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The Monarchy and the Royal Society’s Works

on the Thai Language Related to Foreign Languages*

Nitaya Kanchanawan, PhD
Fellow of the Academy of Arts,

The Royal Society of Thailand

Introduction

The duties of the Royal Society (formerly called the Royal Institute) in the Thai language

related to foreign languages since 1926 to the present can be summarized as follows:
Evidence from the minutes of the Royal Society’s meetings shows that in addition to
considering main issues of the Royal Society such as book publishing, book contests, ancient

sites, antiques, and museum organization, there are also other academic issues, for example,
term coinage, considering the use of various words in Thai, checking the meanings and origins of

various words, especially the operation in the Literature Association Division, which held meetings
of members to discuss and decide on academic problems in both literature and archaeology,

including the use of royal terms. The coining of foreign language terms into Thai in particular
has received a great deal of attention since Western science and technology influenced the

knowledge and thinking of the Thai society. Phraphinitwannakan, Secretary of the Royal Society,
reported to the President of the Royal Society about the project to coin Thai terms of Prince
Chandaburinarünath, proposed as assigned by the President of the Royal Society in the meeting

on July 26, 1927.
In 1927, in addition to the coining of terms, transliteration of Thai into Roman script was

another type of academic work that was proposed to be the responsibility of the Royal Society.
Another linguistic work related to foreign countries was the formulation of the national language
policy, which took place between 2012 and 2020, starting from the reign of King Bhumibol

Adulyadej and ongoing to the reign of King Maha Vajiralongkorn Phra Vajiraklaochaoyuhua.
The three linguistic works related to foreign countries mentioned above all received ideas

or support from the monarchy, as will later be discussed in detail.

* This is an English version adapted from the article with the same title in Thai published in the book
“The Royal Institution and Academic Advancement of the Nation” (สถาบัันพระมหากษััตริย์์กับัวิิวิัฒนาการทาง
วิิชาการของประเทศ).

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