ศาลาชุมนุม

[JSW88]

How would you say "I don't know how to say it in Thai?" It would probably be the most useful phrase for me right now but I can't find a translation anywhere. I know how to say "I can't speak Thai" or "I don't know Thai" but I don't know how to say it when it's being used to refer to a specific object or idea I want to get across.

[Toffeeman]

You could try: ไม่รู้คำนี้ในภาษาไทย. which translates as 'I don't know this word in Thai"

[David and Bui]

Most simply:

พูดเป็นภาษาไทยว่าอย่างไร
pʰûːt pen pʰaːsǎː tʰaj wâː jàːŋ raj

"How do you say this in Thai?"

[Rick Bradford]

Or:

เขาเรียกว่าอะไร - What is this called? (hoping the person you are talking to realises that you want to know the Thai word, not the Urdu or Dogrib word).

Somewhere there is a post (from Rikker?) explaining the use of เขา as an impersonal pronoun in phrases such as this.

[JSW88]

Thanks guys, those phrases will be very helpful.

[claude06thailand]

Or:

เขาเรียกว่าอะไร - What is this called? (hoping the person you are talking to realises that you want to know the Thai word, not the Urdu or Dogrib word).

Somewhere there is a post (from Rikker?) explaining the use of เขา as an impersonal pronoun in phrases such as this.

I would use นี้ / อันนี้ or มัน rather than เขา

อันนี้เรียกว่าอะไร

[Tgeezer]

How would you say "I don't know how to say it in Thai?" It would probably be the most useful phrase for me right now but I can't find a translation anywhere. I know how to say "I can't speak Thai" or "I don't know Thai" but I don't know how to say it when it's being used to refer to a specific object or idea I want to get across.

ไม่รู้จะพูดอย่างไร is what I say, it has never been commented upon but may sound very foreign.

[ttthai]

ไม่รู้จะพูด มัน เป็นไทยว่ายังไง
Don't know how to say it in Thai

[pensive]

เขาเรียกว่าอะไร - What is this called?

I think I hear ขอเรียกว่าอะไร

[Rick Bradford]

I haven't been able to find the original Rikker quote, but I found a discussion on this from a thread a few months ago.

http://www.thai-language.com/forums/t/t ... nced/t7982

The final post was from Khun Nan, who supported Rikker's point:

I totally agree with this. If you want to know what it's called in Thai, you can just point at that thing and ask "ภาษาไทยเค้าเรียกว่าอะไร"