Friends,

Please help me with these sentences from the newspaper:

แต่สิ่งที่ยังน่ากังวล และน่าตกใจคือมีคนบาดเจ็บล้มตายจำนวนมาก ภาพความความสูญเสีย เป็นสิ่งที่ประเมินต่ำไม่ได้

I think these sentences mean:

"But, the thing that is worrisome and alarming is that a lot of people were killed or injured. The images of destruction should not be underestimated."

I have two primary problems:

1. The noun phrase "ภาพความความสูญเสีย" seems to have a redundant "ความ"; is one of these a misprint or are there two nouns: "ภาพความ" and "ความสูญเสีย"?

2. The phrase "ประเมินต่ำ" appears to be composed of two words "ประเมิน" and "ต่ำ", "estimate" and "low". Is it possible that this is the Thai version of the English word "underestimate" or is it a bona fide Thai verb-phrase?

Please also let me know if I have mis-interpreted the Thai sentences. Thanks for your help.

Edited May 25, 201016 yr by DavidHouston

1. I think there's one too many ความ's in there. None of my dictionaries have "ภาพความ", and I can't recall ever having seen it before.

2. ประเมินต่ำ indeed seems to be the a direct equivalent of "underestimate", though whether it's a translation of the English phrase or came into existence on its own I don't know. Try a Google search with the term to find plenty of articles using it in context, along with its counterpart ประเมินสูง "overestimate".

I think your interpretation is fine. If I were to change anything, it would be the translation of "...เป็นสิ่งที่ประเมินต่ำไม่ได้"--instead of "...should not be underestimated" I would say "...are something which cannot be underestimated", if only for the sake of fidelity to the original, though I admit that your version is a little more idiomatic and concise.

Your translation is ok, the redundancy is just a typo