1 hour ago, rkidlad said:

 

It was pronounced Nob. With a b at the end. He was sometimes called Nobby. Maybe it's always pronounced p when used as his full name 'Noppadom' (or how ever it's spelt in English) 

 

How things are suppsoed to be done and a said in Thai language can be very different to what people do in real life. 

 

And what is said or pronounced and what is perceived by the listener can also be different.  The best example is the western perception of  the unaspirated and unvoiced koh kai (ก ไก่) as a voiced 'g' sound.  Perception may be more variable than production as there are phonetic rules in a language that allow some sounds and also preclude other sounds. Thais often truncate the final consonants in words so perhaps your pal is producing a shortened and nearly unaspirated 'p' that you perceived as a 'b' sound, analogous to the example with chicken.

16 minutes ago, Johpa said:

 

And what is said or pronounced and what is perceived by the listener can also be different.  The best example is the western perception of  the unaspirated and unvoiced koh kai (ก ไก่) as a voiced 'g' sound.  Perception may be more variable than production as there are phonetic rules in a language that allow some sounds and also preclude other sounds. Thais often truncate the final consonants in words so perhaps your pal is producing a shortened and nearly unaspirated 'p' that you perceived as a 'b' sound, analogous to the example with chicken.

Sure, that's great. 

 

It's just an example of a name that might sound funny in the west. It sounded exactly like 'Nob' and that's how most westerners would hear it. That's it really. Everything else is moot. 

 

 

My gf has the Thai nickname Tik, which sounds the same as Tick which is a parasite found on Sheep and other animals but can also attach themselves to humans and suck blood out of them!!
Ah how appropriate lol

Wonder how many thais mispronounced QUAY(key) as QUAY!!!!

Wonder how many thais mispronounced QUAY(key) as QUAY!!!!

Any farang who thinks their pronounciation is perfect should try to say "Swiss wristwatch, Irish wristwatch" three times perfectly in quick succession !

Any farang who thinks their pronounciation is perfect should try to say "Swiss wristwatch, Irish wristwatch" three times perfectly in quick succession !

pathetic political correctness from NZ. They are just Thai names that sound rude in English. So what! The NZ authorities must be composed of silly schoolboys.

21 hours ago, Kabula said:

American names too?  Ben Dover.

 

"Nice meeting you Porn, Ben Dover here." 

 

In my youth, the guy who owned the best chain of gyms was Mike Hunt. I don't believe these eponymous clubs were very popular with women, however.

Lao people have the same names except the Anglicized spelling is different. In Lao it's spelled as "Phone" instead of Porn. If you guys knew Thai you'd know it's not pronounced as either, but more like "Pawn" as in chess. The anglicized Thai words are indeed very cringe-worthy and it makes me wonder who was in charge of creating them.

On 2016-09-27 at 4:27 AM, Thechook said:

From what I read it's not the kiwis who have asked them to change but the Thai Agency.  Kiwis are like Aussies and couldn't really give a <deleted>.

 

You are absolutely right, my bad. I guess then it's surprising that the agency feels the need to do this.

 

I'm from Canada and I know a lot of eastern Europeans who fled the Bloc in the 80's and, when they came to Canada, they all changed their names to the anglicized version (ie. Piotr became Peter). I can't speak for all Canadians but I always thought it was too bad that they did it. Now obviously Piotr doesn't have any connotations in English whereas Poo and Pee do but I guess I just think people should be proud of their backgrounds.

 

To me the "hilarity" of a name like Pee makes for a pretty good segue to an explanation on what it means in Thailand - cultural understanding improved and everyone has a laugh. This tactic by the agency negates any of that and probably does more to increase the insecurity these kids are probably already feeling in a new environment - by the way your name is no good here, we'll have to change it.

 

I also am speaking from experience - my name means something in Thai that they find hilarious. We have a laugh about it at intros and a laugh is a good way to start things off with people I find.

Honestly all the Thai anglicized words like Poo and Pee are written like Phu and Pii in Lao. I think Thailand just made them look inappropriate on purpose to attract more of a certain type of tourist...

On 27/09/2016 at 10:09 PM, DiDiChok said:

Any farang who thinks their pronounciation is perfect should try to say "Swiss wristwatch, Irish wristwatch" three times perfectly in quick succession !

Swish wrish irish wrish swiss wrish irish arrrgggg ok just sell me the damn watch