Thread: Need help translating a Facebook comment

Hi all, I need some help on a translation from a Facebook comment. As I did a little research and with my basic understanding of the language, I hope I can also get corrected along the way if I made any mistake.

Here is the original sentence:

ต้องขอบคุณพี่เอ๋อของเราเปนอย่างมากนะคร๊ะ อิอิ

My breakdown and understanding
ต้อง = Must
ขอบคุณ = Thankful / Thank
พี่ = You (Addressing someone older?)
เอ๋อ = ??
ของ = of? things?
เรา = We, us
เป = ??
นอย่าง = ??
มาก = very much
นะ = (Particle to soften sentence)
คร๊ะ = (Particle to end sentence pleasantly)
อิอิ = Haha?

Thank you for those that can help. Really like to know the context of this sentence.

Her mom's letting you know you're welcome to family and she's hoping her daughter will have a boy baby.

I think it simply says, "I want to thank you P' Er very much." or "I want to thank our "P' Er" very much."

พี่ = P' (Addressing someone older)
เอ๋อ = Er (Someone's nick name by the looks of it)

เปน = A spelling mistake I think. Probably should be เป็น (be/being/is, etc)
อย่างมาก = maximum/at most ... but เป็นอย่างมาก together just means "very much"

ของเรา = our/my (literally, belonging to us or me)
ขอบคุณ = Thank (you)

Originally Posted by DrB0b

It's a pun. It says "We have to say thanks very much Phi Uur, ha ha". The pun is in the พี่ เอ๋อ (Phi Uur) as it can also be translated/read as Mr Retard (actually Mr Downs-Syndrome). Phi Uur is also a rather unpleasant nickname for a fairly well-known Thai person so could be a reference to him.

Well, I tried to research a little on เอ๋อ and came with the following results.

1. Er - A pronunciation term for the Chinese word 儿，which mean child. It is also a particle used to express affectionate towards a lover. Some Chinese names also have this word.

2. From google translate, it's short for "effort" which I don't understand how they coin this up.

3. Again from google translate, it's short for "Autism" again, no idea how this comes up.

4. From Thai-language, it is the second word to signify down-syndrome.

5. Sanook dictionary website - It Says here that it is a term used to express stun, shock or puzzled.

Hence, kinda confusing how these term got arrived.

It's hard to be very accurate when there is no context to the sentence. The 'Er' might actually be another spelling mistake. Perhaps the name is really A or Ae but another letter (or ang) was typed after - or perhaps Er really is a nickname. You said it's from a Facebook comment. Who was it addressed to? Male/female? You? Someone else? Name/nickname?

Rule number 1: Don't rely on Google translate with the Thai language. It's awful.
Rule number 2: translating word by word (one at a time) is not always reliable. It's the easiest way for beginners but languages and translation are more complex than that. If you read that someone "popped off to the pub" and you looked up the words 'pop' and 'off' separately, you would be somewhat confused about what was really happening.

Thanks Neverna. You have been helpful.

Basically, I am not sure if it is addressed to me.

I have been dating this girl recently. Not officially in a relationship yet.
At her Bday, I got her a nice gift. So I see her share the picture of the gift and made that comment. Was surprised that through your help, get to know that term is a nickname... So I guess that nickname refers to me.

My understanding of the language is still pretty elementary, but it would be good to know what that nickname meant.

I am older than her, so using พี่ seems appropriate. I am also a shy person in general, and do have a little difficulty socialising in big groups. I kinda showed that weakness to her.
Anyway, if that term or nick really meant as a label (autism, down-syndrome etc.) like what Dr.Bob, then I know it is time to move on.

^ Shiryuu, I have been told by a Thai person that เอ๋อ (Er) is not commonly used as a nickname and that it can be used to call someone 'stupid', thick, or retarded or like someone with autism or Down's syndrome, so if it was directed at you, that might not be a good sign. It might be best to ask her what she meant when she wrote it.

Originally Posted by Shiryuu

ต้องขอบคุณพี่เอ๋อของเราเปนอย่างมากนะคร๊ะ อิอิ
My breakdown and understanding

I am always wondering why nobody initiates a slight modernisation of Thai language by breaking down onto words. This would help a lot for reading. And it would help Thai people also for better English skill (or other foreign languages).

The English words are read by words, not by spelling as they do with Thai.

^ Youmeanbyhavingspacesbetweenthewords?

Originally Posted by Klondyke

Originally Posted by Shiryuu

ต้องขอบคุณพี่เอ๋อของเราเปนอย่างมากนะคร๊ะ อิอิ
My breakdown and understanding

I am always wondering why nobody initiates a slight modernisation of Thai language by breaking down onto words. This would help a lot for reading. And it would help Thai people also for better English skill (or other foreign languages).

The English words are read by words, not by spelling as they do with Thai.

That doesn't always work when attempting to clearly translate.
As, more often than not, it is not a literal translation but translation of understanding the riddle of the language.

A literal European [mindset] translation can be confusing. Don't try to make it fit into a language of Euro content and syntax.
Better to understand how the language is used culturally instead of using foreign comparisons.

We must thank our Peter very much, Ha Ha

Um guys. You're trying to translate slang with a dictionary. That's not going to work. As I said, the translation is "thanks very much, mr retard, ha ha". That's what that sentence means in real, everyday Thai and no matter how much you mess around with google translate that's still the meaning!

So could 'retard' be construed as "he's crazy about me" or "he stupidly in love with me" ?

Or does it just plainly mean 'retard' - stupid , fool , slow to understand, impeded farang , etc ? (None of which is very good moving forward.)

To the OP - like they say - many fish in the sea...not so hard to move on...if you can. Good luck and enjoy safe passages.

Originally Posted by PeeCoffee

So could 'retard' be construed as "he's crazy about me" or "he stupidly in love with me" ?

Or does it just plainly mean 'retard' - stupid , fool , slow to understand, impeded farang , etc ? (None of which is very good moving forward.)

To the OP - like they say - many fish in the sea...not so hard to move on...if you can. Good luck and enjoy safe passages.

The term เอ๋อ usually is used derogatory - dullard, retard, dumbfuck, etc - or short for โรคเอ๋อ , rather a slur for someone that resembles afflicted down'd syndrome.

The sentence given by the OP cannot be mistaken for anything else but a gesture of slight humor - in a back handed manner. Very country slang...

Originally Posted by david44

Downes is not Autism.the autistic spectrum is a disputed area.

Reading between the lines may I suggest some face to ace conversation with the lady may readily resolve matters.,best wishes I amnot sure understandin gwoman kind is possible,however if you hope to live together some kind of understanding is helpful and I don't think language is the main barrier.
Good luck Khvn Shiryuu if she is a genuine woman makae your intentions clear and the ball is in her court.

Agreed, as it seems insecurity as already set it!

My wife said it reads as a bit of kidding around and not as a serious insult.

ต้อง - For
อ - a
บคุณ - farang
พี่เอ๋ - he
อข - has
องเ - small
ราเปนอ - incredibly
ย่างม - banana
ากนะคร๊ะ - Slang something like I pissed my pants laughing when I first saw it.
อิอิ - 55

Originally Posted by DrB0b

One of the reasons I like the Thai language is that it somehow manages to be isolating, agglutinative, and inflected all at the same time. It's a lovely language to play around with although at the same time the multiple layers of meaning that can be applied to so much of the language, spoken and, in my experience, especially written, make it bloody hard to translate accurately into English.

Quite so, Bob....

Originally Posted by toddaniels

To answer Klondyke's query, (obviously asked by a person who has never studied thai);

Not quite right, I have studied Thai many times

Anyway, what I wanted to say: myself as not English native speaker, I many times recognize a problem in the word spelling before I really see where is the misspelling. Just because the word looks somehow funny.

So when Thais would be able to read in similar way, it would really help them. Many times I see that they are not able to read fast enough for me what is written on the sideboard.

And as I mentioned, the word separation would surely have a positive contribution also for mastering foreign languages. They try to follow the letters of the word with their fingers and pronounce it as they learn e.g. the alphabet spelling. Unfortunately (and oddly), the English language does not have the same pronounciation of the letters in all words as they have learned the alphabet.

And as a result, comparing all the (SouthEast) Asian nationalities, Thai people are not so good in foreign languages.

Moreover, in my opinion, they spend in school so many years learning Thai reading, writing. Therefore, not much time is being left for anything else (useful) to learn...

Well, Klondyke you're certainly entitled to your opinion, but...

It's not that thaiz spend so many years learning thai they have no time left over. Their thai language curriculum in schools pretty much mirrors what other countries invest in their citizens to learn their language.

The reason thaiz have abysmal engrish skills boils down to several factorz;

1. Thaiz are all taught engrish via grammar rules.. NOT via conversational english
2. Once a thai leaves engrish class there is no incentive and in fact often no opportunity for them to practice..
3. Thaiz are taught engrish by other thaiz who have a limited grasp of the language at best
4. Because the education system in thailand is eonz behind everyone else (stagnating in the dark ages) AND because thai education consists of a teacher lecturing and a student taking notes (one way communication), the system as it exists doesn't work.

Due to the respect' they're compelled to show their teachers; a thai student couldn't raise their hand in class and say, "I'm sorry, I don't understand that, could you explain it again?" This would lead to either people thinking the teacher isn't good (lose of face) or the student is stupid (lose of face). Situations like that never happen in ANY engrish class I've observed in thai schools EVER...

I hafta disagree with "thaimeme" as far as written thai being hard to translate into english. Having spent a LOT of time doing just that, I am of the mind, once you have a good grasp of written thai (which is different as nite and day from spoken thai) you can back translate it into engrish with a pretty high degree of accuracy.

Now I'm NOT talkin' about paranoid foreigners posting chat-sa-peak thai or social network rips from their thai significant other and asking for a translation. Those versions of thai are much closer to spoken thai than written thai.

I pointed out that spoken thai is so contextual, that if you're not privy to the particulars behind a conversation you're just guessing .. Pretty much like the phrase in the O/P's rip พี่เอ๋อ. Now indeed it could be someone "having a light hearted jab" or it could be exactly what it translates as.. Only the person who posted it really knows, because we don't know the back story of ANY of the players. All we know is what the O/P (who can't speak a lick of thai) says he thinks is going on with the thaiz he's involved with.

If you are worried about what she is writing about you, then look for another girl. Plenty out there.