Asianbloke

Hi, I would like to learn Thai language as it is taught in schools for Thai students at the primary level. I do know that 'Manee' book series were widely used at primary level but they have since been replaced by newer books in Thai schools.

The Manee book series is available for easy download but I was wondering if I can catch hold of the newer books intended for today's primary level Thai students.

I think learning Thai language this way is going to be a lot easier and fun.

So, if anybody could help me out with the latest Thai books for learning the language at primary school level.

I strongly condemn such hooliganism.

Have fun but don't spoil other people's fun.

No one has to right to inflict injury (which could have turned out to be a grievous one in the OP's case) on the other person.

Despite the Thai government's regulation of Songkran by cautioning people to play safe, there are people who still resort to such form of 'revelry'.

This just isn't acceptable.

One incident doesn't decide all. Why shouldn't we trust Thai? I don't see any reason for it.

Thanks all for your suggestions. I am glad that you helped me with your tips and even warned me of that fishy odour

@thailiketoo

Now, that's a problem too and I would have gladly discussed it on a Korean forum or if my post was about the Korean obsession.

Dr. Malcolm Roth is wrong for he feels that all/most Asians have 'Oriental' facial features and hence, they aspire to have western-looking eyes.

My point was it is not a Thai thing. Thais are not even in the top ten. Look at the facts. Look at the skin whitening creams sold in India, Pakistan and Thailand. People always want to be what they are not.

Which nation wants to look least like they now look? It's not Thailand.

I never denied the sale of skin-whitening creams in India. Some say it is a British hangover in India while others feel it has much to do with status being connected to skin complexion (the idea being that the poor are the ones with darker skin tone since they have to slave-it off under the sun). There are biases everywhere in India.

India is a diverse country with an entire range of skin tones from very fair to dark, a lot of times within the same closely-related family.

And, just because the K-obsession doesn't apply exclusively to Thailand, that doesn't stop us from examining its influence in Thailand?

@thailiketoo

Now, that's a problem too and I would have gladly discussed it on a Korean forum or if my post was about the Korean obsession.

Dr. Malcolm Roth is wrong for he feels that all/most Asians have 'Oriental' facial features and hence, they aspire to have western-looking eyes.

@Thailiketoo

It didn't stop there in 1968 and continued through the 70s

My intentions are being misread. The Thai press has called these Korean and Korean-inspired collective trends ‘Kim Chic’ – as a play on the popular Korean menu item Kimchi.

Thai authorities recognized the 'dangers' of this craze years ago and began warning the Thai teens.

The Korean ‘look’ for the ladies included wearing coloured contact lenses that made one's eyes look bigger with oversize glue-on eyelashes to enhance the effect. Thai officials had sent out warnings that the contacts can make one go blind and even spread HIV infections if they are swapped between friends.

Another public service announcement warned against imitating Korean looks through skin-lightening creams.

This is in the same line as blaming the spate of dengue cases among Thai women on the Korean import, black hosiery and claimed that mosquitoes are able to hide in the dark colours and more likely to bite such Korean-fashion inspired women.

Some Thai authorities have also cast Korean Fever as a threat to Thai culture

However, few concerns among the government officials seem valid. The ones where Thai are ready to risk, going under the knife, to acquire a surgically-enhanced dolled-up look of the Korean pop stars - heightened noses & oval facial structures. This is an unhealthy obsession with one's looks.

Hmm I don't see it as an issue. Thais had a huge hello kitty thing for a while. wait it out if you don't like it OP all fads do end....

And, that's why they are called fads. It isn't to do with my preferences & issues with it but with the discomfort that Thai authorities seemed to have had with some of these 'waves' from other cultures.

Some of them feel that aping styles from 'popular media' of other cultures and the mass hysteria surrounding it, dents Thai nationalistic fervour.

Should the K-fever among Thai really be seen as unpatriotic? Does it really dilute the Thai cultural legacy that they have held to close to their hearts for ages?

That is one of the questions I asked in my post.

Well, I am quite acquainted with Oppa Gangnam Style and the likes.

However, K-fever is even stronger and more intense in Thailand since it resonates well with their Asian sensibilities. I was just looking to explore the possible reasons and if you would have read properly, the discomfort of Thai officials everytime, a new wave sweeps over Thailand.

It is only natural for me to discuss the influence of K-fever in Thailand on forum meant specifically for issues pertaining to this country.

I have no hang-ups whatsoever, in discussing about its impact in western countries and Indian too (if at all any)

However, if I do so, there would be some accusing me unfairly of devoting a post to India on a Thai forum.

Alas! I can't always please everyone.

I missed it. Where did you post the information that Thai Officials disliked K-Pop? The hippie link 40 years ago is nonsense. American/Euro trash Hippies are not K-pop.

So if no information just say you were trying to construct another Thai Bashing post and you were wrong.

Here, I am trying to pay respect to all other cultures too besides Thai and if someone fails to recognize the all-inclusive nature of my post, I am not the one at fault.

It seems that missed out on some relevant facts in my post. I said that similar discomfort has continued till date and is now evident in official advisories that often accompany each K-fad.

Is that worry/discomfort rational? A throwback to the earlier times is definitely relevant to the discussion here.

Nonsense. List these advisories? What is a K=fad? Do you mean K-pop. Ten K-pop channels on Thai TV with no problems or advisories. Make some sense. You are a Thai Basher. Plain and simple. If Thailand is discriminating against K-Pop show us??????

A fad means a fashion trend which happens to be short-lived and includes K-pop. It's a lot more diverse than that. Warnings were issues as and when these fads emerged and not with each and every K-soap aired on TV. I never said.

I have already listed the concerns of the officials & even an advisory among many others wrt K-culture in my posts here. You can always dig up for more & you will readily find them. I am just being a bit lazy.

Well, this isn't nonsense.

Thai interior minister, Prathuang, during those times had ordered immigration officials to deny entry to any traveller who looked like a hippie and offered a few guidelines on how to spot one. According to the ministry's directive, anyone wearing a singlet or a waistcoat and no vest, or wearing shorts in an impolite manner was most likely a hippie and should not be allowed in.

Anyone who wore slippers or silk trousers, that appear offensive or who had long, untidy hair and a dirty looking appearance should be refused entry as directed by the minister.

He went on further to say that the ban of hippies was necessary because they jeopardised peace & order and damaged the country's reputation.

Well, I am quite acquainted with Oppa Gangnam Style and the likes.

However, K-fever is even stronger and more intense in Thailand since it resonates well with their Asian sensibilities. I was just looking to explore the possible reasons and if you would have read properly, the discomfort of Thai officials everytime, a new wave sweeps over Thailand.

It is only natural for me to discuss the influence of K-fever in Thailand on forum meant specifically for issues pertaining to this country.

I have no hang-ups whatsoever, in discussing about its impact in western countries and Indian too (if at all any)

However, if I do so, there would be some accusing me unfairly of devoting a post to India on a Thai forum.

Alas! I can't always please everyone.

I missed it. Where did you post the information that Thai Officials disliked K-Pop? The hippie link 40 years ago is nonsense. American/Euro trash Hippies are not K-pop.

So if no information just say you were trying to construct another Thai Bashing post and you were wrong.

Here, I am trying to pay respect to all other cultures too besides Thai and if someone fails to recognize the all-inclusive nature of my post, I am not the one at fault.

It seems that missed out on some relevant facts in my post. I said that similar discomfort has continued till date and is now evident in official advisories that often accompany each K-fad.

Is that worry/discomfort rational? A throwback to the earlier times is definitely relevant to the discussion here.

Is op so ignorant? In western countries they also love korean culture which has superseded japanese culture and mind you japanese culture in terms of say anime, video games etc have long held sway on the western world. Just the word pokemon alone will tell you how many western ppl know what it means and if you don't you're a caveman go ask your grandchildren what that word means. Anyway korean culture is like the new japanese culture of today. Oppa gangnam style is famous world wide. Everyone knows what it is.

I find it laughable that OP would single out the thais in this respect when there are teens in western countries that listen to korean pop music and watch their dramas. SNSD even held a concert in the US and they are something like the korean version of the spice girls but better looking. You know how hard it is for an asian band to do that. They held their concert in some popular stadium or venue. UK bands have problems doing that apart from the oldsters like the beatles.

Well, I am quite acquainted with Oppa Gangnam Style and the likes.

However, K-fever is even stronger and more intense in Thailand since it resonates well with their Asian sensibilities. I was just looking to explore the possible reasons and if you would have read properly, the discomfort of Thai officials everytime, a new wave sweeps over Thailand.

It is only natural for me to discuss the influence of K-fever in Thailand on forum meant specifically for issues pertaining to this country.

I have no hang-ups whatsoever, in discussing about its impact in western countries and Indian too (if at all any)

However, if I do so, there would be some accusing me unfairly of devoting a post to India on a Thai forum.

Alas! I can't always please everyone.

Trends are common the world over.

Just so happens that Thailand is into K-pop.

So what...?

Exactly. The question is why has this Korean wave then left Thai officials perturbed. It definitely has ruffled a few feathers.

Do they really think that popular media imported from another country can endanger their own Thai culture and if people of their nation choose to emulate it, then are they being unpatriotic and disrespectful of Thai culture?

Shouldn't the government be more tolerant of changes in the likes & tastes of the public and consider it to be normal rather than a deviance?

Discomfort with 'hippie culture' which found popularity in Thailand too way back in 60s & 70s and the crude references to it - is also a reminder of the similar Thai attitude.

Obsessing over K-pop & media is fine except for in cases where it adopts an extreme stance - going under the knife to look more 'Korean' and the excessive use of skin-whitening creams/peel treatments to attain a lighter East Asian complexion, courtesy the air-brushed, glossed up images of these K-stars.

Similar concerns were raised in past too, way back in 1960s and 70s when the 'hippies' arrived from Europe and US on backpacking trips to Asia. The Thai interior ministry in 1968 declared that 'Hippie' culture won't become fashionable in Thailand because it is too crude and dirty for the sophisticated Thai people. It ordered Thai embassies to bar entry of Hippies into their country and Foreign ministry agreed. It called such scruffy backpackers 'crazy people'.

Singapore was worse.

Hippies transiting Singapore had their passports stamped with:

Suspected

Hippy

In

Transit

I've never seen a SHIT stamp, by the way, and some people claim it's just an urban myth.

From the looks of it, it's most likely to be an urban myth though I am not completely sure.

Meet Maureen Wheeler, the co-founder of Lonely Planet:

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/about/our-founders/

And from the Lonely Planet story: "Maureen swears the Malaysian officials stamped SHIT in our passports".

http://books.google.co.th/books?id=onAAlO6qkiIC&pg=PA25&lpg=PA25#v=onepage&q&f=false

I just read it up, it seems to be true.

I just read it, it seems to be true.

Similar concerns were raised in past too, way back in 1960s and 70s when the 'hippies' arrived from Europe and US on backpacking trips to Asia. The Thai interior ministry in 1968 declared that 'Hippie' culture won't become fashionable in Thailand because it is too crude and dirty for the sophisticated Thai people. It ordered Thai embassies to bar entry of Hippies into their country and Foreign ministry agreed. It called such scruffy backpackers 'crazy people'.

Singapore was worse.

Hippies transiting Singapore had their passports stamped with:

Suspected

Hippy

In

Transit

I've never seen a SHIT stamp, by the way, and some people claim it's just an urban myth.

From the looks of it, it's most likely to be an urban myth though I am not completely sure.

I think it's not only the Thais who are in the grip of an obsession.

Aren't we supposed to discuss the issues concerning Thailand on this forum? It surely is a craze elsewhere too, but that doesn't stop us from examining its influence here in Thailand.

What needs to noted that Thai authorities have been less than welcoming of this K-pop phenomenon. Official warnings often accompany these fashion fads stating that the new fad may disfigure/blind or even kill. Just an example among several - one advisory blamed black hosiery, a fashion import from Seoul, for dengue fever in Thai women. The Deputy Health Minister cautioned against there use by Thai since he felt that the mosquitoes are drawn to the leggings’ dark hues.

A head of Thai cultural ministry in his speech had stated that the intention to go crazy after another culture shouldn't happen unless we have forgotten our own culture.

Is it taking nationalistic fervour & pride too far?

Similar concerns were raised in past too, way back in 1960s and 70s when the 'hippies' arrived from Europe and US on backpacking trips to Asia.

The Thai interior ministry in 1968 declared that 'Hippie' culture won't become fashionable in Thailand because it is too crude and dirty for the sophisticated Thai people.

It ordered Thai embassies to bar entry of Hippies into their country and Foreign ministry agreed. It called such scruffy backpackers 'crazy people'.

I have noticed a strong grip of South Korean popular media over the imagination and lifestyle of Thai youth. It is evident everywhere -

from the new fashion fads constantly churned out (sporty-doll look for girls, slick-suit look yuppie image, puffed-up, coiffed unisex hairstyles, thanks to K-pop & K-soaps) to seemingly bizarre (atleast to me) expensive extremes ('heightened' nose, rebuilt 'oval' facial structure, whitening skin creams)

Some other close-by Asian cultures like Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar haven't found much appreciation among the Thai youth for obvious reasons.

So, apart from slick marketing strategy of South Korean commercial media and the mechanics involved, so that their products find a steady appeal amongst audience outside its borders, what else could have been the possible reasons for their immense popularity among Thai?

- restrictions on creativity & free speech in Thailand, domestic, simple TV soaps back home as against more interesting Korean soap operas or a craving to be free from the desperate attempts of homogenization of Thai culture by the government?

Korean wave has become so popular that some worry it might 'compromise' their Thai culture. Is this concern justified or shouting out 'compromise' taking things too far?

I recently came across an article about an ambitious project of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).It involves creating a common history textbook for South East Asia.

Educators, historians & academics from many countries like Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam are coming together to construct a common understanding of their shared past. They would debate their disputed historical legacies.

The idea of a shared textbook originated because of the escalation of a dispute between Cambodia & Thailand over the sovereignty of the Preah Vihear border temple.

I see it as the step in the right direction. I know this is going to be a Herculean task fraught with difficulties. I hope the governments of all the nations concerned would work with earnestness and honesty.

I hope they would be receptive to new information, re-examine the historical disputes of the past and reconcile conflicting narratives (undo the wrongs of the past). Otherwise, the whole exercise would be rendered meaningless.

I can just hope for a better future.

Well when Thais created writing symbols for their previously-only-spoken language, they adopted Khmer numerals to represent numbers.

Just as many of their alphabet's letters come from the Khmer symbols.

But these are Thai numbers when used in the context of Thai language, you can't really call them Khmer anymore since they've been part of the Thai language now for a few hundred years.

You do write a little more rational than some on this topic, but I believe your attitude is accurately reflected in this gem:

You Thai ingradeful that borrowing Khmer culture,Aplphabet numberals and words include dances and kick boxing as your when would you return must pay interest should be fair. For example chinese's fry noodle and Thai change to be your call Pad Thai, every asian countries can fry noodle. ashameeeee!!!.... stealer!

Really just a bit silly isn't it?

Yes Thais have contempt for their neighbors and this is encouraged by government policy, continue to propagate this contempt through their education system.

They generally despise Indians too, but not as much as Burma, Laos and Cambodia.

Yes it's a horrible thing, but I think you'll find most of us farang here don't give a toss.

A gem, indeed. I simply mentioned an interesting observation I came across. You are free to make your interpretations w.r.t my intention behind posting it.

I only wanted to highlight the contempt with which Thai hold their present-day Cambodian neighbour DESPITE having burrowed so heavily from their culture (so much so that Khmer numerals have made to Thai currency notes and coins)

If that contempt is fed by the educational system, then is the new Thai generation ready to open its mind in the light of different information and finally acknowledge the contribution of the culture of their Cambodian neighbour rather than look down their noses at them.

In today's infonet-age, they couldn't be/have been so naive, could they?

An interesting fact:

There are KHMER numerals used on Thai currency.

In Cambodia, I've seen myself, there are a lot of Indian soaps on TV, translated in Khmer. Just one example. They seem to see the Indian culture a possitive influence. Almost a polar opposite of that of the Thai's.

Nice to know that! I hope this age-old Thai-Khmer rivalry many gradually fade away if Thai start acknowledging the contribution of the Khmer to their culture and treat modern-day Cambodia with respect rather than a backward, inferior, untrustworthy neighbour, superstitious, black-magic practising country

I was wondering if there are any authentic Thai vegetarian dishes available. When I say that, I am obviously referring to the absence of fish sauce/fish oil/shrimp paste which is otherwise omnipresent in Thai food.

I know of one - Banana Roti (street food) but it isn't an authentic Thai dish.

PS: I am a vegetarian, not a vegan though. I do eat cereals, cheese and other dairy products.

Well, a similar statement was made by the second president of India, Dr. Radhakrishnan:

The intolerance of narrow monotheism is written in letters of blood across the history of man from the time when first the tribes of Israel burst into the land of Canaan. The worshippers of the one Jealous God are egged on to aggressive wars against people of alien cults. They invoke Divine Sanction for the cruelties inflicted on the conquered. The spirit of old Israel is inherited by Christianity and Islam. ''

Hopefully present and future India governments will also act about the religious violence in their own country

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_violence_in_India

No religion is exempt.

Thanks for the link. However, you can yourself see the widespread extermination of Hindus & culture by Islamic rulers at that link.

And, please don't confuse incidents of communal tension with a well-planned out strategy to exterminate a particular religion, civilization and its culture.