A question about pronunciation

[bolly]

Hi all,

 

So I am texting a girl who I met on my last trip. She says she will send me an email with some pix. When the email arrives she signs her name Pin. I thought it was Bin. I know in many languages there sounds they dont have--so Japan no difference between L and R. Spanish---B or V.

 

Am I correct that in Thai there is no difference between P and B?

 

thanks in advance

bolly ( or polly, or volly, or borry, or porry, or vorry, or ---AHHHHH fuck it !

[Cerberus]

I have it on good authority that the spelling would be "Pbin" but it still sounds like 'Bin" when spoken to me Bit like the spelling of Bon is Bhon. Hope that helps Pbolly

[Dr.Winston]

Yes, the sound of the letter is roughly halfway betweeen our P and B in sound. Unaspirated (could not blow a candle out when you say it)

[luv.you.long.time]

Yes, the sound of the letter is roughly halfway betweeen our P and B in sound. Unaspirated (could not blow a candle out when you say it)

 

That is a great way to describe it.

 

The Thai monk who was teaching me in the UK was saying that a common mistake for many words is that the western tongue over-pronounces letters that dont require it in Thai. Obviously, there are many exceptions. Letters such as :

T - we should soften is pronunciation consider it being merged with D (Td.....)

P - as above with a B (Pb....)

 

If you are emailing / text / writing, many of the words you may have picked up on, you may be pronouncing with L, when it needs to be written with an R

Arai (What) - most say Alai

Roo (Know) - most say Loo

there is an endless list for this. What I mean is, if you are writing an email and you want to say a little phrase in Thai, it may be worth checking a website for its correct pronunciation for you to type it phonetically.

 

I remember texting from the UK to an ex TG of mine. JESUS CHRIST !!! My first bill came in at 150 GBP (90 quid of that was on international text messages - that was before I knew about rebtel.com !)

[neo2025]

Arai (What) - most say Alai

Roo (Know) - most say Loo

 

More correctly - most ISSAN girls who speak LAO

or maybe the younger generation Bangkokians who are adopting lazy speech

 

If you choose to speak Thai like this in Thailand it's a bit like choosing to speak with a country or low class accent.

[bolly]

I have it on good authority that the spelling would be "Pbin" but it still sounds like 'Bin" when spoken to me Bit like the spelling of Bon is Bhon. Hope that helps Pbolly

 

55555555555 tdhanks!

[herds]

i have met quite a few falangs that have stated that 'r' doesn't exist in thai language, which is quite funny as ร ror rua is a sound that couldn't really be more R.

 

Probably hanging round lots of isaan women that grow up without ร or just not really bother with it, hence "go loom"

[)2akathaorai]

i have met quite a few falangs that have stated that 'r' doesn't exist in thai language, which is quite funny as ร ror rua is a sound that couldn't really be more R.

 

Probably hanging round lots of isaan women that grow up without ร or just not really bother with it, hence "go loom"

 

Well you should be writing farang then not falang....

 

It all really messes my head around because as far as I can tell any Thai written in roman letters is incorrect.. so why don't we just write it phonetically when we are using roman ( english) letters for ourselves NOT the thais.

 

Does anyone actually know any Thais that pronounce farang with an R?

[Scott Kevin]

"Does anyone actually know any Thais that pronounce farang with an R?"

 

Yes, several...including my wife and her family even though they are originally from Udon.

[herds]

Hehe, I suppose 'falang' is just force of habit, ฝลั่ง hehe.