Grave Diservice To Foreigners By Thai English Language Press

[Kerryd]

All we falang want, is to be able to read a name or place in the Bangkok Post or Nation and for Thais to know who/what we are refering to. ... the exact spelling is unimportant

Is that too much to ask ?

no Thai in the 60 million population would know who 'Devakula' (rhymes with Dracula ) is .

say 'Teva-goon' and they know immediately.....the BOT governor !!

So, lets see if I understand what you're trying to get at.

You want the English language news media to print Thai names phonetically (as they sound, instead of their correct spelling) so that Thais who don't read English will know who is being reported on ?

[barryofthailand]

I don't know what the OP is getting at. I have no problem communicating with Thais, and yes they do know who the leader of the democratic party is, the leader of the PAD, and Khun Sondi. Spelling of Thai names are not spelled to the convenience of the English language. The same for english names. Once when my wife was opening a bank account for the both of us, the clerk said her name was spelled wrong in English. I told her in English you have the privilage of spelling your name the way you want too.

Barry

[bannork]

I live in Khon Kaen. I can understand the 'Kh' as a soft 'K' but the second 'K' is 'Gor Gai' in Thai and is not a 'K' and is much closer to a 'G' in sound.

So why isn't it written Khon Gaen or even Khon Ghaen , because that is what it sounds like when spoken by a Thai . (ignoring the different tones each word has )

Because when the system was created they decided to write 'k' for กไก่ kor kai, or gor gai as you wrote; for both ข and ค, khor khai and khor khwai, the softer 'k' sound as in Khon they write'kh'.

Just recently a poster made the same point as you namely,kor kai is more like 'g' in English, but don't forget there's exceptions in English, ie gem,gist,gaol, etc.

[OneeyedJohn]

Is it not the exception to rule that makes language learning so difficult?

Think of Der Die Das German

Think of Amo Amas Amat Latin

I've tried to learn Latin German French Swedish Spanish Dutch and finally Thai and failed miserably.

My 5 year old son at the time went to a Dutch school in Amsterdam and within 6 months was happily conversing in Dutch, but was too shy to let on to his parents of his proficiency.

If someone could show me way to see the Thai language as something other than a lot of joined up 'N' s and 'M' s with indiscriminate sguiggles everywhere, then I would promise to never cuss a missionary again ( mebbe ).

Apols if slightly off topic.

[topfield]

Goodness, grief ! I’m not advocating a change to the Thai system of writing or spelling ! That would be clear stupidity. The system is set in stone and anyway only a Thai academic would propose such a change, as indeed has happened in Lao (where the spelling was simplified).

No, what I am advocating concerns the English language namely the romanisation of Thai names so that when non Thais read or speak the names they will approximate the pronunciation of the Thai names. As mentioned in postings above, there already appears to be such a system in place which was introduced over a hundred years ago.

In that ancient system, the name of the governor of the Bank of Thailand is DEVAKULA which rhymes with Dracula. In fact this man’s name is pronounced ‘TEVA-GOEN. Phonetically the two names are totally different !

I have yet to meet a Thai who has ever heard of DEVAKULA !

To promote understanding between English speakers and Thais it is essential they speak the same names or there can be no point of contact.

In Japan, romanisation is used in English newspapers road signs etc. It is a phonetic transliteration of the Japanese so every foreigner and Japanese will know the name.

Finally, , just think of the confusion if a foreigner reads the name of the airport as it is written under the old system ( see above). Thais will be completely lost !

[written on MS word, reduced and pasted]

[zzdocxx]

Interesting thread, I always wondered about this type of thing.

Pronunciation of "Bumrungrad", for example.

What's the real pronunciation?

Is it "Boom Loon Glas", or "Boom Loon Glad", or do the "r"'s have a slight roll to them like in Spanish, or is it something different altogether?

A puzzlement.

[jdinasia]

to the OP ... learn the language ... it'll help you (I mean reading and writing as well as speaking) You'll see a word and know eaxtly how it sounds (and you will eventually understand the Translit system<s>)

Edited May 13, 2006 by jdinasia