National –
The Thai government today, February 16th, clarified that a Cabinet proposal to rename the capital city from ‘Bangkok’ to ‘Krung Thep Maha Nakorn’ is for official use only and that Bangkok can and will still be used.
This followed the news first breaking late last night, February 15th, which immediately caused social media, especially Twitter, to lose its mind until the government clarified the cabinet proposal this morning. TPN media did not post the “change” last night as our staff was waiting for the (inevitable) government correction/clarification.
Deputy Government Spokesperson Ratchada Thanadirek told the Associated Press this morning following online debates and many critics last night regarding the change of the country’s capital city name in English that the Cabinet had acknowledged the proposal of the amendments to the transliteration of the capital’s name in many countries as proposed by the Royal Academy.
For Thailand, it was a minor adjustment, according to her statement. Previously, the Royal Academy had transliterated the English word of Bangkok with a semicolon as in “Krung Thep Maha Nakhon; Bangkok กทม.” and now proposed with a slight change to “Krung Thep Maha Nakhon (Bangkok) กทม.”, keeping the original Bangkok name in parentheses. She also stated that the change was only set for a government standard and people were welcome to use Bangkok. In Thailand, notes TPN media, “formal” speech in certain situations is common, as are different words for different situations.
The Royal Institute has also confirmed as of this afternoon that the name of the capital city can be both “Krung Thep Maha Nakhon” and “Bangkok”, ending the widespread criticism and debates online.
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