Thai License Plates To Be In English

[george]

Licenses on Thai vehicles entering Mekong countries to be in English

BANGKOK: -- Private sedans, tour buses and foreign diplomatic cars from Thailand traveling to five Mekong-basin nations must have registration plates written in English beginning June 11, a senior Transport Ministry official said.

Acting Land Transport Department director-general Chairat Sa-nguansue said the new requirements -- that automobile registration plates bear the name of the country, the registration number and appropriate provincial codes in English -- follows agreements on border transportation with the five countries including the three Indochinese nations, Myanmar and southern China.

The department has completed laying out sizes and colours of the new registration plates which will be used in those five countries, Chairat said.

Car owners may apply and obtain the new registration plates from June 11 onwards, he said.

Mr. Chairat said vehicles from Thailand entering those countries must be strictly used for either tourism or transportation purposes only.

--TNA 2008-04-26

[wpcoe]

Vehicles must have the English plates beginning June 11, but cannot apply for them until June 11. Border crossings might be a bit non-busy on the 11th....

[stattointhailand]

Do you have to put Thai plates on when you come back?

Mr. Chairat said vehicles from Thailand entering those countries must be strictly used for either tourism or transportation purposes only

What else do you use modes of transport for if not TRANSPORTATION?

[john b good]

Vehicles must have the English plates beginning June 11, but cannot apply for them until June 11. Border crossings might be a bit non-busy on the 11th....

And for around a month after that too.

When buying a new vehicle in Thailand one generally has to wait at least a month before getting your rego plates.

[5tash]

Thai vehicles that cross over into Malaysia have had English language plates on them for a few years now. They still have the normal Thai plate. The English plates are a straight translation of the Thai letters.

For example; 2465 รห would become 2465 rh. I assume this is for the benefit of the Malaysian Police.

[Scott]

But surely all these other countries should learn to read, write and speak Thai, shouldn't they?

[Tony Clifton]

Add that to the latest Thai fad, European Union plate holders.

[Ithailian]

Thai vehicles that cross over into Malaysia have had English language plates on them for a few years now. They still have the normal Thai plate. The English plates are a straight translation of the Thai letters.

For example; 2465 รห would become 2465 rh. I assume this is for the benefit of the Malaysian Police.

Clear as mud. So, stickers with the English transliteration are still good (as was the practice before) or not?

I can see it now ... some policeman in Buriram is going to stop me and give a ticket for not having a license plate in Thai language!

[Richard W]

Thai vehicles that cross over into Malaysia have had English language plates on them for a few years now. They still have the normal Thai plate. The English plates are a straight translation of the Thai letters.

For example; 2465 รห would become 2465 rh. I assume this is for the benefit of the Malaysian Police.

44 is more than 26, so what's the conversion scheme?

[5tash]

Thai vehicles that cross over into Malaysia have had English language plates on them for a few years now. They still have the normal Thai plate. The English plates are a straight translation of the Thai letters.

For example; 2465 รห would become 2465 rh. I assume this is for the benefit of the Malaysian Police.

44 is more than 26, so what's the conversion scheme?

Good question! I believe 'S' is used for ส ษ ศ and ซ. 'L' is used for ล and ฬ etc. In my eyes not a very good conversion scheme. Surely there would be duplicates ie 2465 ขย and 2465 คญ would both become 2465 ky. Confusing!

[astral]

Good question! I believe 'S' is used for ส ษ ศ and ซ. 'L' is used for ล and ฬ etc. In my eyes not a very good conversion scheme. Surely there would be duplicates ie 2465 ขย and 2465 คญ would both become 2465 ky. Confusing!

Probably not a big problem as the number of cars crossing the borders will

be quite small,

and the full Thai number plate will be the deciding factor in the event of dispute.

I like your choice for the example, as I am sure it will be a slippery topic.

BTW are these new plates bilingual?

If not how will the normal Thais cope with reading them?

[samran]

Thai vehicles that cross over into Malaysia have had English language plates on them for a few years now. They still have the normal Thai plate. The English plates are a straight translation of the Thai letters.

For example; 2465 รห would become 2465 rh. I assume this is for the benefit of the Malaysian Police.

44 is more than 26, so what's the conversion scheme?

Good question! I believe 'S' is used for ส ษ ศ and ซ. 'L' is used for ล and ฬ etc. In my eyes not a very good conversion scheme. Surely there would be duplicates ie 2465 ขย and 2465 คญ would both become 2465 ky. Confusing!

there is already an established scheme used by thailand which translates Thai plates into english. It is not a direct transliteration. Rather, first letter in Thai alphabet (ก) = first letter in English Alphabet (A) and so on. When you run out of letters in English (26 vs 44 in Thai) you use numbers as the Thai alphabet contuinues. As such ส = 1. The province of registration in abbreviated english then follows. As such, สช 4458 registerd in Bangkok would be 1G 4458 BKK.

You then put stickers of the number plate translation onto the front and back bumpers.

I am assuming this is what is meant by the 'numberplate' as it would be unfeasible to have to produce a real numberplate everytime. The system working down in Malaysia for Thai vehicles has been working well for years, and I doubt any of the countries involved would want to create more work for themselves to have to physically produce numberplates.

[astral]

The sticker system for Malaysia is well established,

but this announcement implies that "real" metal number plates will be available.

The Malaysia system seems to work in both directions, as I have seen Malaysian cars

with stickers translating their number to Thai.

[JetsetBkk]

there is already an established scheme used by thailand which translates Thai plates into english....

So what happens to this one then?

[5tash]

there is already an established scheme used by thailand which translates Thai plates into english....

So what happens to this one then?

2 4 5 3

Numbers are a more straight forward to translate than letters using this scheme.

[astral]

Only military and government vehicles hide behind Thai numbers.

[bdenner]

I don't ride in too many BKK taxies these days but I seem to remember some of then having little yellow stickers on the doors with the plate number in both Thai and Eng.

Off topic but a friend has had a real problem with one of his official translations where a registration code has a 'W' in it. The translation was knocked back as the official insisted it should be scribed as UU (double U) whatever that is in Thai.

[JetsetBkk]

there is already an established scheme used by thailand which translates Thai plates into english. It is not a direct transliteration. Rather, first letter in Thai alphabet (ก) = first letter in English Alphabet (A) and so on....

I saw one today at some traffic lights - "กง nnnn" and was translated/transliterated to "KG nnnn".

So that should've been "AG nnnn".

But as the 4WD pick-up was about 10 feet high, with wheels 3 feet in diameter and being driven by a muscle-bound farang who looked liked he was chewing a dozen bumble-bees, I decided against informing him of his mistake.

[samran]

there is already an established scheme used by thailand which translates Thai plates into english. It is not a direct transliteration. Rather, first letter in Thai alphabet (ก) = first letter in English Alphabet (A) and so on....

I saw one today at some traffic lights - "กง nnnn" and was translated/transliterated to "KG nnnn".

So that should've been "AG nnnn".

But as the 4WD pick-up was about 10 feet high, with wheels 3 feet in diameter and being driven by a muscle-bound farang who looked liked he was chewing a dozen bumble-bees, I decided against informing him of his mistake.

very wise man!

[SWW]

Only military and government vehicles hide behind Thai numbers.

Official Thai military and Thai government vehicles are 'hiding' behind Thai numbers? Shock!!

What's to hide? I learned the numbers way before learning the letters - there are only 10 of them after all

[Supaporn]

Only military and government vehicles hide behind Thai numbers.

Official Thai military and Thai government vehicles are 'hiding' behind Thai numbers? Shock!!

What's to hide? I learned the numbers way before learning the letters - there are only 10 of them after all

I find the zero ( 0) the hardest to learn ...

OK.. so maybe only have to learn 9?