zanemay Posted February 8, 2002 Report Share Posted February 8, 2002 This is something I don't understand or quite know how to deal with. It just pops up without any explanation! Things like "gaw guy" appear as "gor guy" What is the logic of this and how does it help? What if there really is an "R" sound? Doesn't this confuse things? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 8, 2002 Report Share Posted February 8, 2002 I'm pretty sure that the transliteration method that you are talking about was devised by someone from the UK. If you pronounce it as a Brit would, you're not all that far off. Doesn't work well for Americans, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lamock Chokaprret Posted February 8, 2002 Report Share Posted February 8, 2002 I have seen this quite a bit too. In particular, the word for please kaw I see frequently written as kor. The actual sound as produced by a Thai seems to be something in between. Thai definetly has a hard 'r' sound as in the Spanish. Like in my board handle (lamock chokaprret) so when I transliterate it, I use the double 'rr' as in the Spanish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zanemay Posted February 8, 2002 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2002 My main problem with this is I consult transliteration for words that are new to me. Since they are new I am not sure if there is a real r in them or one that is just stuck in to "help." (!?) I'm glad to see others are confused by this too. It's done so commonly and with no explanation that I thought it was something really obvious that I was missing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 8, 2002 Report Share Posted February 8, 2002 That is why it is so invaluable to learn to read Thai as soon as possible in your studies. It's not all that difficult, and will eliminate those pesky transliteration problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 9, 2002 Report Share Posted February 9, 2002 Usually when there are confusing transliterations like kaw/kor it's because we have no equivalent sound, the Thai sound is somewhere in between. So the answer is that you don't pronounce it with a noticeable 'w', but you also don't make a hard 'r'; it's somewhere in the middle. But even English is not spoken the same everywhere so we don't have one standard transliteration (as someone else said, to a British person it may be closer to an 'r' than for an american). You have the same type problem with proper consonents: gaw-gai - not quite a 'g', but not a 'k' either dtaw-dtow - this is relatively easy, just halfway between d and t as you would guess (but it often gets transliterated into just a 't') bpaw-bplah - again, it's somewhere between 'b' and 'p' and lots of others. Don't even get started on the 'l' and 'r' thing again. That's just my uneducated opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 10, 2002 Report Share Posted February 10, 2002 quote: Originally posted by Zane May: [QB]This is something I don't understand or quite know how to deal with. It just pops up without any explanation! Things like "gaw guy" appear as "gor guy" [QB] There is a thai vowel that in the most common transliteration system (yes, I belive it was someone from the UK, or a UK educated Thai that come up with it) is written 'or' but actually sounds more like the 'aw' in pawn, as in the chess piece. So 'Porn' is pronounced 'pawn'. The goal was to write it so that most engligh speakers would pronounce the word semi-correctly, but I think the system fails now-a-days for lots of folks. Especially Americans, unless they have a thick new-England accent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zanemay Posted February 11, 2002 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2002 Thanks for all the information. Complicated explanations for a complicated language. Pvt Dick - I am learning to read and making good progress. I can sound out words pretty well and I am developing a sight vocabulary. Still, learning a language is like chipping away at a mountain. I have been chipping away pretty steadily but I am not a very skilled chipper. I have another question about tones and will post it now. Thanks all, Zane Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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