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> * น้ำใจ (Nam-jai) (Thai): Literally "water from the heart". Being very nice and helpful without expecting anything back. "Charity"

nopinsight 2y ago
There are many key differences between the two concepts. 'charity' would be a bad translation of 'น้ำใจ'. GPT-4o explains it well: https://chatgpt.com/share/e/987705c8-fcb7-4af3-a8bd-9d7dc228508c https://chatgpt.com/share/e/987705c8-fcb7-4af3-a8bd-9d7dc228...
- 082349872349872 2y ago
  That "share" link doesn't. Perhaps I should specify: "charity", as used in "faith, hope, and..." (although I generally prefer "charity" as in the computer language)
  - nopinsight 2y ago
    Having lived in Thailand, I am confident that 'น้ำใจ' is still a distinct concept from 'charity' in 'faith, hope, and charity'. They are probably closer in meaning than the most common definition of 'charity' though.
sirn 2y ago
Charity is closer to ใจบุญ (jai-bun) than น้ำใจ (nam-jai). A mixture of "act of kindness" and "good will" would be a more fitting translation, but the interesting part here is that "sportmanship" is also considered an act of น้ำใจ (น้ำใจนักกีฬา nam-jai nak-kee-la or literally. sportman's nam-jai). We also have a word เสียน้ำใจ (sia-nam-jai) for when our nam-jai ended up as a waste, or for when the other party is being ungrateful for the kindness that's being given, and also เลี้ยงน้ำใจ (leang-nam-jai) for when you're doing/accepting nam-jai for the sake of not making the other party sia-nam-jai.
- lukeschlather 2y ago
  In the King James Bible you have lovingkindness but I guess that might be a mistranslation of the Hebrew checed which literally means "covenant loyalty." But I feel like lovingkindness even if it was originally mistranslated has the same connotation as nam-jai.

nopinsight 2y ago

There are many key differences between the two concepts. 'charity' would be a bad translation of 'น้ำใจ'. GPT-4o explains it well: https://chatgpt.com/share/e/987705c8-fcb7-4af3-a8bd-9d7dc228508c https://chatgpt.com/share/e/987705c8-fcb7-4af3-a8bd-9d7dc228...

082349872349872 2y ago
That "share" link doesn't. Perhaps I should specify: "charity", as used in "faith, hope, and..." (although I generally prefer "charity" as in the computer language)
- nopinsight 2y ago
  Having lived in Thailand, I am confident that 'น้ำใจ' is still a distinct concept from 'charity' in 'faith, hope, and charity'. They are probably closer in meaning than the most common definition of 'charity' though.

sirn 2y ago

Charity is closer to ใจบุญ (jai-bun) than น้ำใจ (nam-jai). A mixture of "act of kindness" and "good will" would be a more fitting translation, but the interesting part here is that "sportmanship" is also considered an act of น้ำใจ (น้ำใจนักกีฬา nam-jai nak-kee-la or literally. sportman's nam-jai). We also have a word เสียน้ำใจ (sia-nam-jai) for when our nam-jai ended up as a waste, or for when the other party is being ungrateful for the kindness that's being given, and also เลี้ยงน้ำใจ (leang-nam-jai) for when you're doing/accepting nam-jai for the sake of not making the other party sia-nam-jai.

lukeschlather 2y ago
In the King James Bible you have lovingkindness but I guess that might be a mistranslation of the Hebrew checed which literally means "covenant loyalty." But I feel like lovingkindness even if it was originally mistranslated has the same connotation as nam-jai.