BL Language & Culture Master Post (mostly Thai)
This is one of my meta round up guides to linguistic & language posts I’ve done over the years (because of a recent ask). I’m not a linguist but I love the interrelationship between language and culture and have studied it from a cultural perspective (anthropology). There are many things we miss about BLs when we watch them in translation. I started to study Thai in order to understand some of this. These are posts that tunnel into elements we miss as outsiders, please make sure you read the updated version and the comments.
General BL Linguistics
Asian Honorifics & BL - a quick & dirty guide, with examples from BLs
10 BL Scenes I Wish We Had Translator Notes On
English Language as a Narrative Trope in BL
Why Are Subs/Captions Censored? Or different? Or inaccurate?
BL: Subs, Captions, Niche Fandom Languages, Jargon, Linguistics, Epistemology, Global Shared passions
A translator comes out to talk to us! Yay!
Links to Understand the Nuances of Thai Language & Culture & its Impact on Thai BL
Learning Thai - Self Taught
Explaining Thai to the Casual BL Watcher - It Has Registers - most BLs take place in the informal register, so for tourists this is NOT the kind of Thai you should actually speak.
Linguistic Fun In Thai BL - once you understand its logic Thai is actually a pretty easy language to learn to speak as there’s no declensions or conjugations, and making something plural is EASY
More on Thai Linguistic Registers - Particles & Honorifics
Thai Pronouns & Honorifics when Seme/Uke is Flipped
Sarcastic use of honorifics & polite particles in Thai
Linguistically fascinating BL couples
Thai Honorifics Between Ages in BL and real life
Reading English Captions Vs Thai Linguistics
Queer Lens & Thai BL
BL Linguistics & Queer Identity I Am Gay versus I Like Men
Husband Wife Language in Thai BL (SOTUS, TharnType + a lot of 2022 BL)
Touch & Daisy in Secret Crush On You - Queer Coded Language and 3rd Gender Identity
Daisy, kathoey, 3rd third gender, Thai language & culture (and a bit of BL)
Thai BL Lacks Representation of Butch & Transgender Men (and why this has to do with Thailand’s 3rd Gender)
Cultural Nuance Around Thai BL
Struggling with Thai Language and Acting Style?
Thai Military Service & Thai BL - AKA why does Tee have a shaved head in Make it Right and why don’t Thai actors disappear for military service the way K-pop idols do?
Thai BL & Product Placement (weirdly, a defence)
It’s Thai BL cocktail hour! - I make Thai influenced cocktails to pair with BLs.
Thai Desserts in Until We Meet Again - all of them described plus meanings and links to recipes.
Thai Food You Should Eat Because of BL - Som Tum in What’s Zabb Man, Kao Soi in Bite Me, Khai Palo in Enchanté, Gaeng Tai Pla in Close Friend 2, Luk Choup in La Cuisine, Chor Muang in UWMA, Nom Yen in SOTUS, 2 Moons, 2 Moons 2, Nitman, and Love Area
Very specific Thai Language Moments
Thai Nouns
Thai Verbs (Thai Verb “to be”)
Explain that Word? Ter (He’s Coming to Me)
Chan When Used By A Male (Unforgotten Night)
The Nu Diminutive in Thai (KinnPorsche, Secret Crush on You)
Why Ai'Hia was so funny in Cutie Pie
Ai’ with Aye & Akk - The Eclipse & Thai honorifics
Confusion Clean Up Concerning Thai that I get ALL THE TIME
THAI NAMES
Thai actors and characters use a nickname (chue len) that can seem really odd to English speakers. Unlike many other Asian languages Thai names are written and spoken as we do in the west: (Nickname +) Given Name + Family Name. Names are coupled with honorifics for spoken address, which are based on social status and age dynamics.
More? Thai Names & BL - Why SO Weird (to Westerners)
THAI WORD MISSPELLINGS
Thai is a syllabic alphabet, so Thai words and names can be spelled multiple ways in English. Thus there are some characters known by multiple names (because different subbers transcribed differently), for example Med/Mes and Than/Thun in He’s Coming to Me, or Aeoy/Aey in Lovely Writer.
WIERD BL TITLES
The Thai language contains no articles, so titles get dropped articles in translation. Hence A Tale of Thousand Stars (missing a) and I Told Sunset About You (missing the).
THAI PRONOUNS & GENDER
Thai spoken pronouns mostly gender in first and second (I/you) but not often in third (she/he/they).
Nouns often do not confer gender (there is no boyfriend/girlfriend only faen).
Unlike most romance language Thai object nouns are agender too, (a boat is just a boat, boats aren’t female).
Names are often used in place of I/you. In other words, you say your own name, and (honorific +) other people’s names A LOT.
Formal polite particles (krap/kha) are gendered, informal polite & rude particles are not.
THE WAI
The wai, or formal acknowledgment, consists of a slight bow of the head, with the palms pressed together and raised towards the face. The words sawat di are often spoken with the wai followed by the krub/ka polite particle. Here’s Perth Nakhun (Ram from My Engineer) explaining sawat di.
Silliness? 5 Love Languages of Thai BL
…
Most of the articles listed above with reference sources of information and link to other articles and more on each subject.
I will attempt to keep this meta post updated, current post date is Dec 2022.
(source)
