If you are a first time traveler to Thailand, greeting locals with the term sawat-dee can be the beginning of a future friendship. Although it's only a three-syllable word, there's a lot to explore about this Thai "hello".
Sawat-dee means goodness, beauty or success. In fact, this term is used for both meeting and parting.
Pronouncing Sawat-Dee
Actually, there's no need to pronounce foreign words like a native as long as you're able to get around while traveling. Nevertheless, since Thai is a tonal language, foreign accents can totally change the meaning of certain Thai words. One can turn to be a clown in a second when saying words off key. Thus, getting the tone right is really important in speaking Thai most of the time.
Click here to listen to the phrases in this post.
This is how to pronounce sawat-dee correctly.
Pronounce sa as the "sa" in the word "Sarah".
Pronounce wat as the way you say a "wad" of cotton.
Pronounce dee simply as the English letter "d".
Pronounce the three syllables in one go while making the last syllable longer than the first two.
Krap And Kha
Adding the word sir or ma'am in English gives it a polite touch. The Thai language works the same way. Adding krap or kha at the end of any word, phrase, or sentence makes for politeness.
Pronouncing Krap & Kha
Males use krap while females use kha. The words don't really mean anything, but they make whatever you say sound gentle and polite. Kap is short for the formal term krap, but most Thais don't pronounce the letter r clearly. This makes the r silent. Thus, kap is more commonly used than the correct term krap.
You can pronounce krap as a combination of "kr" plus "up", but with a soft "p". Kha shares the same "a" sound as "pa" in the word "papa". Just make the "a" softer and a bit longer. That way, you'll get the right tone.