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).