Opinions

❃ Opinions

ဘယ်လိုထင်လဲ [ Be lo htin le? ]: What do you think?
ကျွန်တော်ကတော့ဒီလိုထင်တယ် [ Kya no ga daw di lo htin de ]: I think like this.
သဘောတူတယ် [ Tha baw tu de ]: I agree.
သဘောမတူဘူး [ Tha baw ma tu bu ]: I disagree.
မှန်တယ်ထင်တာပဲ [ Hman de htin da be ]: I think it's right.
မှားနေတယ် [ Hma ne de ]: It is wrong.
ကောင်းတဲ့အကြံပဲ [ Kaung de a kyan be ]: That's a good idea!
မသေချာဘူး [ Ma thay gya bu ]: I am not sure.
ဒါပိုကောင်းမယ်ထင်တယ် [ Da po kaung me htin de ]: I think this one is better.
ကိုယ်တိုင်ဆုံးဖြတ်ပါ [ Ko baing sone phyat pa ]: You decide yourself.

Cultural notes

Navigating conversations that require giving opinions, especially when you disagree, is a delicate cultural art form in Myanmar. The Burmese society is heavily influenced by the deeply ingrained concept of avoiding confrontation to ensure that no one loses face. Therefore, direct communication styles highly valued in Western business or social settings are often perceived as rude, overly aggressive, or socially inept in Myanmar. When you agree with someone, it is easy and welcomed to express it directly by saying သဘောတူတယ် (tha baw tu de) [θə bɔ́ tù dɛ̀], meaning "I agree." However, if you find yourself disagreeing with a local's suggestion or opinion, you must tread carefully. Saying a blunt သဘောမတူဘူး (tha baw ma tu bu) [θə bɔ́ mə tù bù], meaning "I disagree," can create an awkward, tense silence. Instead, the Burmese masterfully soften their disagreements by phrasing them as subjective thoughts rather than objective facts. Using the word ထင်တယ် (htin de) [tʰɪ̀ɴ dɛ̀], which means "I think" or "in my opinion," is the perfect linguistic buffer. For instance, if you want to suggest a different option, you say ဒါပိုကောင်းမယ်ထင်တယ် (da po kaung me htin de) [dà pò káʊɴ mɛ̀ tʰɪ̀ɴ dɛ̀], translating to "I think this one is better," accompanied by a polite smile. This approach leaves room for the other person to elegantly adjust their stance without feeling attacked or corrected. Furthermore, when asked for your opinion with ဘယ်လိုထင်လဲ (be lo htin le?) [bɛ̀ lò tʰɪ̀ɴ lɛ́] meaning "What do you think?", it is socially wise to acknowledge the merit of the other person's idea first before gently introducing your own perspective. Mastering this incredibly soft, indirect, and tactful method of debating ensures that you build consensus and maintain the warm, peaceful harmony that defines everyday Burmese social relationships.

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