Chao Praya River - July 11 (left) and October 23 (right)

If you’re wondering why I’ve been a bit quiet here on LTMS lately, it’s not for a lack of motivation. Quite honestly, I just haven’t thought that now was a good time to be writing about the language while the country has been struggling with a very serious crisis.

And no, I’m not talking about Occupy Wall Street, the idiots in the GOP trying to send the middle class back to the Stone Age, or the banks milking us for every last cent we have.

No, I’m talking about my second home. Just in case you aren’t aware, the central region of Thailand has been in the midst of crisis for several weeks now dealing with uncontrollable flooding.

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Yes, please.

Everybody has needs. Everybody has “would likes.”

In English, we typically would just say “I want…” or “I need…” and leave it at that.

When you look at Thai language books, dictionaries, or travel phrasebooks you will often see the word ต้องการ /dtɔ̂ng gaan/ to express “would like.” For example:

ผมต้องการซื้อรถ
/pǒm dtɔ̂ng-gaan sʉ́ʉ rót/
(I “would like” buy car)
I would like to buy a car.

This is pretty straightforward and easy to understand.

The problem is, this isn’t really correct…

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