Identity Crisis?

[NBD]

I thought it was pretty settled on farang, but it seems that people here have started spelling it differently. So what am I? A farong, forang, falang or falang? Something else entirely, or even a back see da? How do you spell it, and why?

[stoneyboy]

I prefer the word Westerner.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_world

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Civilizations_map.png

[ihunnieibee]

I don't wanna be a farlong falang fuhlung ferlangs anymoreeeeeeee

[BookMan]

I don't wanna be a farlong falang fuhlung ferlangs anymoreeeeeeee

It could be made into a musical and hit the Broadway stage!!

[ripstanley]

I live in the North and have heard Farang. My family all say Farang I found this unusual as most northen people cannot pronounce R . Eg 100 in Thai is Roi but in northern is Loi. The only other one I have heard Thais say is Falang. All the other spellings only appear on forums like this

[stoneyboy]

I live in the North and have heard Farang. My family all say Farang I found this unusual as most northen people cannot pronounce R . Eg 100 in Thai is Roi but in northern is Loi. The only other one I have heard Thais say is Falang. All the other spellings only appear on forums like this

How about aroi,aloi.

Although they may say Sep where you are.

[stoneyboy]

Just to clarify

The none sensical opening post.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farang

Remember not all those who post on TV are native English speakers,hence the falang,forang,farang,falange,spellings,I prefer Flange to be honest.

[David48]

I am never called as Fernang ... everyone say "Hey, Hunsome Man" ... even my gf's Aunt

[Semper]

Sometimes walking in the city, people call me Tuk-Tuk.

[mrtoad]

Not another F****g topic

[smokie36]

Shoot me now.

[David48]

Shoot me now.

Rather then topping yourself, better to come over and vote in JT's new poll ... What is your Native tounge ?

.

[chotthee]

Sometimes walking in the city, people call me Tuk-Tuk.

Some call me Kee Nok.

[Morakot]

I thought it's spelled:

• Guava.
  

[RogueExpat]

Sorry, none are correct other than other.

Farang or Fa-rung would be the closest transliteration of the Thai word ฝรั่ง.

How people hear it as forang or falong beats the crap out of me.

[NBD]

The 'r' and 'l' confusion I can understand as these are pretty much interchangeable amongst Thais anyway, it's only written Thai that shows the difference.

It's the 'o' that seems out of place in all cases.

[Trembly]

I live in the North and have heard Farang. My family all say Farang I found this unusual as most northen people cannot pronounce R . Eg 100 in Thai is Roi but in northern is Loi. The only other one I have heard Thais say is Falang. All the other spellings only appear on forums like this

Do you mean North or North-East?

I come from Chiang Rai and people there have no where near the same problem with Rs as those in the North-East (Lao just doesn't have Rs at all).

[Semper]

I live in the North and have heard Farang. My family all say Farang I found this unusual as most northen people cannot pronounce R . Eg 100 in Thai is Roi but in northern is Loi. The only other one I have heard Thais say is Falang. All the other spellings only appear on forums like this

Do you mean North or North-East?

I come from Chiang Rai and people there have no where near the same problem with Rs as those in the North-East (Lao just doesn't have Rs at all).

How do they pronounce Mae Sariang?

[ripstanley]

I live in the North and have heard Farang. My family all say Farang I found this unusual as most northen people cannot pronounce R . Eg 100 in Thai is Roi but in northern is Loi. The only other one I have heard Thais say is Falang. All the other spellings only appear on forums like this

Do you mean North or North-East?

I come from Chiang Rai and people there have no where near the same problem with Rs as those in the North-East (Lao just doesn't have Rs at all).

I come from the North and live in a village. I have noticed the the R is hard for some to pronounce.

[PattayaParent]

I guess the ones that voted 'Other' are French, in which case it's spelt farangset.

[Soutpeel]

They should just cut to the chase and instead of saying farang.....just say "hey you ATM" then wouldnt need this topic discussed 30 million times and the spelling and meaning of ATM is known and understood in both Thai and English.....

[arthurwait]

Sorry, none are correct other than other.

Farang or Fa-rung would be the closest transliteration of the Thai word ฝรั่ง.

How people hear it as forang or falong beats the crap out of me.

This.

Although the vowel is the bastard love child of an 'a' and an 'u' so its....................... blooming near impossible for us to say correctly and impossible to spell it correctly in English.

[Trembly]

I live in the North and have heard Farang. My family all say Farang I found this unusual as most northen people cannot pronounce R . Eg 100 in Thai is Roi but in northern is Loi. The only other one I have heard Thais say is Falang. All the other spellings only appear on forums like this

Do you mean North or North-East?

I come from Chiang Rai and people there have no where near the same problem with Rs as those in the North-East (Lao just doesn't have Rs at all).

How do they pronounce Mae Sariang?

I never suggested that the locals don't make a habit of converting Rs into Ls.

I was a mildly shocked to find out after moving to Isan that many Isan speakers simply can not say Rs no matter how hard they try, whereas in many other parts of Thailand they can if they want to but are just too lazy to. Maybe being in proximity to other languages that might be in the habit of pronouncing full-blooded Rs helps.

[NBD]

Just checked with my wife and she very clealy pronounces both consonants as an 'a' - faa-rrrang.

She does randomly say 'r' or 'l' - she's from near Kohn Kaen in the north east, but I think you'll come across this pretty much anywhere between Japan and Singapore, including China. Never mind various regions of China.

(Citing Team America, I'm so ronery as my main source)

[Rsquared]

It is definitely an age thing..........for me personally, my hearing has faulted over the years and I find myself lip-reading to try and get the grift of what they are saying.

I hear "falang" yet in books etc. they spell it farang.

I asked my better half and she explained that the Thais in our area become somewhat lazy with their pronunciation....eg Krupp becomes Kup......alroi.....becomes......loy.

Then again as I mentioned before.......my hearing is not the best, so my learning of the Thai language is one helluva challenge.

Cheers.

[qdinthailand]

So I'm in a bar with another American, and a Brit, and they are complaining about the fact that Thai's don't know how to pronounce the word commonly spelled as farang. Them Thais - they just can't pronounce an 'r' properly. It comes out like 'l' (el). What's wrong with them. Such a simple word: farang! Fah-rang!

Not understanding, they are using a Thai word, that sounds something like 'farang' or 'falang'. Certainly putting the sound heard coming from the mouth of a Thai into a phonetic equivalent using the 26 letters of the 'standard' alphabet, looks like 'farang' or 'falang' in English, but in fact, is just a close approximation of the actual sounds made by Thai speakers.

The Thai alphabet has 44 consonants, only one of which is pronounced close to an R (more like the trilled Spanish R - and the Thais can trill their R's with the best of 'em - who says they can't pronounce R's?). They have a few more compound consonants that have 'r' sounds to them, 24 vowels, another 47 mixed vowels, that when used with consonants produce some 'r' like sounds, none of which are actually r's, but just sound something like r coming out of the mouth of the Thai.

And yes, there are different 'dialects' spoken in Thailand, so the same word in one part of the country sounds different from the same word spoken in another part (and I understand, are actually written in slightly different ways using Thai letters).

It's not the Thais that have the problem speaking; it's the foreigners with their stupid 26 letter alphabet, their anglo-saxon origins and enunciations, that have the problem. And you're debating what's the 'proper' way to spell it? None of the above!

[cheechoo]

can someone translate this. i hear a girl say to a guy -YOU FARANG KHEE NOK!

[NBD]

qd

True enough, but according to most sources Farang is derived from Frank, which is a name for a European tribe. They are saying it "wrong" in the sense that most of us say Greek works like caucasian (relevantly) "wrong" compared with it's original Greek form which you'd transliterate something more like kaf-ka-see-an, I believe.

Anyway, it's more a curiousity as to where this 'o' comes from in the way that many spell it on here, as it has no 'o' in, in any pronunciation I've ever heard.

cheechoo

Kee nok is bird shit, but I believe it's also a type of guava that is a bit "scruffy" so gets used for backpackers or people with no money.

Easily confused with kee ngok which means something more along the lines of freeloader or stingy.

[Payboy]

Sometimes walking in the city, people call me Tuk-Tuk.

I'm always mistaken for some Chinese celebrity call Sexy Cho.