Thai Language - Sanskrit Roots

Just returned from a quick trip to Bangkok and it is the first time I ever had some free time to roam around the city in the last five years (since I first went). The experience is entirely different and showed me a different city (I used to spend my time across Erawan and Central World/Siam). Among the most interesting observations, the best is the thai language. When I first started working with Thai people, my biggest problem was the "names" and how to pronounce. Slowly I got used to it but didn't really 'tried' to understand the meaning.
But this time, after going to the country side and up north, I really started to feel close to the country. No wonder this is a God's own country ;)

Ok, here I share some thai words and try to guess the meaning.

• Thonburi
• Rattanakosin
• Mahasamut
• Nonthaburi
• Samut Prakan
• Nakhon Pathom

At first this may sound too difficult to pronounce (atleast as if in Thai) and pretty difficult to remember the names. But let me explain, 

• Thonburi         --> Thon + Puri = Dhan+Puri --> Dhan Puri 
• Rattanakosin   --> Rattana + Kosin = Ratna+Kosam --> Ratna Kosam
• Mahasamut     --> Maha + Samut = Maha + Samudra (pali word)
• Nonthaburi     --> Nontha + Buri = Nuthan + Puri --> Nuthan Pur
• Samut Prakan --> Prakan = Prakar and you know what it means
• Nakhon Pathom --> Nakhon = Nagara + Pathom = Prathama 

:) basically it's all Sanskrit + Pali words changed form. Just like how Malay/Bahasa similar to "normalized Sanskrit" :)

So next time when you go to Bankok, try to guess the meaning and you'll remember the names for a long time.

English Language Proficiency - Country list

Source: EPI or English Proficiency Index

Here is an interesting article (full study can be downloaded from the above link) on nations English proficiency. I was under the impression that Nordic countries language skills weren't great as my encounters with the companies (e.g. Ericsson, Nokia, ) wasn't that great.
There is a strong correlation between 'english' and 'economic progress' which is not a surprise given the domination of English in world markets and business.

Singapore occupied the top place in Asia. It is no surprise but again my observations of is similar to India. More people can communicate in English but few people can articulate well & think well in English. It's still a 'foreign language" than native.

I found another interesting part which is the 'progress' or 'change' in proficiency over years. From the chart, I see India jumped 16 ranks, while countries like Korea, Hongkong, Saudi dropped by double digits. In fact India is the only country with double digit growth in ranking.
The only reason I could think is due to the overall literacy rate improvement. In my observation India's English speaking skills are worsening (just like me who can't communicate as effectively as my dad/mom). Similar to Singapore, many Indians can communicate in English but we can't 'think' in English. that's the problem English speaking in Asian nations. So you can here people asking 'how much is the time'; or claiming, some relative "expired"; or put down the baby; or asking a question " when did you passout ? ;) ;)

Well, I can't stop thinking about Russel Peters now :)