Vocabulary Booster: Flavor-Related Words

In collaboration with Su, a Chiang Mai-based Burmese language teacher, I am launching a new series of mini-episodes called Vocabulary Boosters, as part of the Learn Burmese from Natural Talk podcast. 

Long-form conversations, like the past episodes on the Burmese teashop culture and common insults, target intermediate and advanced learners. They're meant to replicate authentic conversations a learner might overhear on the streets or in the market. On the other hand, Vocabulary Boosters target Burmese learners at the beginning of their journey. As such, the episodes are delivered with English explanations. Each episode introduces a handful of basic words and phrases related to a certain topic, along with some simple sentences that show how they might be used. 

In this debut episode, we introduce you to food-related words. Don't blame us if you get hungry after listening! (Image licensed from Shutterstock. Music: "Sunshine Dreams" by Kaazoom, Pixabay)

Vocabulary

စပ်တယ် to be spicy (affirmative)
မစပ်ဘူး not spicy (negative)
စပ်လား / စပ်သလား is it spicy? (yes-no question)
ခါးတယ် to be bitter (affirmative)
မခါးဘူး not bitter (negative)
ခါလား /ခါးသလား Is it bitter? (yes-no question)
ချိုတယ် to be sweet
ချဉ်တယ် to be sour
ငန်တယ် to be salty 
လေးတယ် to be over-seasoned / to be heavy in weight
ပေါ့တယ် to be under-seasoned / to be light in weight
ဒီကော်ဖီ this coffee
ဟိုကော်ဖီ that coffee
ဟင်း dish
ကြက်သားဟင်း poultry dish
ဝက်သားဟင်း pork dish
အမဲသားဟင်း beef dish