Serious Qns.

[CP3]

How to pronounce Don Mueang? I took a cab and the driver didn't seem to understand what I said, He only understood airport and no choice had to ask him to drop me at swampy and took a shuttle bus back to DMK. Luckily I had ample time in my hands.

[chuang]

That's strange..suggest in future ask athai to write Don Mueang airport on a piece of paper..

[tombkk]

It's pronounced the way you write it - I think the taxi driver wanted to cheat you as the way to Suvarnabhumi was longer.

By the way, you might get more responses if you choose a meaningful title for your "serious qns". Such as: "How to pronounce Don Mueang?" in this case.

[Terry Newman]

The driver could have been for real, and just of them them Issan drivers who have no clue about Bangkok and has been brought up since day one to rip off farlang.

[jaiyenyen]

I understand your problem.

I have lived in Don Meuang for the past six years and even now, when I tell someone where I live, I sometimes get a blank look back. Pronunciation has to be spot on, otherwise you might as well be talking Swahili.

[attrayant]

Every time I say it, it comes out sounding differently. I usually say it three or four times in a row, changing the pronunciation every so slightly each time. Usually one of them gets recognized.

[josephbloggs]

I understand your problem.

I have lived in Don Meuang for the past six years and even now, when I tell someone where I live, I sometimes get a blank look back. Pronunciation has to be spot on, otherwise you might as well be talking Swahili.

That's a ridiculous statement. It clearly wasn't a misunderstanding, the evil cabbie was trying to rip off the foreigner because that's what all Thais do, don't cha know? He asked for the airport and got taken to........the airport. Obvious conspiracy, obvious scam. Detestable Thais.

Honestly reading some of those comments makes me almost pity the posters.

You are absolutely correct in that in Thai, if your pronunciation is a little off, they genuinely don't understand you. Why do people on this site see conspiracies and rip-offs everywhere when often they clearly don't exist?

[Keith67]

I understand your problem.

I have lived in Don Meuang for the past six years and even now, when I tell someone where I live, I sometimes get a blank look back. Pronunciation has to be spot on, otherwise you might as well be talking Swahili.

That's a ridiculous statement. It clearly wasn't a misunderstanding, the evil cabbie was trying to rip off the foreigner because that's what all Thais do, don't cha know? He asked for the airport and got taken to........the airport. Obvious conspiracy, obvious scam. Detestable Thais.

Honestly reading some of those comments makes me almost pity the posters.

You are absolutely correct in that in Thai, if your pronunciation is a little off, they genuinely don't understand you. Why do people on this site see conspiracies and rip-offs everywhere when often they clearly don't exist?

This is an annoying aspect of learning the language, i learnt Thai many years ago and for the most time it works well for me, now if i go into a 7/11 or any other shop for a packet of cigs i ask for SMS red in Thai always with a blank stare back at me, my wife says exactly the same as i did and they go straight and get them. It can only be the accent, i know what i am saying is correct but they still do not understand it. My wife also says if she hears someone from England speak she can understand them but if their from Australia she finds it difficult.

[Ajaan]

I understand your problem.

I have lived in Don Meuang for the past six years and even now, when I tell someone where I live, I sometimes get a blank look back. Pronunciation has to be spot on, otherwise you might as well be talking Swahili.

That's a ridiculous statement. It clearly wasn't a misunderstanding, the evil cabbie was trying to rip off the foreigner because that's what all Thais do, don't cha know? He asked for the airport and got taken to........the airport. Obvious conspiracy, obvious scam. Detestable Thais.

Honestly reading some of those comments makes me almost pity the posters.

You are absolutely correct in that in Thai, if your pronunciation is a little off, they genuinely don't understand you. Why do people on this site see conspiracies and rip-offs everywhere when often they clearly don't exist?

This is an annoying aspect of learning the language, i learnt Thai many years ago and for the most time it works well for me, now if i go into a 7/11 or any other shop for a packet of cigs i ask for SMS red in Thai always with a blank stare back at me, my wife says exactly the same as i did and they go straight and get them. It can only be the accent, i know what i am saying is correct but they still do not understand it. My wife also says if she hears someone from England speak she can understand them but if their from Australia she finds it difficult.

Please don't take this the wrong way, but most likely, there is a problem with your tones. The reason you think your wife "says it exactly the same" is that you can't correctly hear HER tones. The first step to pronouncing tones correctly is hearing them correctly.

Some Thais are better at "reading between the lines" and figuring out what you're TRYING to say despite mispronunciation/poor tones. Many Thais are not. This has a lot to do with many Thais' utter lack of any critical thinking skills.

Personally, when I was learning Thai, I found that most Thai listeners are most unforgiving with the high rising and low tones...these two tones in particular, you have got to absolutely NAIL, or you risk the maddening and all-too-familiar THAI BLANK STARE. For example, I remember in my first year in Thailand going to buy a bottle of water. I'm standing in front of the vendor, pointing to the bottles of water on ice, and trying to say น้ำเปล่า. They would just stand there with their thumb up their butt staring it me like I was speaking Martian.

I later realized that this phrase was incomprehensible to them (I know, I know, despite the fact that I'm pointing to what I want, and it's freaking right IN FRONT OF THEM, haha) precisely because it consists of a word containing the high rising tone (น้ำ) immediately followed by a word with the low tone (เปล่า), and I was butchering both. Now that I get those tones right, I never have a problem buying bottled water!! Keep working on it.

[Ajaan]

Oh, and as for the OP's problem: I'm betting that's a vowel issue. I'll bet money he's saying ดอนมวง when he should be saying ดอนเมือง. In which case it's no surprise taxi drivers have no idea what he's saying. The difference between those two pronunciations to a Thai ear would be like a non-native speaker of English saying "mock" to you when he meant "make". Would you be able to figure out what he's trying to say? Probably from context...but that requires critical thinking skills, so context is likely not to help you in Thailand.

[james5121]

Oh, and as for the OP's problem: I'm betting that's a vowel issue. I'll bet money he's saying ดอนมวง when he should be saying ดอนเมือง. In which case it's no surprise taxi drivers have no idea what he's saying. The difference between those two pronunciations to a Thai ear would be like a non-native speaker of English saying "mock" to you when he meant "make". Would you be able to figure out what he's trying to say? Probably from context...but that requires critical thinking skills, so context is likely not to help you in Thailand.

Thanks Ajaan I will try to remember that ,But there is so much to remember and i am so old i think i will be butchering a lot of words. )