 Thailand's official name of Muang Thai means "Free Land." The Thais pride themselves for being among the few countries in Asia to have successfully avoided colonial European intervention. This was largely due to a shrewd diplomatic approach on the part of Thai rulers, in particular King Mongkut and his son, King Chulalongkorn, who signed trade treaties with the British and French in the 19th century, established Thailand as a constitutional monarchy, and masterfully led their country on the road to modernization. The Thai language is a blending of various elements. Its elegant and intricate script is largely modeled on Indian Sanskrit, while many of the language's phonetic and grammatical elements are the result of Chinese influence. Names in Thailand tend to be long and elaborate, and many people are therefore referred to by pet names or nicknames.
Pronunciation: Because Thai is an inflectional language, voice pitch is indicated along with the pronunciation in this section.
' = glottal stop
ch, as in "Charles"
chh, as in "chicken" (aspirated)
kh = aspirated "k"
ph = aspirated "p" (not "f")
th = aspirated "t"
a = "a" as in "father," but short
a = "a" as in "father"
aw, as in "how"
e, as in "set"
ey, as in "hay"
eye, as in "I"
i, as in "ship"
ia, as in "yeah" (drawn out)
ee, as in "sheep"
u, as in "foot"
oh = short "o" (no equivalent in English)
o, as in "doe"
oo, as in "boot" |
