David A. Smyth (; born 5 January 1954) is a British scholar notable for his expertise in the field of

Thai studies Thai studies, a branch of Asian studies, is the multidisciplinary study of Thailand and the Thai peoples. It calls upon the academic disciplines of history, anthropology, religious studies, political science, Thai language, Thai literature, mus ...

Life

Smyth first studied

Thai Thai or THAI may refer to: * Of or from Thailand, a country in Southeast Asia ** Thai people, the dominant ethnic group of Thailand ** Thai language, a Tai-Kadai language spoken mainly in and around Thailand *** Thai script *** Thai (Unicode block ...

at the

School of Oriental and African Studies SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury ar ...

, as part of an undergraduate degree in South East Asian Studies. One of his tutors there was E. H. S. Simmonds. He lived in

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

from the mid 1970s until the early 1980s, teaching English first at

Thammasat University Thammasat University (Abbreviation, Abrv: TU th, มธ.; th, มหาวิทยาลัยธรรมศาสตร์, , ) is a public research university in Thailand with campuses in Tha Phra Chan area of Phra Nakhon District near the ...

and then at Srinakharinwirot University. He received his Ph.D. from SOAS in 1988. His doctoral dissertation was a study of the literary works of

Kulap Saipradit Kulap Saipradit ( th, กุหลาบ สายประดิษฐ์; 31 March 1905 – 16 June 1974), better known by the pen name Siburapha ( th, link=no, ศรีบูรพา; also romanized as Sriburapha or Sri Burapha), was a ...

. For a number of years, he was a lecturer in Thai and Cambodian at SOAS.

Publications

Books

*Smyth, David A., and Manas Chitakasem (1984). ''Linguaphone Thai Course''. London: Linguaphone Institute. . *Smyth, David A. (1995). ''Teach Yourself Thai''. London: Hodder Headline. . *Smyth, David A. (1995). ''Colloquial Cambodian''. Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Routledge. . *Smyth, David A., and Tran Kien (1995). ''Tuttle Practical Cambodian Dictionary''. Rutland, Vermont: Charles E. Tuttle Publishing. . *Smyth, David A. (2002)
''Thai: An Essential Grammar''
London: Routledge. . (Second edition published in 2014. .) *Smyth, David A. (2019). ''Kulap Saipradit ('Sriburapha'): Journalist and Writer in Early 20th Century Siam''. Bangkok: White Lotus Press. .

Papers

*Smyth, David A. (1984)
"Sībūraphā and Some Ups and Downs in a Literary Career"
Paper presented to the International Conference on Thai Studies, Bangkok, 22–24 August. *Smyth, David A. (1987)
"The Later Short Stories of Sībūraphā"
In Jeremy H. C. S. Davidson (ed.), ''Laī Sū’ Thai: Essays in Honour of E. H. S. Simmonds'', . London: School of Oriental and African Studies. *Smyth, David A. (2001)
"Farangs and Siamese: A Brief History of Learning Thai"
In M. R. Kalaya Tingsabadh and

Arthur S. Abramson Arthur Seymour Abramson (January 26, 1925 – December 15, 2017) was an American linguist, phonetician, and speech scientist. Abramson was born in Jersey City, New Jersey. He founded the Department of Linguistics at the University of Connectic ...

(eds.), ''Essays in Tai Linguistics'', . Bangkok: Chulalongkorn University Press.

Translations

* Saipradit, Kulap (1990). '' Behind the Painting and Other Stories''. Translated by David A. Smyth. Singapore: Oxford University Press. . * Surangkhanang, K. (1994). ''

The Prostitute ''Ying Khon Chua'' ( th, หญิงคนชั่ว, lit=the wicked woman), translated into English as ''The Prostitute'', is a Thai novel by Ko Surangkhanang. First published in 1937, it initially caused controversy in Thailand's developin ...

''. Translated by David A. Smyth. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press. . * Saipradit, Kulap, et al. (1998). ''The Sergeant's Garland and Other Stories''. Translated by David A. Smyth and Manas Chitakasem. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press. . * Korbjitti, Chart (2003). ''No Way Out''. Translated by David A. Smyth. Nakhon Rachasima: Howling Books. . * Navarat, M. R. Nimitmongkol (2009). ''The Dreams of an Idealist''. Translated by David A. Smyth. Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books. .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smyth, David A. 1954 births Academics of SOAS University of London Alumni of SOAS University of London British orientalists British translators Literary translators Living people Thai studies scholars