How Do You Spell Falang?

[johntou]

It's just a Thai word for westerner, polite or the way it is said has nothing much to do with it, it's just a dialect thing.

It's not a Thai word for a westerner, it's a Thai word for a white person.

[remiss]

hmz.. อีสาน (Isaan which I would write it) -- I'm in the process of trying to learn to read thai and according to the reading I've learnt would actually be eesaan.. (saan should have a rising tone me thinks)

ฝรั่ง - (farang) -- Haven't learnt this many letters yet, but it's really pronounced as farang..

[ratcatcher]

They're just lazy little buggers! The late-adopters will definitely be rolling their Rs by the time they're in their teens; some variety in your turn of phrase is useful for chatting up other boys/girls. The swots will already be ostentatiously rolling the Rs in their 'proper Thai.

But if you're talking about saying Rs in English then all bets are off!

I am afraid that up here near RMUTT, female students are regularly seen ostentatiously rolling their R's and they are all proper Thais.

[sbk]

Guess the southerners are ostentatiously rolling their r's as well since they have no difficulty whatsoever saying it correctly.

[ratcatcher]

Since I am a farang, resident in Thailand for the forseeable future, here's a lazyman's list of other F words courtesy of Wiki.

The Thais refer to France (Franks) as Farangset

.

• falang – Laos – Lao– Foreigner, usually from a European country.
• farangi – Persia – Persian– a Persian word for foreigner, deriving from Frank, incorporated into Hindi and Thai languages.
• farang – Thailand – Thai– (An English language magazine by the same name is published there specifically for the expatriate community).
• firangi – India – - means not of the same color.
• ferenji – Ethiopia – Foreigner, usually from a European country. Also ferenj.
• ferenji – Arabic – Foreigner, usually from a European country.

So it's not uniquely a Thai word.

Edited July 3, 2011 by ratcatcher

[Trembly]

They're just lazy little buggers! The late-adopters will definitely be rolling their Rs by the time they're in their teens; some variety in your turn of phrase is useful for chatting up other boys/girls. The swots will already be ostentatiously rolling the Rs in their 'proper Thai.

But if you're talking about saying Rs in English then all bets are off!

I am afraid that up here near RMUTT, female students are regularly seen ostentatiously rolling their R's and they are all proper Thais.

They'd be a bit retarded if they still hadn't managed to sort out their formal/informal Rs by the time they're at uni, no matter what corner of the North/North-Eastern boonies they may or may not have come from.

Guess the southerners are ostentatiously rolling their r's as well since they have no difficulty whatsoever saying it correctly.

Well that's just how southerners do.

Edited July 3, 2011 by Trembly

[andrewbkk]

I still can't make my own mind up between Isaan / Isan / Issan.

I have a question. A guy wrote to me a while back. He said he was American but I'm certain he wasn't.

He wrote Essan (or maybe it was Esan).

Who would spell like that? I think the guy may have been Thai, but is this how Thais write Isaan?

I've never seen a farang write Essan.

[Tywais]

If you type essan Thailand in Google you will get a lot of hits. Google will ask if you meant isan Thailand.

[eyebee]

I have seen many different spellings of the word Tilac/Tirac/Teerak/Teeruk/Tilak/Tirak/Teelak/Teerak. God it gets so difficult...

[Jingthing]

The standard (central) Thai pronunciation is more like R than L. So the obvious correct answer is faRang. However, it is also true there is not official Romanization of Thai, so if you want to be a rebel, you can spell it anyway you like. But farang is one of the most known Thai words to westerners, so why not spell it the most common and accepted way, FARANG? Another clue, in the publishing industry, you will almost always find the STANDARD spelling is FARANG. Remember Farang Magazine. It wasn't Falung Magazine, now was it?

Next ...

Edited July 4, 2011 by Jingthing

[Tywais]

However, it is also true there is not official Romanization of Thai

See my post here.

Next.

[Trembly]

The earliest promulgation of Thai - English transliteration was done by Thais who had studied in British public schools (mostly Harrow School), apparently without much thought to any other accents of the English language.

So if you bear that accent in mind and look at the way the letter U is used you should be able to work out that it is often a broad A, like a southern English 'CUP of tea', or a New York 'COP' . . . except for Khun (etc).

For TeeLak / TeeRak please refer to the earlier posts in this thread.

Edited July 4, 2011 by Trembly

[rubin]

I've come across the following transliterations: AKAMI, EAKAMAI (ekamai); E-SARN (Isan); MHORCHID (Mo Chit); SUWANAPHUM (Suvarnabhumi).

[Trembly]

I've come across the following transliterations: AKAMI, EAKAMAI (ekamai); E-SARN (Isan); MHORCHID (Mo Chit); SUWANAPHUM (Suvarnabhumi).

Those are dead-cert attempts at transliteration by Thais who don't quite understand the vowel properties in English.

Suwanaphum does the job, although until they stop using Us for a broad A (aahhh) I would change it to phoom and maybe add an extra N. Maybe get rid of the H too in case people read it as fffoom . . . Suwannapoom. . . but then what if some smart alecs think that an unaspirated P is hard P like in "spade"? arrrhghhhhhhghh......

It does grip my shi'ite when Thais revert back to some obscure Sanskrit / Pali > English transliteration instead of taking ownership of the word and its pronunciation (its not a loan word because we're not giving it back ). It just makes things a bit more difficult for everyone.

Edited July 4, 2011 by Trembly

[andrewbkk]

I've come across the following transliterations: AKAMI, EAKAMAI (ekamai); E-SARN (Isan); MHORCHID (Mo Chit); SUWANAPHUM (Suvarnabhumi).

Surely SUWANAPHUM is correct.

I mean, no one says SOO-VARNA-BOO-MEE. Or do they?

[saakura]

In the Sunday 3rd July edition of The Nation newspaper, page 9A sports section, there is a large font headline about "Singha Esan" golf tournament

[rgs2001uk]

I've come across the following transliterations: AKAMI, EAKAMAI (ekamai); E-SARN (Isan); MHORCHID (Mo Chit); SUWANAPHUM (Suvarnabhumi).

Those are dead-cert attempts at transliteration by Thais who don't quite understand the vowel properties in English.

Suwanaphum does the job, although until they stop using Us for a broad A (aahhh) I would change it to phoom and maybe add an extra N. Maybe get rid of the H too in case people read it as fffoom . . . Suwannapoom. . . but then what if some smart alecs think that an unaspirated P is hard P like in "spade"? arrrhghhhhhhghh......

It does grip my shi'ite when Thais revert back to some obscure Sanskrit / Pali > English transliteration instead of taking ownership of the word and its pronunciation (its not a loan word because we're not giving it back ). It just makes things a bit more difficult for everyone.

Go to love the choice of name for the airport, Suwanaphum and its implications.

[wylergnu]

Im always "falang" when I visit my gf's home town near Kamphaeng phet. I dont think Ive never been called "farang" there.

[meadish_sweetball]

<br />

It's just a Thai word for westerner, polite or the way it is said has nothing much to do with it, it's just a dialect thing.

It's not a Thai word for a westerner, it's a Thai word for a white person.

White Westerner or Caucasian probably comes closest.

There are Chinese people who are objectively more white than the pink/red specimens of Europeans, Americans, Australians or Kiwis you may spot strutting bare-chested through Thai cities and elsewhere on holiday. The latter ones are Westerners, the former are not. And yet, the former would not be referred to as 'farang', but the latter would.

'farang' means, loosely, 'Western' when used as a descriptor - 'farang culture' = Western culture. 'farang food' = Western food. 'farang movies' = Western (mostly Hollywood) movies.

Lighter skinned subcontinental Indians and Pakistanis, Persians, some South Americans are also frequently referred to as 'farang' by Thais who have not bothered to ask where they are from. But a distinctly Asian- or African-looking person would not be, although 'farang dam' (or 'dum' if you insist on Anglo-type transliteration) is sometimes used to describe black people from Western countries.

[meadish_sweetball]

Im always "falang" when I visit my gf's home town near Kamphaeng phet. I dont think Ive never been called "farang" there.

That's because their dialects have no 'r' phoneme, as somebody pointed out, in some words, what is an 'r' in Standard Thai has a 'h' in Northern Thai and Isaan/Lao, and in other words, the 'r' is realized as an 'l' ('r' becoming 'l' is common in the casual speech of many Bangkokians, too). Thais are encouraged to use a trilled-type 'r' when learning Standard Thai at school, but since many of the teachers do not have a natural trilled 'r' in their everyday speech either, results of this teaching policy vary. Attitude-wise, many younger Thais feel that other Thais having a constant 'r' pronunciation in their casual speech, while formally correct, is like 'putting on airs' or trying to show off. Most Thais would still encourage you, as a foreign learner to pronounce the 'r's correctly, since they know that is how Standard Thai is supposed to sound.

[Thaddeus]

Since I am a farang, resident in Thailand for the forseeable future, here's a lazyman's list of other F words courtesy of Wiki.

The Thais refer to France (Franks) as Farangset

.

• falang – Laos – Lao– Foreigner, usually from a European country.
• farangi – Persia – Persian– a Persian word for foreigner, deriving from Frank, incorporated into Hindi and Thai languages.
• farang – Thailand – Thai– (An English language magazine by the same name is published there specifically for the expatriate community).
• firangi – India – - means not of the same color.
• ferenji – Ethiopia – Foreigner, usually from a European country. Also ferenj.
• ferenji – Arabic – Foreigner, usually from a European country.

So it's not uniquely a Thai word.

You missed one/

[CosmicSurfer]

The only people who can possibly believe that Suvarnabhumi is the correct spelling for Suwannapoom, has no ideas of the Rules of READING and Pronunciation in the English language...

.. Or is a Thai ... who thinks that Their misinterpretation is correct because some idiot who made the Original error, and "Must know", as he was a Thai pseudo-intellectual who was in some high position that he was Awarded, but never Earned, and he said so!

The same lack of reasoning applies to all other Amazing Misinterpretations, Mispronunciations and Misspellings.

Buffaloes,

CS

[andrewbkk]

In the Sunday 3rd July edition of The Nation newspaper, page 9A sports section, there is a large font headline about "Singha Esan" golf tournament

Great post. Thanks.

Some background info ...............

A guy wrote to me from one of those fake finance companies. I then noticed that he was using an email address I had ONLY given to a Thai girl I had just started dating. I liked her a lot.

Then I noticed that his written English was very similar to that of the Thai girl.

He sid he was American, but he wasn't. He used the word "Essan". I'd never seen that spelling before. Farangs almost always use "Isaan" or something similar.

He lied to me about how he'd got my email address.

And at that point I realized he was probably the brother of the Thai girl.

[ExpatOilWorker]

It is spelled: Bak-sida

Edited July 5, 2011 by ExpatOilWorker

[daoyai]

In the Sunday 3rd July edition of The Nation newspaper, page 9A sports section, there is a large font headline about "Singha Esan" golf tournament

Great post. Thanks.

Some background info ...............

A guy wrote to me from one of those fake finance companies. I then noticed that he was using an email address I had ONLY given to a Thai girl I had just started dating. I liked her a lot.

Then I noticed that his written English was very similar to that of the Thai girl.

He sid he was American, but he wasn't. He used the word "Essan". I'd never seen that spelling before. Farangs almost always use "Isaan" or something similar.

He lied to me about how he'd got my email address.

And at that point I realized he was probably the brother of the Thai girl.

After that, I assume you were a "falongone ".

[Atmos]

Since I am a farang, resident in Thailand for the forseeable future, here's a lazyman's list of other F words courtesy of Wiki.

The Thais refer to France (Franks) as Farangset

.

• falang – Laos – Lao– Foreigner, usually from a European country.
• farangi – Persia – Persian– a Persian word for foreigner, deriving from Frank, incorporated into Hindi and Thai languages.
• farang – Thailand – Thai– (An English language magazine by the same name is published there specifically for the expatriate community).
• firangi – India – - means not of the same color.
• ferenji – Ethiopia – Foreigner, usually from a European country. Also ferenj.
• ferenji – Arabic – Foreigner, usually from a European country.

So it's not uniquely a Thai word.

widening the net, a P word: Samoans use palagi or palangi to describe foreigners/Europeans

[saraburioz]

The only people who can possibly believe that Suvarnabhumi is the correct spelling for Suwannapoom, has no ideas of the Rules of READING and Pronunciation in the English language...

.. Or is a Thai ... who thinks that Their misinterpretation is correct because some idiot who made the Original error, and "Must know", as he was a Thai pseudo-intellectual who was in some high position that he was Awarded, but never Earned, and he said so!

The same lack of reasoning applies to all other Amazing Misinterpretations, Mispronunciations and Misspellings.

Buffaloes,

CS

OMG the arrogance. I would bet 10,000 baht I know your nationality.Did you crack open a Bud yesterday?

If you take the time to understand the word 'transliteration'.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transliteration#Difference_from_transcription

note the difference between 'trasliteration' and 'transcription.'

It is spelled like that so as THAIS can look at it and then TRANSLITERATE back to the Thai language.

When you can let it be the way it is and not how you've decided it should be, you can begin to see that the only thing making you unhappy is your idea about how it should be.

Edited July 5, 2011 by saraburioz

[eyebee]

The only people who can possibly believe that Suvarnabhumi is the correct spelling for Suwannapoom, has no ideas of the Rules of READING and Pronunciation in the English language...

CS

Actually the spelling Suvarnabhumi tries to show the Thai spelling, as well as indicating the way to say it. If you realise that all Vs are pronounced as a W, The B sound and P sound are almost indistinguishable (in fact the sound ir somewhere between the two) and that the final I is not prounounced in Thai (much like the final A is not pronounced in Singha), then you come to the right pronunciation.

One other problem is that native English speakers from different parts of the world (or different parts of the UK) often pronounce their vowels differently. Think of the northern British "bath" as opposed to the southern British (northern A as in bat, southern as in are). The open and closed sounds of the letter U in words like "bus" (northern as in foot, southern as in putt). Then there is the difference between the US and UK versions of the short O as in "got" (to me the US pronunciation sounds more like "gart"). With all these, and several other differences, it's almost impossible to create a satisfactory method of transliteration.

[saraburioz]

I spell it 'farang' as I'm sick of all the guys with bar-girl girlfriends saying, "falang" in a pronounced way as if they think it is some kinda compliment.

[saraburioz]

The only people who can possibly believe that Suvarnabhumi is the correct spelling for Suwannapoom, has no ideas of the Rules of READING and Pronunciation in the English language...

CS

Actually the spelling Suvarnabhumi tries to show the Thai spelling, as well as indicating the way to say it. If you realise that all Vs are pronounced as a W, The B sound and P sound are almost indistinguishable (in fact the sound ir somewhere between the two) and that the final I is not prounounced in Thai (much like the final A is not pronounced in Singha), then you come to the right pronunciation.

One other problem is that native English speakers from different parts of the world (or different parts of the UK) often pronounce their vowels differently. Think of the northern British "bath" as opposed to the southern British (northern A as in bat, southern as in are). The open and closed sounds of the letter U in words like "bus" (northern as in foot, southern as in putt). Then there is the difference between the US and UK versions of the short O as in "got" (to me the US pronunciation sounds more like "gart"). With all these, and several other differences, it's almost impossible to create a satisfactory method of transliterationtranscription.

Actually, I came across a similar thing last night - my kid was saying faam, meaning farm. Now my mother says far mmm and my father says faaam, coming from the extremes of the UK N and S. I as an Ozzie say fam.

Edited July 5, 2011 by saraburioz