#romanisation

[bernaticneon]

Roman archaeology in smaller rural areas deserves so much more love. Everyone’s obsessed with the Egyptian pyramids, Pompeii, and the Colosseum (don’t get me wrong, those are iconic), but the smaller sites? They’re the unsung heroes of ancient history. These little rural spots are often where you find the real stories—the stuff that rewrites everything we thought we knew.

Like, I was reading about Huerta Varona the other day (in Palencia), and it’s wild to think about how Spanish Romanisation played out in ways historians didn’t even imagine. These sites might not have massive amphitheaters or shiny marble statues, but they hold the evidence of how people actually lived. Small settlements, local adaptations of Roman culture, the blending of traditions—it’s honestly fascinating.

But the problem? They barely get any recognition. There’s little funding, no big marketing campaigns, and sometimes even the local governments overlook them. Meanwhile, they’re out here telling us how empires spread and how everyday people interacted with history’s big movers and shakers. They’re just as amazing as the famous spots, but because they’re “rural” or less flashy, they don’t get the spotlight they deserve.

So yeah, let’s hype up the small sites. They may not have the drama of Pompeii, but they’re rewriting history piece by piece, and that’s just as incredible.

[lurkingteapot]

When I say I wish popular romanisations of Thai were less ambiguous and more consistent, it's stuff like this:

Phupha and Pat (and Pa!) have the same initial consonant sound. Pran's is different—it's the same as Kampung's "p" sound. Pran, Pa, and Phupha share an "a" sound though—the same "a" sound Kampung also has (though it's written differently (*)). Kampung's "u" sound and Phupha's "u" sound are not the same. Kampung's "p" is the same sound as the initial in Pran. Kampung and Korn share an initial. It's the same sound the names Gunn (MSP) and Gun (Atthaphan) and Kan (KPTS) start with. All three of those names are pronounced identically. Kan (KPTS) is not pronounced the same as Kan (The Eclipse). Tian does not share an initial with Toto, but Toto (BBS) and Tinn (MSP) do. If the romanisation of BBS given names and ATOTS place names were consistent, we'd have Phut and Pha and Pran (or Pa Pan Dao). (Pa the person and Pha the word for cliff do not sound the same because of tones, but that's another topic.) I could go on.

And all this is just based on consonants and vowel quality and lengths, not even going into different glyphs for the same consonant. I don't have a solution to offer for this. I 100% think authors or subtitling teams (or, y'know, REGULAR PEOPLE who just want folks who don't speak Thai to be able to put their name in writing) choosing a romanisation that looks good to them is valid. But I'm also a language nerd, so I can't quite stop thinking how much harder this makes it for folks trying to learn more about the language, or pick up more about it, either.

(Name examples and corresponding official romanisation taken from real life, A Tale of Thousand Stars, Bad Buddy Series, KinnPorsche The Series, My School President, and Our Skyy 2)

(*) Edited 2023-06-16 to add: this was a mistake stemming from too many unchecked edits and I'm sorry. Kampung's "a" is neither long nor short whereas Pran, Pa, and Phupha have long "a" sounds and Pat has a short one.

[kawion]

why does the romanisation of cantonese turn g sounds into k sounds??? take wong kar wai, kung fu, kowloon?? there's no k sounds in any of them

[daybreaksys]

I hate those old anglocentric romanisations of cantonese that spell words like "dahk biht". I'm sorry but h absolutely does not "make a vowel shorter", that's anglo nonsense, I will always pronounce it as [taxk piçt] and I am not sorry.

[cyansconlangs]

Thoughts on Galum's vowels and how I've decided to transcribe them?

Monophthongs

a- /a/

ao- /ɒ/

ae- /æ/

e- /ɛ/

o- /ɔ/

oe- /œ~ə/

i- /ɪ/

ei- /i/

u- /ʊ/

ou- /u/

oer- /ɚ/

Diphthongs to remember

ai- /ei/

au- /ou/

ái- /ai/

áu- /au/

(these are just the ones that need memorising, the rest are how you'd expect)

[howtodigatrench]

same kind of guy (cat)

[vilikemorgenthal]

What about a keyboard layout designed specifically for conlangers?

anyways ive been thinking about changing sorkish latin orthography a little bit to get rid of the horrid e̋ that i always have to copy and paste everywhere

im thinking ë > ’ and e̋ > ë and since glottal stop is also marked with ’ i would just leave it unwritten, it barely appears in the language anyway

another thing that kinda bothers me are the digraphs but that would probably require new unicode abominations so i might leave them in. at the end of the day i love gh

[khaoneowie]

in another universe..

[lurkingteapot]

I feel you linger in the air หอมกลิ่นความรัก Ep 6

Lots and lots of keysmashes, 2-3 romanisation and translation notes, and a whole lot of squee.

Khun Yai pulling out Jom's chair for him???? that's some chivalry courtship bs, WOW

ปัตยุบัน appears to be an obsolete form of ปัจจุบัน, so this is the "modern day bar", huh

adfasdfasdf this is cute but AWKWARD I love it

asdfasdfsd that's James, isn't it? he sounds so villainous but I'm very amused

asdfasdf James, borderline rude but funny

I sense history?

oooof corruption at a high level

adfasdfasdfd

that's NOT what they're playing, sorry. that cello is NOT playing what we're hearing

aaah กะเทย /kàʔ tʰɤːj/ / gà təəi dancer!

Niao/Niaw, huh. As in sticky? I wonder how they translated กะเทย here-- OH I like that! feels like queen is appropriate, considering the setting. NICE. (side note iirc "กะเทย" has the connotation of seedless fruit, so green seedless fruit might be more insulting than that? gotta look it up)

but also wtf "Neuy" that's-- that's not what เหนียว sounds like, wtf, where are you taking these romanisations from?? But then again they also romanise เมย Meuy as Maey and จอม as Jom, not Jorm, but พ่อ as Por even though the vowels are identical, so what do I know

AAAH oh I love this? UNEXPECTEDLY! I prepared for tension and scary things! not unexpected companionship!

asdfasdfasdf Yai's FACE, someone's jealous

oh my goodness the way they're having a polite pissing match over Jom 😂😂😂

Noooo please I'm not up for horror in my BL

OH we're addressing the weird behaviour?

adsfasdfasdf oh Khun Yai, please

asdfasdfsdf god this episode is FUNNY

Khun Yai is so disappointed 😂

Oh man, Ming really has his work cut out for him with Jom

don'tttt that's dangerous

Khun Yai got it baddd

Okay now I'm back to being suspicious of James, but maybe he really dido mes s with Khun Yai's head?

what is Fongkaew's thing?

OH WAIT is this the fire they were talking about at the club?

oh shiiiit

oh no Fongkaew, you'll get caughttttt 😭

She's so good. She deserves everything, oh my goodness.

Bad thought -- please let it not have been Ueangphueng and Moey who (had someone) set the fire?

Khun Yai's such a kid, oh my goodness, he's SULKING

OH so we're TALKING about this now??

I love that he didn't kiss him when he had him cornered!! look at this 1920s man have better understanding of consent and situations in which it may be compromised than many present-day BL show protagonists

I'm glad Prig's on their side now

Oh Khun Yai did you not change out of your tennis clothes after exercise??? Ew.

WOW James really gets straight to the point, huh

I'm now wondering whether I was just predisposed to dislike James because it's Kim who plays him and his character in BBS shot Pat? but goddamnit I'm cheering him on atm

this snitty behaviour super doesn't suit Yai

but I guess Jom doesn't get what Yai's issue is

okay wow Khun Yai, that's sorta. nope. I retract my statement re: boundaries and consent.

awww look at you big boy putting words to your feeling!

Jom, wtf

that's gonna be the picture of Khun Yai, asleep

called it

okay but Jom. Jom. What's your conflict? the difference in status? (which: FAIR, he has a LOT to lose)

don't give the dude hope if you're not going to go through with ittttt

OH. Oh, okay, Jom, you're just being the bigger person here, gotcha

oh god he is twenty. this child.

kiss??

hug! hug is good too.

oh no, these two are so cheesy. I love them.

AHAHA yeah that was a set-up for that if ever I've heard one-- kiss!

oh, this is a nice one

love that shot of the gifts!

… that's not what you discussed, Khun Yai, but it is sweet.

oh, oh, shit's going to start hitting the fan for real next week, huh

[lurkingteapot]

me on my "why is freeform romanisation like that" train again, but … come on, that's three times the letter "a" makes an appearance in the romanisation of Chaan's name on the business card, and no two instances of it sound the same.

Meanwhile …

Thai: ฌาน แสงเสถียรพงค์

Phonemic Thai: ชาน แสง-สะ-เถียน-พง IPA: tɕʰaːn sɛ̌ːŋsàʔtʰǐːanpʰoŋ Paiboon: chaan sɛ̌ɛngsàtǐanpong RTGS: chan saengsathianphong

What's this guy's name anyway?

ฌาน - I'm going to stick with Charn from now on since that's clearly how the character romanizes it, although 'Chan' is what you would get with the Royal Thai General System of Transcription. The 'r' is indicating that it's a long vowel sound, it's not anything like an American 'r.' Think more like a British 'ar' sound.

ติณห์ - I'm going to follow MDL and use Tinn. RTGS gets you 'Tin,' but there's a silent 'h' at the end so I feel like more letters is better.

[ashenstars-inactive]

嘉明

[sexybritishllama]

for anyone else like me who had no idea how to pronounce the new legends game announced today, on the japanese website they’ve confirmed it’s Z-A and the katakana pronunciation is listed as ゼットエー (zetto-ei)

[pharawee]

*ที่รัก — thîi rák — darling or beloved. an endearing term used for loved ones.

[wildflower-otome]

[Translation] 9 R.I.P. - Minami - Heavenly End After Story

Source: 9 R.I.P. Stella Set Special Bonus Booklet Note: Major Spoilers for Minami's Heavenly End below.

More Valuable Than Life - Minami Heavenly End After Story

Sometime after Misa and I had begun our life in hell together—.

Truth be told, I wanted to be with her 24/7, but in order for us to enjoy our lives, we needed money.

Which was why, today I had gone out for work.

‘Misa~ I’m home—’

…..…..…..Huh?

I looked around the area outside. Searched inside the tent. Checked the bed.

‘I’m sure I told you to wait for me…..!’

Unable to endure it, I went out to search for Misa.

* * *

No matter where I searched in town, I couldn’t find her anywhere, so I went to the last place I could think of, tucked away in a corner of my mind.

‘…..Ah, I feel so sluggish- Wish I could just burn that stupid calypha tree down…..’

I had gone to H.O., the place that reeked of the air that so vexed me. She had to be here. With that bastard I really wanted to kill…..

After walking through the outer hallway just as I had thought, I could see the figures of Misa…..and that jerk Seiya.

‘Hey, stupid woman. Why the hell are you here?!’

As I spoke angrily, unable to hide my irritation, she ran over to my side, seeming flustered.

‘Minami-kun, great job at work today. I had thought to finish up here before you came home, but-.....’

‘Hah? What kind of business would you have to finish up here?’

‘That’s, um.....’

While Misa was still at a loss for words, Seiya came closer.....

‘Haah..... dear me. What a terrible way to speak to one’s lover. It’s not too late, Misa-san. You must give up on this horrible demon.’

‘That’s going a little too far-’

‘Don’t go getting in between us, asshole.’

‘Foolhardy words, considering where we are.’

As he spoke, Seiya threw something in my direction—but without missing a beat, Misa caught it.

‘Seiya-san, I’m sorry about Minami-kun, but please don’t go throwing calypha petals. And Minami-kun, you mustn’t be so rude.’

‘.....Out of respect for you, I shall let it pass.’

Not saying anything, I turned my face away, ignoring her.

‘Misa-san, I believe it might be best to tell him the truth. After all, if you do end up passing, it will mean coming here on a regular basis.’

.....Say what now?

‘That’s, true.’

Misa straightened her shoulders and once more faced towards me, looking nervous as she went to speak.

‘There was a poster on the noticeboard in town advertising part-time jobs at H.O. That’s the reason I came here to speak to Seiya-san. I want to work.’

‘----’

‘It’s hard not having anything to do, and I don’t want to put all the burden on you, Minami-kun. It’s two of us living together. That’s why-’

‘No.’

‘..........’

‘If you want something to do, help me out with my work.’

‘I don’t know anything about fortune-telling-’

‘Just you being there will help me out. In other words, quit overthinking things. Talk to me before you do anything. Got it?’

‘.....Alright.’

‘I mean, to begin with, you being at H.O. is bad enough, but there’s no way you’re working with Seiya.’

‘Fufu-, just as I predicted.’

‘Yes.....you were completely right, Seiya-san.’

‘The hell you talking about?’

‘I was just telling her that you’d hate the idea, so it was best to give up. A shame really, I would have liked to have been coworkers.’

.....Hmph. Guess Seiya did have some brains after all. He didn’t need to add that last part though.

‘Sorry for wasting your time, Seiya-san.’

‘Don’t let it worry you. For your sake, I will always have more than enough time. Do come and see me again.’

‘Yes, of course.’

‘Oi, don’t ever come here again.’

‘I can’t promise that. Seiya-san is my friend, after all.’

‘Blech.....Don’t say something so disgusting!  Just so you know, I don’t approve.’

‘Fufu-, thank you for your kind words, Misa-san. Now then, I still have work to do, so I shall take my leave.’

Haah.....he’s finally gone.

‘Misa, I appreciate that you tried to help me out, but don’t go doing things on your own anymore. From now on, we’ll be together when we’re out, as well as at home. Alright?’

‘.....Why do you restrict my actions so much?’

‘Because I want to have you under my control.’

‘............’

Sighing, Misa lent me her shoulder as we began to walk out.

‘Hey, what’s with the sigh?’

‘Hm? I was just thinking that really is like you, Minami-kun.’

‘And what sort of emotion is that?’

It couldn’t be that she hated me, right.....?

‘Like it sure is heavy being loved.’

‘Do you dislike it?’

‘Of course not. I love you too, Minami-kun. Although, I guess I lose when it comes to heaviness. I don’t think I could win for all eternity.’

The word “eternity” that she suddenly spoke caused a stirring in my chest.

‘Ahaha-, you just keeping losing to me forever, then- ♪’

-Being able to be with her for all eternity. That was what was more important to me than anything.

‘I love you, Misa-chan ♥️’

[soup-mother]

me: "this soup with lentils and pasta reminds me of her (koshari)"

colonial br*tish officer who's just learned a new slur: "Um Hullo! Fellow over there who looks like a woman. you wouldn't happen to be a trannee (historical british spelling) by any chance?"

[yamada-ryo]

Shouldn't this line be more like "senpai's girl" rather than "senpai's daughter"? Like is 娘 read as むすめ or こ here?