Tarragona

We were at Jomtien on New Year's Day and a riderless jetski suddenly appeared heading for the beach at speed. The tide was high, so it came out of the water and took out a few umbrellas and beach chairs. Fortunately, people had seen it coming and warnings were being yelled and I think just one person sustained minor injuries.

It was a bizarre sight though - very James Bond, I was waiting for the explosion.

Of course the people in Isaan say they speak "Isaan". Would you really expect them to say they speak Lao? Tell someone from Isaan they are ethnically Lao, or they are speaking Lao, and they may well get upset with you.

I'm amazed at all the people based in Isaan who say that the people there don't refer to themselves or the language they speak as Lao. I'd always thought it was quite normal because the locals in my wife's village in Ubon most certainly do.

It is true that if they thought someone was suggesting they were actually a Laotian from Laos, or was using the term in a derogatory manner, they would be upset and point out that they are Isaan not Lao. Otherwise they are quite happy to be Lao in informal situations.

There are many educated people who don't really care how it's pronounced properly (they are just too lazy to get it right). Not only in Isaan.

So, if you wanna say falang, that's up to you. People will understand it.

It's definitely not just an Isaan thing. One of the most constant gripes Ihear from (Thai) teachers in Bangkok is how the young generation hardly produce their 'r' sounds any more.

One actually explained to me that Central Thai has a number of dialects and the national language should really be referred to as 'Standard Thai', as it is the official version. He reckons that in the central dialects are now replacing the standard version in much wider contexts of everyday speech, hence the increasing use of 'l' where 'r' should be used in the standard.

Any thoughts?

The actual sound of these three letters when in syllable final position is neither a /g/ (because unlike /g/ it has no vocal chord vibration) not a 'k' (because it has no puff of air after it). What happens is, your tongue stops where you would start to make either a /g/ or a /k/ - there is no real equivalent of this in English.

Except that in English the final 'k' is often unreleased.

Well did anyone else see the news bulletin in question?

On the Ch7 website, the latest news story (timed 12.55) is that Thaksin has no plans to return to Thailand at the present time.

Oh, and they checked with his neighbours as well just to make sure that rumours of his return were untrue.

What could the dispute possibly have been about?

Not paid his motorcy' fees.

Not paid his gambling debts.

Not paid his drinking debts.

Not paid back his borrowed debts.

1 death confirmed.

6 bombs confirmed (ITV.

Any idea who is responsible or is it to early to say

Bit obvious....

It's not though is it.

Another bomb reported at 1910 in samut prakan.

On ITV News they confirmed that there was not another bomb at Samut Prakarn.

It turnd out to be their Samut Prakan correspondent reporting from Seacon where there is activity but he can't confirm a bomb has gone off.

The police haven't reported any deaths yet just wounded.

Have a look at universities running international programs. There might be possibilities even for someone with a Master's in Political Science, perhaps in combination with some English courses to make up a full load.

Got mine about a week after filing sometime in February, several thousand baht.

But then you don't claim to be a rebel (as he did for many years) when you are just a sales agent.

To be fair to the man, he has never really tried to hide anything about himself. Even in their early days Carabao were doing Coke ads, so it's not like they suddenly sold out later on in their careers. And he really did fight the causes and the band did play concerts with bullets flying around - whatever your take on his motivation.

There are a lot of contradictions around Carabao and especially Ad. A lot of 'facts' about Ad Carabao come from sources you would question in your own country. It's very interesting to go back and read old interviews with him over the years because most of the questions were asked and he generally gives very open answers. In his autobiography, the thought of making his millions is there right from the beginning.

Also, he didn't just come up with ditties for TRT but, after many years of turning down offers from political parties, he decided that he would take the baht from any that paid. So you can hear him singing songs for 4 or 5 different parties, nothing to do with supporting their politics.

Not a forum I actively participate in but I've learnt a bit and picked up some ideas here - plenty from MaizeFarmer of course.

Best wishes and here's to a speedy recovery.

I guess she probably has reasons to suppose that the family will close ranks but if she does have a decent relationship with them she really should talk about the situation with them. Although it's forum lore that the Thai family will close ranks, this is some thing of a dangerous generaliztion and should not prevent your friend trying to discuss the issues with the family if she feels able to.

Most (all?) translation agencies will place a stamp on the translation which says in English and Thai that it is a true translation, signed by the translator.

This is perfectly acceptable not only to the British embassy but also in any situation once in the UK where the document plus translation is required.

The need to have an affirmation of freedom to marry stamped by the MFA is a Thai requirement, not a British one.

And how about an independent translator who doesn't have a company? Is a stamp required or is the signature enough?

I remember from previous threads that the British Embassy doesn't require Thai-English translations of official documents to be authenticated by the MFA. But what actually counts as a certified translation? Does it have to have the stamp of a translation agency? Or is the signature, address, phone no. of the translator enough?

We did a few of the parks in Ubon in October and it was a 'special day' too which let us use the ticket in all parks. I got Thai price in the first one and by no. 4 it had been such great value, I paid for another ticket at farang price (200 baht).

Pha Taem initially seemed reluctant to accept the ticket from elsewhere and said that the 'special day' was the day after. When they heard we'd already used it at two sites they gave in. I wondered if perhaps they are losing out on some revenue (official or otherwise) if people already have tickets from other parks.

Roselle

I've used both Limewire and Soulseek, and Soulseek seems to come up with more of what I want.

What subject is your Masters exactly? You may be able to get a decent university job in your field in one of the international programmes, which would pay better.

But he's Mr Influential in his Samut Prakan home turf.

It's true that the clan are very powerfully locally, but it's interesting that in the last couple of general elections they and their associates have mostly failed to win seats in parliament.

We seem to have between 1 and 3 in our house, I think it's just 1 at the moment. They are very quick to dive for cover. The one that's here now is behind a cupboard right next to a light switch and has never made a move for my finger when I turn the light on. If anything it moves away.

The wife doesn't seem too bothered by them.

They can leap a fair distance too. I once startled one venturing up alongside the stairs (they have never made it upstairs) and it flew off the wall near the top of the stairs and pretty much made the bottom. It went right past my face and was the only time I thought I might be under attack.

I didn't know about the rats / mice. We did once have mice in the kitchen and, unbeknown to me, the wife put down glue traps under a couple of cupboards. I was mad when I was investigating a strange noise and found a tokay had stuck itself. Those traps are a truly evil invention.

So how does everyone feel about these? a. /b. / both

1. "There's somebody outside."

a. That'll be John.

b. That's going to be John.

2. [At a dinner party]

a. Will you have some more wine?

b. Are you going to have some more wine?

"Thank you."

3. My brother's got great patience.

a. He will sit for hours waiting for a fish to bite.

b. He's going to sit for hours waiting for a fish to bite.

4. "Goodbye."

a. Bye. I'll see you next week.

b. Bye. I'm going to see you next week.

5. "I'm taking my umbrella."

a. "Do you think it'll rain?"

b. "Do you think it's going to rain?"

6. "I've got a splitting headache."

a. If you lie down for a while you'll feel much better.

b. If you lie down for a while you're going to feel much better.

7. "Jane's putting on weight"

a. She will have a baby.

b. She's going to have a baby.

8. [stuck in traffic, a long way from the destination]

"The meeting starts in 10 minutes".

a. We'll be late.

b. We're going to be late.

9. "You wanted to see me?"

a. Yes, it won't take long.

b. Yes, it isn't going to take long.

10. "You were a disgrace last night."

a. I promise I won't do it again.

b. I promise I'm not going to do it again.

'I will do it' implies (to me) that it is something I intend to do at some time in the future. "I am going to do it" implies that I'm off to do it right now.

That's interesting, endure, because you're English. TEFLers from England tell me insistently that "I will do it" (spoken with no special inflection or emphasis) is definite, whilst "I am going to do it" is uncertain or indefinite. In American English, I'm 99% sure that there is no difference whatsoever.

The problem here is you are taking things without any context and you also seem to be assuming that each structure has one meaning or function. Both structures are used in a wide range of contexts, some of which overlap and some of which don't.

A couple of weeks ago we visited the Tad Ton waterfall in Ubon Ratchathani and I got in for Thai price by showing my tax card. Afterwards we found out that the tickets were valid on the same day for all the other places we were going - Kaeng Tana, Pa Taem and Soi Sawan waterfall. By Soi Sawan, we'd had such fantastic value for money that I didn't bother showing my ticket, just paid another 200 baht. More than worth it.