Thai Linguistic Etiquette: Conservative and courteous social behavior and dress are highly valued by the Thais. The Thai pronouns for 'I' are different for male and female speakers. Men will use 'phome' and women 'dee-chan' in formal settings. However, it is common to drop these formal pronouns in face-to-face conversations or to use kin terms (e.g., elder/younger sibling ; aunt uncle) or first names instead.  Men will also show deference by ending their questions and statements with 'khrahp', a "polite particle" to show respect and refinement.  Women end their questions and statements with 'khah'.   While greeting, the Thais normally wai rather than shake hands. To make the wai, place your hands together, bringing them up just under the nose and bow the head slightly. Because it is a sign of respect as well, the younger person initiates the gesture, not the reverse.

Body Language: Head, Hands, and Feet:  The Thais consider the head to be sacred and the feet profane. Touching someone's head, other than a child's, is taboo. A younger person or someone of lower social status will even lower their head in passing by a senior.  In sitting too, especially in the presence of monks or other exalted persons, attention must be paid to head level.  Even more caution must be taken with the feet because of their contact with dirt and "pollution."  Similarly, the left hand is "polluted" in ritual meaning.  In entering hallowed spaces such as temples, classrooms, even someone's home, shoes are removed. (For your own convenience, loafers are best.) In rural settings, where it is common to walk barefoot, the feet are bathed at the entrance to the house. In offering food to monks during their morning rounds, the offering laity remove footwear as a sign of respect. Women will also avoid touching a monk in making an offering. On occasions where gifts are given or received, the gift--tastefully wrapped--is always presented and received with the right hand. The left hand is ritually cupped below the right elbow and the head bowed slightly in respect. The act may be completed with a wai also. Feet should never be used to shove an object on the floor to someone.  In sitting, take care to avoid pointing the feet, even unintentionally, at someone else. While siting on the floor, men can sit cross-legged; women "tuck" their legs to the side. In festive occasions, women and men tend to congregate and converse with members of their own gender.

Dress:  In official settings such as temples, government buildings, schools and universities, conservative dress is the appropriate attire. As in many European churches, tourists are barred from entering Thai Buddhists temples if they are wearing shorts; women cannot wear sleeveless blouses inside temple compounds. When meeting with officials or while at formal meetings, men wear long sleeve shirts and a necktie, and women dress in a conservatively as well.

Spoken Tones and Basic Grammar:  A striking feature of Thai is that it is a tonal language.  Each syllable carries a distinct tone. Bangkok speech has 5 spoken tones. A change in syllable pitch level (high, mid, low) or contour (rising, falling) results in a change in tone and lexical meaning. For example, to come=maa [mid tone]; horse=maa [high tone]; dog=maa [rising tone]; to ride=khee [low tone] ; but excrement=khee [falling tone]. In brief, Thai, like English, is a Subject + Verb + Object [SVO] language.  However, unlike English, modifiers follow the nouns they modify. Questions (e.g., "yes/no"; "right") are asked by adding a question word or phrase at the end of an utterance or by employing "wh-words": what, who, when, why, etc.   Counting is carried out with the use of classifiers: 'tua' for animals, 'khone' for people, 'jahn' for platefuls, 'ahn' for things in general, etc.  In the following list of Common Expressions, the romanized spellings are only an approximation of the native pronunciation.  Differences in tone are not shown.  The best thing to do is to play the speeches and repeat them aloud until you have mastered them.  If you spend 15 minutes a day to learn 5 words you will quickly have enough spoken Thai under your command.  Even a few words and phrases will impress the Thais with your willingness to communicate with them in their own language and thereby promote a sense of mutual understanding and appreciation.