Correct pronounciation of Hua Hin

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brokendown
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Correct pronounciation of Hua Hin

Post by brokendown »

have had several answers from friends on this--what is the correct pronounciation?
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dtaai-maai
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Re: correct pronounciation of hua hin

Post by dtaai-maai »

Without getting too technical, it is essentially 'hwa hin'.

If you're really interested, stick head rock into google translate and listen to the Thai translation.
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Re: correct pronounciation of hua hin

Post by HHTel »

This has been bashed so many times. The correct pronunciation is Hooah Hin. Hua meaning 'head' and Hin is a rock....... Hua Hin = Head Rock
It does annoy me somewhat when farangs insist it's 'HWA HIN'. Ask the Thais.
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Rob c
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Re: correct pronounciation of hua hin

Post by Rob c »

^^^
I agree, my brother brother in law who is in his mid 60's was born here.

I asked him which was correct, he says "Hooah Hin" 100%
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dtaai-maai
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Re: correct pronounciation of hua hin

Post by dtaai-maai »

Does it really annoy you? Might as well get annoyed about how to pronounce Hwa. Or Hooah. Is the stress on the hoo or the ah? How long is the hoo? How long is the ah? I doubt we're arguing about how to pronounce it - just how to write that pronunciation in English.

There's such a fine difference between Hwa and Hooah (which could, of course, sound like a US marine) that it's really not worth getting one's knickers in a twist about it outside of a Thai language class.

There's also the point that 'Hua' is pronounced slightly differently when used in isolation (and in carefully spoken 'correct' Thai) than when combined with 'Hin'. In my experience, at least.

If we really want to be pernickety about it, we should be explaining tones as well. Hence 'without getting technical'.

There aren't many comparisons between English (of any kind) and Thai pronunciation, so why not keep it simple. Learn how to communicate, worry about the finer points later.

You say Hooah Hin and I say Hwa Hin. Thais, of course, say หัวหิน.
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Re: correct pronounciation of hua hin

Post by crazy88 »

Did yee " Hoof wha dog oot the winndee ya bastadd?" Or did you simply kick an inoffensive Shitzu though the window into the pool old chap?

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Re: correct pronounciation of hua hin

Post by Gregjam »

To my knowledge there is no official transliteration of Thai into English which explains the numerous translations. Surely it is sufficient if you can get a Thai to understand what you are trying to say. For the purists sticking with the Thai language is the only way and I have found that reading Thai script makes it a lot easier to correctly pronounce the word correctly.
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Re: correct pronounciation of hua hin

Post by Gérard »

Gregjam wrote:To my knowledge there is no official transliteration of Thai into English which explains the numerous translations. Surely it is sufficient if you can get a Thai to understand what you are trying to say. For the purists sticking with the Thai language is the only way and I have found that reading Thai script makes it a lot easier to correctly pronounce the word correctly.
Totally agree and this can help to pronounce HUA HIN :

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Re: correct pronounciation of hua hin

Post by Homer »

The above post is a big help. It would be more fun to see the Pronunciation Manual folks on youtube take on 'Hua Hin'.



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Re: correct pronounciation of hua hin

Post by HHTel »

Gérard wrote:
Gregjam wrote:To my knowledge there is no official transliteration of Thai into English which explains the numerous translations. Surely it is sufficient if you can get a Thai to understand what you are trying to say. For the purists sticking with the Thai language is the only way and I have found that reading Thai script makes it a lot easier to correctly pronounce the word correctly.
Totally agree and this can help to pronounce HUA HIN :


At least pick a site where it is Thais who do the speaking.
Try this one and listen to four thai people (both male and female)

http://www.forvo.com/word/hua_hin/
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Re: correct pronounciation of hua hin

Post by Gérard »

Thanks for FORVO.COM, I did not know.
the woman (number 3rd) has a very clear pronunciation.
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Re: correct pronounciation of hua hin

Post by JD »

Just a bit of pronunciatory fun.

Try pronouncing the word (sorry for this) WHORE with a Geordie accent. As in, 'she's a whore man'.

I know, correct Thai pronunciation can be a bit of a headache, if it is, just say to your partner in the same Geordie accent, that you have a 'bought whore'. I'm sure she will give you a couple of paracaps to go with that.
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Re: correct pronounciation of hua hin

Post by Roel »

Gregjam wrote:To my knowledge there is no official transliteration of Thai into English which explains the numerous translations. Surely it is sufficient if you can get a Thai to understand what you are trying to say. For the purists sticking with the Thai language is the only way and I have found that reading Thai script makes it a lot easier to correctly pronounce the word correctly.
Actually there is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Thai ... nscription

Creating a consistent and clear Thai-English transcription system is sheer impossible and you cannot blame only the Thai language for it (as many do). Also from Wikipedia:

English orthography is the alphabetic spelling system used by the English language. Unlike most languages, English provides more than one way to spell nearly every phoneme, and most letters and letter-combinations can stand for different pronunciations depending on context and meaning. This is largely due to the complex history of the English language,[1] together with the absence of systematic spelling reforms. In general, modern English spelling does not reflect the sound changes that have occurred since the late fifteenth century.[2]

[Bold and underlined by me]

For those interested in linguistics:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghoti
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HHTel
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Re: correct pronounciation of hua hin

Post by HHTel »

Understood. However, Thailand has not adopted any official transliteration unlike the Chinese who changed their earlier one (Wade-Giles) for their own standard (pin yin). That changed the capital from Peking to Beijing. The city was not renamed as many people think.

My daughter was marked down for spelling her name wrong at school. Victoria was officially translated into Thai for her birth certificate but when she used that spelling at school, they told her she was wrong. It should be VIKTHORIAH. When challenged, they agreed that she could spell it both ways (mustn't lose face).

The point is that there is no official transliteration standard which is often shown by the different spelling of places on road signs.
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Re: correct pronounciation of hua hin

Post by HHTel »

I understand that the Royal Institute published a standard but I'm told that it was never officially adopted.
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