THAI LANGUAGE LESSONS
L17f - Food: Drinks
| water | naam |
| ice | naam kairng |
| soda | so-dah |
| milk | nom |
| fruit juice | nam ponlamai |
| orange juice | nam som |
| coke | koke |
| sprite | sa-prai |
| coffee | gah-fair |
| iced coffee | gah-fair yen |
| tea | cha |
| iced tea | cha yen |
| beer | bee-a |
| wine | wai |
| cocktail | cok-tayl |
| Thai rice wine | sah-toh |
| spirits | lao |
| Thai rice whisky | lao kaow |
| whisky | wit-gee |
| rum | lao rum |
| sang som | brandname of popular cheap Thai rum |
| mair-kong | brandname of popular cheap Thai whisky |
Juice: Note that 'naam' is used for water but can also be used in a more general form for liquids, e.g. 'nam ponlamai' for fruit juice. Note also we have transliterated the 'naam' for water with a double 'a'. This is not a mistake. Although spelt the same, if the word is used to refer to water, it is pronounced slightly longer.
Coke & Sprite: Although these are brand names and the Thai words are derived from the western words, pronouncing them so that Thais understand is surprisingly difficult. 'Coke' needs to be prounounced with a short round 'o' sound and a short ending 'k'. 'Sprite' needs to be pronounced with a short 'a' vowel sound after the 's' and no ending 't' sound - 'sa-prai'.
Spirits: The Thai word for distilled alcholic drinks such as whisky and rum is 'lao'. Thais generally mix their spirits with coke, soda and ice. When they go out to restaurants or bars it is common for them to bring their own bottle and only buy the coke, soda and ice from the bar. This is the accepted way of doing things and Thai bars do not object to this practice. Most tourist bars will object.
The two most popular brandname spirits are Sang Som which is a rum and Mair-kong which is a whisky. They are popular because they are amongst the cheapest. There are many other popular brands.
'lao kaow' is a very cheap spirit distilled from rice. Thais often drink it as shooters. It is very harsh on the palette and not recommended for anything more than a show of bravado.
