How to pronounce Hua Hin

[bambergasgoigne]

waa or who-a, who-a or waa - does anyone know for sure ?

I go weeks pronouncing it one way, and then on hearing someone far more knowledgeable pronounce it the other way, I meekly change around.

Is there is a definitive right or wrong.?

and I suppose while your at it,

is it pat-ee-a, or pa-tie-a
is it poo-ket or fu-ket or even fuck-ket
is it fa-rang or fa-lang
is it cap or crap (as in what the men are supposed to say)



Cheers
as you can see my Thai is really coming along !!

Bamber

[VincentD]

The best (and really only) way to learn how to pronounce any Thai word is to learn how to read and write in Thai. Anglicised spelling is a very poor substitute.

[Wanderlust]

waa or who-a, who-a or waa - does anyone know for sure ?

I go weeks pronouncing it one way, and then on hearing someone far more knowledgeable pronounce it the other way, I meekly change around.

Is there is a definitive right or wrong.?

and I suppose while your at it,

is it pat-ee-a, or pa-tie-a
is it poo-ket or fu-ket or even fuck-ket
is it fa-rang or fa-lang
is it cap or crap (as in what the men are supposed to say)



Cheers
as you can see my Thai is really coming along !!

Bamber

Obviously what VincentD says is right, but for those of us like me (and by the sound of it bamber) who have limited language learning abilities, here is what i think from my years in thailand and Hua Hin (underlines to indicate emphasis).
Hua is pronounced Hooa (with a rising tone at the end but not extended
Pattaya is pronounced exactly as it is spelt with neither ee not ie in the middle with the middle a said as you would reciting the alphabet, the last a said as if sticking your tongue out but very short and the whole word in a flat tone
Phuket pronounced poo-ket (more or less)
Farang as it is spelt (although some thais will pronounce it falang because of laziness from what I have been told)
And the final one I did extensive investigation of when I first arrived in LOS, and properly the male polite addition should be said Krup but the u is not said the same as in cup or pull and is probably closer to the first a in banana if that makes sense! Again though many Thais do not pronounce it 'correctly' and will drop the r completely as it is only just there anyway; a very clipped rolled r is what I was told is correct. Anyone out there, please correct me if I am wrong on any of this by the way!

[Norseman]

And I still don't understand why we spell the town Saraburi the way we do when it's pronounced Slapburi.
How do the Thais pronounce the Hebrew name Sarah?

[klikster]

"Pattaya is pronounced exactly as it is spelt with neither ee not ie in the middle with the middle a said as you would reciting the alphabet"

I disagree with your ".. middle a" sound .." .. that sounds more like the "Brit" way. The Thais say:

pat-ta-ya (all "a's" are "short vowel sound") equal stress on syllables.

[johnnyk]

Rising tone (like question intonation) on the Hin.
Pattaya is pronounced Soddum.

[Chas]

Thai people seem to include the "H" in Hua, at least a touch of it. It seems to be said as a two syllable word and not one.

The American announcer on one of the endless realty ads on the local English language radio very clearly says "Waa" and we make fun of it every time we hear it.

[Roel]

pat-ta-ya (all "a's" are "short vowel sound") equal stress on syllables.

Must disagree. Lived in Pattaya several years. The Thais pronounce it with short - short - long and emphasized 'a'

Pa-ta-yaaa

[buksida]

WL is about right on the Hua Hin and Roel is on the mark with Pattaya IMO.

[johnnyk]

We should remember too that Thailand has many many regional accents.
I've heard Thais pronounce HH several different ways. Local HH people sound it differently than some of the guys at the Victory Monument mini bus stand.

[STEVE G]

I agree with Johnnyk on the regional accents. My partner pronounces Hua Hin as it is spelt in English so I tend to do the same, but then she is from an area where Thai is not the first language; she is from North of Nong Ki and speaks a dialect closer to Khmer.

[VincentD]

waa or who-a, who-a or waa - does anyone know for sure ?

หัวหิน
ห(h) + ัว(oo-a, the 'oo' as in 'look' and the 'a' as in 'ah', said quickly), ห(h) + ิิน(in)

and I suppose while your at it,

is it pat-ee-a, or pa-tie-a

พัทยา
พ(p) + ั(short 'a' as pronounced in 'part') + ท(t, as in tip) ย(y) + า(aa, as in arr) So it would sound kind of like pat'yaa

is it poo-ket or fu-ket or even fuck-ket

ภูเก็ต
ภู(p - pig + 'hu' pronounced as the 'oo' in look) + เก็ต (g as in 'gosh!' + edt)

is it fa-rang or fa-lang

Won't bother with slang

is it cap or crap (as in what the men are supposed to say)

As how Wanderlust put it, the 'r' sound is correct but people do tend to drop the 'r' in an informal situation.

[Roel]

Good observations VincentD except:

พัทยา
พ(p) + ั(short 'a' as pronounced in 'part') + ท(t, as in tip) ย(y) + า(aa, as in arr) So it would sound kind of like pat'yaa

The second syllable in Pattaya (พัทยา) consists of a single consonant only (ท) without an accompanying vowel and therefore gets an inherent "a" sound.

Source: "The Fundamentals of the Thai Language" by Stuart Campell and Chuan Shaweevongs.
(IMHO the best book on learing Thai you can get. Unfortunately not in print anymore for years although I was told there is a free version of it on the internet).

[VincentD]

Good observations VincentD except:

พัทยา
พ(p) + ั(short 'a' as pronounced in 'part') + ท(t, as in tip) ย(y) + า(aa, as in arr) So it would sound kind of like pat'yaa

The second syllable in Pattaya (พัทยา) consists of a single consonant only (ท) without an accompanying vowel and therefore gets an inherent "a" sound.

Yes, that's what the apostrophe in the anglicised spelling is for. It is a very short 'a', if you listen to how the Thais speak; two-and-a-half syllables, really. If you add the 'a' between the double t's and the y, you get three syllables as we would read it.

It is in the same context as the comment by Norseman, the inherent 'a' between the ส(s) and the ร(r) in สระบุีรี (Saraburi) is really pronounced as S'raburi. It is a very short 'a'.

It is this inherent rule that makes it almost impossible for the Thais to pronounce words like 'stick' and 'snake'. They get sanuk (สนุก) right, though.

We all have favourite learning books, however the best way to do this is really to do a formal course with a reputable language school. A 'talking dictionary' may broaden your scope somewhat, but be careful that with the knowledge so gained that there is no detrimental effect to your social standing.

[BaaBaa.]

WL is about right on the Hua Hin and Roel is on the mark with Pattaya IMO.

I'd agree on them.

As for Kap/Krap I'd agree spoken properly the r is clear (listen to the news or other Thai TV) but in reality most people drop it.