I always like to use “falong” as the English transliteration for the Thai word (slang) commonly used to refer to a Western foreigner. A few posters repeatedly whine about my “incorrect” transliteration, since “farang” is commonly used by many.
Although I have patiently explained numerous times, that I prefer “falong” because it sounds (to me anyway) much closer to how Thais generally pronounce the word, my explanation is not enough for an obstinate few, who call me out for my use of that transliteration almost every time I use it (I suppose they live a rather unfulfilling life of low self-esteem and attempt to inflate their egos however they can).
Nonetheless, I decided to look into this transliteration (which is often transliterated as “farung” in many Thai-English dictionaries).
In Thai script the word is ฝรั่ง. This maps to the following Thai alphabet (as taken from a Thai elementary school primer and transliterated as used in “Teach Yourself Thai” by David Smith):
First we will look at the three consonants:
ฝ ฝา – fo fan A middle class consonant that has an “f” sound when used at the beginning of a Thai word.
ร เรือ – ro rua A middle class consonant that has an “r” sound (unless used at the end of a Thai word, then it has a “n” sound). This is almost always pronounced “l” by the average Thais when speaking informally.
ง งู – ngo ngu A middle class consonant that has an “ng” sound.
Now for the interesting part, the vowel.
-ั – sila u This is a short vowel and has a short “u” sound (although “short vowel” in Thai does not necessarily mean the same thing as a short vowel in English – in Thai it helps determine the tone).
The only other thing left is the tone mark.
' – mai ack This is used to indicate that a low tone is to be used in this syllable for middle class and high class consonants and a falling tone is to be used for low class consonants.
So based upon the information above, you should be able to see why so many Thai-English dictionaries go with “farung”, and based upon actual variances in how Thais (and falongs) pronounce ฝรั่ง, "falong" is just as valid a Romanization as “farang” (and IMO gives the non-Thai a much better approximation to how the word is actually pronounced).
Still, I'm sure there are a few closed-minded, individuals who will persist that their way is the only right way.
Santi,
RickThai