Thai Floods

I'm sure readers will be keeping abreast of the serious flooding in Thailand, especially in central provinces.

I've found Twitter to be a great resource for finding out what's happening on the ground and get real-time information. Here's some people I recommend following: @RichardBarrow @WomenLearnThai @georgebkk and of course just searching the following hashtag: #ThaiFloodEng

Learning Thai Through The Latest Technologies - Tablet Thai

A very interesting Bangkok Post article about how a firm plans to offer affordable slate technology to Thai pupils for language learning as part of the Thai governments 4 billion baht 1 tablet per child program. It's very interesting to see the progression and development of learning and using technology in this process, after all it was only a 100 years ago that pupils would have been using a chalk board to write down new vocabulary and learn grammar structures. Nowadays, with the increasing popularity of touch based devices, students will no longer have to resort to using a pen and paper to take notes in class and will find various language facilitating apps to help them gain better understanding of a language. Who knows what's next, maybe future generations will be implanted with chips that allows them to bring up any kind of information within an instant (powered by Google and Intel perhaps).

Anyway there's some quite good intermediate/advanced vocabulary at the end that I found useful and hopefully you will too, such as integrate or   รวมเข้าด้วยกัน (luam kow duay gun/ Rwm k̄hêā d̂wy kạn)

Let me know your thoughts on how technology is changing the way we learn.

Whats On the Menu Today? กินอะไรอร่อย

If you've dined out in Thailand, especially at the restaurants out of the Touristy areas you may have not had the luxury of having a bilingual menu. This can of course present its problems, and often people might end up with something a bit too hot to handle or worse still a somewhat less than palatable meat - I once heard a story who wanted to order a crispy pork dish with rice  -  ข้าวกับหมูทอด (Kow gab moo tort) but ended up with rice and frog - ข้าวกับกบ (Kow gab gorb)


Here are some of the more common Thai menu items for your delectation:


Tom Yam Kung  ต้มยำกุ้ง   Spicy Shrimp Soup
Tom Kha Guy ต้มข่าไก่ Chicken Soup with Coconut Milk
Pad Ka-Prao Moo/Guy ผัดกะเพราหมู/ไก่  Fried Rice with Basil and minced pork/chicken
Pad See-Ew Moo/Guy ผัดซีอิ๊วหมู/ผัดซีอิ๊วข้าวผัดหมู  "River Noodles" - Thick Noodles in Soy Sauce with pork/with chicken.
Pad Thai ผัดไทย Probably the best selling dish on Koh San Road - Fried noodles with egg, and usually a combination of tofu, chicken, shrimp, crushed peanuts, corriander and lime.


ข้าวต้ม - Kow Tom - A traditional Thai breakfast staple; rice soup (can be served with pork ข้าวต้มหมู)
ข้าวผัดหมู Kow Pad Moo - Fried rice with pork
ข้าวผัดขไก่ Kow Pad Gai - Fried rice with chicken
ข้าวผัดเนื้อวัว Kow Pad Neua - Fried rice with beef
ข้าวผัดกุ้ง  - Fried rice with shrimp


ส้มตำ  Som Tam - Papaya Salad (usually very spicy) To ask for it not spicy - ไม่เผ็ดครับ/ค่ะ
แกงส้มไก่หวาน   Kaeng Som Kai Wan  Sweet and Sour Chicken Soup
กุ้งกุลาดำนึ่งซีอิ๊ว Kung Kuladam Neung Si Io Tiger Prawns Steamed with Soy Sauce


For more reading on Thai food you may find the following books useful:



Quick & Easy Thai: 70 Everyday Recipes
Thai Food
Modern Thai Food: 100 Fabulous Thai Recipes for Contemporary Cooks

Thai Signs

I was looking through my posts today, and noticed I've missed something very common and obvious, and Im a fool to have not have featured it earlier. It is of course Thai Road signs. Ever wondered what all that squiggly writing means. Well knows you're chance to swat up, so that when you're next wandering around Bangkok you can begin to read some Thai on the signs.

The most common ones you'll see:

Free = Pron. "Phree" (Its common in Thai to use English loan words and transliterate)  2nd. Image : 'Ham Tai  Loop'

Pron. 'Ham Supbari' = No Smoking

Pron. 'Hong Nam'

'Sukha' - Toilet. 'Ying' - Lady  

'Dtit Pom' - Cut Hair

'Yoot' - Stop

ฝรั่งสอนภาษาไทย (farang sorn pasa thai)

I used to think that learning from a non-native speaker, regardless of where you are and what language you're learning, was a futile exercise. But I have long ago changed my mind. Its a well known fact that many Westerners/foreigners have enormous difficulty when coming to Asia and trying to get their head around a tonal language and an alphabet that is completely different to anything they've grown up using. The only way to start getting a grip on such a weird and counter-intuitive language is to find a local Thai teacher and lay down a few thousands of baht and start learning - right? Whilst this approach is fine in principle, and a perfect way for beginners to start on the rudimentary aspects of the language, once you start developing vocab, confidence and proficiency you are soon going to develop questions such as 'well why is it like this, and why do Thais say it this way and not that way.' Start delving a little deeper into lexical structures, the history of Thai language and so forth and you'll so find that most qualified Thai teachers will start to draw a blank:


ฉัน/ผม/ไม่รู้คะ/ครับ - chan/pom mai roo ka/khrab


There are other ways to learn Thai......
Whilst I'm not dissing Thai teachers in any way, many do a fantastic job and let's be honest it's not easy teaching foreigners, I'm simply pointing out that consider other perhaps supplementary ways of progressing. One such way is to get on the ol' tinternet and seek out that strange breed of people, ฝรั่งสอนภาษาไทย


And it seems you don't have to go very far in cyberspace for all these largely male western guys (and a few western women if you search hard enough) bustin' out the Thai. And for people like me, who have been out of the country for a couple of years now, its a great way to keep up practice and I don't know there's something nice about hearing a non-native speaker speak with a near perfect Thai accent and has actually taken the time to seriously crack Thai.  Puts me to shame really.


Okay enough chitter chatter, here's some people I rate highly for learning Thai of:


The first is a recent stumble: an American guy that runs a TV show called: 'Farang Pok Pok'. Well recommended. Here's the first episode: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aS9ykGe7rU


Polyglot, Stu-Jay Raj is probably one of the better known ลูกครึ่ง (mixed race) famous faces, following several TV programmes on Thai TV. And most recently his travel series programmes: เหนือชั้น 1000แปล looks at him going to some very exotic places and documenting on the weird, wonderful and supernatural. This guy astounds me, not just in Thai but in so many other languages. But his Thai is also flawless.


In terms of blogs and reading resources, hopefully you can pick up a few tid-bits from this one, but there's so many more (and much better ones, no false modesty intended) out there. Here's some that I frequent:


http://www.richardbarrow.com/  - Not so much of a Thai language blog, but contains everything you need to know about Thailand and Thai culture.


http://rikker.blogspot.com/  - Regular on Thaivisa.com a great Thai language blog. Suited to more advanced readers of Thai.


http://womenlearnthai.com/  - A great blog, with a well-needed women's perspective on learning Thai


http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/forum/43-Thai-language/  - An essential forum to visit for posting questions and getting answers on Thai.


There are of course a lot more, but these are just a few of my picks. Ill post more later on perhaps. This post seems to have gone on for long enough, so Ill end it here. Let me know if this was useful in any way.

Back To Basics - Polite Articles & Phrases

So I realized there's probably not much in this blog for people just starting with Thai as yet, so in this post Ill look at some of the more fundamentals aspects of Thai in the form of polite articles and requests.Polite articles in Thai are fairly easy to grasp once you're acquainted with them and start listening out for in everyday conversation.


Most people when starting to learn thai will have picked up the different polite particle endings depending on whether you're a guy or girl -


ครับ - kráp (think less in terms of how we say 'crap' in English but more  hybrid between the b and p --> Krabp with a soft p)
ค่ะ - kâ (i often associate this word with the ford Ka advertising if you're from the UK you know the adverts im talking about - said with high then falling tone on the vowel)




Then, comes the most useful polite request phrase: kŏr-tôot (ขอโทษ) - use this when approaching someone you don't know or apologizing:


For males: ขอโทษครับ ---- kŏr-tôot kráp
For females: ขอโทษค่ะ ---- kŏr-tôo kâ


To put this into action a typical polite request would be:
ขอโทษครับอันนี้เท่าไหร่นะครับ - kŏr-tôot kráp an née thâu-rai kráp
Excuse me, how much is this one please?


Not the addition of another particle นะ to soften the sentence a lot. This is used a lot in spoken Thai together with other 'softner' particles such as:  จ้ะ - já, ละ or ล่ะ - la or สิ - si


Or for a girl/woman would be:
ขอโทษค่ะอันนี้เท่าไหร่นะค่ะ  kŏr-tôot kâ an née thâu-rai kâ


Of course there are a variety of ways to frame the same question, and beginners may be tempted to over use the polite particles, but as long as you finish the sentence with a ครับ or ค่ะ most Thais will be appreciative of this!

สวัสดีปีใหม่

Happy New Year to all Readers!

(And also a very late สุขสันต์วันคริสต์มาส) 

Back Once Again With The Renegade Thai Language Lessons and Round Up News

So the last time I posted, I was preparing to go back to Thailand for a short vacation. I went back expecting lots of eventful drama, as it was still the time of protest of the Red Shirts. I thought my friend was pretty foolhardy wanting to get right up and close to the barricade near MBK, although he had long changed careers his journalistic tendencies were still shinning through. But, luckily for us we went at a time that not much was going on, it was a Saturday and people were even venturing into MBK for some food and shopping. I noticed some tourists didn't seem to deterred either, had we gone a week latter when one of the Red Shirt Leaders was shot it would have been a different story perhaps. My flight out of Bangkok on the Sunday and the journey to the airport was perhaps more reminiscent of the kind of chaos I had expected, with rising smoke from various points in the city it resembled the kind of apocalyptic Bangkok I had seen on the news. The whole holiday was a bit surreal from the start, as down South one could be forgiven for thinking that there was not any kind of turmoil happening in Thailand, and there seemed to be plenty of tourists enjoying Thailand's famed beaches.


Anyway, it's been a while since I've checked up on some of the more interesting Thai blogs and news items.
In my stumblings today, I found a number of interesting highlights I'd like to share. The first one being from Richard Barrow's blog (whom you should all follow on Twitter if you don't already: @RichardBarrow) - it's good to see the boys in brown up to their usual tricks with their http://www.thai-blogs.com/index.php/2010/09/12/the-litter-scam-in-bangkok?blog=5


Also I revisted Thaivisa language forum for the first time in months, and once again we can rely on David Houston to post an interesting news snippet: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/400993-%26-3605;%26-3636;%26-3604;%26-3652;%26-3617;%26-3657;%26-3605;%26-3636;%26-3604;%26-3617;%26-3639;%26-3629;%26-3652;%26-3611;%26-3613;%26-3634;%26-3585;/"ติดมือไปฝาก


and just for fun, a subject that's been done to death already, but just for good measure the topic of Thai-farang sponsorship: http://thaiwomantalks.com/2010/05/10/thai-women-and-the-question-of%C2%A0money/


Till next time.


Dom

Thai Blog Latest

So it's been some while ive written on this blog, been meaning to post something about the current situation in bangkok with those pesky red shirts, but seeing as ill be back in bangkok this coming weekend ill be able to gain a more accurate view of what's actually happening. When I was living in Thailand, I remember the events of 2008, when the yellows managed to close the airport down for a good few days, and the protests and clashes that ensued in 2009 during songkran. I never at any point felt in danger though, but now returning to thailand in the present state it's in feels a little dicier. And am having second thoughts about my trip. Anyone that's currently in bangkok, please send me a message or email and let me know what it's actually like - presumambly people are still going to work, going about their daily business and somehow getting around the red shirts camps and clashes between the police. It just seems like total madness:


http://www.thairath.co.th/content/pol/80424

ตำนานสมเด็จพระนเรศวรมหารา(The Legend of King Naresuan The Great)

Was happy to see this Thai movie showing on the start of Chinese New Year over the weekend. Its always interesting to learn more about Thailand's history, and one of the Thailand's great leaders: King Naresuan. The film features some fantastic performances from Wanchana Sawatdee, Jirayu La-Ongmanee as the guiding monk. I remember when I used to live in Ayutthaya, there was always a great yearly re-enactment of the battle between the Burmese and the Thai soldiers of the then Siamese kingdom of Ayutthaya. This film is an epic, and it sets of the triology quite nicely, amidst the long serious scenes there's also some humour in there as well. 
Definitely worth a watch.

Thai Twitter

I was over at Rikker's Thai 101 blog today, http://rikker.blogspot.com/, which I find a great resource for learning Thai especially when it comes to Thai Cinema, this guy knows his shizzle...(not just about films and stuff...innit) 

Okay enough of me pretending im down with the kids. 

Anyway reading his blog there was a mention of วันเด็ก or Children's day on Twitter. Now, my job requires a certain level of web savvyness and use of web 2.0 technologies for internet marketing, so of course i was already familiar with tweeting in english as most of us are. But, before today it never would have occurred to me to tap into this resource for learning and improving my writing and reading. (something i desperately need to do, given my position outside of thailand now). 

So, if you havent already why not start following some Thai celebrities, find your Thai friends on Twitter and start reading what they're tweeting. It can be a great way to find some good abbreviations, and get some valuable pointers when you come to start tweeting in Thai!

สวัสดี ปี ใหม่ (sawasdee pee mai)

Happy New Year To All My Readers!
Hope you all had a great Christmas and New Years.
Looking forward to 2010, and keeping the blog updated with hopefully some useful nuggets for learners of Thai at all levels. Unfortunately, as I'm no longer living in Thailand, it's harder for me to maintain my level, as I'm concentrating on learning Mandarin for the moment. So if you spot any glaring mistakes in my written Thai, please feel free to point them out.

Anyway happy new year to you all, and here's to a cracking 2010!

Windows 7

I've been writing about windows 7 in another blog I have, found here: http://www.webseoconsultancy.com/seo-blog

but i'd thought i'd add something to this from a language point of view. My previous install was using XP Pro, which was fine when i wanted to add Thai to the language bar. However, when I wanted to add Chinese (Traditional) to the language bar, it caused no end of headaches as that was never listed in my language service pack and trying to download it independently was a no go. I therefore, decided it was time to make the leap forward and go with something a bit more multi-lingual friendly, which Microsoft Windows 7 is - surprisingly. It was dead simple, adding Chinese to the  language bar, and know I can easily switch between Thai, English and Chinese, with a few shortcut keys. However, I was a bit disappointed to read that Microsoft Windows 7 is only available in 5 languages, which might come as a bigger disappointment to people not versed in those 5 languages.

Will have to wait and see if 2010, brings any updates and developments to this.

Thought for the day.....

ก่อนหัวเราะเยาะคนอื่น ลองหัวเยาะตัวเองดูบ้าง เพราะอย่างน้อย มันก็ไม่ทำให้เราไม่ลืมตัว


Before laughing at others, try laughing at yourself (see how it feels) because at least it will makes us not forget (how it feels).

Thai Alphabet (อักษรไทย)

Although, I thought I would never be able to learn the whole of the Thai alphabet, after all there's 44 consonants to contend with for starters and once you'e committed these towards memory then there's the 15 vowels to grapple with. Of course, for someone who can easily remember pictures and symbols it shouldn't be too much of an issue. However, I know when i was learning I wanted to commit all the consonants and vowels to memory as fast as possible so that I could start identifying them in signs, newspapers etc and progress with reading Thai.

If you're looking to streamline learning the Thai alphabet, then I'd suggest downloading some software that can help you visualize the alphabet characters and also provide audio clips on how they should sound. So if you've got the cash to invest in your learning, you may want to give 60 minutes to learn the Thai alphabet a go. There's plenty of features on there that will expediate the whole process. Or if this is out of your budget, kids books and the tables i featured on my first post are a great way to start learning as well.

ขายขี้หน้า/เสียหน้

For many westerners the concept of 'losing face'/'saving face' is something strange and unusual, as for many of us before coming to asia it was a novel concept. However, here in lots of asian countries it's very important for the locals to maintain the harmony and not to lose face or make other people lose face. Often in Thailand, you may hear the term 'sĭa nâa ' เสียหน้ used as an equivalent of 'losing face' 
and when you hear this you just hope Thais aren't talking about you. 
In Taiwan, the concept of face is also important and maintaining the harmony. 

พอดี - Just about right/Just enough

I was over at Thaivisa.com on the language section, and there was an interesting thread about พอดี Go Here To Read It.
In the case of พอดี when put at the start of the sentence the phrase it takes on a completely meaning to instances where we might hear this phrase used out in public (usually in the just right/just enough context). 
As Katana points out, when พอดี is put right at the start, followed by a verb in the future tense then it takes on the meaning of just about to do something.
But, you will usually hear พอดี used in these kinds of scenarios:
น้ำตาลพอดืไหม  - is there enough sugar?
ใส่เสื้อพอดีไหม  - is the shirt a good fit?
คุณมีโซดาพอดีในแก้วของคุนไหม - do you have enough soda in your glass?


In Thai contemporary pop there's also a number of songs that contain พอดี in the title for extra practice on different contexts of the phrase, which have karaoke versions on youtube.
เบิร์ด ธงชัย (Bird Thongchai) - พอดี Fit 

Golf Mike - ไม่พอดี ไม่ดีพอ.

พอแล้วสำหรับวันนี้  

Learn to Speak Thai like a Thai

I've stumbled an easy to use application which might be good for some learners here, which guides you through the Thai language with visuals, sounds and phonetics to make learning Thai all that more easier. I shall be putting up a proper full review in the coming weeks, when my schedule quietens down a bit more. However, if you did want to check it out it's compatible with Windows XP and Windows Vista and there's a new and improved version being launched in the next couple of days for only $39. At this sort of price it's a bargain and certainly cheaper than getting private lessons or studying at a school/University. Click to start learning

Podcasts

I've recently rediscovered the joys of podcasts and how they can be instrumental in the beginnings of learning a new language, and indeed whilst your still developing your vocab. and proficiency in the language podcasts are still very useful and shouldn't be neglected. I'm posting about this, because as you know I'm starting to learn Chinese and I've found the newbie lessons from Chinesepod.com very useful indeed. I think what makes these particular podcasts perhaps more interesting and perhaps easier to digest is that you get to hear the conversations 3 times, then there's an explanation of what the dialogue means, the context is used in and perhaps on what other instances/occasions you can use particular words/phrases, and then you get to hear the conversation another 3 times - this time having a better understanding of what's going on. The onus of these podcasts, as well, are not so much on the individual words/sentences, but rather the patterns that go on in chinese. By the radio presenters not over analyzing the words, context etc. it's not too overwhelming for a beginner. I just wished I had discovered  podcasts and used them when I was learning Thai, maybe it would have helped.

Reading materials online

One of my favourite online news sites has to be Matichon Online, it's great for picking up bits of good vocab. and expressions and really challenging yourself. Although when I read it my understanding is not quite 100% it provides me with words/phrase I then need to go away and check in the Lexitron online dictionary: http://lexitron.nectec.or.th/2009_1/.

Here's a link on the Matchion site to a news story about Robbie Williams and his previous addiction to prescription drugs, after it came out the Michael Jackson died from a drug overdose from a cocktail of  prescription drugs. http://www.matichon.co.th/news_detail.php?newsid=1255336425&grpid=01&catid=

Here's some words/phrases I've picked out that might be useful:
ติดยา = drug addict
วันนั้น = on that day
ผมเล่นยาหลายประเภท = i tried many kinds of drugs
โคเคน = cocaine
เฮโรอิน = heroine
ยาบ้า = ya ba/metaamphetemine
ยาแก้ปวด = painkiller(s)
"ไมเคิล แจ๊กสัน" ราชาเพลงป็อป = "Michael  Jackson" King of Pop.
นักร้องหนุ่ม = young singer
เกี่ยวกับเรื่อง = story about