Hi Jack, could I ask you a question about the pronunciation of Thailand. People from English speaking countries insist that it should be pronounced ‘Tailand’. My Thai friend from Bangkok pronounces it ‘Thighland’ with a subtle ‘th’ sound. She says it not ‘Tailand’. Would love to hear what you have to say. Thank you.
Sure :) The correct pronunciation of Thailand is actually Tai-land, pronounced as /ˈtaɪ.lænd/, not Thigh-land. Tai means free, so Thailand means "land of the free". However, in Thailand, the T and Th sounds are often used interchangeably. When Thailand changed its name from Siam to Thailand in 1939, people didn't concern about the difference between the Th and T sounds, and in the Thai language, there is no Th sound. Therefore, in Thailand, the Th sound is often pronounced as a T sound, which may be a mispronunciation for English speakers.
@@IgetThais Thanks for the clarification, Jack. I get it now. But I am still wondering why my Thai friend pronounces it as ‘Thigh-land’ while Thai tutors on TH-cam, like you, pronounce it as ‘Tai-land’. Kru Jane who has a channel on TH-cam told me that the official Thai government transliteration for Thailand uses the phonetic symbol /th/ and not /t/. I saw the Thai alphabet ‘tho’. Doesn’t that represent the /th/ sound?
@@Leo29568 haha I have no idea about that, but I haven't heard Thais pronounce it as "Thigh-land" before. However, there are some confusing transliterations used by the government on signs, such as using "th" for words that are pronounced with a "t" sound. Personally, I don't use that system because it can be confusing for foreigners. I always use t instead of using th. As for the Thai letter "tho," I believe it represents the "t" sound since there isn't a Thai letter that corresponds to the "th" sound. In transliteration from English to Thai, "th" represents the "t" sound.
@@IgetThais Thanks for the reply, Jack. I have to go back to my Thai friend and ask her why she is pronouncing it as ‘Thailand’. I grew up in Singapore and Singaporeans and Malaysians have always pronounced it with a /th/. I guess our Thai friends never bothered to correct us. I think the Thai government should change the official spelling to ‘Tailand’ as lots of people argue over the pronunciation.😁. My native language is Tamil and in Tamil ‘Thai’ pronounced with a ‘th’ means ‘mother’. So the word ‘Thailand’ would literally be ‘motherland’ in Tamil and hence the reason a lot of Tamil speakers love pronouncing Thailand in that way. Of course, ‘Tai’ means ‘to be free’ in the Thai language. Thanks once again for the clarification, Jack. Have a great day.🙂
@@Leo29568 I've heard people in some countries pronounce it as "Tailand" but they pronounce the letter "T" as the letter "ต" in Thai, so instead of meaning land of freedom, it becomes land of death. If the Thai government thinking of changing the name, they would think about this. I never heard Thais pronounce it as ‘Thigh-land’ before. I used to hear once from Donald Trumps. It didn't feel good then
สอนดีมากเลยครับ กำลังหาวิธีสอนการออกเสียง ง.งู สำหรับคนต่างชาติอยู่พอดี 55
Thank you Teacher Jack, for helping so many people with this wonderful language! Keep Fighting!!!! :) x
Merci pour vos vidéos.
Un bonjour de France.
I like your channel, thank you
Learning alphabets and this one is surely a tongue twister and immediately looked for this haha ❤ thanks for grest videos.
Good video, I struggle with the ง sound but I think this helped me to get the sound right.
he explained very good.
Omg jack, now for me its 4:20am, and I learnt perfectly ❤️❤️❤️
Hi Jack, could I ask you a question about the pronunciation of Thailand. People from English speaking countries insist that it should be pronounced ‘Tailand’. My Thai friend from Bangkok pronounces it ‘Thighland’ with a subtle ‘th’ sound. She says it not ‘Tailand’. Would love to hear what you have to say. Thank you.
Sure :)
The correct pronunciation of Thailand is actually Tai-land, pronounced as /ˈtaɪ.lænd/, not Thigh-land. Tai means free, so Thailand means "land of the free". However, in Thailand, the T and Th sounds are often used interchangeably. When Thailand changed its name from Siam to Thailand in 1939, people didn't concern about the difference between the Th and T sounds, and in the Thai language, there is no Th sound. Therefore, in Thailand, the Th sound is often pronounced as a T sound, which may be a mispronunciation for English speakers.
@@IgetThais Thanks for the clarification, Jack. I get it now. But I am still wondering why my Thai friend pronounces it as ‘Thigh-land’ while Thai tutors on TH-cam, like you,
pronounce it as ‘Tai-land’. Kru Jane who has a channel on TH-cam told me that the official Thai government transliteration for Thailand uses the phonetic symbol /th/ and not /t/. I saw the Thai alphabet ‘tho’. Doesn’t that represent the /th/ sound?
@@Leo29568 haha I have no idea about that, but I haven't heard Thais pronounce it as "Thigh-land" before. However, there are some confusing transliterations used by the government on signs, such as using "th" for words that are pronounced with a "t" sound. Personally, I don't use that system because it can be confusing for foreigners. I always use t instead of using th. As for the Thai letter "tho," I believe it represents the "t" sound since there isn't a Thai letter that corresponds to the "th" sound. In transliteration from English to Thai, "th" represents the "t" sound.
@@IgetThais Thanks for the reply, Jack. I have to go back to my Thai friend and ask her why she is pronouncing it as ‘Thailand’. I grew up in Singapore and Singaporeans and Malaysians have always pronounced it with a /th/. I guess our Thai friends never bothered to correct us. I think the Thai government should change the official spelling to ‘Tailand’ as lots of people argue over the pronunciation.😁. My native language is Tamil and in Tamil ‘Thai’ pronounced with a ‘th’ means ‘mother’. So the word ‘Thailand’
would literally be ‘motherland’ in Tamil and hence the reason a lot of Tamil speakers love pronouncing Thailand in that way. Of course,
‘Tai’ means ‘to be free’ in the Thai language.
Thanks once again for the clarification, Jack.
Have a great day.🙂
@@Leo29568 I've heard people in some countries pronounce it as "Tailand" but they pronounce the letter "T" as the letter "ต" in Thai, so instead of meaning land of freedom, it becomes land of death. If the Thai government thinking of changing the name, they would think about this. I never heard Thais pronounce it as ‘Thigh-land’ before. I used to hear once from Donald Trumps. It didn't feel good then
my head aches
👍👍👍🇱🇰
farang ngong