Suvarnabhumi - how to say?

Post by **Jaime** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 6:22 pm

Why is the name of the new airport transliterated as Suvarnabhumi when everytime I hear the word spoken it is pronounced as Suvarnabhoom, without the final 'i' ?

Any ideas?

Post by **PeteC** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 7:00 pm

100% correct, Jaime. I had this discussion with a few Thai's just yesterday (1 a university graduate, fluent English and 58 years old) and they though I was nuts saying it was spelled with an "i" in English. They have no idea why.

Pete

Post by **fremdulo** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 7:06 pm

I've found Thais often miss the ends off of words so
kilometre becomes kilome
wine becomes wi
latest one was
do you want to go to the blue station becomes
go boo
with a rising tone on the oo

Post by **Bamboo Grove** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 7:11 pm

In Thai language there's often letters which are not pronounced although they are written. Mostly they are marked with a symbol when not pronounced but of course this cannot be done in transliterated versions. Most of the times the transliterations use the original letters and so become quite confusing. These words with silent letters are usually loan words from some other langueages such as Pali, Sanskrit or Khmer.

Post by **hogus** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 7:19 pm

Missus Hogus told me, that ÃŠÃ˜Ã‡ÃƒÃƒÂ³Â¶Ã™Ã

Post by **PeteC** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 7:25 pm

[quote="hogus"] Ã

Post by **hogus** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 7:30 pm

What do you think how long I needed to write this airport-name with my keyboard????

Fortunately, Missus Hogus was compassionate and made the rest of the word in some seconds, when she see me suffering

In my eyes is this Ã

Post by **shakin' boxcar joe** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 10:03 pm

ÃŠÃ˜Ã‡ÃƒÃƒÂ³Â¶Ã™Ã

Post by **Onlyme** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 1:04 am

Boxcar is spot on. You have to understand Thai transliteration to be able to read Thai. They have their quirky spellings, just the same as we do in the English language. The only difference being that, if you know the "workings" of the Thai language. You should always be able to pronounce it!
Onlyme.
PS. Dove, dove and dove. Have two different pronunciations and three different meanings. If you get my drift!

PPS. Don't quote me on that.

Post by **STEVE G** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 1:59 am

shakin' boxcar joe wrote:
I dont know if it comes from Sanskrit or not , but the name was chosen by the King and means "golden land".

Hi sbj,
This was a good bit of PR, as I was reading on a website that the old name for this area translated to â€œcobra swampâ€

Post by **maimeepom** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 2:50 am

Yes, I agree Mr. Boxcar has got it right.

I seem seem to remember, that if you wish to silence a letter, then you use a symbol that looks like an upside down leaning question mark, positioned over the letter. It is called a Gahrun.

Perhaps our friend in the taxi , could use Sa-nahm-bin My. (airport new)

Regards

Post by **STEVE G** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 3:09 am

Maimeepom wrote:
Perhaps our friend in the taxi , could use Sa-nahm-bin My. (airport new)

Cheers for that, Iâ€™ll give it a try.

Post by **Norseman** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 8:26 am

Much good stuff here.
I think I learned more after reading this thread than ever before in Thailand. Very good info.
Thank you guys.

Mon Sep 18, 2006 12:56 pm

How about just saying "take me to the Shambles on the way out to chonburi"

Post by **Bamboo Grove** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 1:19 pm

ÃƒÃ¬ the symbol making the letter(s) silent is above the "r"