Pronunciation of 'computer' an error

I disagree with the Royal Institute’s decision to change the writing of Thai words borrowed from English by adding tone marks. Just the word “computer” has confused a lot of people. Some Thais stress the third syllable in pronouncing the word, and farang stress the second syllable, but the Royal Institute offers a written form that will stress both the second and the third syllables by adding tone marks (wanayuk tho).

Former Royal Institute president Major General Prince Wan Waithyakon – who was famous for coining new words – said that, when writing in foreign languages, especially English, where there is uncertainty about pronunciations, a word’s pronunciation should depend on the type of sentence and position of the word in that sentence. So it should not carry tone marks in writing.

I think writing that keeps to the traditional manner would be best. Teaching students the Thai pronunciations and the English pronunciations is more appropriate.

Sutipunt Bongsununt

Kanchanaburi