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Published on August 31, 2007

The Thai language is a national heritage that every Thai is obliged to preserve because it shows Thailand has been a civilised country longer than most other countries, even some in Europe, the King pointed out.

"You diplomats might feel sad that the Thai people who live abroad for a few days or for a short time can't speak Thai once they return home. Because they think that when they go abroad they have to learn how not to become Thai. I have sympathy for you in this case because you are diplomats. Those who go abroad for a few days, when they meet the ambassadors, they can't speak Thai. But the foreigners who meet you can speak Thai although they stayed in Thailand for only a short time. This sounds very strange," the King said. "But we have to understand that those who might never have thought of travelling abroad but have a chance to go abroad might feel that they have an inferiority complex. But most Thais do not have any inferiority complex. They are proud to be Thai because living in Thailand, becoming a Thai, they can learn that Thailand and the Thai people are good."

Since the King spent most of his youth studying in Switzerland, he had to catch up when learning how to read and write Thai. The King admitted that even when he was 18, he could not read or write Thai well. Fortunately, the Princess Mother always spoke to him in Thai. Later on he studied the Thai language until he mastered it.

If you read the King's books "Nai In Phu Pid Thong Lang Phra", "Tito" and "Phra Maha Chanaka", you recognise immediately that he is a master of Thai prose. He writes in short, succinct and very clear sentences, with comma and full stop markings. You may also call him a supreme prose stylist.

The King's message is that he would like the Thai people to be proud of their heritage and their civilisation. In fact, the Thai language was invented more than 700 years ago during the reign of King Ramkhamhaeng of the Sukhothai period. It had a system of its own. Indeed, 700 years ago America had not been discovered by Europeans. King Ramkhamhaeng's reign coincided with the Middle Ages in Europe, during which time that continent was regarded as still being somewhat backward.

"You diplomats must brainwash [those who forget the Thai language] that Thailand has had its own language for a long time. We have had our own culture for longer than several countries in Europe.

"Europe then was still in the 'Dark Ages', which means that civilisation had not yet been fully realised. Thailand was already a civilised country during the Middle Ages of Europe. We also have to tell those who think that Thailand is not a civilised country to have a better understanding that Thailand was already civilised and had its own language during the Middle Ages, while most others did not have their own languages," the King said.

In the late 1980s I visited MR Kukrit Pramoj at his beautiful Thai-style house in Soi Suan Plu. I asked him how he developed his exceptional skill in the Thai language. He told me that as a child in a big family, he was always asked to read for his mother and the other phuyai. He read out loud "Khun Chang Khun Phaen " and other Thai literary classics. "I was reading like a parrot, without knowing the real meaning. But gradually I absorbed these works," he said.

Before Mom Kukrit wrote his novels, he went back to read the old classics, to set his own temperament. He told me that he would have "Sam Kok " or "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" (Chao Phya Phraklang's edition) and "Rajathiraj" ("The King of All Kings") by his bed all the time. He would read passages from these two books in his head and try to absorb their styles, their expressions, their rhythms and their idioms. So when he sat down to write his novels, he got the "feel" or the flow of the language from these two classics.

Most people would say that his "Si Phaen Din " ("The Four Reigns") represents the crown jewel of Thai prose. But Kukrit told me that "Phama Sia Muang " ("The Burmese Lost Their Country") was his best. "Just read carefully and you'll feel that it has all the language of Rajathiraj," he told me.

Among contemporary Thais, I like to listen to MR Thanatsri Svastivat's way of speaking Thai. He has the Thai outlook and all the idioms in his Thai usage. I also used to have conversations with Chirayu Issarangun Na Ayutthaya, the director of the Crown Property Bureau. His manner and his way of expressing the Thai language was also very unique.

I feel ashamed that my Thai is very bad. I really need to go back to the classics and other old Thai writings to brush up my Thai - in thinking, style and substance.

Thanong Khanthong