RichBKK

We ve always stayed in Thailand and my son (7) goes to a Thai school. Im really the only person who speaks English to him. It was slow at first but his confidence in English built up and now there are no problems. He watches cartoons on YouTube in English so you could encourage your sons to get into the habit of doing the same. My lad picked up a great deal for Peppa Pig. Including a home counties accent.

When I was at junior school around 8 or 9, a Chinese kid joined our class with zero English skills. It took him about a year to to pick it up without many problems.

It really is amazing how quickly kids pick things up.

Much the same with my little girl, who is nearly 2. She fell in love with Peppa pig when she was last over here, picked up loads as well through being immersed in an English speaking environment for nearly 3 months

They have had to return without me due to me having to stay on back for medical stuff, but my wife continues to speak (mostly) English to her and she continues to watch Peppa pig and Mother goose club and other nursery rhyme things religiously, and has already also grasped there being two words for things (English and thai), switching between 'mai ow' and 'no', 'Baby want that' 'baby swimming mai?' and 'mummy come on then', 'ta (grandad) go there' and thai equivalents. Its quite funny actually, and at that age she has the basics already in place. Younger the better I think, and my wife has aims to make her trilingual with chinese, though think we may wait a bit longer with that

Is the trouble with many of us expats. They will insist on thinking. Is why quite a few of those in authority don't want us here

Can't be having that can we ;)

Bit like marrying Luca Brasi

That family have a horrible reputation. But yes, like others said, it's a common theme in that branch of society. It's a trade off with money and security against marrying people who are basically rich enough to do what they bloody well like and have never had to learn the difference between right or wrong. Any problems are solved with a few grand in the back pocket

No one should expect to be beaten like that but Thailand is still quite 1970's about this kind of thing. Most of the general public are seemingly more interested about the divorce settlement than they are about her being a battered woman. Public sympathy is a bit meh here

Have heard also that bilingual children have slower speech development

Absolutely the opposite with our baby. She is 14 months and already a gasbag with her Thaiglish, first word (English, 'daddy') was at 7 months roughly. But she isn't normal

I am a confirmed monoglot and didnt speak at all until nearly 2 years old. Though obtained 2 degrees later in life. So didnt make too much difference in the end

No hard and fast rule I guess

Fwiw my wife (thai) burst out laughing and said 'what are they going to do, send immigration officers knocking on every condominium door every day of the week?' for the 48 hour reporting thing (we have a weekend place down that way). general feeling is that most people won't bother their arse going down the cop shop to queue up and fill out a form saying 'I am here' no matter what the authorities are saying in public, and the rank and file are unlikely to give much of a toss. It's more directed at hippies and drifters etc. hotel guests as others have said should not have to worry I don't think

Photo I'd shouldn't be a problem for most though. Sensible really as random stops are increasing in frequency during this period, not uncommon during military led hiatuses

We will see I guess but don't think most need be too worried by this at the moment

Wait a while. It will be back. Eventually

This is a bit like a kid cleaning his bedroom. Definitely some good things being done but a lot of crap will be slung under the bed until mummy goes downstairs and the mess starts accumulating again. Crisp packets, toys, wank rags, dirty cups, DVD cases, the lot

Hopefully some things will last the pace but they are fighting against hundreds of years of back scratching. Change may be there but anything lasting will be gradual

This, tightening of the 30 exemption rules and who knows what more is coming.. the condo market at tourist destinations will take a hit.

Which would show the cyclical nature of these things when rules are later relaxed

Just takes the influential owners/shareholders of various property developers like land and houses when their businesses take a hit to see pressure later applied to ease the rules a bit

Junta are not here for the long term, this is one of their experiments. Sooner or later if or when it fails to have a beneficial effect economically then it will be binned further down the road. Just a question of time. Money talks

I'm a bit confused, my normal state, about this, can Fifa order Uefa and the English FA to enforce this ban at their levels ?

Yes, Liverpool will suffer and will have to burn the midnight oil on this one.

It remains to be seen if any team will take a chance on buying him and if they do I'm sure the fee will not be near Liverpool's valuation especially if they make it clear they want rid of him

UEFA and FA are following FIFA, which is their parent org.

Suarez will protest the ban.

Can this mean the ban is put on hold until they have dealt with the protest?

The BBC are reporting he is on a private jet heading home to Uruguay where he is expected to receive a ' hero's welcome '.

Tbh as a Liverpool fan I blame Uruguay mostly for the ban's severity.

While he was here we did manage his behaviour in the last year reasonably successfully. And no one connected with the club condoned the Ivanovic bite

Uruguay on the other hand didnt give a toss and blamed everyone else but themselves. Personally would sue their FA for loss of earnings but from that lot we would be lucky to get one pound 75

I would not be getting directly involved in any legal proceedings but pragmatically the owners will be looking in to it because they could end up carrying the can for what the player did outside their control. Am not sure how responsible they could be held for that. But from my perspective they are going to have to buy in some more quality. No more lame excuses from that Walter Mitty CEO Ian 'what a big Harley I have got' Ayre and his legendary transfer negotiating skills

Wouldn't expect much public sympathy though. And have none for Suarez, I hope if the ban stands we won't be paying his wages. Selling him though, we wouldn't get value for him and we struggle with buying players, so not suprised we have ruled out doing that

Yep, noticed that as well, which is actually different from how the club hierarchy reacted after the Chelsea incident

Then, some fans in twitter may have been like a bull in a china shop about it but by and large this time round the club didnt contest the ban. They knew he was in the wrong and he was fined

Uruguay on the other hand are going down the 3 wise monkeys route and are showing zero shame. But in my experience that isn't unusual in South America with their national teams and heroes. It doesn't suprise me at all. Their attitude to on field violence etc is rather different from other parts of the world, and their national heros are rather untouchable

It will be very interesting to see if Liverpool fans will continue to defend his every indiscretion as they have with his previous bite against Chelsea and his vicious racism too. What a genius as a footballer, no doubt, but what a total arse as a person, horrible man!

There were actually two of the "most bonkers" brigade in action last night. Balotelli did everything he could to get himself sent off before his manager took him off to avoid a sending off!

I am waiting for Brendan Rodgers to give one of his rambling interviews. Always fun.

Will go to ground this time I reckon

As far as punishments were concerned. Agreed with the punishment given after the Chelsea incident. Some fans complained it was more than Defoe did for something similar but recognised he had previous and had likely been warned before for various offences

Likewise would agree with an international ban being dished out. But I don't think it can be imposed at club level, which is where the media led hysteria is trying to imply. Am not even sure FIFA want to ban him, because like it or not he brings in the viewers either due to his brilliance or his capacity to do something insane. But they have no choice. Just a question as to whether he gets a longer ban than Tassoti did. I think on balance he should. But it's not enforceable at club level I believe, I don't think they will attempt that

It will be very interesting to see if Liverpool fans will continue to defend his every indiscretion as they have with his previous bite against Chelsea and his vicious racism too. What a genius as a footballer, no doubt, but what a total arse as a person, horrible man!

There were actually two of the "most bonkers" brigade in action last night. Balotelli did everything he could to get himself sent off before his manager took him off to avoid a sending off!

The racism incident was a load of <deleted>. Though most of the damage was done by the clubs Lieutenant George approach to his case (Blackadder goes 4th for reference) both before and after.

The other things though, I think the majority know its wrong but it's like having a family member accused of things, the drawbridge is up and self preservation comes in to play. Especially if you know that without him you might not be anywhere near where you are. Had it been a fringe player or a Aspas, it would probably be different. Just the way it is and dare say it would not be different anywhere else in the same situation. Is about being pragmatic

I don't agree with pretending it was nothing like some do, but am also a believer in the not cutting off your nose to spite your face idea as well. Is why I completely understood man U doing the same with Cantona, Chelsea with John Terry and so on

Appreciate the reality that there aren't many options out there

But Prandelli for me shows how to admit you aren't good enough with some grace

Instead we are treated to another slice of the Owl's relegation-honed 'expectation management' post match specials

'Gave us something to cheer about' ?

Progress my arse. Ambition my hole.

Those comments riled me. He's my version of the Pink Panther. He's been sent to try me

This

"I thought we were really unlucky not to win this game. I thought the whole back four was absolutely excellent. We restricted the team to almost no chances. In midfield we dominated and outplayed them."

Eh?

Oh and this...

Hodgson: "I'm pleased we gave the fans something to cheer about with our performance. We outplayed them in midfield." #CRC 0-0 #ENG.

Is he taking the mick? Sadly I don't think he is. Tipping point for me. Piss off back to Fulham you mediocre t***t

He's not going anywhere

And it has nothing to do with his ability (or lack of) as a top class manager

Firstly the FA, I wouldn't trust them to organise a chimps tea party, let alone pick another manager and secondly why do we have the FA cup semis and no end of concerts etc played at wembley? Answer, they are still in hock over the new wembley stadium and they won't be paying up the hodge's contract

They wouldn't know where to look. And to be fair there ain't much out there and the job isn't the draw it once might have been. A well renumerated retirement home for a decorated mercenary or a 'lets hope for the best' gig for a mediocre native

Pity as think the new generation of players have reasonable technique and less of the egos of their predecessors. But they ain't gonna do jack with this owl

Defence is the worst back 4 I have seen since Keegan took a load of old lags to euro 2000. Though in their defence, those old lags did once have the ability to play a bit. Baines-Cahill-jagielka-Johnson is a Everton type back 4. Serviceable in the PL but at the highest level they are what they are, sub par. None of those are elite level

Also Hodgson, now I do see he has tried to play it a different way this time. But it's not his game. Him trying to add fluidity to his rigidity is like Camilla Windsor putting on a Louis Vuitton frock. Or lipstick on a pig

Just depresses me that there are seemingly no other alternatives to do the job.

Uruguay ranked 7th in the world

Italy 9th

England 10th

2 tight/ tough games, but i thought the other teams showed more will to win,and defence better.We didnt play as a team and the back 4 is woeful, compared to other top 10 ranking countries.

No need for doom and gloom, we were never going to get out the group of death

I think Italy are a good well organised outfit with a solid mentality.

Uruguay I think Suarez and to a slightly lesser extent Cavani polish some ropey team mates. But in Suarez their best player is a level or two above our own versions. I think their ranking is inflated by the achievements of a younger, better side a few years back. We needed to get something from that and we couldn't do it

Agree on the defending. Most of those fellas would be nowhere near the squad 10 years ago. Cahill might be a bench option, rest would be on the beach. Not up to standard

Defence is the worst back 4 I have seen since Keegan took a load of old lags to euro 2000. Though in their defence, those old lags did once have the ability to play a bit. Baines-Cahill-jagielka-Johnson is a Everton type back 4. Serviceable in the PL but at the highest level they are what they are, sub par. None of those are elite level

Also Hodgson, now I do see he has tried to play it a different way this time. But it's not his game. Him trying to add fluidity to his rigidity is like Camilla Windsor putting on a Louis Vuitton frock. Or lipstick on a pig

Just depresses me that there are seemingly no other alternatives to do the job.

Italy was a gallant effort

This was just annoying, Uruguay are a weak side propped up by a world class player and this infuriating habit of conceding costly late goals has struck once again

Germany 4 years ago was an aberration, England are rarely thrashed but also rarely win these sorts of tight games against teams around them

Poor back line and manager not suited to the players at his disposal will probably mean a early journey home, and am not sure I will be here in 4 years time either to see the next one. Limp like a wet haddock

Back now

But now know the final score due to these morons plastering it all over their Facebook website. Damn

Hope these scenarios don't repeat themselves throughout the whole tournament but previous experience says that's probably unlikely

True visions load of rubbish

Was a decent game and all yet these idiots go and interrupt it with some numfk message

Never came naturally to me but forced myself to do it as I felt that certain milestones weren't achievable by staying at home with books etc, even though it's what I instinctively preferred

So I sort of forced myself, quite enjoyed it, getting drunk, going to pubs etc. it was fun but it wasn't deep down really me

Then aged 30 I get married, became a dad a year later and was diagnosed with a serious health condition at the same time which meant no more drinking alcohol now or perhaps for ever and a drastic career scale back

So motivation is gone. Back to square one, but in a way I don't mind because I think my daughter and family are enough for me now. I don't feel like I have to be out there and be seen any more like I maybe did when I was younger

And that happened to me I reckon quite a bit younger than most on here reckon it comes to people at different stages of their lives. The biggest waste were the uni couples I encountered aged 20 who were living like couples twice their age minus the kids. Mid life crisis candidates for sure

Laptops, about 5 minutes. Had about half dozen of those

Ipad is going strong after 2 years though still

Hodgson has not been as bad as I feared when he took over and has to a limited extent tried to adapt and evolve some aspects of his MO but still can't help feeling he is not best suited to this present crop of youngish impressionables

I think ultimately they would do better under a younger manager in the long run. It feels a familiar mish mash

Honduras, equador etc aren't San Marino or anything like that mind but it has a familiar air of 'ploddingness' already starting to set in. Have to see I guess

My father in law loved it but other than that, you could generally tell most of the visitors to Indian restaurants were Indian or western expats

Seem to prefer Japanese food here. Wasabi, mayonnaise, raw fish. Ugh teriyaki chicken is ok by me though

Only the thai men as it happens...ironically...

Am well used to it

I liked cold weather when I was in the UK but for health reasons this climate is much better and even though back home I may be forced on to more intensive treatment programmes, I would probably health wise be struggling a lot more, due to cold, pneumonia, superbugs etc. So.....