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(For more information about the Thai language, see
Speaking Thai section.)
 In June 1967, the Thai government adopted a list of
standardized romanized spellings of the names of provinces
(changwat) and counties (amphoe) of the whole country
according to the recommendation of the Royal Institute.
The system of romanization devised by the Royal Institute
in 1954, which is scientific and consistent, has also
been applied to the spellings of other names of places,
such as streets and lanes, as can be seen on the road
signs in Bangkok and other cities.
However, the system is not widely observed by ordinary
people, especially in spelling personal names. And nobody
seems to have made any effort to popularise it. Consequently,
the romanized spellings of names appearing in English
newspapers and other English publications in Thailand
are very irregular and confusing. For example,
the commonest Thai word of greeting Sawatdi is
often transliterated as Sawasdee or Sawatdee. Also,
Ko (island) is spelled Koh, Ban (house) is spelled Baan
and Samlo (tricycle,tuk tuk) is spelled Samlor, though
the letter "h" in the word "Koh",
the second "a" in "Baan" and the
"r" in "Samlor" are superfluous.
Again, people seem to have a special liking for the
use of the letter "V" to denote the sound "W" even though
there is no "V" sound in the Thai language at all. So,
when you see such names as "Visut" and "Vichai" in a
newspaper, just pronounce them "Wisut" and "Wichai",
and when you see the word "Sukhumvit", the
name of an important road in Bangkok, just read "Sukhumwit".
Please note that although in general we observe the official
system in romanizing Thai words, and place names in particular,
on our website, we do not alter the spellings used by
our advertisers.
In order to help standardize the romanized spellings
of Thai names, Thaiways has adopted the official system
of the Royal Institute with Pattaya and Don Muang as
notable exceptions.
But for our website we use popular spellings of some
place names and other proper names instead of the official
ones. Please also note that there is another system
in use for Thai words of Pali origins. See Note No.4
below for the system.
A brief description of the official Romaniation system
is given below:
The Thai language has 8 vowel and 14 diphthong phonemes
and 19 consonant phonemes represented by the following
letters:
| Vowels |
Diphtongs
& Triphthongs |
| a |
as in |
ah |
aeo |
as in |
ae + o |
| ae |
as in |
can |
ai |
as in |
by |
| e |
as in |
men |
ao |
as in |
now |
| i |
as in |
equal |
eo |
as in |
health |
| o |
as in |
law |
ia |
as in |
near |
| oe |
as in |
urge |
iao |
as in |
meow |
| u |
as in |
room |
io |
as in |
few |
ue (or
u) like German U,
but more open |
oei |
as in |
oe + i |
| oi |
as in |
boy |
| |
ua |
as in |
tour |
| uai |
as in |
wise |
| uea |
as in |
ue + a |
| ueai |
as in |
ue + ai |
| ui |
as in |
Swiss |
| Consonants |
Initial |
Final |
| b |
as in |
bed |
- |
| ch |
as in |
chin or
Jim |
- |
| d |
as in |
day |
- |
| f |
as in |
few |
- |
| h |
as in |
hat |
- |
| k |
as in |
school |
book |
| kh |
as in |
cool |
- |
| l |
as in |
leg |
- |
| m |
as in |
man |
sum |
| n |
as in |
no |
can |
| ng |
as in |
singer |
king |
| p |
as in |
spoon |
cup |
| ph |
as in |
put |
- |
| r |
as in |
red |
- |
| s |
as in |
set |
- |
| t |
as in |
stay |
cut |
| th |
as in |
tea |
- |
| w |
as in |
wet |
- |
| y |
as in |
yet |
- |
Notes:
1. All Thai vowels and some diphthongs have their long
and short variants, e.g. there is a short "a" and a long
"a". This is not indicated in the official romanization
system. The difference between long and short vowels and
diphthongs is in the length of sound only, and not in
its quality.
2. The consonants "k" "p" and "t" in final positions are
unexplosive and unaspirated. They just serve the purpose
of stopping the air passage, like the final "m" "n" and
"ng" in English words.
3. The Thai language has fixed tones like many oriental
languages. This is not indicated in the romanization system.
Foreigners who are interested in learning the correct
tones are advised to learn from a native speaker.
4. The Romanization System for words of Pali origins:
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A perfect guide to the Thai language
Accurate pronunciations with romanized spellings
