Avoiding spelling mistakes.
Capitalizations
Some aspects of writing English are challenging even to native speakers of the language. For writers of Thai English in theses and academic research papers, these can be even more difficult. The question of when to capitalize words can be one such problem. There are many rules, but there are also exceptions to the rules. If we do not capitalize certain words, we can seem to lack respect. For example, the Bible describes holy books of the Christian religion. Since it is the name of a book, it should be capitalized. The noun bible can also refer to any book that is considered authoritative. We might write:
The History of Ayutthaya by Ajarn Charnvit Kasetsiri is the bible for students who wish to understand the development of the Ayutthaya Kingdom.
If we made the mistake of capitalizing the word bible in the sentence above, readers would be confused. They might think we were discussing the Christian Bible. Similarly, if we do not capitalize the first letter in the noun Bible when we do mean to refer to the Christian Bible, then the results may not be clear, or even worse, we may seem disrespectful.
Most of us remember that someone’s names should always be written using capitals. So we write the name
Puey Ungphakorn
and not
Puey ungphakorn
or
puey Ungphakorn
or
puey ungphakorn
Places should also always be in capitals, so we write:
Nong Khai, Thailand
and not
Nong khai, Thailand
or
nong Khai, Thailand
or
Nong Khai, thailand
In citing research sources, it is important to recall that names of newspapers and journals are always capitalized. But when they include the word the, this should not be capitalized when the publication is mentioned in a sentence:
I read this information in the Nation.
I read this information in the Bangkok Post.
It would not be correct to write:
I read this information in The Nation.
I read this information in The Bangkok Post.
We always capitalize days of the week, months, and the names of holidays. Seasons, meaning spring, summer, fall or autumn, and winter, are not capitalized since they are not proper nouns but only general terms:
We plan to travel to Nakhon Ratchasima this winter.
It would not be correct to write:
We plan to travel to Nakhon Ratchasima this Winter.
Historical events are always capitalized:
Ayutthaya–Lan Na War (1456–1474)
Burmese–Siamese wars (1548–1855)
Tây Sơn rebellion
Siamese–Vietnamese War (1831–34)
Siamese–Vietnamese War (1841–45)
Haw wars (1865–1890)
Franco-Siamese War (1893)
Franco-Thai War (1940–1941)
Pacific War
Thai–Laotian Border War (1987–1988)
If we are in doubt about how to write the names of such events, it takes less than one second to do a Google search for the spelling on Wikipedia. This should resolve any outstanding question in our minds. Capitalization is especially important to remember when we are writing about different races, nationalities, and languages. Since we are referring to people, it is a good idea to be sure about how to mention them with the most respect. Not capitalizing the name of a religion or race might be seen as insulting, and this should be avoided at all times:
- Thai Lao
- Thai Loei
- Lao Lom
- Lao Wiang/Klang
- Lao Khrang
- Lao Ngaew
- Lao Ti
- Khon Muang
- Pak Tai
- Khmer Leu
- Malay
- Phu Thai
- Kuy/Kuay
- Karen
While it is usual to capitalize Asian, African-American, and Caucasian, if we are referring to people as black or white, these terms are often not capitalized. Since this is a matter of style and custom rather than a rule in English usage, there has been much debate on the subject. Some style guides recommend writing black and white when describing people in lower case letters. Others suggest that they may be capitalized if the author prefers. So it is really up to the individual writer, unless we are preparing an article for publication in a specific journal. Then the style guide provided online should let us know which format is preferred.
Keep in mind that in Thai English, far too many words are capitalized. This is because of the natural aim to show respect to all the people and things that should be respected. Alsom Thai English is often influenced by Chinese English, which is closer to British English than American English. As a general rule, there are more capitalizations in British English than in American English. The difficulty with too many abbreviations is that they can make a sentence hard to read, with so many capital letters. When writing in Thai English, we should try to keep capital letters to an absolute minimum, using only those which are strictly necessary. The result will look better on the page and will be easier for others to read. Religious terms are just as sensitive as racial and national terms. Here too capitalizing words referring to religion is a matter of showing proper respect:
God
Christ
Allah
Buddha
Christianity
Christians
Judaism
Jews
Islam
Muslims.
All of these examples should be capitalized, although in Thai English, they are sometimes found written in lower case by mistake.
The names of academic courses are always listed in capital letters because they are the names of something:
- Fundamentals of Biology
- Introduction to Biology
- Experimental Microbial Genetics
- Topics in Experimental Biology
- Principles of Human Disease
- Cellular Neurobiology
- Learning and Memory: Activity-Controlled Gene Expression in the Nervous System
- Under the Radar Screen: How Bugs Trick Our Immune Defenses
- Avoiding Genomic Instability: DNA Replication, the Cell Cycle, and Cancer
- Nano-life: An Introduction to Virus Structure and Assembly
- Unusual Biology: The Science of Emerging Pathogens
- Immune Evasion: How Sneaky Pathogens Avoid Host Surveillance
- Host Hacking: Parasitic Manipulations from a Micro- to a Macroscopic Scale
- Harnessing the Biosphere: Natural Products and Biotechnology
- Sophisticated Survival Skills of Simple Microorganisms
- The Radical Consequences of Respiration: Reactive Oxygen Species in Aging and Disease
- A Love-Hate Relationship: Cholesterol in Health and Disease
- Living Dangerously: How the Immune System Maintains Peace with Trillions of Commensal Bacteria while Preventing Pathogenic Invasions
- Neural Plasticity in Learning and Development
The names of products are in capital letters because they represent the names of companies:
Daihatsu
Ford
General Motors
Honda
Isuzu
Mazda
Mercedes-Benz
MG
Mitsubishi
Nissan
Tata
Thai Rung
Toyota
Vera
Volvo
Volkswagen
Names of relatives may be capitalized if they replace the name of the person. So, we would write:
We are going to have lunch with Grandmother this Sunday.
If the word grandmother is not used to replace the name itself, we would be correct to write:
We are going to have lunch with our grandmother this Sunday.
Although we certainly wish to show respect to grandmothers and all other family members, it is not necessary to capitalize their names when words such as sister, brother, mother, father, and similar terms are used in sentences:
We will meet Aunt Udomporn at the Dusit Zoo this weekend.
We will meet our aunt at the Dusit Zoo this weekend.
Since Aunt loves animals, we will meet her at the zoo.
Our aunt loves animals, so we will meet her at the zoo.
We also wish to honor all ajarns, but it is only necessary to capitalize words such as professor if they are used as part of someone’s name:
Professor Puey Ungphakorn, Faculty of Economics.
Dr. Puey Ungphakorn was a professor of economics.
(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)