United Kingdom

[the scouser]

Does anyone know why the Thais refer to Great Britain or the United Kingdom solely as "angrit", i.e. England? OK, in Thai it is possible to say united kingdom (สหราชอาฌาจักร) but this literally means a united kingdom and could be applied to any country which is unified and has a monarchy.

Just interested.

Scouse.

[snowleopard]

Does anyone know why the Thais refer to Great Britain or the United Kingdom solely as "angrit", i.e. England? OK, in Thai it is possible to say united kingdom   (สหราชอาฌาจักร) but this literally means a united kingdom and could be applied to any country which is unified and has a monarchy.

Just interested.

Scouse.

I haven't heard of another name for those isles and I guess most Thais are probably quite happy to call the whole chunk ประเทศอังกฤษ (pra-teht ang-grit) which would then include Scotland,Wales and Northern Ireland too because the use of ประเทศ (pra-teht) in the name denotes that it's a country!

สหราชอาณาจักร(saha-racha-ana-jahk) could refer to other countries with a unified monarchy too.

To some ethnic Chinese it could even be associated with the former kingdoms of ancient China!

Eventhough it could refer to other countries,I think that "saha-racha-ana-jahk" in Thai is nearly as good as "The United Kingdom" is in English because most Thais who have even bothered to learn that extra long name,instead of only "pra-thet ang-grit", know what it's supposed to refer to nowadays!

If you'd like to be more specific,you could say," สหราชอาณาจักรอังกฤษเวลส์สก๊อตแลนด์และไอร์แลนด์เหนือ"!

It's almost as long as,"The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland"!

Cheers.

Snowleopard.

[Richard W]

Does anyone know why the Thais refer to Great Britain or the United Kingdom solely as "angrit", i.e. England? OK, in Thai it is possible to say united kingdom (สหราชอาฌาจักร) but this literally means a united kingdom and could be applied to any country which is unified and has a monarchy.

Just interested.

Scouse.

It's worldwide. Have you never heard of Americans referring to 'Aberdeen, England'?

One letter from Iran to Scotland had carefully had the country name written on it (in Farsi) as 'Iskotland' (or something similar) - in the post someone in Iran had written the explanatory word 'Inglestan' against the address.

When addressing letters in English to England (or Wales or Scotland), one is supposed to write 'Great Britain'. That tends to meet with incomprehension at the post office in Thailand, and I nowadays always say ไปอังกฤษ when sending letters. There isn't even any consistency in translating 'Great Britain' - one dictionary gives บริทเทนใหญ่ and another gives บริเทน in an alternative translation of 'Britannic'.

The Netherlands gets the same treatment in speech, 'Holland' / ฮอลันดา, but at least Se-Ed's Modern English dictionary gives ประเทศเนเธอร์แลนด์ as a translation of 'Holland' as well as of 'Netherlands'. It just gives ประเทศอังกฤษ for 'Britain'.

The obvious explanation is that the British Empire started as an English Empire - the Scottish Empire was not a success. The English empire didn't become British until 1707.

[the scouser]

Thanks for the explanations, chaps.

Richard W, I'm glad that you mentioned the Thai post office because I had an experience the inverse of yours. I presented a letter marked "England" to the assistant and with a deep sigh and a haughty look she crossed it out and in her own hand wrote "U.K."

One never knows.

Scouse.

[Richard W]

How does one say 'England' in Thai, as opposed to Britain, the UK, or even the British Isles? For example, how would one make clear that one meant the English rugby team, not the British Lions? The contrast between the Irish football team - representing one country - and the Irish rugby team - representing two countries - is another issue!

[naomisri]

My Husband calls it Yoo-Keh - as in "You been You-Keh before?". Generally find that it comes as second nature to him to shorten things as much as possible! I think he might have a hard time telling me what UK stands for though or even that it's an abbreviation! He also once told me that he thought Scotland was near Holland. Next week will be his second time in the UK and I think he's cracked the Scotland, England, Wales, Northern Island thing now.

Was also going to say that I would definitely write UK on letters myself wherever I was writing from, however there is a need to use the word "British" in the abscence of anything else so perhaps I should be using Britain as well?

[Richard W]

Was also going to say that I would definitely write UK on letters myself wherever I was writing from, however there is a need to use the word "British" in the abscence of anything else so perhaps I should be using Britain as well?

Long ago I came across an official specification of how addresses should be written. It said that the country should be written 'GREAT BRITAIN'. I can't remember whether this applied to the whole of the UK or just the three countries of the mainland. I suspect it should be 'NORTHERN IRELAND' for Northern Ireland.

[stiab3]

The term United Kingdom is pretty generic, even in English (as is the term, United States). So its no surprise if there is no specific term in many languages that would refer to the United Kingdom of GB an NI without having to say the whole lot . . .

[meadish_sweetball]

Out of interest (or not), there is no commonly used equivalent of "United Kingdom" in Swedish either.

We use "Storbritannien" - "Great Britain", as a translation for both "United Kingdom" and "Great Britain", except when referring to the entire official name.

[cutethaigirl]

If you send a letter etc by registered mail the Staff at the PO here will enter a 2 letter code into the PC.

For England, Wales and Scotland it is GB i think. Ireland has its own.

Write England or Wales and UK will generally be added at the bottom to save confusion:-)

[Narachon]

Does anyone know why the Thais refer to Great Britain or the United Kingdom solely as "angrit", i.e. England? OK, in Thai it is possible to say united kingdom  (สหราชอาฌาจักร) but this literally means a united kingdom and could be applied to any country which is unified and has a monarchy.

Just interested.

Scouse.

It's worldwide. Have you never heard of Americans referring to 'Aberdeen, England'?

Actually, that's not true. Not just the Thais, but most Americans like myself would say " Aberdeen, England" rather than "Great Britain" or "United Kingdom".... It's been ingrained in the minds of many Americans since elementary school here.... For example, If you come to the U.S. and ask the question , " Who did America fight against for Independence during the Revolutionary war "...... I'm willing to bet that "United Kingdom of Great Britian" would not usually be the answer!

Besides, it's easier to say "England" or "America", rather than " United Kingdom", or "United States of America"... Especially in the case if English is not your first language....

Narachon

P.S. BTW, This is my First Post here!

[Neeranam]

Actually, that's not true. Not just the Thais, but most Americans like myself would say " Aberdeen, England"

Very true. I come from Aberdeen, England!

When Thais tell Thais I come from Angrit, then I tell them I caome from "Pratet Sacotlan", they are very confused.

Then again, I believe there are 3 Aberdeens in USA.

[Richard W]

Besides, it's easier to say "England" or "America", rather than " United Kingdom", or "United States of America"... Especially in the case if English is not your first language....

Actually, I think 'Britain' is just as easy. Thais might stumble over บริเทน (is it three syllables or two in practice?), but อังกฤษ isn't easy either, and I usually just hear "อังกิษ".

[topfield]

OK folks...how about Jersey, Guernsey & IOM.

I often send letters there for offshore banking.

What does one write in Thai as they are NOT part of the UK nor of Great Britain .

Is there a known Thai word for British Isles or even Channel Isles ?

[Tarragona]

But how does the Thai version สหราชอาฌาจักร differ from its English equivalent? Unless you can find a way to introduce capital letters in Thai, why should they need anything else? How many other countries in the world could it refer to?

"England" or "UK" both do fine for the postal service. I usually write "England" on letters but put "UK" for my father in Wales.

[kayo]

maybe also, because Thailand is a kingdom, and they are possibly not too respectful of the british monarchy, considering what it and it's politicians has done in many neighbouring and nearby countries

It would be like Bono calling Geri Halliwell a "fellow" pop star... not even in the same league.

[IvanLaw]

maybe also, because Thailand is a kingdom, and they are possibly not too respectful of the british monarchy, considering what it and it's politicians has done in many neighbouring and nearby countries

It would be like Bono calling Geri Halliwell a "fellow" pop star... not even in the same league.

I say Kayo

Little hard on BONO, I think he is quite good actually

Regards

[kayo]

[topfield]

So can anyone help with the Thai for British Isles / Channel Isles / Isle of Man ?

Not only are they not part of the UK , the inhabitants there resent their islands being called part of the UK !!

NB this is not JUST hypothetical/academic....I tried to send a packet with DHL and was unable to get the staff there to understand. Ended up after 10 minutes by having to say just 'Douglas' which they seemed to know !!

[meadish_sweetball]

From Damnern Sathienaphong:

Channel Islands - หมู่เกาะแชนเนล moo koh chaen-neeo

How does it work?

หมู่เกาะ = island group

แชนเนล = 'channel' rendered in Thai script

[PeaceBlondie]

We cannot expect Thais to know these fine points of world geography unless they study it seriously in university. I sometimes refer to the states of the USA as 'provinces,' and I don't correct Thais when they refer to the USA as simply "America," which is an entire hemisphere. I don't explain that Texas used to be a lone republic, or part of Mexico, and Spain, etc.

When I went to Scotland, my students didn't grasp the meaning. The entire England/Scotland/Wales/N. Ireland and UK thing is rather complex, after all. When my Irish daughter-in-law presented her Irish passport to US Border Guards near the Armstrong Ranch in south Texas, she was certain the guards did not know what Ireland was.

If you Scots get accused of being English, maybe you could ask the Thai if she's Burmese or Malay.