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Jane:

suksan wan khritsamaat  paa Som

ÊØ¢ÊѹµìÇѹ¤ÃÔʵìÁÒʤèÐ
»éÒÊÁ

Paa Som, Merry Christmas!

 

hai paa kha  khawngkhwan wan khritsamaat

 

ãËé»éÒ¤èÐ ¢Í§¢ÇÑ­¤ÃÔʵìÁÒÊ

(This is) for you, a Christmas present.

Som:

hai paa roe  khawpjai maak ja nuu  khawpjai

 

ãËé»éÒàËÃÍ
¢Íºã¨ÁÒ¡¨éÐ˹٠¢Íºã¨

For me? Thank you very much. Thanks!

 

khaw hai phra raksaa nuu na ja

 

¢ÍãËé¾ÃÐÃÑ¡ÉÒ˹ٹШêÐ

May Buddha’s goodness protect you.

 

tae paa maimii khawngkhwan hai nuu loey

 

áµè»éÒäÁèÁբͧ¢ÇÑ­
ãËé˹ÙàÅÂ

But I don’t have anything to give you.

Jane:

mai pen rai kha  paa  nuu hen paa diijai kaw paw laew kha

 

äÁèà»ç¹ääèÐ »éÒ
˹ÙàËç¹»éÒ´Õ㨡ç¾ÍáÅéǤèÐ

Please don’t worry paa. I only want to see you happy.

Som:

farang nii jaidii jing jing na

 

½ÃÑè§¹Õè㨴ըÃÔ§æ ¹Ð

Farang are very kind!

Jane:

chuang nii pen theytsakaat khritsamaat kha  rao mii prapheynii hai khawngkhwan kan

 

ªèǧ¹Õéà»ç¹à·È¡ÒÅ
¤ÃÔʵìÁÒʤèÐ àÃÒÁÕ
»ÃÐླÕãËé¢Í§¢ÇÑ­¡Ñ¹

Now it’s Christmas season, and we have a tradition of gift giving.

Som:

thammai farang jueng hai khawngkhwan kan nai wan khritsamaat la nuu

 

·ÓäÁ½ÃÑ觨֧ãËé¢Í§¢ÇÑ­¡Ñ¹
ã¹Çѹ¤ÃÔʵìÁÒÊÅèÐ˹Ù

Why do farang give presents at Christmas?

Jane:

baangkhon chuea waa  phuea  raluekthueng wan prasuut khawng Phra Yeysuu

 

ºÒ§¤¹àª×èÍÇèÒ à¾×èÍÃÐÅÖ¡¶Ö§
Çѹ»ÃÐÊٵԢͧ¾ÃÐà«Ù

Some people believe that it’s to remember the birth of Jesus.

 

tawn thii nakpraat saam thaan nam khawngkhwan saam yaang

 

µÍ¹·Õè¹Ñ¡»ÃÒª­ìÊÒÁ·èÒ¹
¹Ó¢Í§¢ÇÑ­ÊÒÁÍÂèÒ§

It’s the part where three wise men brought the three presents,

 

pai thawaai dae Phra Kumaan Yeysuu

 

ä»¶ÇÒÂá´è¾ÃСØÁÒÃà«Ù

and presented them to infant Jesus

Som:

aw!  sadaeng waa prapeynii mii maa naan laew si na

 

ÍéÍ! áÊ´§ÇèÒ»ÃÐླÕ
ÁÕÁÒ¹Ò¹áÅéǫԹÐ

I see. That means this tradition came about a long time ago.

Jane:

chai  khong ja pen yaang nan kha  paa

 

ãªè ¤§¨ÐÍÂèÒ§¹Ñé¹áËÅФèÐ
»éÒ

Yeah, I would think so, paa.

Som:

laew nakpraat thawaai arai kae Phra Kumaan Yeysuu la nuu

 

áÅéǹѡ»ÃÒª­ì¶ÇÒÂÍÐäÃ
á¡è¾ÃСØÁÒÃà«ÙÅèÐ˹Ù

What did the wise men present to infant Jesus?

Jane:

thawngkham  motyawp lae kamyaan

 

·Í§¤Ó Á´ÂͺáÅСÓÂÒ¹

Gold, myrrh and frankincense.

Som:

paa ruujak thawngkham  lae kamyaan

 

»éÒÃÙé¨Ñ¡·Í§¤Ó áÅСÓÂÒ¹

I know gold and frankincense,

 

tae paa mai ruujak motyawp  man khue arai ja

 

áµè»éÒäÁèÃÙé¨Ñ¡Á´Âͺ
Áѹ¤×ÍÍÐäèêÐ

but I don’t know myrrh. What is it?

Jane:

pen yaangmai  muean kamyaan  chai tham khrueanghawm

 

à»ç¹ÂÒ§äÁé àËÁ×͹¡ÓÂÒ¹
ãªé·Óà¤Ã×èͧËÍÁ

It’s a kind of resin, like frankincense. It’s used to make incense.

 

nai samai Phra Yeysuu motyawp mii khaa suung maak

 

ã¹ÊÁѾÃÐà«Ù
Á´ÂͺÁÕ¤èÒÊÙ§ÁÒ¡

In Jesus’ time, it was extremely valuable.

Som:

thawngkham  motyawp lae kamyaan jueng pen khawngkhwan chin raek

 

·Í§¤Ó Á´ÂͺáÅСÓÂÒ¹
¨Ö§à»ç¹¢Í§¢ÇÑ­ªÔé¹áá

So gold, myrrh and frankincense were the first presents.

Jane:

lae khon dai patibat taam kan jon pen prapheynii

 

áÅФ¹ä´é»¯ÔºÑµÔµÒÁ¡Ñ¹¨¹
à»ç¹»ÃÐླÕ

And people kept up the practice until it became a tradition.

Som:

prapheynii dii na  thamhai khon rao ruujak  “kaanhai”

 

»ÃÐླչÕé´Õ¹Ð
·ÓãË餹àÃÒÃÙé¨Ñ¡”¡ÒÃãËé”

This is a good tradition, making people learn the practice of ‘giving’.

Jane:

chai kha  “kaanhai”  tham hai thang khonhai lae khonrap mii khwaamsuk

 

ãªè¤èÐ “¡ÒÃãËé” ·ÓãËé
·Ñ駤¹ãËéáÅФ¹ÃѺ
ÁÕ¤ÇÒÁÊØ¢

That’s right, ‘giving’ makes both the givers and receivers happy.

Som:

paa khitwaa “kaanhai” muean “kaanthambun” nai saatsanaa phut na

 

»éÒ¤Ô´ÇèÒ “¡ÒÃãËé”
àËÁ×͹ "¡Ò÷Ӻح”
ã¹ÈÒʹҾط¸¹Ð

I think “giving” is (something) like “merit making” in Buddhism.


  • This lesson was prepared by Acharn Sunee Siidao, Educational Specialist.

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    | Comments to Ajaan Sunee at suneec@bangkokpost.co.th |
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    All rights reserved 2003

    Last modified: December 22, 2003
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  • Vocabulary check:

    Special words:
    When talking about sacred persons and special occasions, we use special words as you can see in today’s conversation. Let’s look at them in more detail:

    wan prasuuta birthday coming from wan – ‘day’ and prasuut – ‘to be born’

    nakpraata wise man coming from nak – ‘person’ and praat – ‘learned’ or ‘wise’

    kumaanan infant; a common word is dekchai – ‘a boy’

    thawaaito offer; to present but we hai – ‘give’ to common people

    thaan — a classifier for persons, for normal people ‘khon’ is used instead

    dae — ‘to’ used in formal occasions meaning the same as kae — ‘to’

    Useful expressions:
    Now, to keep a conversation natural in Thai, it’s good to know the following expressions.

    If you agree to someone’s assumptions or thought, you say
    khong ja yang nan lae kha / khrap — literally translated it would be ‘maybe (it) is like that’. It’s represented in natural English as ‘I would think so’.

    If you don’t agree, you say
    mai naa ja chai na kha / khrap — which literally means ‘not probably be yes' or 'I don’t think so'.

    Phuut Phaasaa Thai gives you useful topical and seasonal Thai words and phrases used in daily-life conversations. The column will give you some instant Thai language to help you out in common situations.

    òó thanwaakhom òõôö  ( 23 December, 2003)     

    kaanhai khawngkhwan

    Merry Christmas and suksan wan khritsamaat kha!  In this column we celebrate these festivities with a conversation about the legend of gift giving. Jane and paa Som are talking about that loving tradition.