ศาลาชุมนุม

[Tgeezer]

That's a very interesting topics, even to elementary learners like me.

May I want to be clarified here, based on the following conversation:

A: คูณชอบอันนี้ไหน
B: ครับ

What is the real meaning of B? Agree with A that he likes this one; or just an acknowledgement of what has been heard by B?

I think that you can see from Pirin's post that the question word is ไหม which means หรือไม่ so if ไม่ is not in the answer then take the reply as a 'yes'.

[DonSena]

If you mean that you can't just replace English words with Thai words then I agree with you. What I criticize is the idea that if a question like; หมีชอบกินน้ำผี้งไช่ไหม is answered with ใช่ it doesn't mean 'yes'. Of course it does.
Don't forget this thread is about a u-tube video where the speaker doesn't even ask the question in Thai, but suggests an answer in Thai, that is ridiculous.

That หมีชอบกินน้ำผี้งไช่ไหม can be answered with ใช่ does not mean that ใช่ in its own right actually means 'yes.' Its actual intrinsic meaning is: "[It] is so." Of course, you wouldn't write a practical translation using "[It] is so." English simply requires in this context the response 'Yes," a word for which Thai has no true equivalent.

An even more likely response to the question: "Bears like (to eat) honey, don't they?" would be: "They do." or "Yes, they do." If the Thai response is (as it could be): ใช่ๆๆ then the English could easily be: "They sure(ly) do" or "They really do."

The reality simply is that we cannot go literal between two very disparate languages like Thai and English.

[Pirin]

To me, it might be a good idea if one illustrates sentences showing the definitions of "yes" in English, and then compare as well as contrast those sentences with sentences in Thai showing the definitions of "ใช่" in Thai.

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/diction ... tish/yes_1
yes /jes/ adverb (informal yeah, also yep, also yah)
1 used to express willingness or agreement
2 used to show that you are listening to someone, or that you are ready to listen and to give them an answer or information
3 used when you are disagreeing with a negative statement

RID:
ใช่ ว. คํารับรองแสดงว่า
เป็นเช่นนั้น,
เป็นอย่างนั้น,
ถูก,
แน่;
บางทีก็ใช้เป็นคําปฏิเสธหมายความว่า ไม่ใช่ เช่น ใช่คน ใช่สัตว์ ใช่ว่า.

[DonSena]

To me, it might be a good idea if one illustrates sentences showing the definitions of "yes" in English, and then compare as well as contrast those sentences with sentences in Thai showing the definitions of "ใช่" in Thai.

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/diction ... tish/yes_1
yes /jes/ adverb (informal yeah, also yep, also yah)
1 used to express willingness or agreement
2 used to show that you are listening to someone, or that you are ready to listen and to give them an answer or information
3 used when you are disagreeing with a negative statement

RID:
ใช่ ว. คํารับรองแสดงว่า
เป็นเช่นนั้น,
เป็นอย่างนั้น,
ถูก,
แน่;
บางทีก็ใช้เป็นคําปฏิเสธหมายความว่า ไม่ใช่ เช่น ใช่คน ใช่สัตว์ ใช่ว่า.

ใช่ ว. คํารับรองแสดงว่า "Word verifying that ...

เป็นเช่นนั้น, it is that way, thus it is;
เป็นอย่างนั้น, It is like that, that's the way it is;
ถูก, that's right;
แน่; that's for sure."

บางทีก็ใช้เป็นคําปฏิเสธหมายความว่า ไม่ใช่ เช่น ใช่คน ใช่สัตว์ ใช่ว่า "Sometimes it's used to negate, meaning "not so" as, for instance, "it's not a person"; "it's not an animal"; "it's not that ..."

To clarify, "that" in "Word verifying that ..." and in "it's not that ..." is a conjunction. Elsewhere, it's a demonstrative.

[Pirin]

To me, it might be a good idea if one illustrates sentences showing the definitions of "yes" in English, and then compare as well as contrast those sentences with sentences in Thai showing the definitions of "ใช่" in Thai.

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/diction ... tish/yes_1
yes /jes/ adverb (informal yeah, also yep, also yah)
1 used to express willingness or agreement
2 used to show that you are listening to someone, or that you are ready to listen and to give them an answer or information
3 used when you are disagreeing with a negative statement

RID:
ใช่ ว. คํารับรองแสดงว่า
เป็นเช่นนั้น,
เป็นอย่างนั้น,
ถูก,
แน่;
บางทีก็ใช้เป็นคําปฏิเสธหมายความว่า ไม่ใช่ เช่น ใช่คน ใช่สัตว์ ใช่ว่า.

ใช่ ว. คํารับรองแสดงว่า "Word verifying that ...

เป็นเช่นนั้น, it is that way, thus it is;
เป็นอย่างนั้น, It is like that, that's the way it is;
ถูก, that's right;
แน่; that's for sure."

บางทีก็ใช้เป็นคําปฏิเสธหมายความว่า ไม่ใช่ เช่น ใช่คน ใช่สัตว์ ใช่ว่า "Sometimes it's used to negate, meaning "not so" as, for instance, "it's not a person"; "it's not an animal"; "it's not that ..."

To clarify, "that" in "Word verifying that ..." and in "it's not that ..." is a conjunction. Elsewhere, it's a demonstrative.

I don't think this is supportive. One can give a literal translation of "yes" in the same way. It is not useful either.

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/diction ... tish/yes_1
yes /jes/ adverb (informal yeah, also yep, also yah)
1 used to express willingness or agreement
ใช้เพื่อแสดงว่าตนพอใจ หรือเห็นด้วย
2 used to show that you are listening to someone, or that you are ready to listen and to give them an answer or information
ใช้เพื่อแสดงว่าตนกำลังฟังผู้ใดผู้หนึ่งอยู่ หรือ เพื่อแสดงว่าพร้อมที่จะรับฟัง และเพื่อให้คำตอบกับบุคคลที่ตนสนทนาด้วยหรือให้ข้อมูลต่อเขา
3 used when you are disagreeing with a negative statement
ใช้ในประโยคปฏิเสธตอนที่ตนไม่เห็นด้วยกับบุคคลที่ตนสนทนาด้วย

By the way, what I meant by comparing the definitions of “yes” and “ใช่” is an analytical comparision.

[Tgeezer]

The reality simply is that we cannot go literal between two very disparate languages like Thai and English.

I am with you here, but isn't that what the video is trying to do? 'Yes' is not the only word which doesn't exist in Thai, probably because it wouldn't sound like 'yes' 'เยศ'.
Raj says that Thai does not have one simple word to express this idea, he suggests that ใช่ does not. I think we see that sometimes it does express the idea of 'yes'.