How to pronounce Hua Hin

[Roel]

I think Saraburi is simply a hypercorrected (mis)spelling. I recall (from my favourite book) that as an exception between consonant clusters such as สร (sr) and ทร (tr) and others (I will look it up, do not have the book here with me) there is no inherent 'a' sound. Hence it should be spelled Sraburi. This explains the pronunciation Slaburi (Norseman, 2007).
The town Sri Racha is another example of สร (sr) clustering but here it is spelled correctly. In this case it is not pronounced Sli Ratcha however but the ร (r) is silent and Thai say Si Racha.
I'll be back, with my book!
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[johnnyk]

[Norseman]

Thank you Roel for the explanation.
Maybe Saraburi is a misspelling but I'd really like to know the rules here.
Especially for the "S-AR" pronunciation.
Saraburi is how the Thais pronounce the word when they talk slowly, but it's switched or changed to Slapburi when they talk fast.
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[BaaBaa.]

[bambergasgoigne]

To all my teachers on this board

thenk u all fair-ee muche.

I will never say Wha Hin again !
and I've never been to and will hopefully never go to พ(p) + ั(short 'a' as pronounced in 'part') + ท(t, as in tip) ย(y) + า(aa, as in arr)

and I'm not sure I'll ever get much further with my Thai than Sawadee, Sabay-di-may, Pang, Mangapoon.,

but I will keep trying.


Bamber

[Chas]

The only people you ever hear saying "Krap" and rolling the "r" as they do so, are those two guys in Bangkok who dub every foreign movie into Thai. In real life you never hear it. Not on TV in the soaps or in the TV newsrooms or on the radio. It is like "thee" and "thou" in English I would say and I don't know why books and tourist oriented handouts even bother mentioning "krap". (Actually, I have heard it used in real life when the Thai person is making a joke connected to putting on airs.)

Now, how about "Sawasdee" How many of you have ever heard anyone say the second "s"? It is always spelled with that second "s" but pronounced "sawatdee".

If "farang" is slang, what is the correct word then? The use of farang seems universal.

[DawnHRD]

[bambergasgoigne]

Dawn

Sorry, just noticed yur question now.

I'd say Van Gogh had a better musical ear than me, (the one he cut off), so my best Thai words are ones that phonetically are easy to look at and say in English - Mangapoon, is one such word.

Anything that rises or falls in tone, no matter how often I say it, is met with a blank stare, so I forget these words very quickly.

If anyone wants to add to my vocab of nice easy English sounding words, feel free. You can hold a conversation on just about anything, no matter what the mix of words.

Bambers Street guide to Thai - Vol 1.
"Sawadee, Sabay di my, Cow pat gai, mangapoon and man farang toad kap, Tao Rye, Pang, Kap Khun Kap, Chi and Loy Hok Sip Ha Pitching kap. See you Pong Nee. "

"Hello, How are you, Fried Rice with chicken, jelly fish and French Fries please. How much. Expensive. Thank you. Tea and 165 Pitching Wedges please. See you tommorrow!"

[Vital Spark]

I know what you mean about the blank stare BG: One of the worst problems I've found here is when I try and use Thai and they think I'm speaking English. I'd love to have two little flags in my pocket. Wave the Thai one and try and converse in their language - at least then they might think that you are trying to speak Thai. If that fails then pull out the Union Jack and speak English.

The tones are incredibly hard to remember, but if (in my experience) they get to know you, then they will forgive your (tiger for a shirt) tone. It depends how forgiving and/or intelligent they are, as to whether or not they understand you. The best teacher I learnt with said, quite sensibly, don't worry about the tones (initially) they come later, people will understand what you say, even if you get the tones wrong. It really depends who you are talking to.

Stick with it and learn the lingo. They normally love it if you try, even if you get in wrong.

VS

PS: It's kop kun khap (a black policeman with a hat) - because I'm female I remembered it as a black policeman in a car...
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[Roel]

Chase wrote:

[T.I.G.R.]

Wow, what an interesting topic. I have a few notes from my perspective, which are based on listening and attempted conversation rather than formal education.

I've been married to a Thai for nineteen years and living in HH for nearly two years. I learned very little Thai until we moved here due to the difficulty and the fact that my wife preferred to keep her language to herself.....no doubt so I wouldn't know when she was calling me an A***hole.

1) We haven't yet found a text or written language guide that spells anything like it actually sounds.

2) On my third computer interactive CD set and again, very little relation to conversational Thai, although it is the best I've found yet. "The Rosetta Stone" series.

3) At the age of 64 I gave up trying to learn the alphabet when I got stuck on the twentieth constanant.....maybe its the age or maybe I'm just to dumb to remember them all. At any rate, I'm now concentrating on just spoken Thai for awhile.

4) Most importantly, who you communicate with has a great deal to do with what the language sounds like, as you must be aware by reading the posts. Every region has it's own dialects, and even between families there is some difference in the way they pronounce words. I've been having an argument with my wife for several months now on "may" or "my".....she insists she NEVER says "may" and I hear it through my ears on a regular basis....I suppose the simple answer is when one speaks a language at regular speed there are lots of short-cuts and pronunciation differences from person to person. It's like "y'all" in America. It could be pronounced several different ways depending on geographic location and then depending on how conversant the speaker is with speaking a southern dialect.

As VS says, the best thing to do is try to imitate the Thais around you.....this will make good entertainment for them and you will eventually get the hang of whatever local dialect they speak. And remember that what sounds like Waa Hin to you may or may not be what the person listening hears.

Here's what a few things sound like to me at my house:

Waa-dee-cup or Saa Wat Dee - Hello/Goodbye

WHhhuaa Hin - Hua Hin

Jur Gun Prunee (roll the R) - See you tomorrow

My ben rai (roll the R) - never mind

My dee - no good

My die - won't work

Cob Coon Cup - thank you

Sue Ba dee la cup - how are you?

Suebaii - I'm good

The best thing to do as far as I see, once you have adopted the way you will say something is to say it fast......and if you get the blank stare ask them to teach you how to say it.

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And a note for those who do it.....Please stop saying and thinking Thai people are lazy, stupid and somehow less intelligent than you are. I have bit my tongue for a long time about this subject but the fact is Thai people are NOT stupid, inherently lazy or dumber than you are. They are the kindest people I've ever met and I will guarantee you the average Thai knows a lot more about our language than we do about theirs. For the most part Thai's work six to seven days a week for a meager wage most of us wouldn't even consider. They sleep during lunch because this is a hot humid climate. Would you sneer at a Spaniard for taking his afternoon siesta? Probably not. Just because Thai people do things differently than you do doesn't mean they are any less intelligent or ambitious......O.K., I don't know how to use those little icons but I'm "off rant" now.

Cheers

[bambergasgoigne]

[Roel]

Vital Spark wrote:

[buksida]

My experience has been the opposite and many Thais I know are more than impressed by my proficiency in their language - I get so many asking me to teach them English to the same standard.

I would be vary wary of any Thai that does not want me to learn more ... what are they trying to hide?


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I've got a bad feeling about this

[Roel]

Well good to hear that Buksida. Especially because others I spoke to about this shared my experience. But I think it is not a matter of "hiding things". (In the end if they really do not want us something to know or understand we never will).
Like I said it is merely a natural (over)reaction: you are coming to close.
Maybe they gave up on you and I have to try hard to reach the next level.
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We are all living in 'the good old days' of the future.