Thai language primer

[Bangkoktraveler]

Found on the Bangkok Post's editorial page.

 

 

Many Thai characters have an initial and final sound, and only the initial sound is used. Since Thai is based on Pali, which is based on Sanskrit, there are multiple sounds for consonants. These are transliterated in various ways, such as PH and P, TH and T, SH and S, even though there are no native TH or SH sounds similar to English. There is no V sound in Thai, but the W is often transliterated that way because Sanskrit has no W.

 

 

J is transliterated as CH, and CH as J. Consider Jatujak market, written Chatachuk, but known as J-J Market.

 

 

There are only six ''legal'' consonant endings _ K, P, T, M, N and NG. All others are written at the end only if a silent mark is placed above them in Thai. All silent parts are written out which is why you see mitr written, but pronounced as mit.

 

 

There is no equivalent sound in English for the short and long EU sounds, though this does exist in languages like French.

 

 

If the intention was to allow English speakers to more closely pronounce a Thai word, the transliteration system would be vastly different. The system represents one view of Thai words in the Roman alphabet, for Thais, not to provide foreigners with an easy-to-pronounce system.

 

 

Don Meuang may be closer to English, but Don Muang is the official transliteration. All Thais know that this is not Moo-ang, but Meu-ung. If a foreigner wants to understand it then they should learn to read Thai. CHRISTIAN LLOYD Bangkok

 

Link

[Pescator]

There are only six ''legal'' consonant endings _ K, P, T, M, N and NG. All others are written at the end only if a silent mark is placed above them in Thai.

 

Indeed?

[Flashermac]

Simplified spelling maybe?