SURVIVAL BURMESE
PHRASEBOOK & DICTIONARY
How to communicate without fuss or fear INSTANTLY!
by KENNETH WONG
Contents
A Crash Course in Burmese Culture
The Ongoing Debate: Burma or Myanmar?
A Brief Guide to Burmese Grammar
Coming and Going
Popular Cities and Destinations
Eating and Drinking
Polite Forms of Address
Meeting People
Getting a Taxi
Checking into a Hotel
Asking for Something
Asking for Directions
Numbers and Counting
Going Shopping
Eating Out
Drinking Tea
Telling Time
Months, Years, Seasons and Festivals
Talking About Family
Talking About the Weather
Talking About Money
Talking About Animals
Talking About Art
Tech Talk
Going to the Train Station
Going to the Airport
At the Bank
Going to the Cinema
Nightlife
Farewells
Asking For Help
Going to the Hospital
At the Post Office
Visiting Temples and Monasteries
Speaking to Buddhist Nuns and Monks
PART 4 English-Burmese Dictionary
INTRODUCTION
How to Use this Book
When I travel overseas, I always make an effort to learn a few phrases, and sentences to communicate with the locals. Being able to say “Ohaiyo (Good morning)!” to a ramen shop owner in Osaka or “Une café por favor (One coffee, please!)” to a waiter in Barcelona doesn’t seem like much, and they certainly weren’t enough for in-depth conversations about culture, politics, or social issues. Yet, I noticed even those humble, flawed attempts invoked a kind of warmth in the locals. I believe they interpreted these efforts as genuine overtures, as my homage to the country and to them.
In that sense, this book is for travelers like me. It’s for those who like to wander off the beaten track, explore hidden spots not listed in the guidebooks, and chat with the noodle stall owners, street vendors, and flower sellers they may encounter. You won’t learn how to read, write and speak Burmese with a polished accent and proper grammar—this kind of fluency can only come from years of dedicated study and immersive classes—but the book should be sufficient to cover all the situations you’ll find yourself in.
You should be able to order common Burmese dishes, describe your discomfort to a doctor, ask for the price of the item you want to buy, and be able to negotiate with the vendor (in most open-air markets, roadside shops and traditional bazaars, but not the Western-style department stores, where prices are fixed).
This book favors shorter, simpler casual versions of place names, vocabulary and formulaic expressions over the more complex, formal ones. Rather than asking “Would you kindly provide me with a cup of water?” Kyayy zuu pyu ywayt kya-nawt goh yay layy ta-khwet lauk payy bah kha-myaa, with all the graceful formality and differential attitude expected of a native speaker, the book instead uses the shorter, simpler (Kyayy zuu pyu ywayt yay payy bah) or “Some water, please”, which will be undoubtedly easier to master.
English in Burma
Many of my westerner friends who traveled to Burma for the first time were pleasantly surprised to find the extent to which they could rely on simple English terms and phrases to communicate with the locals. There are good reasons for this.
In the last three or four years, Burma has become much more accessible to international travelers. Forward-thinking hoteliers, innkeepers, restaurateurs—even teashop and café owners—recruited English-speaking staff in anticipation of increased tourism.
Burma also lived through a long colonial period under the British, and English is still taught today as one of the subjects in government-run schools.
The younger Burmese get their mashup English from western films and Facebook. In their status updates and comments, many young Burmese employ a hybrid language strung together with common abbreviations (like “coz” for “because”), English conjunctions, and romanized Burmese words.
You can easily find many people who can speak English with varying fluency in most metropolitan areas. Even when an English speaker is not readily available in the vicinity, you’ll find that you too can string together sentences using common English nouns