During the last century it has been noticed that English loanwords have played an important role in the Thai lexicon. English, instead of the long used Sanskritic languages, has become the most- favoured source for new vocabulary. Though there is a traditional preference for the Sankritic coinage, the influx of modern technology from the Western civilization is so strong that the English words which are the carrier of such influences have been accepted with an increasing rate of current usage, colloquially as well as in writing.
Although the British people traded with the Thais of Ayudhya in the reign of King Songtham (1610-1628 A.D.), English words were not taken to the Thai language until the early Ratanakosin period when the British expanded their trade and power to Southeast Asian territories. A study of documents in the reign of King Rama III (1824-1851 A.D.) shows some seventy English personal names, titles and place names written in Thai orthography. Some of them reflect a pronunciation very close to the English but others are beyond recognition.