We have just started sponsoring a child from Compassion, that lives in Thailand. We are struggling with working out how to pronounce her name.

the one name is: 'Thachanok' and the other name is 'Ngamjarukiangkrai'.

Many thanks

Hard to do, in print, but I hope this helps:

Ta-chan-oak Ngam-ja-ru-ghi-ang-grai.

"oak" as in oak tree, "ng" as in words ending in "ing", "gh" = hard "g" All syllables receive the same stress.

Thai's normally have a one syllable nickname by which they are known to family and friends.

Edited March 14, 201610 yr by allane

If you could provide a copy of the name in Thai script it would help enormously. Thai script is very clear regarding pronunciation. Romanization of Thai can be very ambiguous and easily misunderstood.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanization_of_Thai

Thanks for your compassion.

you could also ask her for her nick name khun chur len arai krap(or ka if you are a woman speaker)

usually those are much easier for us falangs to pronounce

you could also ask her for her nick name khun chur len arai krap(or ka if you are a woman speaker)

usually those are much easier for us falangs to pronounce

Well, I asked my daughter if any of her many foreign teachers, so far, 20-30 people in 9 years, has ever pronounced her nickname correctly. It's "ทิฟฟี่" in English "Tiffy". She said "NO, no foreign teacher has ever pronounced my name correctly".

It's important to notice that she didn't say that they pronounced the name, but the tones were wrong. In her eyes, if the tones are wrong, it's just not her name.

She gets sad and angry if I say her name with a sloppy pronunciation. It is a tough, but a very efficient way to learn to say the falling tone. She is a good teacher. At the moment she is focusing on my pronunciation of p/t/k sounds at the end of a syllable. She makes fun of me when I get it wrong. "That's not how mummy says it."

Edited March 15, 201610 yr by bow

Real correct pronounciation can not be determined from some arbitrary transcript.

Without a picture/scan of the name in Thai script only a vague guess.

"Thachanok"

Many hits for "Thanchanok" transcription (girls, women).

Few for "Thachanok".

Check back!

Thanchanok in Thai: ธันย์ชนก

No example for "Than" found, meaning uncertain.

Chanok:

http://www.thai-language.com/id/140752 (father, patriarch)

Click on the speaker symbol.

Edited March 15, 201610 yr by KhunBENQ

I found some vague explanation for the first name like: (she) who looks after father.

A popular model? actress? "Thanchanok" aka, "bay bay".

You hear the name at about 16 sec in this video (bay bay than chanok):

Family name remains in the dark without Thai script.

No one uses it except for official purposes anyway.

Edited March 15, 201610 yr by KhunBENQ

The same goes for the 2nd name, it should probably be Ngamjarukriankrai, or in Thai งามจรุเกีรยงไกร

You can use the text-to-speech that are built-in in most smartphones, tablets and computers these days to let it pronounce the Thai script for you.

Or you could use the text-to-speech from Google translate, it's pretty good (although it seems to do better when the 2nd name is written as งามจรุเกียงไกร , ah well... )

The last name Ngamjarukriankrai looks like one of those invented last names that the Thai government assigned to the upland minority people some 20 years ago.

The name with -n- is also spelt ธัญชนก, with very slightly more Google hits. Either way, the pronunciation is [M]than[H]cha[H]nok, though note that the final vowel barely occurs in British English. The best translation I can come up is 'prosperity-producer' (though the first syllable could also mean 'grain'); sometimes the prefix [M]than is to be translated simply as 'good'. As a Sanskrit adjective, the 'chanok' (janaka in Sanskrit) means 'generative', 'producing'. It so happens it can be used as a noun meaning 'progenitor' (and the Sanksrit 'chan' and Latin 'gen' are cognate).

I think there's a very good chance that the girl's nickname is [H]nok 'bird'.

I wonder if there is a play on words in the name of the young actress Patricia Thanchanok Good. (She goes by the name 'Pat'.)