On 6/9/2026 at 6:48 AM, trucking said:

Most youtubers can't even pronounce Pattaya correctly so dont expect to much and you won't be disappointed.

As for places like Ko Samui or any island prefixed by Ko , virtually everyone pronounces it wrong. Too much bother to learn the Thai pronounciation which is more like ' Got ' rather than Ko.

Have you heard the “co-owner” of the Pattaya News do a video report? The guy has been here at least 15 years and couldn’t be arsed to even try pronounce Pattaya correctly.

On 6/9/2026 at 2:18 AM, mark5335 said:

I'm curious why the "t" is some words is silent. For example:

water is war-uh

bugatti is buga-ee

called a 'glottal stop - it;s why Americans can't do a British accent but Britsh can do American accents.

try "what about a water bottle, Wally, and a bottle of Bovril"

4 minutes ago, Photoguy21 said:

This is very true. However American English whilst understandable is more like a child's version as silent letters are omitted. Personally I have never understood why in the UK we have words with letters that are silent. But it is what it is.

Blame the French for inserting the useless U's. Webster did the best he could without starting another war. He also used Z more liberally, as in realize. It may be simpler, but it makes some sense.

On 6/9/2026 at 4:28 AM, Purdey said:

Many people don't know that both aluminum and aluminium are of British origin, as are football and soccer.

Noah Webster (the dictionary guy) deliberately changed English words to distinguish American English from British English. Driven by post-Revolutionary nationalism, he believed America needed its own unified language and culture.

hugely inaccurate... premises are wrong – 'pavement' is originally the word for the hard, metalled surface of a road – so 'sidewalk' is more accurate - most of what he is referring to are infact the original old English versions.

Edited June 10Jun 10 by kwilco

Just now, kwilco said:

hugely inaccurate... premises are wrong – 'pavement' is originally the word for the hard, metalled surface of a road – so 'sidewalk' is more accurate

On 6/9/2026 at 6:07 AM, Bredbury Blue said:

Or pronounce Hua Hin as 'Waa hin'. Bizarre

Of course, the big mistake there is not so much the "H"; it is the second syllable, which should be pronounced "HEEN" – the name again is a physical description of the area "Head Rock" or stone

On 6/9/2026 at 2:57 AM, crazyg said:

It's most likely either a developmental disorder or a condition called Aphasia, which is often caused by stroke, or head trauma.

You'll sometimes find that the person can't correctly repeat a word they've just heard.

I've worked with people who display this condition, but are otherwise intelligent and functional perfectly normally.

I do find it frustrating though, especially your example 'Jontiem'.

On 6/9/2026 at 2:57 AM, crazyg said:

It's most likely either a developmental disorder or a condition called Aphasia, which is often caused by stroke, or head trauma.

You'll sometimes find that the person can't correctly repeat a word they've just heard.

I've worked with people who display this condition, but are otherwise intelligent and functional perfectly normally.

I do find it frustrating though, especially your example 'Jontiem'.

Wrong! See my explanation later.

On 6/9/2026 at 1:08 AM, wil iam not said:

And no-one pronounces the black plastic used for records correctlty, as it is written. It is VINYL, noy VYNIL.

Noy it's not.😀

On 6/9/2026 at 6:56 AM, Photoguy21 said:

Live in your delusion, most Americans do which is why you believe the USA is the centre of the universe. It is legitimate yes but it is a variation of correct English

Sorry it's you who are deluded – there is no such thing as "correct" English - the language is not static and changes every year – there are regional variations. To get an idea, look at the spellcheck options on Microsoft Word; there are spellcheck dictionaries for 16 distinct regional versions of English. This allows you to tailor your proofing to specific grammar and vocabulary rules (e.g., US, UK, Canada, Australia, India, and Jamaica).

The truth is that in one sense there is no such thing as "American" English or "british" English; they are the same language and in many senses American uses an older and more "original" version

On 6/9/2026 at 5:20 AM, VocalNeal said:

Patters

This is an old army slang form from the days of the Raj - it is how we got "snooker" "soccer" "rugger" and "wagger pagger bagger" - not I need to explain the origins?

Edited June 10Jun 10 by kwilco

On 6/9/2026 at 5:54 AM, johnnybangkok said:

Correct. It was originally called Angle Land which evolved to England.

The point of my post though is the language isn't called "American'. It's called English so those who speak the proper Queen's English (now the King's English) pronounce the words correctly.

no such thing as "proper" or "Queen's" English (NB there is a King now) – the language itself is Germanic.

On 6/9/2026 at 6:01 AM, VocalNeal said:

Except of course for the dialects every 25 miles.

you are cond=fusing accent with dialect - An accent refers strictly to how words are pronounced, a dialect involves unique grammar and vocabulary, and a regional language is spoken by distinct populations

Although American English has a lot of archaic English in it, most British English speakers use a huge amount of American English in every language without even realising it.

Here are some everyday Americanisms used in British English

O.K.: Teenager, belittle, guy, dude, commuter, takeout, touch base, my bad, heads up – even weekend was popularised in the US first.

 

'Gotten', however, hasn’t been used in British English for about 200 years

 

39 minutes ago, kwilco said:

Of course, the big mistake there is not so much the "H"; it is the second syllable, which should be pronounced "HEEN" – the name again is a physical description of the area "Head Rock" or stone

Thai-language.com has the spelling/pronunciation below, both syllables Rising, 2nd syllable short.

หัวหิน huaaR hinR

On 6/9/2026 at 6:40 AM, Photoguy21 said:

Schedule

The two  ways to pronounce "schedule"—"shed-yool"  and "sked-yool" ( the former is more common in UK the latter in Us English

 

It results from a mix of historical linguistic evolution, spelling, and geographic divergence. Firstly, the historical root is that the word was borrowed from Old French into English, and was originally pronounced like "sed-yool".

Then there was the  spelling shift:, the English spelling was changed to "schedule" to make it look closer to its original Latin root academics did this a lot to English – Then the popst revolution Trans-Atlantic split: Lots of people in the US were non English speaking immigrants and basic English was taught mistakenly thinking it was phonetic, so people started pronouncing words exactly how they were newly spelled,

 

Althouhgh there are regional preferences, there aren’t isn't strictly confined by borders. Many speakers in the UK use the “American” "sked-yool" pronunciation due to media influence, while some older generations and regions preserve the traditional British "shed-yool" in the US

.However bare in mind that both are broadly understood and accepted

 

On 6/9/2026 at 7:46 AM, HappyExpat57 said:

I would counter that the English have their own issues with the spoken language. Case in point:

that's a satire on the British caste system rather than an understanding of the language - it's also out of date

Edited June 10Jun 10 by kwilco

30 minutes ago, PETERTHEEATER said:

Noy it's not.😀

OK everyone. Spellchecker put noy instead of not, and unfortunatlely I did not spot it. No more replies on this please.

And it is VINyl, and NOT VYNil.

Edited June 10Jun 10 by wil iam not

On 6/9/2026 at 7:49 AM, Rockyroad said:

Why not er?

I do have a bugbear about the letter "H" – not its usage but the way people pronounce the letter in spelling

It is AITCH – there is NO "H"!! At least not in most versions of English – pronouncing it "HAITCH" is a sign of ignorance in my book

22 hours ago, johnnybangkok said:

Agreed. I’m Scottish so English is in fact my second language 😄

so you speak Gaelic? - ""A bheil Gàidhlig agad?"

22 hours ago, Rockyroad said:

Both wrong though. It is Paat-ta-yah or just say Pat-tahs

almost all foreigners say "Pattaya" incorrectly. Pa- Ta - YAAA

The first syllable is short and sharp. It’s similar to the word "pat," but with a higher pitch.

2 - TA = A short transition syllable, pronounced like the "ta" in "taco".

Thirdly, YAA: The final syllable is held slightly longer. Think of the "ya" in "yard".

It is unusual in Thai as the syllables are not all the same length - tone-wise the first 2 are "high" and YAA is "mid"

Of course all languages use their own pronunciations for major foreign towns – e.g., in English - Paris, Rome, and Bangkok, none of which are the same as the native language. This then extends to other towns commonly referred to in the foreign language

Edited June 10Jun 10 by kwilco

23 hours ago, JAG said:

The accents, especially from Cameroon are virtually incomprehensible.

That's a personal thing – comprehending accents is a skill that often evades older and more parochial people

1 hour ago, MadAtMatrix said:

Have you heard the “co-owner” of the Pattaya News do a video report? The guy has been here at least 15 years and couldn’t be arsed to even try pronounce Pattaya correctly.

Surely the name of a place is pronounced by the locals as they want to, and foreigners do as they please also. eg Paris id pronounced Paree in France.

So for Thais, Pa-tee-YA. For us lot, PATtaya.

I wonder how Thais would get on with Leicester, Worcester, Edinburgh, Middlesbrough, etc etc

Edited June 10Jun 10 by wil iam not

3 hours ago, cdemundo said:

I work with a lot of younger people who were educated at international schools in Bangkok.

In spite of many having British teachers, they speak as if they were American.

I never encounter a Thai person educated at international school who has a British accent.

Some of them started at international school in preschool years and they definitely do not have any trace of Thai accent.

Apart from sensible choice of vocabulary ( like saying "lift" instead of "elevator") they are indistinguishable from American English speakers.

Apparently (?) mass media has a greater effect than their British teachers on their use of English.

I found working in industry it to be quite the opposite – however, I would use "international" English – but Thai schools tend to teach British English.

1 hour ago, Photoguy21 said:

This is very true. However American English whilst understandable is more like a child's version as silent letters are omitted. Personally I have never understood why in the UK we have words with letters that are silent. But it is what it is.

largely to do with academics – they tried to align English spelling with Latin (and Greek) roots during the 16th and 17th centuries. However, history has shown that interfering with the natural organic development of English only ever has a limited effect. In the States Noah Webster had only limited success in the early 18th century – e.g., changing "centre" to "center", the problem being he then had to return to the "Latin" original for compound versions like "central" instead of "centeral"\Unlike the "académie" in France, there is no government body anywhere in the world that definitively says what is or isn't English. it has remained a more or less totally democratic language for hundreds of years.

So here is my response to the OP – the premise is basically flawed – it isn't actually a British thing at all...

You need to consider several factors here: the original Thai word, the transliteration system being used, and how different languages influence pronunciation.

First of all, the actual name is จอมเทียน. Everything else is simply an attempt to represent that Thai word using a Western alphabet.

The word is made up of จอม + เทียน, which would be rendered as Chom Thian under the Royal Thai General System of Transcription (RTGS), although the more commonly seen spelling is Jomtien.

The final Thai letter น is technically an "N" sound. However, in practice, many people pronounce or write the name as "Jomtiem", due to a common linguistic phenomenon known as anticipatory assimilation.

This occurs because the brain prepares the mouth for the next sound before the current one has been completed. Since the lips are already closed for the "m" sound in "Jom", the mouth often takes a shortcut and repeats that same lip movement at the end of the word. The final "n" therefore becomes another "m", producing "Jomtiem".

Thai itself also has pronunciation rules that don't always align neatly with the written letters. For example, Chonburi is often written as Cholburi in older forms. The letter ล (L), when occurring at the end of a syllable, is usually pronounced as an N sound rather than an L.

So this isn't really a British-versus-American issue. Pronunciation shifts occur naturally in many languages.

It's also worth noting that most transliterated Thai words spoken by foreigners are mispronounced to some degree. Thai and English operate very differently. English relies heavily on variable stress and rhythmic timing, while Thai uses fixed, tonal syllables that are more evenly timed. French, although not tonal, also uses relatively fixed syllable timing, which is one reason French speakers often sound closer to Thai pronunciation than English speakers do.

Thai is generally a highly phonetic language. English most certainly is not.

As for the meaning, จอมเทียน (Chom Thian) refers to a landscape feature and roughly translates as "Great Chief's Candle."

The bigger issue is that transliterating Thai into Western scripts is inherently problematic. Thai consonants and vowels rarely have exact equivalents in English or other European languages, so transliterations are always approximations.

As an example, จอมเทียน can be represented in several different ways depending on the system used:

Official Government System (RTGS)
• Chom Thian

International and Academic Standards
• cōmtīan (ISO 11940)
• cǭmthīan (ALA-LC)
• [tɕɔ̄ːm tʰīan] (International Phonetic Alphabet)

Language Learning Systems
• jɔɔm-tiian (Paiboon)
• cɔ̄ɔm tʰīan (Haas)
• jơm-tiian (Thai-language.com)

Popular/Common Usage
• Jomtien

You'll also notice variations on road signs and official documents throughout Thailand, largely because transliteration has never been fully standardised, even by government agencies themselves.

47 minutes ago, Bredbury Blue said:

Thai-language.com has the spelling/pronunciation below, both syllables Rising, 2nd syllable short.

หัวหิน huaaR hinR

Both have rising tones, but the pronunciation is HEEN, not HIN. I said earlier that foreign town names get mutated by common usage, and it looks as if HEEN is changing to HIn, and the tones are usually ignored by foreign speakers – as I worked exclusively with Thai speakers, I was often corrected by them on things like this.

Edited June 10Jun 10 by kwilco

1 hour ago, kwilco said:

no such thing as "proper" or "Queen's" English (NB there is a King now) – the language itself is Germanic.

Well we can all go back a few thousand years to the 'origins' of languages but there IS such a thing as the Queens (King's) English defined by AI as -

'The Queen’s English is formally defined as the style of Standard British English traditionally spoken and written by educated individuals in the United Kingdom. It is characterized by precision, impeccable grammar, extensive vocabulary, and the absence of informal slang or highly regional dialects. While often associated with the sovereign's speech, it is synonymous with "Standard English"

It's not about talking 'posh' English but rather than talking with impeccable grammar and no slang. Both Oxford and Cambridge are held as the standard when refering to speaking the 'perfect Queens/Kings English'

46 minutes ago, kwilco said:

so you speak Gaelic? - ""A bheil Gàidhlig agad?"

No. Very few Scots do. It's more a Highlands thing rather than central or a southern Scotland thing (I'm from Glasgow but raised in the Borders).

1 hour ago, Photoguy21 said:

This is very true. However American English whilst understandable is more like a child's version as silent letters are omitted. Personally I have never understood why in the UK we have words with letters that are silent. But it is what it is.

Do you mean words like Weight, train, boat, spread, size, file, language, true, barbecue, and a thousand more? American English is English. This has nothing to do with how anyone thinks but what is real. We think whilst is a strange way of saying while, but adapting to what's right for you means change. It is what it is.

3 minutes ago, johnnybangkok said:

Well we can all go back a few thousand years to the 'origins' of languages but there IS such a thing as the Queens (King's) English defined by AI as -

'The Queen’s English is formally defined as the style of Standard British English traditionally spoken and written by educated individuals in the United Kingdom. It is characterized by precision, impeccable grammar, extensive vocabulary, and the absence of informal slang or highly regional dialects. While often associated with the sovereign's speech, it is synonymous with "Standard English"

It's not about talking 'posh' English but rather than talking with impeccable grammar and no slang. Both Oxford and Cambridge are held as the standard when refering to speaking the 'perfect Queens/Kings English'

The problem is that you're treating "Queen's English" as if it's an official linguistic standard. It isn't. It's a popular expression….and the authority of your citation is highly questionable

English has no equivalent of the Académie Française, no central authority, and no single "correct" form. Oxford and Cambridge don't regulate English; they study it. Dictionaries record how English is used, they don't decree how it must be used.

Ironically, the belief that there is one perfect, unchanging form of English demonstrates a misunderstanding of how the language actually works.

It's interesting that you use the word "posh", which has changed in meaning a lot in the last 125 years....so the 2 last queens reigning would have used it quite differently

Edited June 10Jun 10 by kwilco

44 minutes ago, kwilco said:

I found working in industry it to be quite the opposite – however, I would use "international" English – but Thai schools tend to teach British English.

I'm curious, you use the past tense, are you talking about your experience in the past?

Apparently you are saying you found that students who studied at international schools in Thailand spoke with British accents, is that what you mean?

Maybe this has changed with time.

Whatever the schools teach, the students don't speak with British accents anymore.