Stolen English: A Few Words That Thai Has Fully Thai-ified [S7.E73]

Greg and Ed tackle a frustrating aspect of learning Thai -
borrowed English words that are pronounced according to the rules
normally applied to native Thai words. Ed makes clear they are
not just talking about accent or 'prosody' - the cadence of
pronunciation - but actually specific changes to pronunciation
that are part of the rules of the Thai language.


Examples are the best teacher so the guys jump right in. Ed
begins with the all-time classic of 'check bin,' based on the two
English words 'check' and 'bill.' The only problem is that in
Thai, when a word ends in the Thai letter that sounds like 'l'
('Law Ling'), it is pronounced like an 'n,' so by English rules,
the pronunciation is completely different than the spelling. But
welcome to the Thai language! Greg continues with 'foot bawn,'
following the same rule, and Ed then discusses 'of-fit,' from the
English word 'office,' which actually comes from the fact that
Thais don't end words with a an 's' or soft 'c' sound, but
instead replace it with a 't.'


The guys continue, running through many more minefields and
intricacies of the pronunciation of loan words, with the help of
Greg's wife, who gives a baseline example in Thai. To top it off,
Greg and Ed bring on special guest Jon, an old friend of the
podcast, with a classic story about the difficulties of correctly
hearing English words in Thai.


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