Thai Word And Script For The Fish Barramundi

[grapetable]

Can someone please help me with this? Also does anyone know where one can buy fingerlings of said fish?

thank you

G

[sbk]

According to my husband, an avid fisherman, it is กะพงขาว or กะพงน้ำจืด

[Rikker]

Going on the scientific name Lates calcarifer, which I got from this Wikipedia article, the Royal Institute Dictionary confirms that ปลากะพงขาว is the same species:

กะพง ๑ น. ชื่อปลาหลายชนิดในหลายวงศ์ ลำตัวหนา แบนข้างเล็กน้อย

หัวโตลาดลงมาจากด้านหลัง ตาค่อนข้างโต ปากกว้าง เช่น

กะพงแดง (Lutjanus malabaricus) ในวงศ์ Lutjanidae,

กะพงขาว (Lates calcarifer) ในวงศ์ Centropomidae,

กะพงลาย (Datnioides quadrifasciatus) ในวงศ์ Lobotidae.

Other sites on the net confirm that กะพงน้ำจืด is a variant name. So sbk's husband is spot on.

[Harcourt]

Going on the scientific name Lates calcarifer, which I got from this Wikipedia article, the Royal Institute Dictionary confirms that ปลากะพงขาว is the same species:

กะพง ๑ น. ชื่อปลาหลายชนิดในหลายวงศ์ ลำตัวหนา แบนข้างเล็กน้อย

หัวโตลาดลงมาจากด้านหลัง ตาค่อนข้างโต ปากกว้าง เช่น

กะพงแดง (Lutjanus malabaricus) ในวงศ์ Lutjanidae,

กะพงขาว (Lates calcarifer) ในวงศ์ Centropomidae,

กะพงลาย (Datnioides quadrifasciatus) ในวงศ์ Lobotidae.

Other sites on the net confirm that กะพงน้ำจืด is a variant name. So sbk's husband is spot on.

Just practising: would บารามานดี be the (simplistic!) phonetic spelling? or ะบรามานดี ? What governs which consonant to use, eg ฎ or ด ? I'm guessing if it is transliteration of English word to Thai script, it wouldn't matter?

[Rikker]

There is a prescribed system for transcribing English. It's defined by the Royal Institute (ราชบัณฑิตยสถาน) and can be found (in Thai) here.

To put it very simply, though, for each pair or set of sound-alike consonants, one is the "basic" consonant used for phonetic spelling, or for the spelling of native Thai words (the rest are usually used to spell loanwords from Sanskrit, Pali, Khmer, etc).

[Harcourt]

Thanks Rikker.

I'm a very basic beginner, self-teaching, and I find myself transcribing English to Thai all the time. I am just at the stage of learning the letters.

The link you have given will be useful to me, first of all to recognise what are the basic consonants.

Does anyone else transcribe as practice? Does anyone think it's a dangerous practice because I am ignoring or oblivious to tones?

[Rikker]

Interestingly enough, English loanwords in Thai follow a set of implicit tone rules, which sometimes differs from the spelling.

เน็ต "net/internet", as in อินเตเอร์เน็ต or อินเทอร์เน็ต, is commonly pronounced [เหน็ด], despite its spelling.

แฟกซ์ "fax" is pronounced [แฝ็ก] -- short vowel, low tone. (The spelling would normally dictate long vowel, falling tone.)

The Cadbury company spells its name in Thai แคดเบอรี, pronounced [แค็ดเบอรี่], so both the first and and the third syllables are not pronounced like they are spelled.

All of this is due to two things, I think: simplicity of spelling (fewer diacritics to write and remember) and visual attractiveness (fewer diacritics = more simple and elegant, less busy).

This is also a point of contention between common usage and formal prescriptive rules. Many Thai professors, fellows of the Royal Institute, etc. want the spelling to always be 1:1 literal with pronunciation (or vice versa).

One example I've heard from people in these circles, is ดอกเตอร์, which is pronounced [ดอกเต้อ] (falling tone on the last syllable). But since this spelling is deeply entrenched without the ไม้โท tone marker, as a small act of protest (or is it conformity?), some insist on pronouncing it with a level tone on the second syllable. Same goes for words like เทคโนโลยี "technology". Officially the word has no tone marker on the last syllable, but even in formal settings you will hear different people pronounce that syllable differently (either falling or level), depending on whether they are adhering to common spoken practice or written practice.

[sbk]

Other sites on the net confirm that กะพงน้ำจืด is a variant name. So sbk's husband is spot on.

I did say he was a more than avid fisherman didn't I?

He is quite knowledgeable about both local and formal fish names. Even went so far as to buy those fish posters so he could learn both. Which, for those interested in fish, are quite helpful as it has both the name in english, the name in latin and the name in Thai as well as a photo of the fish.

[Rikker]

Forgive me for doubting!

[sbk]

Just call me sbk, fishing widow