I have it on good authority that correct pronounciation is PAT THAI YA - the emphasis being as with all (?) Thai words on the last syllable.

I have it on good authority that correct pronounciation is PAT THAI YA - the emphasis being as with all (?) Thai words on the last syllable.

I think it is more like PAT-TA-YAA. Agree emphasis on last syllable.

I have it on good authority that correct pronounciation is PAT THAI YA - the emphasis being as with all (?) Thai words on the last syllable.

I think it is more like PAT-TA-YAA. Agree emphasis on last syllable.

Agree completely, that is how I hear the Thais pronounce it and I guess they should be role models in this subject.

I have it on good authority that correct pronounciation is PAT THAI YA - the emphasis being as with all (?) Thai words on the last syllable.

I think it is more like PAT-TA-YAA. Agree emphasis on last syllable.

Agree completely, that is how I hear the Thais pronounce it and I guess they should be role models in this subject.

Actually it has always sounded to me (could just be my ear), that it sounds more like "PA TEE YAA"

With the middle syllable sounding more like "TEE" than "TA"

I thought it was pronounced 'Sodom and Gomorrah'

I've always heard it as PAT-T-YAR with a sort of stutter on teh Ts

PAT-T-YAR and PAT-TEE-YAR is usually Americans.

Thais and Europeans generally pronounce it to rhyme with Mariah (Carey).

Who is right? Who knows?

I have it on good authority that correct pronounciation is PAT THAI YA - the emphasis being as with all (?) Thai words on the last syllable.

I think it is more like PAT-TA-YAA. Agree emphasis on last syllable.

That's how it sounds to me.

I thought it was pronounced 'Sodom and Gomorrah'

But would that be Sow Dom and Go Mow Rah.

I have it on good authority that correct pronounciation is PAT THAI YA - the emphasis being as with all (?) Thai words on the last syllable.

I think it is more like PAT-TA-YAA. Agree emphasis on last syllable.

That's how it sounds to me.

My Thai wife agrees....but maybe like this is more accurate...PAHT-TA-YAA

PAT seems like BAT.....should be more like rhyming with BAHT on the first syllable

I have it on good authority that correct pronounciation is PAT THAI YA - the emphasis being as with all (?) Thai words on the last syllable.

I think it is more like PAT-TA-YAA. Agree emphasis on last syllable.

That's how it sounds to me.

My Thai wife agrees....but maybe like this is more accurate...PAHT-TA-YAA

PAT seems like BAT.....should be more like rhyming with BAHT on the first syllable

Yes, even better.

I have it on good authority that correct pronounciation is PAT THAI YA - the emphasis being as with all (?) Thai words on the last syllable.

I think it is more like PAT-TA-YAA. Agree emphasis on last syllable.

That's how it sounds to me.

My Thai wife agrees....but maybe like this is more accurate...PAHT-TA-YAA

PAT seems like BAT.....should be more like rhyming with BAHT on the first syllable

Some of the worst offenders of butchering the city's name are the farang broadcasters on local TV. Your wife's comments agrees with everything I've learned in Thai classes.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=kS7hZhO0ee8

I have it on good authority that correct pronounciation is PAT THAI YA - the emphasis being as with all (?) Thai words on the last syllable.

I think it is more like PAT-TA-YAA. Agree emphasis on last syllable.

That's how it sounds to me.

My Thai wife agrees....but maybe like this is more accurate...PAHT-TA-YAA

PAT seems like BAT.....should be more like rhyming with BAHT on the first syllable

Some of the worst offenders of butchering the city's name are the farang broadcasters on local TV. Your wife's comments agrees with everything I've learned in Thai classes.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=kS7hZhO0ee8

Great video. If I wasn't going this weekend, I would be homesick.

[http://youtube.com/watch?v=kS7hZhO0ee8

Great video. If I wasn't going this weekend, I would be homesick.

Yes, a great video - catches the flavour of the place - just like mangoes, a new crop ever year.

Some of the worst offenders of butchering the city's name are the farang broadcasters on local TV. Your wife's comments agrees with everything I've learned in Thai classes.

To say nothing of the endless numbers of farangs - many who who have lived here for years , if not decades, and still mis-pronounce the name of the city in which they live.

Yet the entire indigenous population knows how to pronounce it correctly

The mind boggles

Does it matter, if so why.

any way, try the name of the new airport. now that, is a laugh around town.

Young Airtours stewardess ...... in the "poshest" voice she can muster says ...and it will take approx 13 hours to fookeet (phuket)

It's pronounced exactly how it's spelled...

พัทยา

พัท-

First syllable "put" as in putty, with high tone

-ท-

Second syllable ('ท' character is voiced as the terminus of first syllable and stands alone as the secon) "tha" as in the TU in "King Tut", with high tone

-ยา

Third Syllable "yah" as in "Yawn" with middle tone.

Thais outside of the city tend to pronounce it Patya forgetting the inherent middle bit

PAT-T-YAR and PAT-TEE-YAR is usually Americans.

Thais and Europeans generally pronounce it to rhyme with Mariah (Carey).

Who is right? Who knows?

Being an American and having been in Pattaya many times, I don't recall other Americans saying Pattaya with the "R" at the end. I have, however, heard it pronounced "<deleted>***ng Pattaya" by many gentlemen with Brit or Aussie accents. :>)

I'll be there again in 3 weeks and I'll listen more closely.

dj

So, let's see if I got it right. If I may use the English pronunciation method (inflection, not tones), the proper way to say Pattaya is to inflect the first and last syllables, but not the middle syllable. In other words, the guys who say "Puh-TYE-yuh" are wrong. Right?

It's pronounced exactly how it's spelled...

พัทยา

พัท-

First syllable "put" as in putty, with high tone

-ท-

Second syllable ('ท' character is voiced as the terminus of first syllable and stands alone as the secon) "tha" as in the TU in "King Tut", with high tone

-ยา

Third Syllable "yah" as in "Yawn" with middle tone.

isn't the second sound "ท" - taw tahaan a mid tone??

พัทยา -

a - short "A" - high tone

ท - ta - mid tone -

ya - salat "AA" , long "A" - AH sound

unless of course you are an English expat in which case it is simply the comparative of "PATTY" = "PATTIER"

It's pronounced exactly how it's spelled...

พัทยา

พัท-

First syllable "put" as in putty, with high tone

-ท-

Second syllable ('ท' character is voiced as the terminus of first syllable and stands alone as the secon) "tha" as in the TU in "King Tut", with high tone

-ยา

Third Syllable "yah" as in "Yawn" with middle tone.

isn't the second sound "ท" - taw tahaan a mid tone??

พัทยา -

a - short "A" - high tone

ท - ta - mid tone -

ya - salat "AA" , long "A" - AH sound

unless of course you are an English expat in which case it is simply the comparative of "PATTY" = "PATTIER"

It may sound mid tone to our untrained ears but actually it is high tone (short vowel).

http://www.thai-language.com/default.aspx

Click on the Dictionary tab then enter the English word "Pattaya". You will get an audio clip.

ask any thai and you can get the correct pronunciation. very few farangs can properly pronounce it, especially all the guys on the local tv adverts.

Listen to it here:

http://thai-language.com/id/208126

Click on the third "speaker" icon down - the one next to พัทยา

Does it matter, if so why.

any way, try the name of the new airport. now that, is a laugh around town.

While I was building Su'boom I used to catch a taxi back to Pattaya at weekends, when my driver was otherwise engaged.

To flag down a cab on the Bang Na - Chonburi road and ask him for Pattaya it was necessary to get a pronunciation with the emphasis on the last syllable - or pay twice as much. Bat-a-yaaarr is about as close as I can write it in English

Suvarnabhumi - was pronounced Suwanaboom on site - with the wan being slightly emphasised.

Suvarnabhumi - was pronounced Suwanaboom on site - with the wan being slightly emphasised.

More like "poom" at the end, rather than "boom", I think.

It's pronounced exactly how it's spelled...

พัทยา

พัท-

First syllable "put" as in putty, with high tone

-ท-

Second syllable ('ท' character is voiced as the terminus of first syllable and stands alone as the secon) "tha" as in the TU in "King Tut", with high tone

-ยา

Third Syllable "yah" as in "Yawn" with middle tone.

isn't the second sound "ท" - taw tahaan a mid tone??

พัทยา -

a - short "A" - high tone

ท - ta - mid tone -

ya - salat "AA" , long "A" - AH sound

unless of course you are an English expat in which case it is simply the comparative of "PATTY" = "PATTIER"

ท is a low-class character... so the rule with a short vowel (as is this, the inherited 'a' sound) is high tone. A mid tone would come from a long vowel, just as it does with 'ยา', since 'ย' is a low character as well.