PaullyW

There is something called "fuzzy pinyin" which accounts for variations of Chinese pronunciation.

Is it also "widely adopted in China and used MOSTLY BY CHINESE, believe it or not"?

There is something called "fuzzy pinyin" which accounts for variations of Chinese pronunciation.

I am one of these people who moved over to Thailand and who live in Bangkok and never take a holiday. I just have no interest. I've been to a few other countries in Asia... Nothing special. As far as Thailand goes, once you've seen a road side stall selling cheap food, you've seen them all. Once you've seen a dirty beech with no walk ways to safely cross the street and cars flying down the beach roads at dangerous speeds, you've seen them all. Thailand is a dump (from Chiang Mai and Issan down to the bloody south. Other SEA countries (save boring Singapore) are more-or-less the same. I'm happy to stay in my apartment when I'm not working. Sometimes I walk around in Central World and marvel at the grossly overpriced junk they sell there and then take the BTS home.

The idea of being EXACT surpasses many of the posters here also - not only a "Thai Mentality".

For instance a question to the original poster what EXACTLY it a "Forienger"?

If you want to be able to pronounce a Thai word correctly - perhaps you should take the efford to learn Thai-script rather than complain about poor phonetic transcriptions often produced by "FORIEGNERS"

Parvis,

No, you are incorrect. For many foreigners, learning Thai is a task they have no time for. For instance, expats working here in busy multinational firms that tax their time have no time/energy to learn the VERY difficult Thai script.

Transcription systems are useful. Look up the "Pinyin" transcription system for Chinese that is widely adopted in China and used MOSTLY BY CHINESE, believe it or not. For instance, Thais could use a phonetic transcription system for mobile device input rather than having the mental overhead of dozens of spellings (irregular spellings, of which there are MANY) for words.

It's not just foreigners who benefit.

[quote name='kerryk' timestamp='1341670186' post='5463091']
Geeze guys why don't you show some photos of dairy ranches or dairy cows in Thailand instead of those scrawny burger cows.
[/quote]

OH! The dairy cows look different.

chirp, chirp (cricket)

Thai Soi Dairy Cows.

Looks more like grass than garbage.

Yeah, I had a hard time finding the pics of them eating garbage, though I've seen it with my own eyes. Nonetheless, I don't want milk from these sickly looking, skinny, depressed cows.

So much rubbish posted in response to this story. The problem of cracking and stripping (where the bitumen comes away from the concrete below) is common. The issue here is the maintenance schedule. The sky is not falling. It is not the end of the world. Once the maintenance schedule is sorted everything will be fine. It is normal to have runways closed for resurfacing and repair work. I believe Sydney airport had a runway closed for nearly a year with maintenance and repair works taking place.

Yes, in other words, "mai pen rai".

Why not just fix all 15 faulty lines

fill em in with sand like they do at Swampy....

Chinese style walk (hands behind back, often hunched over) -- attached

Couldn't find a pic, but Thais tend to walk quite differently (less shuffling of the feet), wider, longer steps, etc. Quite possibly something to do with the heat.

Maybe we should scrap passports and just train immigration officers to recognise the various national walking styles...

Great idea.

Chinese style walk (hands behind back, often hunched over) -- attached

Couldn't find a pic, but Thais tend to walk quite differently (less shuffling of the feet), wider, longer steps, etc. Quite possibly something to do with the heat.

I understand the point you guys are trying to make, but you must understand that not everyone has equal difficulty identifying people of a certain race. It's ridiculous to think that people cannot usually or often be identified as Black, White, Asian - Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Cambodian, etc. I have been VERY good at being able to identify and distinguish between the various races (easy) and countries (harder, but not impossible).

There are all kinds of cues visual, auditory and otherwise that give people away.

i think you may have a very hard time with me.

I look of one race, though i am not

i speak of another, of which i also am not

i behave of a 3rd and yet again i am not.

I do not even know myself what i am anymore, The only place i feel comfortable is Asia, because i am just a foreigner to most people.

In my country of birth, i did not fit in, in my country of residence i did not fit it, in my country of religion i was not accepted, so it seemed i could be an alien.

Upon my arrival to Thailand, i felt comfortable, because i was indeed identified as an alien and officially i still am

I agreed already that it's harder to tell just by looking. The truth, however, is that there are a host of other things that CAN give it away. Dress, mannerisms, certainly speech (even when speaking a non-native language), walk, etc. My point is that it IS quite possible to tell without someone telling you.

Tell what? If you are from Ontario. You do realize that most people think you are a loon?

It's OK if YOU guys have no clue. I care f#ckall what anyone outside my circle care about me, thanks.

I understand the point you guys are trying to make, but you must understand that not everyone has equal difficulty identifying people of a certain race. It's ridiculous to think that people cannot usually or often be identified as Black, White, Asian - Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Cambodian, etc. I have been VERY good at being able to identify and distinguish between the various races (easy) and countries (harder, but not impossible).

There are all kinds of cues visual, auditory and otherwise that give people away.

i think you may have a very hard time with me.

I look of one race, though i am not

i speak of another, of which i also am not

i behave of a 3rd and yet again i am not.

I do not even know myself what i am anymore, The only place i feel comfortable is Asia, because i am just a foreigner to most people.

In my country of birth, i did not fit in, in my country of residence i did not fit it, in my country of religion i was not accepted, so it seemed i could be an alien.

Upon my arrival to Thailand, i felt comfortable, because i was indeed identified as an alien and officially i still am

I agreed already that it's harder to tell just by looking. The truth, however, is that there are a host of other things that CAN give it away. Dress, mannerisms, certainly speech (even when speaking a non-native language), walk, etc. My point is that it IS quite possible to tell without someone telling you.

I understand the point you guys are trying to make, but you must understand that not everyone has equal difficulty identifying people of a certain race. It's ridiculous to think that people cannot usually or often be identified as Black, White, Asian - Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Cambodian, etc. I have been VERY good at being able to identify and distinguish between the various races (easy) and countries (harder, but not impossible).

There are all kinds of cues visual, auditory and otherwise that give people away.

Yes but Kerry is talking about visual only....you would be cheating if you enlisted the help of audio.

OK, then fair. Yes, it would be harder (although still not impossible) for some in this scenario.

I understand the point you guys are trying to make, but you must understand that not everyone has equal difficulty identifying people of a certain race. It's ridiculous to think that people cannot usually or often be identified as Black, White, Asian - Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Cambodian, etc. I have been VERY good at being able to identify and distinguish between the various races (easy) and countries (harder, but not impossible).

There are all kinds of cues visual, auditory and otherwise that give people away.

OK -

Geographics -

1. Not likely to be Bangkok simply because cities, in general, are more competitive, harsher places. I don't consider Chiang Mai a real city.

2. Not likely to be Thais in tourist areas -- much of which has to do with the very low quality tourist Thailand has attracted over the last 30-40 years WHICH IS THAILAND'S FAULT (not the tourists'), but which also has to do with the nastier sides of certain Thai cultural propensities.

Demographics -

3. Not likely to be HiSo people if they don't perceive you to be similarly well-hell'd

4. Less likely to be Thai men, if you are man, if they perceive you as a threat or are jealous in one way or another.

5. More likely to be Thai women if esp if they perceive you as (relatively) "wealthy"

6. Less likely to be Thais far outside your age range as Thais (like most all other Asians) are very age-conscious and could be seen to avoid interactions with people, esp foreigners outside of their age bracket.

7. Less likely to be people who identify as more Nationalist.

8. More likely to be Thais who can identify with some kind of adversity/marginalization - read: lady boys, ethnic Laos from north east, ethnic Cambodians from South East, ethnic Malays in the deep south, Hill Tribes, etc. They are more likely to be able to identify somewhat with being foreign.

Thai Soi Dairy Cows.

First off, anyone who calls themselves a "farang" is an idiot in my book; if you wanna be a step and fetch it go ahead and shuffle off to ya masser....

Second; why dont you go ask the westerners here who do speak Thai (and there are plenty of them) what problems they encounter, then compare.

What nonsense; not to mention wanton hubris

I am a farang who speaks fluently Thai.

I would not consider living in Thailand without being able to understand the people around me.

I must admit that I have a certain "gift" for languages, while others can learn other subjects much faster than me. Thai is not easy to learn but it is very far from being impossible (The secret of the pronunciation is in the writing. That is where to start).

It took me about two years (over 10 years back) to be fluent. Since then I made many local friends and acquaintances, and the fact that I can have a fluent conversartion with anyone here opened many doors in circles where other foreigners have much less chances to be accepted.

Another advantage of speaking and understanding Thai is that it eliminates a lot of misunderstandings due to translations, or due to certain ways of speaking and certain tones that foreigners might not interprete correctly.

Understanding the language greatly helps to understand how the society works, which in return makes it much easier to adapt to the different concepts on which the Thai society is based.

I would not say that Thailand is the paradise on earth, there are many problem here too, but I personally feel very confortable in the Thai society. If I am still here after all these years it is, for a big part, because of all the positive things that came with learning the language.

One of the greatest benefit of being able to fluently speak with, really understand, and feel good in the Thai society is that, little by little, you start to put a distance between yourself and most of the other farangs... which is to me the best way to avoid silly discussions (about politics, for example).

What problem did I encounter since I speak Thai? ... Well, I don't think I ever encountered any.

However, I must also admit that I find the lack of interest of the Thai people in learning English a bit unfortunate. I always say to my friends how nice it is to be able to speak other people's language. But maybe they don't care about understanding the farangs who don't speak Thai

From your writing style, you remind me quite strongly of an Asian. Are you Asian or "Farang"?

Farang (as stated in the first sentence of my reply, and which I allowed myself to emphasize, since I don't really care to find myself in Kilgore Trout's "idiots' book" ).

What is your first language?

First off, anyone who calls themselves a "farang" is an idiot in my book; if you wanna be a step and fetch it go ahead and shuffle off to ya masser....

Second; why dont you go ask the westerners here who do speak Thai (and there are plenty of them) what problems they encounter, then compare.

What nonsense; not to mention wanton hubris

I am a farang who speaks fluently Thai.

I would not consider living in Thailand without being able to understand the people around me.

I must admit that I have a certain "gift" for languages, while others can learn other subjects much faster than me. Thai is not easy to learn but it is very far from being impossible (The secret of the pronunciation is in the writing. That is where to start).

It took me about two years (over 10 years back) to be fluent. Since then I made many local friends and acquaintances, and the fact that I can have a fluent conversartion with anyone here opened many doors in circles where other foreigners have much less chances to be accepted.

Another advantage of speaking and understanding Thai is that it eliminates a lot of misunderstandings due to translations, or due to certain ways of speaking and certain tones that foreigners might not interprete correctly.

Understanding the language greatly helps to understand how the society works, which in return makes it much easier to adapt to the different concepts on which the Thai society is based.

I would not say that Thailand is the paradise on earth, there are many problem here too, but I personally feel very confortable in the Thai society. If I am still here after all these years it is, for a big part, because of all the positive things that came with learning the language.

One of the greatest benefit of being able to fluently speak with, really understand, and feel good in the Thai society is that, little by little, you start to put a distance between yourself and most of the other farangs... which is to me the best way to avoid silly discussions (about politics, for example).

What problem did I encounter since I speak Thai? ... Well, I don't think I ever encountered any.

However, I must also admit that I find the lack of interest of the Thai people in learning English a bit unfortunate. I always say to my friends how nice it is to be able to speak other people's language. But maybe they don't care about understanding the farangs who don't speak Thai

From your writing style, you remind me quite strongly of an Asian. Are you Asian or "Farang"?

^^ Yes, in a country of 65+ million people, we will find a handful who are different, but, sadly, Thai culture is STRONG and they seem almost genetically predisposed to not being able to break the mould as it were. I've been to countries all over the world. Literally dozens upon dozens. And, I've found Thailand to be in a handful of countries that are so boring and inward focused and to almost completely lack intellectual curiosity esp about the world outside their country.

Has nothing to do with being a poor country either. Non of the African countries I've been to have been so bad. Most of the Central and South American countries I've been to and lived in have been better.

From your post it appears that you do not like Thai society. Why do you not move on to a country that you do like their society?

Because I profit wonderfully here.

Try Foremost. I agree that many have a rather off taste. Just like the beef. Have you seen the "Soi" cows that these food products come from. Skinny, spiked hair cows, wandering around the sois looking for garbage to eat.

But anyway, Foremost is pretty good.

They have dairy herds here, milk doesn't come from "soi cows eating garbage"

That's what you think...

Try Foremost. I agree that many have a rather off taste. Just like the beef. Have you seen the "Soi" cows that these food products come from. Skinny, spiked hair cows, wandering around the sois looking for garbage to eat.

But anyway, Foremost is pretty good.

As for talking, the vast majority of them have nothing really interesting to say. Yes, I do speak Thai. Their thoughts and ideas are generally quite small and limited. This is true for "educated" ones, too. Not just the farmers.

Just telling it like it is.

Well there are educated and educated.....These with university degree that can't count to ten and than there are these mostly Chinese-Thais who are REALLY educated. They have ideas and discuss about international politics etc etc, but you won't find them easily as they don't mix much with the normal population as they are bored of them.

I work in a very large ("elite") multinational finance firm in Bangkok. ALL of them are these Thai-Chinese. Yes, they are certainly a cut above the "regular" Thais, however, they are LARGELY far from interesting people. They are mostly concerned with flaunting their status over other Thais.

As for talking, the vast majority of them have nothing really interesting to say. Yes, I do speak Thai. Their thoughts and ideas are generally quite small and limited. This is true for "educated" ones, too. Not just the farmers.

Just telling it like it is.