally means "We haven't met each other in a long time."

  • We could translate it more naturally in English as "Long time, no see."

  • เจอ (jooe) is the verb "to meet."

• ไม่ทราบว่า...(mâi sâap wâa...)

  • This phrase literally means "I don't know that..."

  • ทราบ (sâap) is the polite form of the verb "to know."

  • However, what is really being said is "What is ...?"

  • This is just a very polite way to begin a question.

When to Give a Gift in Thailand

• Gift-giving is an important aspect of Thai culture.

• It is common to give people gifts when you come back from a trip or when meeting someone you haven't seen in a long time.

• Thais like to give gifts that are edible.

• Often it will be some type of snack food that is a specialty of the area you were visiting.

• It is also common to give fresh fruit, particularly if there is a certain fruit in season that isn't normally available other times of the year.

• It is also quite common for students (or their parents) to give small gifts to teachers and for employees of a company to bring snack food to work to share with all of their coworkers.

One Busy Day in Thailand

Focus: คือ & เป็น

• The second form of "to be" is คือ (khuue).

  • We use it when stating that two things are equivalent to each other.

  • It is a little more forceful, and it indicates that X, by its very nature, is Y.

• In contrast, we use เป็น (bpen) when giving information that describes something. Let's look at some examples.

  • อากาศของวันนี้เป็นอากาศร้อน (aa-gàat khǎawng wan-níi bpen aa-gàat ráawn)

    ➤ "Today's weather is hot weather."

  • อากาศไม่ดีคืออากาศร้อน (aa-gàat mâi dii khuue aa-gàat ráawn)

    ➤ "Bad weather is [when it's] hot weather."

  • นี่คือคุณสตีฟ (nîi khuue khun sà-dtíip)

    ➤ "This is Mr. Steve."

  • คุณสตีฟเป็นวิศวกร (khun sà-dtíip bpen wít-sà-wá-gaawn)

    ➤ "Mr. Steve is an engineer."

• In Thai, we do not need the verb "to be," and we just connect the adjective to the noun, as in "weather hot," อากาศร้อน (aa-gàat ráawn).

Vocabulary & Phrases

• นี่คือ... (nîi khuue...)

  • We can use this phrase when introducing something or someone or when pointing out what something is.

  • It is made up of the pronoun "this" and one form of the verb "to be," คือ (khuue).

  • The name or title of the person or object you are identifying will follow the verb in the sentence.

• มีนัดกับ... (mii nát gàp...)

  • This phrase means "to have an appointment with..."

  • It is made up of the verb "to have," มี (mii), + the verb "to make an appointment," นัด (nát), + "with," กับ (gàp), and then the name of the person you are scheduled to meet with.

• ทานอาหารกลางวัน (thaan aa-hǎan-glaang-wan)

  • This phrase is a polite way to say "eat lunch."

  • ทาน (thaan) is a polite form of the verb "to eat."

  • อาหาร (aa-hǎan) ➤ "food,"

  • กลาง (glaang) ➤ "middle," and

  • วัน (wan) ➤ "day."

  • So together, the three make "food of the middle of the day" or "lunch."

Some Insight into the Thai Business World

• When attending business meetings in Thailand, one important thing to remember is to not cause anyone to lose face.

  • We should not directly criticize someone in front of others. In addition, it is common for groups working on a business deal to loosen up afterward with dinner and drinks together.

• Many businesses in Thailand are controlled by powerful families whose influence goes back many generations.

  • Many other businesses, especially gold shops, are controlled by Chinese-Thai families.

• Companies registered in Thailand must have majority ownership by Thai citizens, and foreigners are also not allowed to own any land according to Thai law.

  • Because of this, many foreigners start small businesses and either register the company in their spouse's name or who get together a number of Thai acquaintances to act as shareholders to technically own fifty-one percent of the company in their names.