Sorry to disturb ���ɷ��ú�ǹ��Ѻ

[nakriian]

Okay, lets say, you walk by 2 people playing chess in your study room. You are walking by speaking loudly on your mobile phone because you forgot they were there (playing a game of chess). You want to say, "Sorry to disturb". You want to say more than just ���ɹФ�Ѻ because you want to include what you are sorry for. I think we all have experienced atleast one time where we said sorry to a ���� and then they ask us what are we sorry for, so I am just wanting to go ahead and address the reason I am sorry in my sentence.

How about ���ɷ��ú�ǹ��Ѻ

I know a simple ���ɤ�Ѻ will get the job done, but I would still like a "Sorry to disturb" sentence for this situation ̣(even if only for educational purposes).

[Tod-Daniels]

It is admirable that you wanna be polite to the Thais (or anyone else for that matter); sadly this particular trait does not seem to be embraced by the Thais at all.

I've had Thais shouting on phones in government buildings, or other places where you'd think even Thai decorum would dictate they tone it down. Just and FYI: shouting on a mobile phone does NOT make the listening party hear you better, in fact it's often the exact opposite due to mobile phone mics "clipping out" or blocking overly loud sounds. . .

SLIGHTLY OFF TOPIC; but maybe of interest:
It also seems Thais have no "spatial awareness" and by that I mean Thais don't seem to use the same "points of reference" in regards to where they are in the physical universe in relation to everyone else. This is demonstrated daily by Thais ambling all over the sidewalk (or what passes for sidewalks here), without regard for anyone else. They stop on stairs to send or read text messages, they stop at the entrance to escalators, lifts, doorways going into stores, etc with no apparent regard for anyone else in the known universe.

BACK ON TOPIC;
I'd just give it a pass as far as saying anything about inadvertent noise around Thais. The fact that you've been questioned by Thais about why you said you were sorry just illustrates how much their perceptions differ about errant noise than say western perceptions of it.

If you're just feel you hafta be polite, I'd go with �ɷ�� ������ú�ǹ which is sorta like; "Sorry, I didn't intend to be a bother. You could also sub-out ú�ǹ for �ٴ���§�ѧ (speak with a loud volume). I use the ������ in sentence constructs on occasions where I've stepped on peoples toes without meaning to on the BTS or MRT, or bumped someone in a lift, etc. It's usually enough to get the point across that what I did wasn't intentional.

I wouldn't waste a second thinking about apologizing to Thais for being noisy, they certainly don't seem to care a bit about being noisy themselves, and as people say; "when in rome, copy the romans". Or as the Thais say, ������ͧ������� ��ͧ����ǵҵ��; "enter a country where people squint, you must squint too". Now granted Thais aren't near as noisy as the Chinese, japanese or koreans, but as asians go Thais rank right up there as far as less than considerate for people around them as it relates to noise factor.

One thing I have noticed Thais do (in their totally non-confrontational way of dealing with stuff). If they're at a restaurant and a table near theirs is noisy (and for Thais to notice it's a noisy table it hasta be pretty darned loud) is; the Thais will make a statement to the "atmosphere or environment". They'll say, "Wow, it's quite noisy in here I wish it was quieter." Now that's certainly directed towards the noisy table but not spoken directly to them, just said loud enough for them to hear. This follows Thai non-confrontational cultural rules.

Good Luck,