Why Some Thais Pronounce Suvarnabhumi As Suwanapoom ?

[IMA_FARANG]

I believe it is futile to discuss this subject. I am not complaining that the English do not write Lester Square and Wooster Sauce, and I have not seen the Thai complaining about it. So what's the big deal about Suvarnabhumi?

Live and let live, I say.

--

Maestro

Live and let live indeed.

I grew up near a town in the state of Massachusetts called Whately...pronounced as Wait Lee. My mother was born near a lake in central Mass whose Indian (American Indian) name, which I won't even try to spell here, translates as: We fish on our side, you fish on your side, and no one fishes in the middle. I believe it has nearly 150 letters in the name. It made perfect sense to the two Indian tribes, as it was the border of their lands, and they couldn't agree which tribe owned the lake and it's fishing rights. So they signed a treaty...they agreed...We fish on our side, you fish on your side, and no one fishes in the middle.

And the capitol of Afghanistan...Is it called Ka-Bool or is it called Cobble?

Edited February 29, 2008 by IMA_FARANG

[tw25rw]

And the capitol of Afghanistan...Is it called Ka-Bool or is it called Cobble?

KaBUL

[dantilley]

Is "Aluminium" pronounced as it's spelt, "Alu-mi-ni-um", or the weird American way "A-loo-mi-num"?

[LivinLOS]

I believe it is futile to discuss this subject. I am not complaining that the English do not write Lester Square and Wooster Sauce, and I have not seen the Thai complaining about it. So what’s the big deal about Suvarnabhumi?

Live and let live, I say.

--

Maestro

I see that as an unfair comparison..

For example no one is saying Thais need to change the Thai script of how its is spelt, Thais obviously know how to read and pronounce the Thais script of the word. But isnt the job of transliteration to take the Thai word and recreate that word as best as possible in phonetic roman text ??

If so I fail to understand why so much transliteration is not phonetic ?!? Isnt that the exact job of transliteration ??

I would have no argument at all, in fact I would fully recommend, that if Leicester was to be transliterated into Thai script that it should be a thai scripted version of its phonetic sound eg Lester. Thats the task of transliteration surely ??

I think thats the key to why this annoys people, the system makes no sense. And to apply this to an international airport that has to be read and spoken globally is also a horribly poor decision.

[dantilley]

The main reason for these strange spellings is that some Thai consonants when placed at the end of words change their sound from their "default" sound.

For example, an "s" sound at the end of a word will be pronounced as an un-aspirated "t" sound, which is why "sawasdee" is often spelled as it is, but is pronounced (and I feel also should be spelled, ideally) "sawat-dee". Similarly, you often see "Pahon Yothin Road" spelled "Pahol Yothin", because the letter at the end of "Pahon" in Thai is "lor ling" (ล) is usually pronounced as "l" in Thai. I've even seen "Ubon Ratchathani" spelt "Ubol..." before for similar reasons.

There are many other examples like this and there seems to be no consistency between weather they replace the Thai letters literally - which would then mean that the person reading them would have to know about the rule regarding certain letters at the end of words changing their sound - or just try to transliterate the Thai sounding word into English. Personally I think it makes much more sense to do the latter, as anyway it's a futile exercise to try to replace Thai letters precisely with English letters because there are so many Thai letters (or combinations of Thai letters) which have no direct English equivalent.

[LivinLOS]

Kinda going into a language issue rather than airport but thats part of the OP anyway but just to say..

I am fully aware and agree that romanization is never going to be a complete solution, there will always be tonalities and other parts that are if not impossible to fully transliterate at least very tough.

However I cannot understand why transliteration does not at least attempt to create the word in its fully readable form.

Secondly would be the issue of purposefully naming an international airport, mooted as being the hub of asia, and saddling with a name that doesnt pronounce properly in transliterated romanized script. Shows a serious lack of thought and consideration IMO, look at others in the region, Changi as an example, you read it, you say it, simple. Shows the difference between Singapores thinking and Thailands.

[Zpete]

At first, I was told..... soo warna poom.

That by my Thai g/f

No bother to me.

Everyone knows...... Swampypool.

Even taxi drivers ........... with a smile.

After all, it is L.O.S....

Edited March 1, 2008 by Zpete

[tw25rw]

Is "Aluminium" pronounced as it's spelt, "Alu-mi-ni-um", or the weird American way "A-loo-mi-num"?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium#Etymology

[barrysandal]

I've always wondered why KANSAS is pronounced differently from ARKANSAS, or why the French put an X in Bordeaux? But be sure that 90 percent of Thais can not spell the name of the international airport. Forget about the Pali or the Sanskrit, that's for monks and people who think too much. Thai transliterate all of it into Thai language at their temples and read along like foreigners do at a Latin mass or a Hebrew service.

Be also sure that if you say AIRPORT to the taxi driver he will take you to Suvarnabhumi, not Don Muang, a big problem if you are flying on NOK air.

Btw, most Americans can not spell Massachusetts. Never think that the Thai hold an advantage on being dumb, that's universal.

Say what you want to say and leave a tip, they will all love you for sure.

[siam2007]

Shinawatra = Shinawatt

Suriwongse Road = Surawong

SriNakharintra Road = Sinakharin

Singha Beer = SINGH (an important one for the Farang community )

Samitivej Hospital = Samitvet

Cholburi = Chonburi

Khonkaen = Khoowngaen

Koh (Samui) = Go' (extremely short "o")

Krabi = Grabee

ok, thats enough I guess, I am just an early learner of reading Thai fonts. But I am already very happy to be able to read the ORIGINAL and not the pathetic transcriptions

Since I am able to read the original, I found out that I actually did pronounce so many words in a wrong way, only because the transcription was 100% crap....

[dantilley]

Shinawatra = Shinawatt

Suriwongse Road = Surawong

Singha Beer = SINGH (an important one for the Farang community )

These three I've always found weird.

With "Sing" though it's even written "Singha" on the brand logo so we'll be forever hearing it being called "sing-haa" by farrangs everywhere.

[LuckyFive8888]

Shinawatra = Shinawatt

Suriwongse Road = Surawong

Singha Beer = SINGH (an important one for the Farang community )

These three I've always found weird.

With "Sing" though it's even written "Singha" on the brand logo so we'll be forever hearing it being called "sing-haa" by farrangs everywhere.

it's because there are rules in thai language that they don't pronounced the last characters as such and there is no translation in english, try french for example. the best way to learn how to speak thai is to speak it the same way as how you hear from local thai people. to learn how to read and write is another thing. forget about english alphabets when learning thai!

Edited March 2, 2008 by LuckyFive8888

[dantilley]

I know what you're saying, but here we're not talking about learning to read Thai - we're talking about Thai words transliterated into English. You don't pronounce the "x" in Bordeaux - but that's French written in French, not French transliterated into English.

So when you're writing some English letters which are simply trying to make a close as possible approximation of how the word sounds in Thai, it makes no sense to write the silent letters also, as they're not part of the spoken sound being mimicked.

[LuckyFive8888]

I know what you're saying, but here we're not talking about learning to read Thai - we're talking about Thai words transliterated into English. You don't pronounce the "x" in Bordeaux - but that's French written in French, not French transliterated into English.

So when you're writing some English letters which are simply trying to make a close as possible approximation of how the word sounds in Thai, it makes no sense to write the silent letters also, as they're not part of the spoken sound being mimicked.

oh, yes of course you are right and i agree. 99% of the transliterated thai into english are wrong. i wonder who decides which the correct translation is.

[CbrLad]

See above

So it would be rather crass of the Thais to spell it as Suwannapoom, for example. It would be like using pig Latin.

In fact the official transliteration, following the Royal Thai Institute, would be Suwannaphum, not Suvarnabhumi.

My wife who comes from Suwannaphum town in Roi Et has an interesting spin on it. Apparently the airport which is said the same way as the township has different spelling as a sign of respect for the king. If you notice the end of the airport spelling it is part of the kings name.

I guess we just have to accept it is said Suwannaphum but spelt Suvarnabhumi.

[Plus]

How many people out of millions passing through each year know the correct pronunciation? They read it, they say it, they understand each other, from travel agents down the line.

Who cares what Thais think is the correct sound? Certainly not Thais themselves.

On the other hand it adds a certain charm - like in France you've got to learn to drop -x (in fact I'd drop most of French vowel letters, they are just annoying).

[tw25rw]

I know what you're saying, but here we're not talking about learning to read Thai - we're talking about Thai words transliterated into English. You don't pronounce the "x" in Bordeaux - but that's French written in French, not French transliterated into English.

So when you're writing some English letters which are simply trying to make a close as possible approximation of how the word sounds in Thai, it makes no sense to write the silent letters also, as they're not part of the spoken sound being mimicked.

That's a good way of putting it.. I find French words easy to read and pronounce, even though I don't really speak it, so should be able to pick up Thai once I get a grasp of the alphabet..

I believe the Laos have modified their writing system to simplify it. Too much to hope for, but I's love it if the Thais did the same. In fact I'd volunteer to help.

[eefoo]

On the other hand it adds a certain charm - like in France you've got to learn to drop -x (in fact I'd drop most of French vowel letters, they are just annoying).

That's where I've been going wrong with my languages - I never realised that X was a vowel in French !!