Are you ghosting me?
Big brother wants to know
A few posts ago I noted that modern standard English makes no distinction between familiar and formal versions of “you”. Most European languages still distinguish between the two (such as “tu /vous” in French, “Du / Sie” in German, “tú / usted” in Spanish etc) but “thou/thee/thy/thine” has almost disappeared from English.
While Europeans only have a choice of two forms of address, speakers of many Asian languages must choose from several pronouns, each of which reflects a nuance in social status. When living in Bangkok, I learnt that Thai has at least a dozen words for “I/me” depending on who is speaking and who is spoken to, and almost as many for “you”. Luckily, foreigners are expected to use only two: ผม “pom” for “I/me” and คุณ “koon” for “you”. (I am not using traditional transliteration.)
Back in the UK, I sometimes watch Thai films on Netflix, where my limited understanding is buttressed by the English subtitles. A few days ago I saw Tomb Watcher (สุสานคนเป็น: “soonsuan konben” literally Cemetery of the Living) - the story of Cheev, whose wealthy, older wife Lunthorn dies, and his young mistress Rose. Rose is not best pleased by the fact that the pair have to live for a hundred days in a house with Lunthorn’s body display in a glass coffin for a hundred days, or that Lunthorn’s ghost is hanging around.
Halfway through the film I noticed that when Cheev speaks to Lunthorn, he calls her “pee” (พี่). “Pee” (”big brother/sister”) and “nong” (น้อง- “little brother/sister”) are commonly used between siblings, between husband and wife, and between friends and colleagues of different ages but similar status. What might surprise English speakers is the use of “pee” where we would say “I” or “you”
So when Cheev asks his (older) wife, พี่ไปไหน (”pee bai nai?”), he’s literally asking “where is big sister going?” but he means “where are you going?” Later, when he asks his (younger) mistress the exactly the same question - พี่ไปไหน (”pee bai nai?”), he’s literally asking “where is big brother going?” but he means “where am I going?” The word พี่ does not change, but its meaning changes twice - from sister to brother and from you to I.
Quirks of language like these make it impossible for an app and AI to give an accurate translation if it doesn’t have the context in which the word or phrase is used. For a few years yet, therefore, humans with deep knowledge and translation skills will still be needed.
So much for พี่. How about ผี? (Note the difference in the script.) ผี means “ghost” and is also pronounced “pee”. To our ears the sound is the same, but for Thais there’s a difference in tone between the two words - “big sibling” has a high tone, while “ghost” has a low tone.
Tones, which distinguish meaning between words that would otherwise sound the same, are found in many languages and are perhaps the greatest challenge for many English speakers. Here’s an easy question: if เห็น (“hen”) means “see”, who exactly sees who in this phrase พี่เห็นผี - “pee hen pee”? And how would you pronounce it to make the meaning clear?
I know, I know: not everyone is fascinated by such linguistic details. My next post, a few days from now, will return to theatre and a play by Olwen Wymark.