I am sorry to be the one to tell you, but many of those Thai words and place names you have read on maps and signs and guide books, well, you're saying them wrong. But it's not your fault.

The spelling of Thai words using the English or Roman alphabet does not always correspond to the way the words really sound. Quite often they are one-to-one transliterations from the Thai alphabet into the English one. Because of this, to correctly pronounce a Thai word that is written in English you would first have to know how to read it in Thai. That seems a little convoluted don't you think?

Below we'll try to give some helpful pronunciation hints. Most of the examples given here are taken from place names in and around Chiang Mai, and are mere approximations.

By the way, Thai gives us lots of vowel problems. The map says there is a town south of Chiang Mai called "Hot". No, the temperature is not higher there. The name of the town is pronounced "Hawt", rhymes with "taught". But we'll keep vowel pronunciation as well as the infamous Thai tones for another day.

Ph/P sounds:
When you read a Thai word with a "ph" it is pronounced as an English "p". A written "p" is pronounced like an English "b" but with your lips pressed more tightly together. So, the town of "Phrao" is pronounced "prow" as in the prow of a ship, but the resort town of "Pai" is pronounced "bye", like you were saying "Bye bye" to someone. Chiang Mai residents pronounce the Mae Ping River "Mae Bing" as in Bing Crosby.

Th/T sounds:
A "th" is pronounced as an English "t". Therefore Thailand is not "Thigh-Land". It is "Tai-land". And "Doi Suthep" is "Doi Su-tep". When you see a "t" it is pronounced like a "d" but with the tongue pressed more tightly to the roof of your mouth. The 't' in Tak province sounds closer to "dock" as in "Dock of the Bay", not "tock" as in "tick tock". The popular Thai dish "phat Thai" is not Fat Thigh, it is pronounced more like put tie (as in golf putting).

Kh/K sounds:
A "kh" is pronounced as an English "k" sound. Thus Doi Kham (a mountain south of the city) is more like "Doi Come". And when you see a "k" is it pronounced something like a hard "g". So Kad Suan Kaew (a shopping mall) is "Gard-Suan-Gaew". By the way, using the rules we've learned so far the name Phuket is pronounced Poo-get not the more colourful fuk-it, and Krabi is gra-bee not crabby.

When you see a "v" it is pronounced more like the German "v" or like the English "w". So, Sukhumvit Road is "Su-kum-wit".

There are no final "l" sounds in Thai. When you see a final "l" in a word or name it is pronounced as we would an "n". Mahidol Road is pronounced "Maa-he-don".

There are no final "j" sounds in Thai. When you see a final "j" in a word or name it is pronounced as we would a "d". Yuparaj School is pronounced "You-pa-raad".

There are no "sh" sounds in Thai. If you read a "sh" in a word it is pronounced "ch". The name Shinawatra, as in Taksin Shinawatra, the former prime minister, is "Chin-na-wat". As you can see, the ending of this name poses another problem.

Some Thai words come from Pali or Sanskrit. These languages sometime leave a letter or two at the ends of words that really should be silent (Shinawatra is "Chin-na-wat"). The Prem Tinsulanonda International School has the pronunciation "Brem Tin-na-sue-la-non", the Suriwongse Hotel is "Sue-ri-wong", and Nimmanhaemin Road is "Nim-man-hay-min", Suvarnabhumi Airport is "Sue-wan-na-poom", and most important of all, Singha Beer is pronounced "Sing" Beer - really. Sorry, there are no rules for these. You just have to know.

The real trick to pronouncing Thai words correctly is to basically ignore how they are written in English. Do like my first Thai teacher said to me in my first language class, "Listen and repeat".

To get the whole scoop about how this spelling system works check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Thai_General_System_of_Transcription or for the linguistics minded http://www.royin.go.th/upload/276/FileUpload/758_6484.pdf.