Translator Marcel Barang today on his blog posted a piece on the confusing non-standard romanization of Thai words. The Election Commission in their wisdom has now declared the spelling Pheu Thai as the officially correct English spelling of the main opposition party - even though the official standard by the Royal Institute would make Phuea Thai the correct spelling of เพื่อไทย - and the most fitting name would have been Phuea Thaksin anyway. And since the same vowel occurs in Mueang, he continues to explain that the old romanization Muang could be misunderstood as "purple". And while talking of Mueang, he finally also explains how his translation for "Amphoe Mueang" (อำเภอเมือง) to ‘Central district’ or ‘Urban district’ wasn't approved by the newspaper editor - my own translation ‘Capital district’ might have survived the reasoning that the Amphoe Mueang is not always central, nor is it always urban.
An interesting read, and if you're interested in Thai literature but aren't able to read Thai, his blog is always worth a read.
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