The pronoun rao used as "I"

[Eric67]

I also have NO idea where the koi/jow that "visionchaser45" says they hear routinely. It don't sound like "Bangkok Thai", but with as many people from the up-country who work and live in Bangkok it could be.

Still interesting topic.

You're right, it's not Bangkok Thai.

Koi and jow (¢èÍ and à¨éÒ) are the normal Lao/Isaan pronouns for "I" and "you".

And like you say, with the amount of people from Isaan that are working and living in Bangkok you will hear it there frequently as well.

[Betti]

Todd: that third person singular to refer to oneself is typical mother-talk or teacher talk. that one annoys me because that's how children start to speak English as well. for some of them it takes years until they understand the concept of personal pronouns that shift around (me not being a fixed person, but always the speaker, etc).

[Rori]

From my Thai perspectives: 'you and I' can be said in many ways in Thai just depends on relationship. I think I am going to be focus mainly for friends.
Among friends: females use à¸Í ¡Ð ªÑé¹ (©Ñ¹) or á¡ ¡Ð ªÑé¹ which the former sounds more polite, then females also use ¹Ò ¡Ð àÃÒ, and last one µÑÇàͧ ¡Ð à¤éÒ. And is it funny? coz I found myself use them all..just depends which friends I am with.
Boy use ¹Ò ¡Ð àÃÒ and this is polite, though most boys use ÁÖ§ ¡Ð ¡Ù which we classify it as bad language..although quite common these days and people who use it not always bad people..some girls use it too (not me I never!! lol)
With µÑÇàͧ ¡Ð à¤éÒ is quite funny, vocabulary µÑÇàͧ = myself but it is referred to 'you', and à¤éÒ is actually third person but this is referred to 'I'. Girls who use the terms are very feminine and sounds cute (like children talks).
àÃÒ can also be used at work..I prefer àÃÒ than ´Ô©é¹ however àÃÒ cant be used when you talk with seniors.
Thai language sounds complicated..as someone said..but it is fascinating..enjoy it!!

[Tod-Daniels]

I use àÃÒ almost exclusively when I hafta use a first person pronoun, and if I’m talkin’ to Thais I’ve previously met, I’ll mostly use à¸Í with women and á¡ with guys. That's mostly because the Thai people I interact with are younger than I am.

Now I did get a side long glance from the Thai Immigrations officer last month when I called her à¸Í. Even though she knows me by sight (as I’ve gone out to Chaeng Wattana hundreds of times over the last few years), she did look over the top of her glasses at me when I called her that. True, she was an Immigrations Officer, BUT she was easily 15-20 years my junior and that was enough for me to use à¸Í. As far as the Thai police officers I interact with regularly, I use á¡ for all of them if I can't remember their names, no matter what their rank is.

FWIW: I rarely ever use ¤Ø³ with anyone and I never ¼Á unless I'm talkin' about "hair".

I'm NOT sayin' speak to Thais like I do, only illustrating that you can take a LOT of creative license when speaking to them once you know them and they don't seem to take offense to it.

[Betti]

dunno, maybe it's just my sloppy Thai and limited opportunities to use it (I mean when I was there, not now), but now that I think of it, days could go by without the need to use a pronoun, especially "I" or "me". most basic communication is self-evident without them.

[Rori]

Tod, you really got me laugh when I read that you used á¡ to police, and à¸Í to a female officer!! Hope they didnt get offended. I would if I were them. (but it depends on your tone as well) For Thai officers..we will talk to them like they are superior..this case would be ¤Ø³ but better to add more ie. ¤Ø³¼éÙË­Ô§ khun puu ying (lady) or ¤Ø³µÓÃǨ khun tam ruad..then we would get a favor lol
¼Á is more formal than àÃÒ

[Eric67]

Some other funny and confusing uses of family pronouns that I just found out recently is the use of µÒ and ÂÒÂ between friends of about the same age. 

I have a friend who started calling me µÒ Eric, which really confused me at first. Ok, I'm 3-4 years older than her, but that's not old enough for her to call me grandpa
Since then I started to pay attention to how other Thais use it and I guess between friends it's sort of a way to say your close.

You can also use µÒ and ÂÒÂ (or ÂÑÂ in this case) with people of about the same age who aren't your friends, but then the meaning is more neutral or even negative.

And another one that I found confusing at first was (grand)parents calling their (grand)children ¾èÍ and áÁè, which apparently is a term of endearment

[Rori]

ÂÑ we use to call our close friend..more positive actually, I count it as a term of endearment..coz I call such to many of my close girl friends. If someone call you µÒ I guess maybe it is from your personality. At school we called some of our freinds as ÂÒ or »éÒ coz they acted old..or acted adult..or could be the way they dressed.
The last one that grand parents calling grand children ¾èÍ áÁè, I never heard! but there are cases that the parents call some relatives following their children..such as the younger sister of mother who is ¹éÒ for their children..the parents sometimes call ¹éÒ too i guess to lead their children. hope this is not confusing.

[Tod-Daniels]

“Rori”; glad I made you laugh. Yeah, I'm more than a little "rough around the edges" with my spoken Thai .

Now in my defense, I've sat and drank with those Thai police guys for many years on the side of my Soi. We know each other very well, and they're all pretty darned comfortable with me.

In truth, even though that Immigrations official knows me very well too, I should have possibly ¤Ø³'d her instead of à¸Í'ing her. At least I know now.

Guys hafta watch out about that »éÒ reference! »éÒ àºÔÃì´ is Bird Thongchai’s nickname to almost every Thai Ive talked to about him.

I've tried for years to get the ¤Ø³ out of my Thai friends vocab when they refer to me. Most of them call me ÁÔÊàµÍÃì ·éÍ´ and if I hafta live with that I guess I will.

Like always, I'm NOT tellin' anyone to speak Thai like I do, only relating how I speak Thai to Thais.

[Rori]

ok Tod I got it now..you are just a very friendly Farang!!