Tod Daniels

Here're the meanings of the abbreviations/acronyms. .. I took the time (a whole 5 minutes ) and Googled 'em, so everyone would know the meanings;

IGCSE - International General Certificate of Secondary Education

IELTS - International English Language Testing System

TOEFL - Test of English as a Foreign Language

GED - General Educational Development (called a high school equivalency in the US)

SAT - Scholastic Aptitude Test? Not sure if this is it, but it’s standard testing for almost every Uni in the US, (possibly other countries too but I dunno, not being all that edu-ma-cated in thingz like that .

The last three in the list are individual English proficiency and general aptitude exams given by LONG established VERY well known Thai Universities;

CU-AAT - Chula, Academic Aptitude Test

CU-TEP - Chula, Test of English Proficiency

TU-GET - Thammasat, advanced test of English language proficiency

As you can see from the meanings; they're almost all based around English proficiency. With L/E being a actual language school; I can't by any wild stretch of my imagination see by offering any of these programs they’re some how' out in left field without a glove' <-you gotta go look that idiomatic expression up yourself, sorry my free Googling is over, lol ..

Thanx for bringing it up! My interest is solely in thai language acquisition as a foreigner, so I didn’t know half the acronyms meanings but do now!

I also didn't know L/E offered such a diverse mix of English proficiency prep stuff, but it’s really good to know! Cheers for that!

As much as I am loathe to use the expression ไม่เป็นไร there are times when it’s the best ‘catch all’ going out there both in terms of politeness and in that it’s universally understood by everyone as, “It’s okay”, “Don’t worry about it”, "Never mind", etc.

I totally concur with “Peppy” and “mike-l” using ซะ (which is the colloquial shortening of the word เสีย) is quite dismissive with a negative connotation.

I have heard ช่างเถอะ being used as a short but curt substitute for ไม่เป็นไร, but usually amongst peers rather than a patron to service staff.

I am not near the language pundit of the other posters as far as adding หรอก, เล็ย <sic> (which I think could be just variant in pronunciation and spelling of เลย, but I dunno) at the end. Although I have heard both หรอก and เลย used with the phrase. I have also heard people say; ไม่เป็นไร มันเรื่องเล็ก ๆ as in "It's alright, it's a small matter". In fact I've heard that many times in many different situations.

Like I said, I try to avoid using ไม่เป็นไร here as much as I can, but sometimes it's the best short, simple answer to give without comin' across as either overly condescending, snarky, or dissmissive, especially if your spoken thai clarity isn't quite up to par.

You gotta admit as much as it's used here; if it didn't 'fit' anymore the thais woulda axed it outta colloquial speech already.

Actually, theres very little down side to having an ED visa in Thailand. Ive known of NO DANGER, ever with people on ED visas legitimately studying what ever it is they have that type of visa for. Rarely a hiccup with extensions, and most of those can be attributed to operator error where they didnt know when they needed to extend their visas or forgot to buy a re-entry permit before they left the country, rather than foul ups by the school(s).

As a foreigner here, youre certainly NOT limited to studying only the thai language. There are TONZ of Asians here studying english who have ED visas. In fact the Asians studying English is probably the biggest segment of the entire ED visa market hands down compared to the much smaller "niche market" of EU, UK, Oz, US, etc foreigners studying thai.

I know an older foreign guy whos studying Korean, another one who's studying Japanese, even a Japanese girl whos studying French. There are also more than a few Russians here studying various languages too that I've came across. I also know of foreigners here who have ED visas for various and sundry things like; studying thai cooking, thai traditional massage, thai buddhism at a temple, Muay Thai, even scuba diving. Really there are tonz of things you can do here on an ED visa if you think studying Thai wouldnt be your cup o tea.

True most private institutions will only give you the paperwork to secure your initial 90 day single entry ED visa in a neighboring countrys Thai embassy or consulate. Then every three months they provide you with documentation to extend your stay in-country at Thai immigrations. Short of going to a real university, thats about how it plays out here, especially in the private language schools. I dont know really all that much about how it works in the other fields with an ED visa, as Ive not been all that interested in them.

Cost isnt prohibitively high, and now some language schools accept payment plans. Some have it where you pay for 6 months schooling up front, and for that you get 6 months of classes, the paperwork for the initial visa, and then in about 60 days after that you get another set for your first 90 day extension of stay. If you want to keep studying, you pay for another 3 months of schooling and they give you additional supporting documentation to extend your stay at immigrations. Granted these pay-as-u-go plans cost slight higher than if you coughed up the entire yearly tuition fee up front, but not by a crazy amount.

I even know of schools which offer the ED visa and then you attend class via Skype on the internet! This is mostly for people out in the sticks, as the O/P alludes to being. Although if its indeed the Bangsaen Im thinkin of; it sure aint a one buffalo town in Nakhon Nowhere!

I honestly dont see any down side to anyone going the ED visa route for anything currently approved as valid curriculum. It has become a 'catch all' type of visa for people to facilitate their stay here and learn something, especially for people who 'fall thru the cracks' in the qualifications for other visa types.

Anyway, thats my two satangs worth of info. ..

There was a semi-interesting thread on here the other day which I responded to. Alas, it is no longer available.

It did however get me thinking; (not all that easy a thing to do at my age)!

So I ask the Thai language learners and posters out there two questions;

1) What qualities do you look for in a private Thai Language teacher?

2) What qualities do you look for in a private Thai Language School?

The reason I ask is;

On the now defunct thread, I posted what I thought were valuable criteria which I look for in a private Thai language teacher. Another poster known whose forum name eludes me, posted nearly the exact opposite list as far as what they felt was important for them. This disparity in 'needs' by foreigners as far as qualities to look for in a Thai language teacher prompted me to make this post.

I hope this can be a good thread, get a lot of valuable input from the forum members and NOT degenerate into another, well another one of "those" kinda threads.

I'll make another post on this thread as far as what criteria I look for in both schools and private teachers, but I wanted to get the thread started.

Personally, I think you’re gonna be hard pressed to find a school in Bangkok which will do what you want (but I’ll call some tomorrow and check).

Most schools which I know who do the “payment plan” take half up-front, (10-14K baht) and then you spread the balance out in payments over the rest of the year. (Usually in incremental payments every three months). You need another extension, pay for 3 more months of schooling. ..

This is mostly because any school incurs a fixed cost to get the documentation from the Ministry of Education which lets you;

1; get the first ED visa from a thai embassy or consulate

2; lets you get another 90 day extension after the first visa runs out

Really, business-wise, they’re only breaking even with the cost of the lessons you’ve attended and the amount of time you’re allowed to be here (about 6 months). After that they’re goin’ on ‘faith’ you’re gonna still study with them.

Also remember extensions of stay run at 90 day intervals, NOT monthly, (hence the three month incremental payments I hinted at earlier!) A school is highly unlikely to cough up the expense of rounding up your paperwork for an entire years worth of extensions of stay, especially if you decide to bail out on ‘em part way thru the year. After all they’re in the business to make money (just like every business in the world!).

(EDIT)

Rhetoric removed, as I’ve now become a kinder, gentler tod-daniels. .. 555+

To “lopburi3” and the O/P too;

I totally concur, I too have seen first hand students who entered on a one year multi entry non-Immigrant Type ED visa and got a 90 day in-country extension NOT be able to use the original visa again when they re-enter the kingdom after their current extension expired.

EXCEPT in every case I've seen, (as in with my own eyes) the original visa was marked thru with a pen and stamped "USED" on the visa itself. The O/P says their visa is unmarked; making me think it probably would work trying to re-enter on the original visa which is still valid as it’s in pristine condition and IF he writes the original visa number down on his arrival card.

You're right in pointing out the O/P is way off base in thinking if he sails back in on a 30 day "visa exempt stamp" that he'll get it sorted out at immigrations easily. Seeing as he held an ED visa before, they MIGHT (as in maybe, or maybe NOT) do the “two step process”; where they convert the 30 day visa exempt stamp to a single entry non-immigrant visa, and then give him a 90 day extension when that winds down, but my experience is only with foreigners at Changwattana and NOT with foreigners using the Chiang Mai Immigrations Office.

I still think the safest way for the O/P to avoid hassles is to get the paperwork from his school and secure another 90 day extension at immigrations (buying a re-entry permit too!) BEFORE leaving. This is fool proof, and sure fire it will work insofar as giving him the remaining days left on the current extension of stay.

The other way, even though I think will work just fine, might NOT and the O/P would be in much worse shape than they are now.

Most private thai language schools give out that packet of paperwork and tell students to go to immigrations and get a 90 day extension. So rarely do students get a year long multi entry type ED visa BEFORE coming here that the schools just assume everyone has only a single and hands out the paperwork for a years worth of extensions of stay.

This hiccup came about because he got an in-country extension of stay, instead of running for the border and getting another 90 days upon re-entering thailand.

As I read this; the original VISA is still valid, but the current extension of stay will expire on the 9th. In theory, if the O/P exits (and he won't need to buy a re-entry permit as the original visa is a multi), when he comes back ON THE ORIGINAL ED VISA he'd get another 90 day "permission to stay stamp" in his passport.

I have seen cases where some students on this type of visa go for in country extensions of stay, some run-4-the-border, (the cost is nearly the same). Personally with this type of visa, I wouldn't do in-country extensions and just border run every 90 days. This also stops the O/P from doing 90 day reporting.

Again, in theory, the original year long multi entry ED visa issued from Oregon is still VALID. Now whether things will play out like that when he comes back and passport control sees he was on an extension of stay, who knows !! I'd most definitely write the original ED visa number on the arrival card when he enters, have it stapled to the page with the ED visa, showing he's coming in on it and NOT on the expired extension of stay.

Interesting, I hope the O/P will report back and let us know what actually happens.

As An Aside;

Because the O/P has done an extension of stay already another option would be; he could take the paperwork from the school and go to thai immigrations and get another 90 day extension of stay. (He should buy a re-entry permit too, as the one on the original visa doesn't work for in-country extensions). He'd then be leaving on a current extension of stay, which would still be kept 'alive' by the re-entry permit, so when he came back he'd get the remainder of the 90 days as the "permission to stay until" stamp

I still think exiting the country the last day of his extension, and re-entering on the still valid multi-entry ED visa would get another 90 days, but. .. Things don't always work out as we think they should here.

I agree, those inexpensive thai kids books are the way to go as far as getting a handle on writing thai characters.

There is a two set workbook from AUA called "Reading & Writing Thai" which is pretty good too. Personally I didnt like the squirrelly transcription they used for thai sounds in engrish, but they do teach you to read and write, with plenty of practice exercises.

They also teach you to write thai like a normal thai would write it (in very small script), as opposed to the thai childrens books where youre tracing letters over a centimeter high. Still those cheap kids books do a good job training your hand to make the thai characters when you're starting out.

AFAIK; the AUA work books are still for sale at book store in the main branch of AUA on Ratchadamri. Heres the website for their thai language section;

AUA Thai Language Program

They can tell you when the bookstore is open and give you the direct number to it too. ..

Good Luck . ..

Good, I could still edit this; There’s also a quite a good book out called aptly; Reading and Writing Thai. It’s by Somsonge Burusphat (สมทรง บุรุษพัฒน์) and it’s about 350baht. Well worth what you get for the price.

A quick note to the modz known as “Tywais” and “meadish_sweetball” the poster known as “niklota” actually wants his surname spelled out in thai.

Right now he’s got about 5+ posts going in the T/V Language Sub-forum, (having hi-jacked other topics about engrish-thai translations.)

On the surface it would appear like they originally misspelled the engrish word lottery in thai. I think they'd be upset if they got lottery tattooed on their arm versus a thai pronunciation of their real surname which they spelled “Lotter” I gleaned this from reading their posting history. (Either they’re more than a little insecure about it, or they just wanna make sure and are covering their bases with multiple posts in the forum)

FWIW: This poster also asked the same question in the pinned “thai tattoo thread” as well. Peppy gave them a pretty close rendition. Just imagine if they took "Tywais" advice and did get a tattoo which said lottery 555+!

These engrish words in thai tattoo threads always "wobble my mind"! However, being a kinder gentler tod-daniels and reining in my errant posting penchants, I don't usually post on them.

WOW!! That's quite the list of requirements you've amassed to study the thai language!

What's with the oh-so prohibitively short self imposed travel restriction? There are a HUGE number of busses, mini-vans, moto-cyz, etc which ply their routes from the Ramkhamhaeng area to various and sundry spots in Bangkok at all times of the day and nite. Sadly, I've had the displeasure to sit in taxis near the uni at Ramkhamhaeng during rush hour and sometimes they didn't even move 500 meters in 15 minutes, 555+. .. If you could see your way getting to either the closest BTS or MRT station; you'd have 15+ odd schools within easy reach scattered all over the bangkok metro area.

I believe for "option 3"; you're gonna be really hard pressed securing an ED visa (especially a multi-entry one year) in a neighboring S/E asian country. It'll be nearly impossibl tryin' to make it 'fly' without having support documentation from the Ministry of Education which a registered school provides students enrolled in their thai language programs. Now maybe that type of visa can be had from a thai consulate/embassy in the US, UK, EU, or OZ, but I dunno.

FWIW: I have observed more and more private thai language schools (registered with the MOE) are now using Skype to teach thai to students who live in out of the way places. While the Ramkhamhaeng area isn't all that out of the way; still it's worth a shot looking into it, especially if you've got a "travel-phobia-thingy" going on.

Even for learning thai via Skype, these schools will provide you with your documentation to secure a Single Entry 90 day ED visa in a neighboring country's thai embassy or consulate after you've paid your yearly tuition. Then they supply support documentation to go to Thai Immigrations every 90 days and secure an additional 90 day extension of stay (for a 1900baht fee to immigrations).

As far as your price point, you’re well in line with what most year long private thai language school programs charge for tuition. They run between 180 - 200 hours over the course of the year, and vary in price from about 22K to 28K. You could also find much more expensive routes to go, but what I just mentioned is about the average spread for well-known schools in Bangkok for a year’s study.

If you do find a school let us know what you decided on, why and how it works out, ok?

Good Luck. ..

I bought a book only with proverbs but I liked only a few of them and I've never finished that book. It seems to me that not many Thais know the meaning of those proverbs <SNIP>

The american expression is actually; “The fruit (usually; apple) doesn't fall far from the tree”. It’s most common meaning is “like father like son”.

In fact the thais DO have an expression like this in their term;

เชื้อไม่ทิ้งแถว (cheuua^H mai^F thing^H thaaeo^R)

Their reference doesn't use a tree/fruit but someone's family lineage which cannot be discarded. Although slightly off topic; FWIW: the thais have the another expression when referring to looking at how a young woman will turn out to be as she ages, but the reference points are elephants and mothers it's;

ดูช้างให้ดูหาง ดูนางให้ดูแม่ (duu^M chaang^H hai^F duu^M haang^R duu^M naang^M hai^F duu^M maae^F). ..

I hafta disagree with your assertion that most thais don’t know proverbs, they do, but they use idiomatic expressions FAR more often than proverbs.

I have found I got far more bang-4-the-baht in terms of good really funny interaction with the thais if I'd use their idioms rather than proverbs. I think the delineation in thailand between a proverb and idiom seems much more blurred than in say america. Still I spent nearly an entire nite with the thai guys I drink with going over thai idioms and telling them the english equivalents.

Here's the link to Thai Language Dot Com's "Idiom page";

Thai Language Dot Com; IDIOMS

And here's the link to their "Proverb page";

Thai Language Dot Com; PROVERBS

A thai friend of mine gave me a printed booklet that his 10 y/o son got at school and it had 25 odd pages with HUNDREDS of thai idioms in it, each one with the thai definition of what they meant.

I've also found that most expressions in thai are very similar to their idiomatic or proverbial equivalent engrish translations once you factor in; geographical differences (with thailand being in S/E asia and all) in regards to use of different animals, fruits, vegetables, etc for analogous comparison, religious differences, cultural differences and to a lesser extent socio-economic differences based on the development of the country.

Both the US and thailand use many, many agrarian-based idiomatic expressions; given the HUGE numbers of people involved in farming here and the huge numbers who used to be farmers in the US.

As An Aside; I just picked a book up this afternoon at B2S which is called; "A to Z Dictionary of Idiom" <sic>. It's got almost all the american, british idioms in it; has the thai definition and uses a thai equivalent phrase if there is one. Good value. ..

You're right of course.

When I search for engrish phrases I always use quotes. I neglected to use quotes with this thai term and noticed some of the hits were with the words split apart, often even in different sentences.

Sorry about that, I stand humbly erected, err corrected.

Still, at least we agree "ขับซิ่ง" is a term commonly used..

Using Google-Thailand with the thai term; “ขับซิ่ง” brought up 2.7 MILLION hits in 0.11 seconds. A brief perusal of the topic headers show this is a VERY COMMON term for many types of racing sports (drift, drag, etc). It also carries the connotation of reckless driving as evidenced by the many pix of wrecked cars and mangled dead bodies.

I think the puzzle is sol-ved by the answers you've been provided with.

FWIW: when I learned the difference between ขับ and ขี่ long ago; my thai teacher explained that anything which you 'straddle' (goes between your legs) you ขี่ (bicycles, motocy's, horses, buffaloes, etc) and anything you get into or sit in a regular 'chair' type seat you ขับ (cars, trucks, tractors, etc). I have heard thais use ขับ interchangeably with ขี่ in common speech, so it appears the usage of these words isn't nearly as cut into stone as some other words are.

I came across this phrase in a magazine article I was reading the other day. I took the meaning in the context of the article to be something along the lines of "vague, oblique", or "circuitous"; in a rambling fashion, without supporting your observation with facts. This can have the results of being 'thought provoking', or 'bewildering' depending on the topic and situation.

It even works in your example sentence;

Because he spoke so “vaguely, obliquely, circuitously", many people wondered what he did in fact say.

Off Topic:

Granted, the words oblique, and circuitous have their own thai equivalents, (with the last word being the new slang word ‘weng’ "เหวง" in tribute to Dr. Weng and his penchant for talking without making a point; in common usage "อย่ามาเหวง" or "Don't weng me!")

Back On Topic:

At first I thought Lexitron might have gotten the engrish definition wrong and they meant it to be "indistinct" rather than “indiscreet”. However, some further research lead me to believe it could also be a simple misspelling in the english definition (indiscreet/indiscrete) too. FWIW: I didn’t even know the engrish meaning for “indiscrete”, but it seems it could fit, as I found out it means something along the lines of; “not divided into parts, or appearing not to consist of separate parts”.

“RickBradford” and ‘tgeezer” seem to be on the right track with “indistinct” and “vague” being the best meanings offered out so far.

Okay, I can almost touch type anything in thai I wanna write on the p/c. I can do transcription (uhh, type what I see in thai from a page into a word document). I can chat on ‘M” no problem. .. But man, I just spent nearly 30 minutes tryin' to hand key the b/s thai language message thru my mobile phone; "How are you? I'm okay. Yes, I still live on Soi 12, visit me when you have free time. Take care, na. .."

Is it me or is typin' thai on a touch tone phone really that hard? I even had go out on the internet and find which thai characters were under which numbers on a standard touch tone phone keypad!! Still, even looking at that on my p/c monitor, it took me nearly 23 minutes to type in thai what is maybe a 45 second engrish SMS!

I can't be that stupid, can I? (FWIW: this is a rhetorical question, meaning no answer is wanted OR needed! )

If anyone else has a problem typin' thai language SMS's lemme know, but ONLY if you have an OLD model phone, not an I-fone, or something like that. My mobile is nearly a 5 year old Sony-Ericsson.

Actually, about the only good thing for my phone is; you can leave it on the table at any thai food court when you go piss, and NO ONE will steal it! While your gone, they might look at it (as in, when you come back it's been moved), but because it's SOO old, they just leave it on the table, lol. Go figure . ..

In other news; I went to Fortune Tower today, and a phone guy at a shop there said he'd give me 200 baht in trade for the screen but everything else on my phone was junk and he'd just throw it away!

Still my mobile works perfectly, has been repaired at the Sony shop many times, and is still going strong (okay, you caught me, it's still going medium, ok?.

Lemme know how you get on with typin' thai language SMS's? Easy or Hard?

All passports are scanned and entries added to the entry-database. Notice the machine-readable text at the bottom of your passports main page?

BUT the question which begs to be asked IS;

Did they have that technology 22+ years ago?

Hmmm, lemme think, one more second, (and while I could be wrong) I highly doubt they had MICR numbers on passports for South Korea way back in 1988-89 or when ever he actually entered the glorious "Land 'O Thais". (I could be wrong after googling MICR readers, but I don't think so).

I still say, get a new passport; take the OLD one, the new one, and a pile 'o money for fines out to thai immigrations at Changwattana. WITH a ticket outta the country he can sort this out easier than any b/s lie he makes up on the spot. Especially if he doesn’t show up and at least act like he’s there; “hat in hand”. He shows up with an attitude or like he's entitled to something and it won't fly, that is almost 100% guaranteed.

I don't believe for a second, he's gonna be able to arrive at Suvarnabhumi with a ticket for South Korea and skate out with the normal minute talkin' to and a fine; AFTER a 20+ year overstay! This is a VERY serious &lt;deleted&gt; up on his part!

This guy seems to not have the slightest clue about just how serious his problem is or how hard it can be made for him by thai immigrations should they choose the hard way rather than the easy way.

AS AN ASIDE: I recently found out Changwattana has records of entries and departures for easily the last 23+ years from EVERY border crossing; should they care to peruse the microfiche files and find 'em for you.

Good luck to him, let us know how it pans out, will you?

Remember, knowledge is power!

P/S; to answer the topic of the O/P's post the maximum overstay fine is 500 baht a day but it caps out at 20K baht, so 40 days or 40 years overstay, the fine is technically the same. It tops out at 20,000baht!

You just repeat บ่าย--so it's ชาติหน้าตอนบ่ายบ่าย.

I've had the same problem with not knowing how much to repeat; I guess it's just a case of copying what you hear.

Thanx for that, I had never heard the phrase before, so really didn't know how much to repeat.

Asking outside my apartment gate out on the soi straightened me out very quickly. Those thai guys I drink with don't take my spoken thai mistakes all that easy, and are more than happy to correct my errant ways! That's a good thing for me because no one loses face be it speakin' engrish or thai, it's a language exchange, and a drink-fest combined. AND yes, sadly the quality of languages being exchanged goes down in proportion to the amount of alcohol we drink, but still good fun all around. What's that thai idiom for "in one ear and out the other"? Isn't it เข้าหูซ้ายทะลุหูขวา, yeah, we have that a LOT!

Thanx again.

Tod Daniels

<SNIP>

Dear Sir, this is a standard practice all over the world that language schools charge fees upfront.<SNIP>

I beg to disagree , but I believe this information could be erroneous.

Almost EVERY big name engrish language school out there and MORE than a few private thai language schools here accept payment via installment plans.

Some private thai language schools have a plan where you pay in 90 day increments. After youve paid for and attended your first 90 days of schooling; when you need to receive your paperwork to extend your ED visa, you pay the school for another 3 months of class time, get your extension paperwork, go extend your visa for another 90 days and keep on studying!

They don't charge more for this, they just spread the payments out so it's not a chunk 'o cash up front. So do they charge up front, technically yes, but not for a frickin years worth of class time, just 90 days worth at a time. This can make it much more attractive to people who are more cash conscious or who possibly aren't sure if they're gonna be here for an entire year.

FWIW: Language Express doesn't charge any percentage for accepting payments via credit card either and their year long 'standard' class offered in the morning has the best price point currently out there in the market, and I've scoped out 25+ schools at last count .

WHILE SLIGHTLY OFF TOPIC:

As far as good bang-4-the-baht; I believe Language Express (a forum sponsor) and their premium thai course is the proverbial 'bar' by which other thai language schools should and most likely will be measured by in the very near future.

I said it before but I'll say it again; I've never ever seen such well put together high quality thai language materials like the books they have for that course. And I've got the text books from 8 or 9 different well known private thai schools littering my apartment.

The difference in price-point between a 'basic' year long thai language program at any one of the thai schools out there (all pretty much in line price wise) and the 'premium course' offered at Language Express is negligible indeed. In regards to quality it's almost like comparing crab apples to fresh picked oranges . Textbooks, learning resources, motivation of other students attending the classes and quality of their teaching staff is truly outstanding. Go sit a free class and take their in house computerized thai language level testing!

(BTW, if you didn't figure it out yet; I'm certainly NOT affiliated with ANY thai language school . Feel free to go to whatever thai school that floats your banana boat or bamboo raft . I just want people interested in studying thai to get good bang-4-their-baht;))

I recently picked up Andrew Biggs' third book in his series called ภาษาอังกฤษง่ายนิดเดียว.

In it I came across the idiomatic phrase ชาติหน้าตอนบ่าย ๆ. I thought the answer was so good I had to post it here.

Here's the question he received;

สวัสดีค่ะ คุณแอนดรูว์

ช่วยกรุณาบอกดิฉันว่า ชาตินี้ ชาติหน้า ชาติที่แล้ว ชาติหน้าตอนบ่าย ๆ จะพูดว่าอย่างไรเป็นภาษาอังกฤษ

ขอบคุณค่ะ

Moo (หนองคาย)

His answer was this;

ชาติหน้าตอนบ่ายหรือ... คงต้องแปลว่า late afternoon in my next life ใช่ไหมครับ แปลตรงตัวอย่างนี้สนุกดีสำหรับคนไทยเรา แต่ฝรั่งฟังไม่รู้เรื่องเลย..

โดยรวมฝรั่งไม่เชื่อเรื่องหลายชาติ ชาวคริสต์เชื่อว่า เกิดมาครั้งเดียว และต้องสะสมบุญตลอดชีวิต พอสิ้นชีวิตพระเจ้าประมวลว่า มีความดีมากว่าความชั่ว หรือ ความชั่วมากว่าความดีซึ่งเป็นบ่งบอกว่า จะใช้เวลานิรันดรที่สวรรค์หรือนรก

อย่างไรก็ดี ชาติ ใช้คำว่า life หรือ lifetime เช่น

Buddhists believe you spend many lifetimes learning valuable lessons.

(ชาวพุทธเชื่อว่า คุณต้องกลับมาใช้หลายชาติเพื่อสะสมบุญและความรู้สำคัญ)

ดังนั้น ชาติก่อน คือ in my last life แต่ใช้ past life ได้เหเหมือนกัน เช่น

Maybe we knew each other in out past lives.

(บางทีชาติก่อนเราได้รู้จักกัน)

Do you remember anything from your past life?

(คุณจำอะไรได้จากชาติที่แล้วไหม)

ส่วน ชาติหน้า คือ in my next life เช่น

We'll meet again in our next life.

(ชาติหน้าพบกันอีกที)

แต่ที่ข้อยกเว้นครับ นั่นคือที่ผมพูดตั้งแต่ต้น ชาติหน้าตอนบ่ายๆ ไม่ควรแปลตรงตัวครับ คำแปลที่ถูกต้องคือ NEVER หรือที่ฝรั่งใช้สำนวนว่า แม้ 1 ล้านปีก็ไม่ทำ เช่น

When are you going to fall in love with me?

(คุณจะหลงรักผมเมื่อไรล่ะ)

Never in a million years.

(ชาติหน้าตอนบ่าย ๆ)

Anyway sorry for shamelessly typin’ this right outta his book, but I'd never heard the idiom ชาติหน้าตอนบ่ย ๆ before. Thought you guys might find it of interest.

The one good thing about his books is they’re written at a low medium level and anyone with even marginal thai reading skills like myself can make their way thru them pretty well. Seeing as they explain idiomatic thai expressions in engrish, you can usually figure out new vocab you don't know by word elimination between the thai and engrish you do know.

I did have one question about the use of the ๆ character. In the idiom ชาติหน้าตอนบ่าย ๆ does the ‘repeat symbol’ mean to repeat both words like ตอนบ่าย ตอนบ่าย or do you just repeat the word บ่าย twice? Sometimes with word compounds I don’t know how much I’m supposed to repeat when I see that symbol.

Also apologies in advance if there's errors in the thai script. My desk lamp just burned out. It's tough for 'old eyes' to make out the small thai font in the book.

thanx Tod

I still say if the O/P had exited and re-entered the country before TODAY (as they indicated their visa had a "must be utilized by" stamp on the visa dated today) they'd a gotten a new permission to stay stamp good until about April 13th or there abouts. That would have afforded them MORE than enough time to sort out the extension of stay paperwork that their school supplies them.

The year long, multi-entry ED visa (secured in another country prior to comin' to thailand) held by the O/P is good for about 15 months of stay in kingdom if you work border runs and dates right. It's the same as any other Multi-entry year long visa of what ever category O-B-ED, makes no difference; each entry is good for a 90 day stay. If you run-4-the-border and re-enter just before the visa itself expires; you get another 90 day permission to stay until stamp.

There were some rumors last year on this forum (and a topic too which I am too lazy to look for) that people were being 'tested' out at Changwattana during the process of extending their ED visas for another 90 days. Now being the nosy type of person, as well as having assisted all too many people with this routine extension; I went and spent several hours in the ED visa extension area at Changwattana. I sat right in front of the desk area and must have watched 20+ odd foreigners go thru and get their ED visas extended for another 90 days. NOT a single person was 'tested' or taken away to be 'grilled' in thai about their language acquisition skills.

Now did the thai immigrations officials attempt to converse with the students? Yes, of course they did, after all youre supposed to be studying the thai language so possessing some modicum of thai language skill might not be all that far fetched, huh?) What I overheard was mostly the same old b/s conversations you have with any run-o-the-mill-thai. Things like; Cam you speak thai, What's your name, What country do you come from, Where do you live in thailand, How long have you lived here, How long have you studied the thai language, Where do you study, Do you like thai food, Can you eat spicy food, Do you have a thai wife, g/f etc. In the entire time out there, I didn't see a single person who couldn't answer these questions being denied their 90 day extension, NOT one!

Never having been to Jomtien Immigrations I couldn't comment on their 'vetting' of people who extend their ED visas at that location. However, I'm reasonably sure the poster known as "macwalen" (BTW; the owner of the Walen School 'O Thai) who NOT coincidentally has a Pattaya branch could certainly enlighten us as far as the experiences their students have had when extending an ED visa down there in regards to any alleged testing.

Dont confuse casual thai conversation while an immigrations officer processes your extension to be any sort of official testing. Immigration really wants your support documentation to be in order. If you have the paperwork provided by your school, the appropriate copies, forms filled out, photo, etc, there is a 99.9% chance youll sail thru quickly and without the slightest hiccup in the process.

Then again, if youve studied thai for 9 months and are on your last extension of the year, yet still cant manage to spit out; My name is Somchai", in thai; well, if I were an immigration officer I might look at you with a slightly more critical eye too.

I wholeheartedly agree with "Badbanker", this is NOT the sort of overstay you can blithely show up at the airport a little before your departure and 'sort out' with the 20K baht fine, the small red overstay stamp and possibly a firm talkin' to by the officers. This is a COMPLEX overstay compounded by the fact he hasn't even kept a valid passport nor in the 20 odd year overstay bothered to sort this out before now.

He WILL need the original passport's entrance stamp as the likelihood of Immigrations going to the trouble of checking their microfiche of entrances into the kingdom for 20 years back is about as likely as pigs flyin' outta my arse.

It will take HOURS at immigrations if he's not combative and possibly the entire day if he cops even the slightest attitude. HE knowingly broke the law, not by a slight oversight, or an "I forgot", but deliberately for oh-so many years that it’s not even funny. Any attitude that he is somehow 'owed' something because he has a thai spouse, half thai kids, a house, contributed some way to thai economy, blah-blah-blah isn't gonna play at all. It is my experience that Immigrations officers tend to take a “been there, done that, heard that crap before” attitude with this type of ‘excuse’.

First;

Tell him to go get a new passport

Second;

Tell him to purchase a ticket OUT of thailand

Third;

Tell him to show up bright 'n early one morning at Thai Immigrations at CHANGWATTANA, with: the original passport, (the departure card if he still has it), the new passport, the confirmed ticket outta the kingdom, 20K baht for the overstay fine, possibly 1900 baht for the emergency 7 day visa (although if he sorts out the overstay on the exact day he's supposed to fly out, sometimes they don't make you get this).

IF this guy can't speak enough thai to carry on a conversation about why he overstayed so long, &lt;deleted&gt; was he thinking by doin' this, and to listen to the mandatory lecture (which I'm quite sure will come with this long of overstay), he better take a well spoken thai with him.

Who even knows what visa rules, restrictions etc regarding Korean nationals were in effect 20 odd years ago when he entered the kingdom? I sincerely doubt even the Immigration staff knows without having to check old records.

While I don't know if he'll need legal representation out at Changwattana, he'll most definitely need someone who knows their way around the system out there. Perhaps his embassy in Bangkok can advise him on the best course of action.

As far as his wife getting into trouble for not reporting his overstay, I say that's highly unlikely. I'm sure where ever they've lived in nakhon nowhere thailand, the village headman and in all likelihood the entire village has known about this 'issue' for years and years. You can't keep secrets of this magnitude in small villages EVER!!!

Currently there is no reward offered by Immigrations for turning in overstayers (or believe me I'd be a billionaire here!). Conversely, there is no penalty for a normal run-o-the-mill-thai not turning an overstayer in either. Although FWIW: the person in question would probably do better NOT takin' his thai wife with him to Immigrations, as she'll most definitely get a stern talkin' to from the 'powers that be' out there.

The O/P's story is quite the sticky wicket. The korean guy would do well to tread very lightly sorting this out. Perhaps in retrospect, Badbanker's idea of legal representation isn't too far off the mark. Showing up with someone who knows immigration law regarding other S/E Asian nationals can't hurt in the least.

I believe the real key to sortin’ this issue out as easy as it possibly can be is having the old passport with the original arrival stamp (even though it's 20 years old). At least it is valid PROOF of when he entered; versus just showing up with nothing and being charged with illegal entry and residence for 20 years, which is FAR more serious than an overstay.

Surprisingly I won this program in a contest from the "Women Learning Thai (and some men too)" website a while back. Thanx for the heads up about the up graded version, I just downloaded it.

Believe me I do not give out praise lightly, but this is one slick program! The choices you have to display what ever way you can read phonetics is outstanding, as is the clarity in the audio for the words. I use both it and thai-language dot com many, many times a day

They really put some time into this and my hats off to Benjawan on this endeavor. Really top notch!

Oh, and to answer the poster known as klons, I just looked at Paiboon Publishings website and it would appear that it is NOT a mac dealy at this time. Then again not being the most computer literate person I could be wrong, so heres the link;

Paiboon Publishing

Go to Walen. SNIPPED

Sadly this sounds all too much like yet another "shill post" for a school which shall remain nameless .

Last time I checked (which I do periodically ), the TOPIC of this thread is about C/C payments not being accepted at private thai language schools.

How in the heck did it morph into another one of the (n)ever popular and "(un)insightful methods to teach thai" threads?

Even more mind wobbling, how did it become a discussion about any school which has a method that "magically" makes the student begin to THINK in thai from day one, be it AUA or who ever . As a new student, sitting classes at ANY school that speaks ONLY thai for hours and HOURS, yields far more frustration than fruition early on.

Thinking in thai, when you can't even ask, "Where is the bathroom?" It's sheer madness to even entertain fanciful thoughts of that nature and you my posting friend are smoking something stronger than กัญชา maybe ยาบ้า!!

BACK ON TOPIC:

I called 5 other private thai language schools at random, which I just pulled outta my thai language school favorites folder, and they all will accept credit cards; IF you pay the percentage (which varies from 2-5%).

Anecdotally AND TOTALLY OFF TOPIC:

Several years ago I purchased an airline ticket from Honey Sun Travel (coincidentally a forum sponsor and a business which is under the "Walen corporate umbrella"). I was told in no uncertain terms I'd hafta pay a percentage to use my C/C to pay, but either a bank transfer to their account or cash would waive said percentage.

So, because enquiring minds (like nosy people such as myself) wanna know;

If a potential student elects to pay for their yearly tuition via C/C at Walen, is there an added percentage by using that method of payment? OR WHAT?

MODZ: please know I am NOT downin’ Walen or his sponsorship, only asking a genuine and quite valid question. ..

(In other words: PLEASE don't ban me! I already know I am close to the line.)

According to the letter of the law, wiping your own arse is working, in fact thinking about wiping your own arse would also fit.

The last time I checked ‘arse wiping’ WAS a thai only trade and included in one of the 37 odd trades foreigners are prohibited from working in. (I think it's right after driving a tuk-tuk on the list )

I did some further checking though, and it would appear, in the field of "arse wiping" foreigners can work, but ONLY as ‘consultants’!!

Sorry couldn’t resist.

And now back on topic.

I guess the difference is that I can pronounce Micro SD card.

Probably they understood you because you pronounced those words with a thai accent "microo et-di gard"

I have heard ไม่ทราบว่า used quite a lot by native speakers. However I mostly hear it when the person asking doesn't know who someone is or where a particular place is located, not generally in regards to if a particular product is carried in a store.

For constructs like that I hear most often hear

มี-what ever you're asking for (possibly with the classifier)-มั้ย Which is just; "(Do you) have blah-blah?" I've had that work 10 outta 10 times with things I'm tryin' to find in shops.

Please understand I'm not doubtin' your wife’s native thai speaking ability or her assertion that it 'sounds more polite'. It's just not something I hear thais use when askin' about things. Like I said, it's mostly facts, who, locations and directions to some place. Nor am I saying it doesn't 'play'; just that it sound kinda artifically pretentious to me in the context you're using it in .

Then again I'm most definitely NOT a native speaker. But then again, neither are you, lol...

You'd be better off stickin' with

มีน้ำขวดมั้ย or ขายน้ำขวดมั้ย Have bottled water? Sell bottled water?