Pronunciation Of "snoh?"

[billp]

So how on earth do you say his name?

[chinnotes]

I don't know how to describe the pronunciation in English, but I can give the name in Thai: เสนาะ เทียนทอง, which makes it clear for those who can read Thai. "Snoh" is spoken with two very short syllables... somethong like sa-noh... "a" as in "such"...

Erwin

[phaethon]

If he becomes PM and gains the approval of PAD, will that make him Yellow Snoh, because I was always taught to avoid that....

[dotcom]

Another old pirate who has been waiting decades to feed at the top of the trough. Bandit comes to mind.

[MiG16]

am moving this to the Thai language sub forum.

those that want to discuss the political aspect, please do so on the various threads running in General and News

cheers

[dotcom]

San-O

[meadish_sweetball]

I don't know how to describe the pronunciation in English, but I can give the name in Thai: เสนาะ เทียนทอง, which makes it clear for those who can read Thai. "Snoh" is spoken with two very short syllables... somethong like sa-noh... "a" as in "such"...

Yep, that's it. To expand a little:

Any word that starts with a 's' + other consonant sound, will automatically take a short /a/ in between the consonant sounds when pronounced in Thai. This short /a/, English most commonly writes with a 'u' (as in 'such' 'luck' etc.).

This is because 'sn' is not a phonetically allowed consonant combination in native Thai words.

To understand how this comes about, contrast English with for example some Slavic languages that allow longer and/or different consonant combinations that native English speakers may find difficult to pronounce without adding 'helper' schwa vowels or removing one or more of the consonant sounds in pronunciation.

Dnyepr, anyone?

[mangkorn]

For a detailed examination of this, see http://www.thai-language.com/id/830221 - especially the section on "Non-conforming leading consonant clusters."

[kriswillems]

If this new PM is as good as his name claims, Thailand will get a good future.

เสนาะ = nice, melodious sound (เพราะ)

เทียนทอง = golden candle

One other word with the same (2) vowel(s): เฉพาะ (specific)

but:

เสนาะ : low + low tone

เฉพาะ : low + high tone

Edited December 5, 2008 by kriswillems

[mrtoad]

If he becomes PM and gains the approval of PAD, will that make him Yellow Snoh, because I was always taught to avoid that....

[Richard W]

Is Snoh an ethnic Thai? I was told, many years ago, that he was ethnically Cambodian, which would make the pronunciation monosyllabic and like Estuarine English 'snot'.