dao16

Actually better do not learn language, you will enjoy the country and you will never get frustrated. It's much more complicated than foreigners think... It's not about understanding what they are speaking (unless you are with bar girl who tries suck as much money from you as she can)... By speaking thai and even worse read/write you are offending many thais (the exception are well educated thais who in opposite are very impressed and happy). Unfortunately I cannot share the reason on a forum (post will be deleted)

p.s. stop using L instead of R in thai words, by doing so you show that you are country side pumkin! Thais pay attention which word you use for 'eating' (there are about 5 different variation and you can understand which social level person belongs by which term he/she uses, you will be treated accordingly)

Hallo Gerty,

"p.s. stop using L instead of R in thai words, by doing so you show that you are country side pumkin! Thais pay attention which word you use for 'eating' (there are about 5 different variation and you can understand which social level person belongs by which term he/she uses, you will be treated accordingly)"

with those 2 sentences above, you have summarized what English-Teachers, Farang Managers of Thai Companies and Farang-Husbands of Thai -Wifes have not yet understood. Even after living here for 10 years or more.

More power to you.

Cheers.

It's called code switching. I can easily go about pronouncing things with "l" sounds among the people who do that and then suddenly pull out a rolled "r" if I want to. It isn't that hard to do if you actually know how words are spelled. Conversely, I would sound kind of silly pronouncing all the "r"s as "r"s in a place where almost nobody else does.

A time and place for everything.

They like even the most babbling attempt at Thai. Don't forget that most Thais speak Thai Plus their own local dialect; whether it be Isan, Southern....

If they don't want us to understand what they are saying for whatever reason, they just switch. My wife still does that with her family and friends after 12 years. I love it.

Next step--learn the local dialect. I found Laos (Issan) relatively easy to figure out once I had a grasp of Thai. Was useful during the many trips I took to Laos, as well. It still isn't up to the level my Thai is at, but I can switch pretty easily between the two, especially when listening....speaking, I can put together sentences in it--enough to let people know I know what is going on in both languages, generally.

I am a language nut, though, so I enjoy learning that kind of thing.

Only people with bad intentions don't like it.

This is your answer....people with ulterior motives don't like it because it makes it much, much more difficult for them to fool you or take advantage of you. The VAST majority of people here, though, are thrilled to the gills by a foreigner who can have a stable conversation.

It's easy to dwell on the negative experiences we have (I could give you an earful with those), but generally, people are really excited to be able to converse with someone from abroad, either to ask about where they are from or how they see things in Thailand. Most of my experiences are in the positive column. The people up to no good don't interact with me or know to keep their thoughts to themselves until I am gone (which is just fine by me).

This in from a provider in Vietnam .

To: Valued Customers,

On behalf of FPT Telecom, we would like to send to you the warmest welcome, the honest greeting and highly appreciate your kindly support and cooperation during the last time.

The submarine fiber optic cable AAG (Asia America Gate Way) was had a interrupted problem at 11:44PM September 15th , 2014. Hence, all the transmission service in the area are being interrupted, including Viet Nam. Unexpected event affected to the oversea exchange transmission and communications of customers as: web, e-mail, voice, video.. Because all bandwidth is being switched to the backup line. However, all domestic connection of customers do not affect.

We are writing to convey our sincere apologies for all inconvenience. We are trying the best to combine with the international carriers to recover the international internet leased line. We will provide the latest update information about progress of repairing this accident to customers.

The timing on this completely makes sense, as I was actually online doing something kind of complicated that day, late in the evening and that is when I started experiencing problems, along with other people in my neighborhood. Well, hopefully, they can re-route all of this traffic somehow.

I think it is important to learn these (assuming you are learning Thai beyond just a few phrases) since people do say them, and it might be useful to understand them in some situations. Same goes for any language. However, I wouldn't say them to someone seriously unless I was ready to rumble, as they say. That said, go to pretty much any country and insult them and see what happens. Think about the times you have heard the F-word said seriously and angrily, directly at someone. Very rarely does it mean that something positive is about to happen.

Just as a quick example, I can think of several times right here in Thailand when hearing some of these words, not even yelled, warned me that something was about to kick off and I was able to make myself scarce. In one of those situations in particular, what happened next was a street brawl with somewhere in the neighborhood of 20-30 people involved and tons of uninvolved people right in the middle of it when it started--I was already a safe distance down the street thanks to my little bad word cues.

My mother, now deceased, taught for many years in the U.S.

Let me tell what teachers there MUST do.

As a teacher you are required to be Red Cross certified in case one of the student gets hurt or has a seizure.

You need to pay for that course yourself

There is "playground monitor" duties assigned to you, which means two or three times a month you need to spend at least three hours or until the school playground closes down watching the children play.

There are "parent consultation" nights when you have to be in school available until 7:30 or 8:30 in case a parent comes in to talk about his or her child and there schoolwork,

Quite often once a week, but nobody ever shows up.

The state (depending on which state you work in, different requirements apply) needs you to keep your "teachers certificate" current, usually by taking seminars during the "summer break" to learn the most modern teaching methods.

At your expense of course.

And of course their are those that are told to be "sports monitors" for afterschool "sports" activities.

Almost none of this extra activity is paid for.

There are such activities as Chess Club, Science Club, Future Farmers of America (I'm not making that up),French and Spanish language clubs, etc.

Oh, and I almost forgot "detention" for those sent there for some infraction in school. Must be monitored by a teacher of course.

Oh, and the school she taught in required that as a teacher she had to be there at least one hour before the students arrived and must be there at least an hour after school day ended, EVERY day.

Exactly what were you complaining about now ?

Not sure where she taught. My gov't run schools were nothing like that.

Ok, yes on the certs they have to do and the monitoring duties (although we had specific coaches and health teachers that did all the in-school detention duties).

Parent consultation was once or twice a semester and tons of parents went.

Clubs were handled by teachers and they would swap them out, thus sharing them during different terms.

Teachers certs, yes...check. However, all of my teachers left for the entire summer (most notably, my English Literature teacher, who would spend the summer in Europe watching theater and opera), spent time with family, worked on other projects or taught summer school (yes, for extra pay).

We had intramural leagues that coaches would monitor, but that didn't last long at all. The regular junior varsity and varsity sports lasted all year, of course, but those were coached by paid coaches--sometimes teachers at the school, but often hired coaches, like you would see at the university level. I know because their pay for coaching was public information (maybe due to title 9, to make sure the same amount was being spent on male and female sporting activities).

Yes, they have to get there about an hour early, but not really more. I used to take a special speed and fitness class with our school's football team (even though I played soccer) at 7Am sharp in the AM....I guarantee you there were hardly any teachers around at 6:30 when I went to my locker. We started regular classes at 8 AM.

ANYWAY--not saying your mother didn't go through this and I realize teachers do work hard. However, what you described is worlds away from my K-12 experience. Of course, the US is a big place, so....obviously, anything is possible.

Well, this seems like a ridiculous way to protest it, but who knows, maybe it works in Thailand. It does seem like the guy has a point, if the one position is supposed to be independent from the other (you will find this in universities in North America, Europe and many other places in the world, too). News organizations also have their ombudsmen and the like, who are independent enough to make judgments about their writers and editors, and on and on.

I guess I would have to know the particulars of these positions, but it would seem strange for the other guy to gobble up two distinct positions, especially if they are expressly meant to be separate for a reason.

I am a retired American, here 10 years and only am here for 2 reasons :

1). Money as the USis to damn expensive and

2). The lovely " Evening Blossoms " !

A 3rd. reason came up after I came to Thailand -- that fool of a president !

Bush?

I am somewhat ambivalent about this post, since I really still enjoy going back to the US. I haven't been back for about 4 years now, but before, when I was more mobile, I really always found people there very nice.

I think it is easy to be abroad and in your head, reading the news and thinking "it's all going to hell." In reality, though, despite things I don't like about my own culture, it is still a fun place, although more expensive than life in Thailand.

Thailand has a lot of other things that I prefer to the US, but I wouldn't really be too bothered to live in either place.

haha...I wouldn't be bothered by it unless I had some reason to think it was meant in a negative way. I would ask the same question about any type of person jokingly, including whities, so I think it is fine.

It is the learning culture, and it is thoroughly entrenched in almost every layer of society. The biggest one is the no fail policy, which really does mean that the lowest of the low pass and, maybe even worse, they actually stay in the same classes with the students who are self-motivated and actually learn. This comes partially out of the idea that keeping the group together is more important than focusing on the needs of individual children within a group. In turn, those individuals are "expected" to help the weaker ones through. That sounds good in theory, but in practice it just means that everyone copies the strong students' homework or exams and end up studying nothing at all.

The last thing is that sustained study just isn't a concept here, really. Going in, butts in seats, yeah. But taking what you learned home, reviewing it and applying it to other parts of your life? Not so much. I am not only talking about children, either. This happens all the way through what they call "graduate school" here, with some exceptions.

My experience with Cambodia is that poverty breeds urgency and you can see a lot of really driven people there who work hard because they need to compete to survive. Not saying that is a good thing in and of itself, but immediate necessity does seem to play a role.

Well, I have definitely seen this...and I think the OP is talking about a very specific type of price increase. This isn't the price increase due to increased prices in commodities or market demand or whatever. This is the "oh, I messed up my business...nobody is coming so I'll raise prices" move. It is a panic move.

Meet its cousins: drastically cutting portions or quality suddenly, or simply not buying important parts of the product itself or relevant accessories. So then, even when your customers do go, it won't be long before they stop going.

As someone said above, it usually is a sign that the place is going under soon.

As for examples, I have a ton.

Here is one of the many I have seen (obviously, the place went under pretty soon): a new place opened and we knew some of the guys who opened it so we went. It was actually good for about a month. Then they changed the chef and it wasn't as good (I think they had some conflict about money between themselves..it was unclear). Then some random guy started cooking and it was edible enough to keep going for food along with some beers. The last time we went, we ordered TomYam, which was generally good before. It came out and no one could recognize it as being TomYam of any sort (90% Thais at the table). It was sort of like salty water with some sick looking shrimp inside. The rest of the food was also severely lacking.

We never went back and, apparently, most other customers made the same choice.

By the way, in reference to the one poster talking about foreigner/tourist areas, I don't live in one by any stretch of the imagination.

Learn to speak thai. If you can't pull after that, maybe you have other issues to deal with.

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Double post sorry, but I still think the 'government' and immigration system has shot itself in the foot, leg and goolies by not creating a new visa for farang who can make ample amounts of moolah on the internet legally, it is easily done in many different ways, and it takes away no jobs from the oh so precious Thai work force, and the money goes straight into the economy. Why have they not addressed this properly?

Because verifying income and calculating tax payments would be very hard, if not impossible, to verify.

All governments demand taxes.. Thailand would be no different.

You said it LL.

These nomads want to dodge taxes. That's all there is to it.

'nuff said

~

Um, they still have to pay taxes in the place where their business is registered...."nuff said"

Ok, just going to say...I am on my 3rd work permit and it has never taken longer than just over 24 hours. The first one was offered to me in 30 minutes (it was a matter of the proper personnel being in at the time I stopped by the office). So, no, it doesn't take long at all.

The documents....they are just the normal documents that license a business and certify a candidate. These organizations are being liberal with how they do their own paperwork and don't want to reveal that. Or, as many said, they don't even want to declare the taxes (more likely the case--big boys on top of the school have to eat!).

I am talking about schools. I realize that other industries could be different, but it would seem that if you are a certified SCUBA certificate provider (for example) with all your papers in place, getting a work permit for a certified instructor with all his or her paperwork in place wouldn't be much more difficult.

Either way, don't let this person saying it is some insanely difficult process for schools convince you. It isn't (and I know of many others who have had the same experience). Look at where the incentive$ are.

(EDIT)--In fact, just as my response was uploading, it occurred to me that the Ministry of Labor has been one of the easiest an most straightforward places in bureaucracy to work with in the years I have been here.

I like it well enough here after several years. In the end, it is life, with the good times and the bad times. There are definitely annoyances and problems here like there are anywhere, so I don't think I would call it "living the dream." That said, I could live back in my home country (the US...problems and all), but I still find it fun and interesting to be here.

Don't base your view on the content on Thai Visa. When people post here, it tends to be some problem they have had. It is sort of like the news--they never post "Everything went well today and I was pleasantly surprised at a few moments," even though those days happen as well.

I am not sure why you had such a bad experience. Yes, it is more expensive than Thailand (Malaysia as a whole), but I had a great time there about 7 years ago. Maybe it has changed.

We liked KL more, but Penang was still fun, once we got to the beach area. Everyone spoke English, which I was not prepared for...so that was a nice surprise. Didn't drive, just cabs and the occasional bus, so signs didn't matter much. Even so, when walking, we found it easy to get around. The beach was pretty and I saw girls in bikinis and not in burquas, although some girls were also swimming in their clothes, as they do in conservative places sometimes.

A for food.....sorry, not eating at McDonald's anywhere, even in the US (and yeah, I am American). We ate Malaysian and Indian food the entire time and it was always really good. As for beer...the muslims didn't care if I had a beer. Yeah, it is pricier there due to the taxes, but I was never harassed about it and even had a beer while talking with muslims who were drinking tea.

I am not implying that you didn't have this experience, but it does sound completely different to what we experienced there.

When I was not working here, I was told by immigration to get a non-O based on marriage and leave the country every three months. Yes, immigration told me to do that. So I did, and I lived here that way for a few years--immigration was fine with it since it was, after all, their idea.

Well, this makes the most sense. If you are in a situation where you need to present ID, you can go back to your house, apt or hotel and produce it. Fair enough.

I think it was just the wording of the other announcements that made it sound so draconian. Obviously, if there is an issue, you have to present your documents just like you would anywhere else, as it should be.

Like I said, they would prefer someone brings the passport to wherever you're located. This is what I was told. Obviously it isn't always possible but personally, if I don't have my passport, it will be somewhere the wife can go get it and easily find it.

Well, I can't think of a time here when I am more than 10-20 minutes away from where my passport is. Usually I do carry it, just because I constantly have paperwork I need to do with it. I also have to technically carry my work permit, too. And I have another Thai government ID, too.

If I am going out to get some beers and something to eat, though, I do leave the passport at home, which isn't far (I live in a small town). In BKK and larger tourist spots, I may or may not take it out on the town, depending on plans.

But yeah....definitely not leaving the province or even the town without my passport.

Well, this makes the most sense. If you are in a situation where you need to present ID, you can go back to your house, apt or hotel and produce it. Fair enough.

I think it was just the wording of the other announcements that made it sound so draconian. Obviously, if there is an issue, you have to present your documents just like you would anywhere else, as it should be.

 

 

I am sure they did see the bombing of London as a war crime and not the fire bombing of Dresden.

It is easy to forget that is how war used to be, until very recently. It was country against country and that included civilians. It was not just army against army.
During WW2, all nations used bombing of cities as a method of interfering with war production and demoralizing the enemy. Japan did it in China, Germany did it with the London Blitz, Italy did it in Ethiopia, and the allies did it with the bombing of Berlin, Dresden and Hamburg, as well as Tokyo and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
These strategic bombing campaigns were predicated on the concept of Total War. The civilian population under the control of the enemy was seen as a resource. Therefore, the civilian populace was considered a legitimate target of attack.

 

I agree that much has been changed since then but Hiroshima and Nagasaki are of a different scale and so bad it has never been seen before. I am pretty sure that most agree it was overkill especially the one on Nagasaki. It was just a show of power towards the Russians. 

 

I thank the USA for helping us get rid of the Germans and Japanese but if something was a war crime those things were. But I am also not blind for the argument that Japan would have gone on fighting. But I really see these things.. London Dresden Hiroshima Nagasaki as war crimes. That they all did it does not make it any less bad.

 

The fire bombings did much more damage and killed many more people...most people now don't think about those because they were more "conventional" at the time. Also, people seem to forget that it isn't like we bombed the cool Japan that you can go visit now. It was a country under a mass hysteria under an emperor who could do no wrong in their eyes. Arguably, they were more loyal and dedicated to their emperor than Germans were to Hitler.

           I hope these kinds of weapons never get used again....

2 hours? what a joke! in reality if you study something you should attend to class at least 5 hours a day..

5 hours a day is a bit much. I have done 4 a day one-on-one for some languages and that was a lot. Then you go home, relax, and study everything you have learned. I guess in a group things go more slowly, maybe--not sure what the situation is here.

This seems like an English teacher bashing post, but don't want to call you a troll. Not sure why. Nice angle, though. 

     Teaching English gives you a lot of skills. It makes you look carefully at your own language (and others) and analyze it. It also does wonders for people in terms of public speaking. Insert example here...I won't bother..it's just true. Also time management and a bunch of other stuff.

          Anyway, I am not sure why one being a teacher before would immediately count them out. A lot of your loathed "teachers" are like me--graduated with honors from a top university, did the corporate world, even good jobs in the public sector, and then realized teaching was a fun way to travel. That doesn't mean they don't have applicable skills for whatever position it is you are trying to fill. It seems like you are the problem here with your way of approaching this. Tell those people what the requirements are and they can apply through HR. Simple. 

        In my own personal case, I just don't find that most non-teaching jobs in Thailand available for foreigners fit my skill set, so I have never applied to non-teaching jobs here (in fact, got the teaching job by word of mouth and never did a proper job search for it). But that doesn't mean that some people don't. 

       These people aren't crazy weirdos...they just know you might have an idea for employment outside of teaching, so they ask you. Be a professional and just refer them to the appropriate department.

For a bit of background, I have learned Thai and Laos (Isaan) from self-study and talking with people over the last decade or so. I live most of my life in Thai, except when I have to go give classes. In other words, my Thai/Laos is enough that I know I am not completely butchering things, since people in my out-of-school life understand me.

At the uni, I keep things in English. The guy before me was much better at Thai (not just speaking, but reading, writing...the whole lot) and he would give entire lectures in Thai, which I thought was ridiculous.

Anyway, I will occasionally throw in a Thai word or expression (or, something in Laos for laughs...not because it is a bad language, but because the students get super excited that you know expressions in their local lingo). I never go beyond a word or a short expression/sentence and students will never suspect that I actually know more than that. They think I have just memorized a few expressions.

I know this from first hand experience, as I ran into a student working at a bar/restaurant when I was out with my wife (I work at a uni, so the kids wait tables, etc.). We knew the owner and my student was there while my wife, the owner, another worker and I were all having a conversation in Thai. During a lull in the conversation, she said "oh, you can speak Thai? All the students think you can't speak Thai like this."

So, I think that as long as you keep it minimal, it won't affect the class....since they won't really believe you can actually speak and understand based on a few expressions or words.