New Books

[DavidHouston]

Friends,

Bui and I made one of our infrequent trips to Bangkok to attend a wedding -- in one day, out the next. However, I did have time to visit my favorite bookstore, the Chula University "Book Center" behind Siam Square. Khun Rikker started a tradition here of discussing new Thai books he has acquired and I am continuing in that tradition.

I bought three books; two I'll discuss here and one next time. The first is "ศัพท์พระพุทธศาสนา เพื่อการท่องเที่ยว ไทย-อังกฤษ" with the subtitle, "Buddhism vocabulary for the tourism, Thai-English". Yes, I know, the English title sounds like it was written by the same people who write Chinese instruction manuals for VCRs. This Thai-English dictionary is more accessible to the intermediate reader that the widely available, "พจนานุกรมพุทธศาสน์", the "Dictionary of Dhamma". And, what might be called the "Buddhist Tourism Dictionary" contains many more words than one might expect. The book is also arranged in dictionary format, unlike its more sophisticated cousin. Included, for example are:

ชะตา - fate, destiny

ชั้่นตรี - 3rd grade

ทราย - sand

บรรพบุรุษ - ancestors

ฝังศพ - to bury a body

Whom is this tome aimed at? "ในการจัดพิมพ์หนังสือเรื่อง ศัพท์พระพุทธศาสนาเพื่อการท่องเที้ยว ไทย-อังกฤษ ชึ้นนี้ เพื่อเป็นการอำนวยความสะดวกแก่ผู้สนใจศัพท์พระพุทธศาสนาที่เป็นภาษาอังกฤษ ซึ่งใช้กันแพร่หลาย"

"In publishing this volume "Buddhist Terms for Tourism - Thai, [we intend it to be] for the use and convenience of people who are interested in the widely-used English [equivalents] of Buddhist terms."

Beats me at to what the utility is for Thai people but we are the beneficiaries of the the author's work. The book "ศัพท์พระพุทธศาสนา เพื่อการท่องเที่ยว ไทย-อังกฤษ" is by ธีระ สีหามาตย์ ("Teera Seehamat" [the author's transcription]), 134 pages, 150 baht.

The second book I acquired is "ตลาดนัด" (The Marketplace) by ศ.พล.ต.ม.ร.ว. [ศาสตราจานย์ พิเศษ พลตรี หม่อมราชวงศ์] คึกฤทธิ์ ปราโมช (Khukrit Pramoch ), originally published in 1950, 141 pages, 120 baht. A number of Khukrit's books have been reprinted in current times and there is an entire bookshelf at the Chula Book Center devoted to his work. (Sadly, his major work "สี่แผ่นดิน" [Four Reigns] was not available at the Book Center.) Some might say that the language is archaic and does not represent "teen-speak" or SMS language and I say, "Thank God for that!". The simplicity of Khukrit's language and his penchant for moral tales reminds me of O'Henry's writing. For those of you who are intermediate readers and want to learn something about Thai culture in the immediate post-war period, I highly recommend any of Khukrit's books. For example, he wrote a book about elephants which is a wonderful intermediate reader as well as several books of short stories.

Best of luck in your reading!

[Rikker]

Interesting stuff, David. Thanks for sharing.

[harrry]

I read four reigns in English and enjoyed it very much. The people were real and the language was vey enjoyable. Maybe in 20 or thirty years I will be able to read the original. I hope so anyway.

Edited February 20, 2010 by harrry