ศาลาชุมนุม

Hello all,

In a few weeks I will be best man to a very good Thai friend of mine. His soon-to-be wife is half Thai. Their wedding will not be in the Thai tradition in any facet that I am aware of. I would like to give a short speech (no one likes for the best man to go on and on) recognizing them as very good friends of my wife and I, and that I hope the best for them in the future.

My question is this: Would it be appropriate to add some sort of Thai message to the end? There will be Thai family in the reception, so although I feel it would be a nice gesture, I don't know if it would be received that way.

If so, are there any traditional Thai expressions at weddings?

I'm afraid "Mazel Tov!" just won't quite fit

I think it sounds like a very nice gesture on your part. With just the right words, like "Kaw hai sadaeng kwahm yin dee duay"(Congratulations) or "Choke dee na krahp" (Good luck) and some practice with pronunciation I think most of the Thais at the wedding would consider it very commendable that you even tried. I will look forward to what the Thai natives say, since I could be totally off. Maybe, since the tones are so important and you don't want to end up inadvertently saying something like, "My neck allows me to show upsidedown my congratulations," you could hold up a banner with the Thai words as you say them!!

You know, it hadn't even occurred to me mention 'congratulations' or some other simple closing in Thai.

jariya76 wrote:With just the right words, like "Kaw hai sadaeng kwahm yin dee duay"(Congratulations) or "Choke dee na krahp" (Good luck)

Great choice! I think most Thais would recognise these even if the intonation were not correct. Well worth trying (without the placard). Perhaps: Kor hai s'daeng ... kwarm yin dee ... duay?