What is Royal Thai General System of Transcription?
{{Infobox writing system | engvar = gb | name = Royal Thai General System of Transcription | altname = RTGS | type = Abugida | languages = [[Thai language|Thai]] | creator = Royal Institute of Thailand | date = 1932 | time = current | romanised-from = [[Thai script]] }} The '''Royal Thai General System of Transcription (RTGS)''' is the official system used to write [[Thai language|Thai]] words into the [[Latin script|Latin alphabet]], or [[romanization]]. Thai has certain [[vowel]] and [[consonant]] sounds and other [[Phonetics|phonemic]] features that do not exist in English. This means that saying a syllable with a different tone or vowel length can make a completely different word. For these reasons, romanization in Thai presented many challenges. ==Overview== The RTGS only uses the 26 letters in the [[ISO basic Latin alphabet|ISO standard Latin alphabet]] to spell Thai words. It is used on all [[Document|documents]] that require words to be written in the Latin alphabet, including road signs, maps, applications, etc. However, it has many problems.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://slice-of-thai.com/pronunciation-guides/#easythai|title=Pronunciation Guide Systems for Thai - Thai Language - slice-of-thai.com|website=slice-of-thai.com|access-date=2020-04-08}}</ref> The system does not show [[Tone language|tones]] or [[vowel length]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://linguistics.stackexchange.com/questions/17711/thai-alphabet-romanizations|title=Thai alphabet romanizations?|website=Linguistics Stack Exchange|access-date=2020-04-04}}</ref> both of which are phonemic features of Thai. It also does not tell some of the consonant sounds apart.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ctZBDwAAQBAJ&dq=royal+thai+general+system+of+transcription&pg=PR5|title=The Essential Thai Language Companion: Reference Book: Basics, Structures, Rules|last=Pronk|first=Marco|date=2013-08-31|publisher=Schwabe AG|isbn=978-3-9523664-9-3|language=en}}</ref> == References == {{reflist}} [[Category:Thai langua