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Krit:

Sàwàtdī Khrít  kāfāe mǎi  phǒm mī étprétsô ná

ÊÇÑÊ´Õ ¤ÃÔµ ¡Òá¿äËÁ
¼ÁÁÕàÍ´à»Ã´â«¹Ð

Hi, Chrit. Some coffee — I’ve got some “Etpretso”.

Chris:

kāfāe rǒe … dī sì phǒm kô chôp espresso

¡Òá¿àËÃÍ … ´ÕÊÔ
¼Á¡çªÍº àÍÊà¾ÃÊâ«

Coffee? … Good, I also like espresso.

Krit:

khùn chôp dū fútbōn rǔe plào  Khrít

¤Ø³ªÍº´Ù¿ØµºÍ¹
ËÃ×Íà»ÅèÒ ¤ÃÔµ

Do you like watching “footbon”, Chrit?

Chris:

“fútbōn” ǒ “football”

“¿ØµºÍ¹” ÍëÍ “¿ØµºÍÅ”

“Footbon”? Ah, football.

Chris

châi  mûea khūen ní khūn dū rǔe plào  Brāsīn cháná pāi sǎm sǔn nàe

ãªè àÁ×èͤ׹¹Õé¤Ø³´ÙËÃ×Íà»ÅèÒ
ºÃÒ«Ô¹ª¹Ðä» 3-0 á¹èÐ

Yeah. Did you watch last night? “Brazin” won 3-0.

Chris

khūn mǎithǔeng “Brazil” châi mǎi

¤Ø³ËÁÒ¶֧ “ºÃÒ«ÔÅ”
ãªèäËÁ

You meant Brazil, right?

Krit:

mǎi mǎe  Brāsīn lèn dī chīng chīng

ãªè áËÁ ºÃÒ«Ô¹àÅè¹´Õ¨ÃÔ§æ

Right! Wow, “Brazin” played superbly, really.

Chris:

khūn pēn fāen thīm Brazil sè Khān Krìt

¤Ø³à»ç¹á¿¹·ÕÁºÃÒ«ÔÅÊÔ
¤Ø³¡ÃÔµ·

You’re a fan of the Brazil team, right K. Krit?

Krit:

fāen phān tháe lōei là  chûe phǒm òk sīang wâ “krìdt”  phāsǎ Thāi mâi mī hǎng sǐang

Ό¾Ñ¹¸çá·éàÅÂÅèÐ
ª×èͼÁÍÍ¡àÊÕ§ÇèÒ “¡ÃÔ´”
ÀÒÉÒä·ÂäÁèÁÕËÒ§àÊÕ§

Yeah, a die-hard fan. Yeah, a die-hard fan. And my name’s pronounced “Krid”. Here, we “stop” just before pronouncing the final “d”.

Chris:

ōkē  láe chûe phǒm òk sīang “Khrís” mī “és” pēn hǎng sǐang dûai ná

âÍठáÅЪ×èͼÁÍÍ¡àÊÕ§
“¤ÃÔÊ”ÁÕ “àÍÊ”
à»ç¹ËÒ§àÊÕ§´éǹÐ

Okay, and my name’s pronounced “Chris” with “s” as a final sound.

Krit:

nân nà sì  phǒm lūem òk hǎng sǐang thûk thī  wēlā phût phāsǎ Āngkrìt chūeng phût mâi chát

¹Ñ蹹ЫԹР¼ÁÅ×ÁÍÍ¡
ËÒ§àÊÕ§·Ø¡·Õ àÇÅÒ¾Ù´
ÀÒÉÒÍѧ¡Äɨ֧¾Ù´äÁèªÑ´

Oh! That’s right! I always forget the final sounds. That’s why I don’t get it right when I speak English.

Chris:

phûean fáràng lōei … ngōng!  yàng “fútbōn” láe “Brāsīn” dâai

à¾×è͹½ÃÑè§àÅ … §§!
ÍÂèÒ§ “¿ØµºÍ¹” áÅÐ
“ºÃÒ«Ô¹” ´éÇÂ

Your farang friends are completely at sea — like “footbon” and “Brazin”, too.

Krit:

ōe  chīng sì ná  khōn Thāi sùan mâk òk sǐang tūa “āel” pēn tūa “ēn”  tàe khūn kèng nî  khâochāi phǒm

àÍÍ ¨ÃÔ§ÊԹР¤¹ä·Â
ÊèǹÁÒ¡ÍÍ¡àÊÕ§µÑÇ “áÍÅ”
à»ç¹µÑÇ “àÍç¹” áµè¤Ø³à¡è§¹Õè
à¢éÒ㨼Á

Ah, that’s right. Most Thais convert “l” to “n”. But you’re an expert in understanding me.

Chris:

phǒm yù mūeang Thāi mā lǎi pī láeo  lōei phō chà dāo òk

¼ÁÍÂÙèàÁ×ͧä·ÂÁÒËÅÒ»ÕáÅéÇ
àžͨÐà´ÒÍÍ¡

I’ve been in Thailand for many years now, and I can guess.

Krit:

phǒm tông kâekhǎi rûeang ní láeo là  ô  námmān lôt rākhā ìk láeo ná  rôt khūn chái “dīsēn” rǔe “káetsōlīn”

¼Áµéͧá¡éä¢àÃ×èͧ¹ÕéáÅéÇÅèÐ
ÍéÍ ¹éÓÁѹŴÃÒ¤ÒÍÕ¡áÅéǹÐ
ö¤Ø³ãªé “´Õૹ” ËÃ×Í
“á¡´â«ÅÕ¹” ÅèÐ

I must have to improve this knack. By the way, the petrol prices have gone down again. Which do you use “deisen” or “gatsoline”?

Chris:

phûean fáràng … ngōng ìk láeo … khǒ hǎng sǐang nòi khráp

à¾×è͹½ÃÑè§ … §§ÍÕ¡áÅéÇ!
¢ÍËÒ§àÊÕ§˹èͤÃѺ

Your farang friend’s at sea again. Final sounds, please!

Vocabulary watch

How would Thais say the following words and phrases?

1. tennis = ……           2. basketball = ……     3. baseball = ……        4. (a) bus = ……

5. BTS = ……             6. Shell (gas station) = ……                             7. Toll way = ……

8. (the) Oriental = ……                                    9. (a) boxer = ……      10. extra = ……

 

Answers

1. tēnnít            2. bâtkétbōn     3. bétbōn          4. bút   5. bī thī ét         6. shēn            7. thōn wē        8. Ō rīan tēn     9. bók sôe        10. ék trâ

  • This lesson was prepared by Acharn Sunee Siidao, Educational Specialist.

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    Last modified: September 18, 2006     |

    • Welcome back to a new adaptation of Phût Phāsǎ Thāi after our transitional Songkran break. As per the valued suggestions of our readers, the transliterations now follow the Royal Institute's system (http://www.royin.go.th/th/profile/index.php), which includes tone markers. In terms of content, the column will continue to provide you with everyday language on specific topics.

    ñù kanyayon òõôù   ( 19 September 2006)     

    Phût phāsǎ Thai

    Final consonant sounds in the Thai language / tūasàkòt nāi pāsǎ Thāi


    These are examples of characters of the Thai alphabet.

    You may notice that we Thais sometimes have a difficult time making ourselves clearly understood when we speak English. There are three reasons for that. The first is because of the six final consonant sounds in Thai, which are: -ng written with §; -m written with Á -k written with ¡, ¢, ¤, ¦; -t written with ¨; ª, «, È, É, Ê, ®, ´, ¯, µ, °, ±, ², ¶, ·, ¸; -p written with », ¾, À, ¿ and -n written with ³, ¹, Ã, Å, Ì.

    In addition, the aspirated final sounds are not aspirated; they simply "stop" a word or syllable.

    Another reason is that two languages — Pali and Sanskrit — that had a major influence on Thai are now dead. Their influences are seen in the pronunciation of the words adopted from those languages. This is one explanation why there are many different letters for the same sound. For example, the -s sound is written with È, É, Ê; the -n sound is written with ³, ¹; the -ph sound is written with ¾, À; ¼ the -d sound is written with ®, ±, ´.

    Besides, we also adopted the spelling system from the two languages and this is why many words are spelled with different letters, but they have the same final sounds, not only of words but of syllables within words as well.

    This week let's talk about some of those problematic pronunciations.