How to sound spontaneous?!

Have you ever wondered how Farangs or English speaking people sound like they have so many words to say? and the words seem to flawlessly come out of their mouth when they’re telling you stories, that you just end up nodding your head.

You understood what they said through context but you’re wishing you had the same speaking skills. You’ll just end up saying: whatever, งง

Today, we’re going to talk about the importance of transition words that come in handy in writing and speaking, this will help you connect ideas and build the relationship between sentences or phrases you use every day.

We hear our Thai relatives and colleagues use the word แล้วก็ (and then) when telling a story. Another word is อย่างไรก็ตาม (however) which is commonly used in the office or corporate set up. These are a few examples of transition words you might find useful when conversing or writing in English.

Comparison

When you compare two ideas, you can use words like:

• same as
• in contrast
• on the other hand
• likewise
• similar to
• whereas
• nevertheless

Example: In contrast to last year’s statistics, the company is doing great.

Order

This has something to do with sequence or chronology when you’re describing steps on how to do things.

• next
• first
• subsequently
• third
• before
• then
• finally

Example: First, you need to put oil in the pan. Then, add onions and garlic.

Addition

Use these when you want to add ideas to your sentence:

• furthermore
• too
• also
• in addition
• moreover
• besides

Example: Besides that, I like cats because they’re introverts.

Example

ตัวอย่าง or examples we use to elaborate.

• for instance
• in fact
• for example
• such as
• to illustrate

Example: Computers are getting cheaper/more affordable. Office laptops, for instance, are sold for less than 15,000 baht.

We also found common transitional words in Thai. You might want to visit and listen to their recording.