PATTAYA - correct pronunciation

[Rowdy501]

So many farang pronounce Pattaya as pa-tay-ya, with the stress on the 'tay', so it sounds like pa-TAY-ya.

 

The correct pronunciation is pa-ta-yah. The pa is like the English 'putt' (golf shot) without the tt, the ta is similar but with a very short vowel sound, and yah is like 'yard' without the d. Also, the stress should be placed on the pa, so it sounds like PA-ta-yah.

 

Cheers.

[Loong]

and yah is like 'yard' without the d.

 

the "r" would not be pronounced either, the "ah" vowel is long whereas the other 2 are short.

 

I don't believe that any syllable is stressed. "put" and "ta" are both pronounced with a high tone, "yah" is mid tone

 

พัทยา

[docwho]

Yes.

Some people pronounce it as 'Patty yeh'.

But correctly it's Par - tie - yah.

...I think.

[somjit]

the "r" would not be pronounced either, the "ah" vowel is long whereas the other 2 are short.

 

I don't believe that any syllable is stressed. "put" and "ta" are both pronounced with a high tone, "yah" is mid tone

 

พัทยา

 

No stress: right.

High tone, high tone , mid tone: right.

 

Pronouncing in Thai: พะ-ทะ-ยา

[El Cata]

Pronouncing in Thai: พะ-ทะ-ยา

 

Close but it's พัด-ทะ-ยา, or 'Phatthaya' using the official Thai transcription.

 

This is a strange one because of the reduplication of ท. It acts both as the final consonant for the first syllable & the initial consonant for the second, hence the 'tt' in the transliteration. Final consonants are never released so the first 't' would sound closer to a 'dt' IMO, giving 'Phadt-ta-yah'.

 

The 'h' indicates that the 'p' & 't' are released as always. Anyway, the correct pronunciation is the one that native speaking Thais use, or like in the song.

 

Edited April 7, 2012 by El Cata

[somjit]

Close but it's พัด-ทะ-ยา, or 'Phatthaya' using the official Thai transcription.

 

This is a strange one because of the reduplication of ท. It acts both as the final consonant for the first syllable & the initial consonant for the second, hence the 'tt' in the transliteration.

 

Thanks, I made this mistake more than once before. It seems you can read/write quite well?

[Edge]

Anyway, the correct pronunciation is the one that native speaking Thais use, or like in the song.

.....................................

 

That'll do for me.

 

One more (better sound)

 

 

Two more (nice VDO)

 

[slick67]

If you really want to put stress on it then it should be on the last syllable, as in most Thai words (like com-pu-TER), so: Pa-ta-YAA

 

Well, as long as you don't call it Patters you should be fine

 

[ryouz]

พัทยา pud t-ya

pud, sounds like mud with the P

*then a small pause

t enunciate like t in twin

ya as in far with out r roll

 

it's sometimes shortened as pud-ya, leaving the middle t out

[pubstud]

Like Tesco Lotus, we pronounce lotus but Thais call it low - TUSS with big stress on the 2nd syllable.

 

Once when teaching a class of Thais I was talking about Julius Caesar and the students didn't have a clue who I was talking about. I couldn't believe that uni students had never heard of Julius Caesar. Then finally one student twigged to who I was talking about and the class all started nodding their heads and going Juli-US See-SAR, a totally different pronunciation. Again with huge stress on the 2nd syllables.

[Loong]

I have never heard a Thai pronounce Lotus with the s ending. Everyone pronounces it low-tut with a final t sound

[pubstud]

I have never heard a Thai pronounce Lotus with the s ending. Everyone pronounces it low-tut with a final t sound

 

Yeah, well my missis works for Tesco Lotus and I hear her say the fucking name of her company about 250,000 times a day and it's always low-TUSS.

[Loong]

Yeah, well my missis works for Tesco Lotus and I hear her say the fucking name of her company about 250,000 times a day and it's always low-TUSS.

 

If she pronounces the s sound at the end of the word, then I would hazard a guess that she is speaking English, not Thai.

Kudos to her as many Thais find it impossible to pronounce an s at the end of the word because it doesn't exhist in the Thai language.

I would think that when she is talking to other Thais, she will not pronounce the final s, but a t sound instead.

 

เทสโก้โลตัส

 

Tayt go Loh dtut

[Taeng Mo]

พัทยา pud t-ya

pud, sounds like mud with the P

*then a small pause

t enunciate like t in twin

ya as in far with out r roll

 

it's sometimes shortened as pud-ya, leaving the middle t out

 

This is true.

 

Por Pan, Tor Ta Han, Mai Tho, Yor Yak, Sara Ar.

 

Pat Yar. ("A" sounds a bit like "U")

can also say, Pat -a Yar.

[shelfsidemark]

Really bugs me when people pronounce it pat-EYE-ah.I used to think of it as a German thing

but I've heard a lot of British blokes say it like that....some of whom have been going to Thailand,

or even living there for years.

There are more important things to stress over I know !!!

[pubstud]

If she pronounces the s sound at the end of the word, then I would hazard a guess that she is speaking English, not Thai.

Kudos to her as many Thais find it impossible to pronounce an s at the end of the word because it doesn't exhist in the Thai language.

I would think that when she is talking to other Thais, she will not pronounce the final s, but a t sound instead.

 

เทสโก้โลตัส

 

Tayt go Loh dtut

 

Yeah you're correct Loong. You obviously know more about my missis and her language skills & speech patterns than I do.

[tizio]

Once when teaching a class of Thais I was talking about Julius Caesar and the students didn't have a clue who I was talking about. I couldn't believe that uni students had never heard of Julius Caesar. Then finally one student twigged to who I was talking about and the class all started nodding their heads and going Juli-US See-SAR, a totally different pronunciation. Again with huge stress on the 2nd syllables.

 

unsurprisingly.

and try asking about Napoleon or Chinggis Khan or Mao Zedong or even PolPot or Ho Chi Minh....

[Loong]

Hee hee

 

been thru it many times with helping my Missus with some of her pronunciation in English

 

Say Lotus

Lodtut

No - Lotus

...Lodtut

LOTUS

Lotut

not tut, tussssss

Lotust

Low TUSS

Low TUST

not tust, TUSSSSS

Low TUSSSS

 

May go some of the way to explain why some Thais stress some syllables when speaking English

[tizio]

I have never heard a Thai pronounce Lotus with the s ending. Everyone pronounces it low-tut with a final t sound

 

there wouldnt be any problem if they used the vietnamese alphabet "Quoc Ngu" or even PinYin instead of their crazy thai alphabet

which is a cheap imitation of the Khmer alphabet which in turn is a subset of the indian Pallava script.

 

in khmer it's worse, they don't even count up to 10 but just up to 5, so 6 is "5 and 1" and so on..crazy !

 

why the fuck asian scripts and languages are so damn complex for no reason ?

and why any proposed innovation and simplification is disdained and rejected ?

[ozboy]

However you say it, it still sounds awesome!

[tizio]

Hee hee

 

been thru it many times with helping my Missus with some of her pronunciation in English

 

Say Lotus

Lodtut

No - Lotus

...Lodtut

LOTUS

Lotut

not tut, tussssss

Lotust

Low TUSS

Low TUST

not tust, TUSSSSS

Low TUSSSS

 

May go some of the way to explain why some Thais stress some syllables when speaking English

 

because it's a syllabic alphabet, the root of all evils, and same shit happens for any other syllabic script and languages

in asia, there's nothing to do, it's a huge limitations as their whole world is clustered in syllables and this is reflected in their whole life as well in many ways, they refused to be civilized by us and now they pay the price ... kids forced for 3 yrs in chinese primary school just devoted to learn the basic pictograms and the relative stroke sequence (!!) .. now, what the fuck .... the french rulers in vietnam reached exactly my same conclusion centuries ago and find me a vietnamese who doesnt agree with them, all these bullshit scripts are designed as if they were living in an island disconnected from the outer world, which was often done on purpose by the way.

[pubstud]

unsurprisingly.

and try asking about Napoleon or Chinggis Khan or Mao Zedong or even PolPot or Ho Chi Minh....

 

I ask them if they heard of Ned Kelly or Burke & Wills or Captain Cook...lol

 

They all nod when they hear Captain Cook because Thailand has many captains and cooks in their restaurants...lol

 

Used to ask uni students what where the capital cities: USA is always New York. Australia is always Sydney.

[slick67]

 

Por Pan, Tor Ta Han, Mai Tho, Yor Yak, Sara Ar.

 

Pat Yar. ("A" sounds a bit like "U")

can also say, Pat -a Yar.

 

It's sometimes difficult to see the difference, especially in handwriting, but they are different:

 

อ้ = Mai Tho

อั = Mai Han Agaat

 

 

[tizio]

I ask them if they heard of Ned Kelly or Burke & Wills or Captain Cook...lol

 

They all nod when they hear Captain Cook because Thailand has many captains and cooks in their restaurants...lol

 

Used to ask uni students what where the capital cities: USA is always New York. Australia is always Sydney.

 

hahaha ... typical thai.

[shelfsidemark]

there wouldnt be any problem if they used the vietnamese alphabet "Quoc Ngu" or even PinYin instead of their crazy thai alphabet

which is a cheap imitation of the Khmer alphabet which in turn is a subset of the indian Pallava script.

 

in khmer it's worse, they don't even count up to 10 but just up to 5, so 6 is "5 and 1" and so on..crazy !

 

why the fuck asian scripts and languages are so damn complex for no reason ?

and why any proposed innovation and simplification is disdained and rejected ?

What about Korean Hangul.....does that buck the trend somewhat ? Apparently it's relatively easy to learn,

compared to most other languages in the region.

Edit:Looked it up on wikipedia....and it all looks bloody complicated !

I've only been to South Korea once...and that was over 20 years ago

but I still remember the word for beer though ! (maekju).

Edited April 12, 2012 by shelfsidemark