Outrageous Thai. T. F. Rhoden

      Introduction

      One of the more frustrating things about learning a new language is that what you get from a textbook or a language instructor is often not what you’ll hear on the street or in everyday life. The Thai language is no exception. This book was designed to help bridge that gap. Whether you’re a volunteer, businessman, aid worker, English teacher, diplomat, exchange student, tourist, journalist, or visiting professor—this book’s for you!

      This book takes a lot of liberty in the way of grammar, both in English and in Thai. The English is definitely American and meant to reflect that accent. The Thai is central and meant to reflect the general “twenty-something” and younger generation. For both English and Thai translations, the goal is to express feeling much more so than to provide a literal translation. This leaves much open to interpretation, and I expect this will help to generate further conversation on how best to use these words and phrases. However, any constructive criticism is welcome in the hope of making the next edition even better.

      As for putting these types of words and phrases into action, do I really need to stress caution? It’s like the gun salesman reminding his customer, “Guns don’t kill people. People do!” There are some powerful words in this book that could easily get you punched in the face—probably worse. So instead of writing impolite or vulgar next to every other word, I remind the reader to be CAUTIOUS in applying what has been learned here. That said many Thais would seriously object to a book like this being published at all. In a lot of ways a book as direct as this simply just goes against many aspects of Thai culture. I really can’t imagine a Thai ever writing something like this text of his or her own accord. But because of the outside-looking-in perspective that I offer you the reader, in this book, you will get the opportunity to really learn some extremely strong language that your Thai colleagues would rather you probably not know. I’ve yet to come across another book on Thai language quite like this one, so what you’ve got here is something unique.

      I’ve learned over the years that it’s one thing to know how to speak a foreign language, and quite another to sound cool. This book will at least give you a fighting chance. Good luck!

      T. F. Rhoden