From the newspaper:

บ้านเมืองตอนนี้ไม่ได้เป็นประชาธิปไตยอย่างแท้จริง หากแต่เป็นเผด็จการซ่อนรูปภายใต้การปกครองของในระบอบประชาธิปไตย

I am having some difficulty parsing out this sentence. The easiest rendering would be:

"Our current polity does not reflect a true democracy [or "Our current system of government is not truly democratic

]; rather, it is a dictatorship posing as a democracy." Alternatively, the second clause could be, "rather it is a dictatorship using the mechanisms and trappings of a democracy."

While the firs rendering is nice and compact (กะทัดรัด), I am not sure whether the last part of the translation accurately reflects the phraseology, ". . . ภายใต้การปกครองของในระบอบประชาธิปไตย", and especially what seems to be a compound preposition "ของใน".

Any thoughts? Thanks.

It says Thailand is not democratic, (The army does not want Democracy).

I would pick "Our current system of government is not truly democratic

rather, it is a dictatorship posing as a democracy."

ผด็จการซ่อนรูปภายใต้.... dictatorship shape-hidden under...... Not sure if it make sense in English.

ของใน is a bit redundant. you can take one out and leave the other. The meaning of the sentence would not change one bit.

The country is not a genuine democracy now, except that it is a dictatorship looking more normal than it is, taking care of affairs within the democratic system.

Which country is this about do you think?

Khun David,

Your translation is fine, but it can be more precise, I think.

บ้านเมืองตอนนี้ไม่ได้เป็นประชาธิปไตยอย่างแท้จริง หากแต่เป็นเผด็จการซ่อนรูปภายใต้การปกครองของในระบอบประชาธิปไตย

Some variations of translation:

"Our country is not genuinely democratic but a dictatorship hidden behind a democracy."

"Our country is not genuinely democratic but a dictatorship concealed underneath a democracy."

"Our country is not genuinely democratic but a dictatorship posing as a democracy."

cheers,

Khun David,

Your translation is fine, but it can be more precise, I think.

บ้านเมืองตอนนี้ไม่ได้เป็นประชาธิปไตยอย่างแท้จริง หากแต่เป็นเผด็จการซ่อนรูปภายใต้การปกครองของในระบอบประชาธิปไตย

Some variations of translation:

"Our country is not genuinely democratic but a dictatorship hidden behind a democracy."

"Our country is not genuinely democratic but a dictatorship concealed underneath a democracy."

"Our country is not genuinely democratic but a dictatorship posing as a democracy."

Just a thought; I asked on another website how much should be translated and couldn't get a satisfactory answer. I don't know how fussy we need to be but this piece is all about nouns; บ้านเมือง ประชาธิปไดย เผด็จการ country, democracy, dictatorship.

There will always be discussion about the English, in fact English is discussed more than Thai. Shouldn't we recognise the Thai words in order to be true to the original?

I suspect that fundementally, Thai is: same page, same way, same font, but attempts have been made to catagorise words and I think it makes comprehension easier, so what about it?