why do almost all farangs insist on saying pa-THAI-ya when all they have to do is listen to any Thai or read the spelling in Thai. it's พัทยา phat tha yaa.

why do almost all farangs insist on saying pa-THAI-ya when all they have to do is listen to any Thai or read the spelling in Thai. it's พัทยา phat tha yaa.

I don't have an answer, but like you, I have asked myself the same question. I think it is mainly the Australians who pronounce it in the way you indicated.

On a related point, I have wondered why farang refer to it as Patters, Patty, and probably other variants that I can't recall at the moment.

It is like everything else - complaining about it here won't change anything, but i am still curious.

May as well ask why Anglophones pronounce Paris Paris and not Paree ...

To be honest all the guys i know pronounce it right.The one that gets right up my snotter is that welsh,fat old guy on Pa-thai-yah news who says it wrong

So how come we call Bangkok Bangkok and not Krung Thep?

A lot of people won't know whether it's being pronounced correctly or not.

Most people that I know pronounce the first vowel as a flat "a" as in "at" whereas it's more like a short flat "u" as in "up".

I think that most people pronounce it wrongly because they lengthen the middle vowel and run the "a" into the "y"

Why Can't Farangs Pronounce Pattaya?

Because Guava's cant speak!

why do almost all farangs insist on saying pa-THAI-ya when all they have to do is listen to any Thai or read the spelling in Thai. it's พัทยา phat tha yaa.

We seem to have a habit of putting the letter Y at the end of a syllable, e.g. say-ing, pay-ing etc.

Many Farangs also pronounce Rayong as Ray-ong whereas the Thais say Ra-Yong.

I think that Farangs mispronounce most place names to some degree.

Khon Kaen is invariably pronounced with 2 initial "K" sounds by Farang.

The worst one has to be Mae Sai, usually mispronounced My Sy

May as well ask why Anglophones pronounce Paris Paris and not Paree ...

because Paree sounds gay, its even in the name 'gay Paree'

I think that Farangs mispronounce most place names to some degree.

Khon Kaen is invariably pronounced with 2 initial "K" sounds by Farang.

The worst one has to be Mae Sai, usually mispronounced My Sy

very true. if you say Khon Kaen to a Thai they will have no idea what you are talking about. but its the official Thai transliteration that's to blame for that one.

So how come we call Bangkok Bangkok and not Krung Thep?

Actually its ,......Krungthepmahanakhon Amornrattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilokphop Noppharat Ratchathaniburirom Udomratchaniwetmahasathan Amonphiman Awatansathit Sakkathattiyawitsanukamprasit,... i suppose they shortened as they couldt get it on the front of the bus,...

As long as they don't pronounce it patty-yah ....

I like thai for germany, yellowmoney !

Best cut us farangs some slack. We naturally pronouce words phonetically just like we learned in school, not realizing or understanding the Romanized Thai we see is actually a transliteration of Thai. We just don't take the time to learn the system (especially if you're on a holiday). Even the word farang is often mis-pronounced, fa-rang (like he rang the bell) which is of course wrong. It's closer to fa-rung or fa-lung. Another, Pattaya Klang road is closer to Pattaya Glung and we could go on and on.....

why do almost all farangs insist on saying pa-THAI-ya when all they have to do is listen to any Thai or read the spelling in Thai. it's พัทยา phat tha yaa.

Because we drive on the highway where the sign for Pattaya actually is written Phattaya.

It's the same with Si Racha. A lot of foreigners will say see-rarch-a instead of see-ra-char.

Why would anyone care ?

I lived here several years before hearing an expat call it Pah-THAI-yuh. It was 25 May 2007, Russian Embassy, Krungthep. I think he was a Yank and he said he lived there.

It's the translation that's to blame.

All the signs say Pattaya in English wereas the written Thai has the name ending in sara -ar.

So the English comes out with a flat 'a' sound on the end instead of the correct elongated 'aar' sound.

If the signs were written as Pattayar then more likely it would be pronouced correctly by most people.

Who cares not something that I would spend time worrying about.

say it right or wrong, deep down most thai people hate the fact that you are trying to speak thai in the first place

No they don't. Most Thai people like it when foreigners make the effort to learn their language.

^well its more like - oh crap can't speak about farang in thai because he knows thai language.

say it right or wrong, deep down most thai people hate the fact that you are trying to speak thai in the first place

Certainly, some Thais whose only aim is to relieve the Farang of as much money as possible will not be impressed if the Farang can speak some Thai.

This is simply because they believe that any Farang who can speak Thai will not be so gullible as a newbie to Thailand.

However, most Thai people cannot speak English and are very happy that a Farang has made the effort to be able to communicate with them.

It all depends on the circles that you move in.

up to me?

up to me?

What is?

why do almost all farangs insist on saying pa-THAI-ya when all they have to do is listen to any Thai or read the spelling in Thai. it's พัทยา phat tha yaa.

Why would anyone possibly care? Are you saying that it confuses you when people pronounce it wrong, that you don't know where they are talking about, or are you just being pedantic? All over the World people pronounce words differently. So long as you understand them, where's the harm?

^well its more like - oh crap can't speak about farang in thai because he knows thai language.

In One Brit. That's why my missus refuses point blank to teach me any more Thai.

Cheers, Rick

Why would anyone care ?

Exactly.

why do almost all farangs insist on saying pa-THAI-ya when all they have to do is listen to any Thai or read the spelling in Thai. it's พัทยา phat tha yaa.

Why would anyone possibly care? Are you saying that it confuses you when people pronounce it wrong, that you don't know where they are talking about, or are you just being pedantic? All over the World people pronounce words differently. So long as you understand them, where's the harm?

Exactly!