What she sees when your message is translated

You write "Hey, how's your evening going? Miss you x". Here is what happens next, and why it matters for what you write.

The message arrives in Thai

On a messenger that translates in the middle, she gets a Thai sentence on the LINE she already uses. No bot, no copying. The tone survives if the message was simple. "How is your evening" comes through cleanly. "Miss you x" comes through as "miss you" and the kiss is dropped, because Thai has no letter that does that job.

What gets lost

• Idioms. "How's it hanging" becomes a question about something hanging. Say what you mean.
• Sarcasm. Thai translations are literal. A joke that depends on tone reads as the opposite of a joke.
• Long sentences. Two commas and a "but" produce a Thai sentence that is technically right and hard to read. One idea per message.
• Your name for her. If you call her by a pet name you invented at the bar, the translator will translate it. Use her nickname.

What survives

Warmth, plans, photos, and questions with one answer. "I land on the fourteenth. Are you working that week?" is a perfect message: two short sentences, a date, a question she can answer with one word.

Her reply, back to you

Her Thai comes back to you as English, with her original underneath. The English will sometimes be blunt, because Thai drops pronouns and softeners. "Tired, work" is not a brush-off. It is a woman telling you about her day in the fewest possible words, which is how Thai is written.

Write short, write plain, and write about something. She will read all of it.

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