iamguava

Yes it is very common to use family terms in this way.

My closet friend always refers to me as brother and in turn I call her sister, been that way for past 10 years. I even receive birthday cards "to a dear brother". Like cm-happy it would be obvious to outsiders that we could not possibly be blood related.

The other thing that I notice though, is that when a Thai looks at you, as a farang they don't expect Thai to come out of your mouth. If it does, and even if it comes out well, they don't comprehend it, as they aren't expecting it. Happens to me fairly regularly.

Also, as Samran says, more frustratingly - EVEN when you say the correct word without making any of the above mistakes, the Thai person may still not understand you, because she/he thinks you are speaking English - they are listening on another channel, simply. And since the sound data does not fit that channel, the result is 'Err-rerr' (error) as signified by the famous 'deer in headlights' stare.

Agree 100% with these observations, especially if you try to get by using just one word like "fork" rather than complete sentences such as "I would like a fork please" but even then by the time the listener has registered that you are speaking in Thai rather than English they have missed what you said. Result usually "Arai na ka?"

Another vote for Dr Suppaporn

You can listen to the song Here

Hi Slippery

Sorry, I dont know where you can download the song but the Title is "welcome to Thailand" from the album of the same name by Carabao

In Thai (may help your search)

เวลคัมทูไทยแลนด์

Thanks for the explanation, Meadish. I suspect this is one of those questions that won't be satisfactorily answered (for me) until I can listen to an explanation face to face with someone.

I am originally from Manchester, England and I think I understand your question. You are referring to transliterations like "krup" for ครับ

when you would expect "krap" right?

The reason is that most foreigners idea of the English language is based around London pronunciation. Imagine how an English person from South England would pronounce "bus" it would sound to a Northerner like it should be spelled "bas" right? The explanation really is that simple.

Another example of why learning to read Thai is so important and why ANY transliteration system can never be more than a tool to help at the very start of learning this wonderful language.

'Wen gam' is like karma, not necessarily your fault, in this life.

I always understood it to mean more like "retribution" - like an event in life caused by a prior act. Therefore of entirely ones own doing? Maybe I'm wrong though, anyone have further thoughts?

Examples of usage in Thai would be nice

Thanks guys

Anyone have thoughts about the phrase เวรกรรม (wen gam) and the difference between this and สมน้ำหน้า (som nam nar)?

โนมอร์ ไอดูนทธิงดิฃวิลล์เฮลพมีฃพีกอิง

Hi expat98

Take a look at my pics "a small gallery of portaraits 2006" on my website Here I think this may be what you mean.

These pics taken first week in June directly outside front entrance to MBK, they have a stage that you can see from the overhead walkway. All the kids dress as Japanese manga characters, lots of photo opportunities as they love to pose. I only saw it this one weekend so cannot help whether its a regular event. If you need more info contact me though my guestbook on website.

Hi guys

I am now back in UK after spending June in Bangkok to join with the celebrations to mark the 60th anniversary of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej's ascension to the throne.

I had a wonderful time and enjoyed watching all the preparations in the run up to the holiday weekend. I stayed at my usual place and being close to the river and both Shangrila and Oriental hotels had an opportunity to see the massive security operation at first hand, many of the special branch and security personnel were staying in my hotel too! The excitement mounted all week with members of foreign royal families arriving and more and more people wearing yellow T-shirts everyday.

We were lucky enough to have seats to watch the Royal Barge Procession on both the 9th and also 12th June. We wore our special yellow T-shirts and were made to feel very special being embraced by the Thai people around us. The guy sitting next to me even tuned his radio to an English speaking channel so that I could listen to the commentary of the preparations up river. Later at Sanarm Luang I was invited to eat with a group of soldiers taking a quick meal break.

I have posted a gallery of the celebrations on my website if anyone is interested.

My Webpage

Not sure if a direct link like this is allowed ... mods please delete link if I am breaking forum rules

I heard that the procession on 12th June has been brought forward by 2 hours to 5:30pm and the firework and laser displays will not now happen. Cant find any further info, is anyone able to confirm or deny this?

This looks to me like a vivid example of "link bait".

I bet my nuts there's not a girl behind the scene.

Buddhas are not tattooed here

Whilst this is true some of the Sak Yan (or Sak Yant as sometimes written but the final "t" sound would not be pronounced) do contain stylised images representing Buddha and Buddhist teachings. As ColPyat states, others can be characters from Ramakien or other mythological texts, deities from other religions notably Hinduism are also popular. The term really refers to the geometrical ones though, the most common being Gao Yord (a triangular shape usually at the nape of the neck and representing 9 buddha images).

agsnowdon:

There are many images you can choose from, popular ones in the position you indicate would be a leaping tiger, various Hanuman representations as ColyPat already stated, and there is a very popular stylised turtle that is often icorporated into a back design.

Also do Sak Yans use templates like a normal tattoo

Altough today, they are worn by the westerners strictly as a cosmetic indulgence

Hi

The style of tattoo is called Sak Yan (สักยันต์) and are often worn as "protection tattoos"

Sorry, cant help at the moment with any temples around Chiang Mai that offer these tattoos but I will check and post again when I get home.

The method of tattooing (traditional spike or modern gun) are not really thought as important to the effectiveness of the protection as the style, Pali Sanskrit prayer or "Yantra" that is a part of the design along with the blessing given at the time. The tattoos are often re-blessed at a later date too.

You will see many Thai men in dangerous occupations wearing these (Police, soldiers, fisherman etc) along with gangsters

I do have Sak Yan myself but do not fall into any of the above categories

It depends very much on the individual's talents.

I am crap at literal translations as i think in Thai when i speak Thai. I do not know the translation for the words i use and have to search for a possibly right translation, if that makes any sense.

When I first started to learn Thai I was very fortunate in having a teacher that understood this method of learning and memorising vocabulary. For instance to teach colours she would bring to class a pack of coloured crayons and some line art. She would ask me to colour say the boat in red etc. Or for numbers she would bring coins or dice and have me perform simple maths. Each lesson she would reinforce past vocabulary by for example, asking me in the midlle of a class to stand up and raise my right leg, or sit down and close my left eye to reinforce the vocabulary for parts of the body that we had learned during prior lessons. Sometimes she would produce 3 dice, roll them and ask me what the total was.

I believe that this repetition of use and using the vocabulary in real(ish) situations helped me to retain more than if I had learned purely from reading Thai (I do now have that ability after many years of hard slog). I still have friends who although they can speak basic Thai, if they wish to use a number they have to mentally count (1,2,3,4.... oh the next one is 5) or a day of week they do the same (sunday, monday, oh the one I need is Tuesday).

Hope the above makes sense although it may be slightly off topic.

Hi TBWG

From control panel on you laptop

Regional and Languages - options

Click languages tab

Click details button

On the settings tab towards the bottom you will see button marked "Language bar" click this button

Ensure that there is a tick in the checkbox "show additional language bar icons in the taskbar"

This should then show the familiar EN and TH in the bottom right corner of the taskbar.

As I stated in an earlier post, I use the stickers on my laptop but they have now worn away with use and I have found that a USB keyboard is a much more elegant solution and its just a matter of plugging into a spare USB port on either the desktop or laptop, once you have been successful in enabling Thai in windows.

Good luck!

and short of buying the Thai version of windows, you will need to buy or get for free whistling.gif a software package. I personally dont know of any packages, but if you have a spare computer i would get a copy of Windows in Thai

If you are using Windows XP it has Thai as standard, it just needs activating in the languages section of control panel. It is then just a matter of pressing left Alt key together with the shift key and you toggle between English and Thai input language.

Or let some one by you the Thai Keyboard Sticker and stick them onto your Keyboard.

Thai language keyboard stickers available from Here $5 dollars delivered, I use them on my laptop and they last quite well but eventually need replacing depending on usage.

Hope this helps

Edit - new info.

Keyboards availabe Here in UK and they are in stock at present for £16.93 including VAT

Better solution if your using a desktop

Another option is to fly from Samui to Phuket then a couple of hours drive

Is that Thai or Farang price?

I believe there is only one price, my Thai friends are most upset about this

Hi Bambina

This isnt a romance story coz I am happy married

I have met some wonderful people on the internet and am lucky to meet them later in real life. I met someone 8 years ago on internet chat and that person became my best friend and my sister. We met in real life first time after about 1 year of chat. Now we talk together everyday and see each other in real life as often as possible.

I have met others from chat and always have enjoyed the experience. There used to be regular meeting of chatters from Yahoo chat at Hardrock in Bangkok, always was fun to link faces with IDs

Hi guys

I guess I should share part of an email i received today from my brother who has lived Koh Samui for past 13 years

We have been having severe storms over here for the last 2 weeks and today we are on our 10th day of rain running.Many people have lost their homes and businesses washed away.We were closed for 2 days as all the roads into Chaweng were flooded.I was trapped in my room for 2 days as my apartment building was under 6 ft of water and I had only instant noodles and a loaf to eat ! as I write its absolutely pissing down and the roads are starting to flood again.I honestly have never been so depressed out here .All the thais are miserable too.The old woman I buy the fruit from has been here 30years and told me she has never known it like this.There doesnt seem to be an end to it at all.Every time it stops you think,right thats it maybe, then 20 minuts later we get hit with another bout.3 people have been killed so far.

I will be back in 3 weeks .. hope its all finished by then

Heres the reply I received this morning, slightly different wording but same result.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear David

Thanks for your email to Sky and please accept my apologies for the delay in responding.

I appreciate your comments in relation to the non availability of Thai channels via the Sky platform. However, the decision to launch foreign channels would ultimately rest with the channels concerned.

We do appreciate that there are many viewers in the UK and ROI who would welcome the opportunity to view more specialist channels and you have my assurance that your interest has been passed to the relevant department for their information.

Once again, thanks for taking the time to contact Sky.

Kind regards

Robin Bourn

Viewer Relations

the lady dentist at the side of the SAMUI INTERNATIONAL hospital in CHAWENG is highly recommended....I'm shit scared of dentists but have used this one now for 3 years without complaint!!

good value too!!

Another vote for this dentist. My wife and I went to Samui in June just for my wife to have 2 new crowns done by her. An old crown came out on our December trip and this dentist did an emergency repair job, my wife was so impressed that she booked an appointment for June on our return to UK after being quoted 4 times the price in UK for new ones

She has been very happy with the result and the dentist actually charged LESS than the original quote.