Avoiding spelling mistakes

North and South      

Sometimes short and common words in English can prove the most challenging to always spell correctly for Thai English writers. All Thais at the university level of education and above feel sure that they know how to spell the words north and south. Yet these words appear wrongly spelled in Thai English as Soth and Noth. Before looking at why these errors may occur and how to prevent them, it may be helpful to remind ourselves why it is worth bothering. If we do a search on Koha for the books in the collection of the Thammsat University Library that have the word north in their titles, we get the following result:

Your search returned 3139 results. 

Found 166958 results in OpenLibrary collection

Looking on Koha for the word south produces an even longer list:

Your search returned 6366 results. 

So there are thousands of book titles which use the words north or south. No matter what faculty our students and ajarns are associated with, chances are they will have to face the challenge of spelling the words north or south at some time, in an academic research paper or thesis. Before looking at the spelling of these short works, one aspect that all can benefit from is knowing when to capitalize the words north and south. The rule in English is that north and south should be capitalized only when they stand for a specific place or belong to a proper name or name of a place. We would be correct to write:

My grandparents live in the North.

I went to visit my aunt in the South.

Note that when if a Thai person writes the words north or south in the sentences above, we may assume that the words stand for the north of Thailand or south of Thailand. We would not capitalize north of Thailand or south of Thailand because the place being discussed is Thailand, and the words north and south just indicate direction. So we could write either

My grandparents live in the North.

My grandparents live in the north of Thailand.

or

I went to visit my aunt in the South.

I went to visit my aunt in the south of Thailand.

If we want to refer to people who live in the north or south of Thailand as Northerners and Southerners, then the words Northerner and Southerner should be capitalized, since they are words representing people. The words northern, southern, eastern, and western should also be capitalized when they refer to cultural activities and not just geography. So we would write:

My favorite cultural expression in Thailand is Eastern art from the eastern half of the Kingdom.

Tourists to Thailand appreciate the Kingdom’s Southern hospitality, but sometimes find southern temperatures excessive.

Thai students who are privileged to study abroad in Canada or the United States of America learn a lot about Western civilization, but may have trouble getting used to the chilly westerly winds during wintertime.

Visitors to Chiang Mai are often charmed by Northern music in Thailand, but may not enjoy the northern habit of burning crops.

With the recent rainfall, the drought is over in the northern region of the Kingdom.

The northern, southern, eastern, and western before a place name such as Thailand should not be capitalized, since they are about location. If they are part of the name of a place, they must be capitalized:

• northern Thailand
• western Cambodia
• Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland, described by different sources as a country, province or region.
• Western Australia is an Australian state covering the entire western third of the country, made up mostly of the arid Outback.

Part of the problem about spelling north and south in English may derive from the fact that in English, directions are described as north, south, east, and west. Speakers of the Chinese language say east, south, west, and north. In English, familiar directions include northeast, northwest, southwest, and southeast. In Chinese, these terms are stated as east-north, west-north, west-south, east-south. The Japanese and Korean languages agree with the English language approach to put the word north before east in northeast, north before west in northwest, south before west in southwest, and south before east in southeast. Language specialists do not all agree on the explanation for these differences. Some point to the fact that the South is considered a propitious direction in traditional Chinese culture. For the Chinese, the South was a warm place, while the North was colder. Why do English language writers say north before south and east before west when listing directions? It may be a simple matter of alphabetical order.

Whatever the reasons for these differences, the fact that they exist may cause some confusion for Thai speakers of English. One essential thing to remember is that to try to spell an English word based on how it may sound in Thai English pronunciation is never a good idea. There are Thai English speakers who make the word north sound like noth and the word south sound like soth, but that does not mean the words really are spelled that way. As is often the case, it can help to group words with others spelled like them, to be as sure as possible of their spelling. Other words ending with the letters orth include

• forth
• henceforth
• pennyworth
• thenceforth
• worth

Other words ending with the letters outh include

• badmouth
• bigmouth
• blabbermouth
• loudmouth
• motormouth
• mouth
• uncouth
• vermouth
• youth

If we invent short sentences to place some similar words together, we may remember that if we know how to spell one of them, we are more likely to spell all of them correctly. Some examples:

Henceforth, for what it is worth, I will go forth and spell the word north correctly.

or we might try:

The uncouth youth who was drinking too much vermouth could not spell the word south correctly.

Some usage examples:

• Thais and foreigners are flocking in large numbers to many northern provinces, including Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and Nan, to celebrate the Songkran Festival.
• The North was choking on air pollution yesterday amid steadily increasing levels of particulate matter smaller than 10 microns (PM10) and 2.5 microns.
• WIPO director-general Francis Gurry travelled to the North along with Department of Intellectual Property (DIP) chief Tossapol Tungsubut.
• People in the North have been warned to prepare for a worsening haze problem this weekend as the weather forecast shows south-westerly winds that will carry air pollution into the region.
• Smog has receded in the North, but the level of particulate matter smaller than 2.5 microns (PM2.5) has increased in the Bangkok Metropolitan Area.
• Five firefighters and two Thai workers died in a fire that broke out late on Saturday in an electronics factory in northern Taiwan.
• Continuing forest fires pushed air quality in northern Mae Hong Son province well beyond the safe level on Monday.
• Summit Capital Leasing Co Ltd has opened another branch in South Pattaya to support economic growth in response to the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC).
• Eight Thai workers claimed they were duped of Bt142,000 last month by a Thai man who used Facebook to advertise agricultural job opportunities in the South.
• China’s Feng Shanshan fired a bogey-free six-under-par 66 Thursday to grab a one-stroke lead over South Korean Amy Yang.
• The Global Times said the USS Carl Vinson’s visit was unlikely to alter the balance of power in the South China Sea.
• Heavy rain and floods ravaged many parts of the South, particularly Nakhon Si Thammarat and Phatthalung provinces, affecting many people and damaging homes and farms. Eleven provinces in Thailand remain flooded while people in the southern region have been warned of further heavy rains and gusty winds. On Tuesday, November 14, heavy rains triggered flash floods that hit parts of the five southern provinces of Krabi, Surat Thani, Songkhla, Phatthalung and Yala the following day, affecting thousands of people. Five southern provinces remain flooded.

(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)