Bangkok's getting a new English name. Here's what it means.
Curse my English-centric tongue.
By Danial Martinus Feb. 17, 2022
Bangkok is one of the most popular urban tourist destinations in Southeast Asia. Understandably so, considering it's a mecca of mouthwatering cuisine, a shopper's paradise, and a great example of old-world-meets-futuristic-metropolis.
And like most hotspots in Southeast Asia, Bangkok's name is hard to forget. It's just two syllables, the butt (hehe) of immature sex jokes, and rather easy to spell out. The last bit might not be the case in the future, however.
Thailand's Office of the Royal Society (ORST) has announced that the country's capital will be getting a new official English name – instead of "Bangkok", get yourself familiar with "Krung Thep Maha Nakhon". I know, a bit of a mouthful for us non-Thai speakers.
Bangkok in parentheses.
IMAGE: Miltiadis Fragkidis / Unsplash
On February 15, 2022, Thailand's Cabinet approved a draft announcement from the Prime Minister's Office, detailing the updated names of countries, territories, administrative zones, and capitals. Among those new updates was, of course, the new English name for Bangkok.
However, this doesn't mean the friendly 'Bangkok' moniker is going away. With the new official English name being Krung Thep Maha Nakhon, 'Bangkok' itself is being relegated to the confines of parentheses.
On official documents, for example, the Thai capital will be listed as "Krung Thep Maha Nakhon (Bangkok)".
What might surprise you more is the fact that this 'new' English name is already what Thai people have been calling their capital city for years. It roughly translates to "The City of Angels", "The Great City", and "The Eternal Jewel City", just to name a few.
And if you're curious about its pronunciation, listen carefully to the first few seconds of this news report by the National News Bureau of Thailand:
If you're a stickler for proper pronunciation, you'll also have one more thing to worry about when it comes to Bangkok's new English name – intonation. It's also what makes the Thai language incredibly difficult to learn. This is perhaps something most people will have trouble with once they get past the barrier of pronouncing the capital's name correctly.
But why change the official English name, you ask? According to the ORST, it will enable government agencies to use the same titles that best reflect the 'current situation', whatever that means.
Of course, if it's too hard for you to pronounce, you can still call Thailand's capital 'Bangkok'.
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Cover image sourced from Dan Freeman / Unsplash and Yuzki Wang / Unsplash.
Topics: thailand, bangkok, capital, Life, Name
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