Tod Daniels

Sorry this is long. .. Deal with it. And NO this is not a slag fest about thai tradesmen, as I have morphed into a kinder gentler Tod than my earlier posting penchants, although my penchant for bloviation has not diminished.

In some of my endeavors here in the glorious "Land 'O Thais" I have had the occasion to use thai tradesmen in electrical, welding & building/construction.

The only one which exceeded my expectations was the welding one; where some tricky TIG (heli-arc) welding was required on aluminum. This thai welder knew his stuff and had excellent equipment. Then again maybe that's because I went to vocational school in the US as a kid and took every sort of welding there was at the time, so the thai welder and I hit it off almost immediately.

In the other trades; it became clear almost from the start, that unless I was there every second of every hour they worked they'd take the easy-out or short cut rather than doing it right the first time. On more than one occasion I forced them to tear out the sub-standard work they’d done that day and redo it. This is not a slam to the thai workers ability or their attitude, but more against their foreman who allowed sub-standard work to be the norm. The workers were more than happy to do it the correct way once it was pointed out that was the way it had to be done.

Finally I got so exasperated that I devoted ALL my time to supervising the work. Initially the thais were less than thrilled with a foreigner hanging around and watching their every move, and in fact were rather sulky for the first week. However, once they saw I wasn’t gonna leave, and actually knew some short cuts to what they were doing they lightened up. Some of the things I showed them, they took to heart and are probably still doing it that way. Plus the finished work came out incredible. The tile worker took pictures of the one floor I had laid in a condo which ran diagonal to the room with contrasting border tiles and now it’s the background on his business card!

Tile, wood flooring, re-wiring, re-plastering walls, hanging new ceilings & doors, trim and moldings etc, all were finished not only on time, but on the pre-agreed budget too. Like I said, this was only AFTER I started over-seeing the work every step of the way, every hour of the work day. In fact because I was there so much that the thai 'foreman' of the job wouldn't even show up any more; although he did show up at the end of the job to try to get his salary. I took his price; calculated it out by the day, deducted the MANY days he wasn't there, and paid him that amount. He was certainly less than a happy camper, but all he really did was point, yell, and drink himself into a stupor each day. In my book; if you don't work, you don't get paid.

Now did I pay more than a thai would pay for similar work? In all likelihood yes, but I don't believe it was that much more. The big question is; was the quality of work I had done to a higher standard than the normal b/s quality I see every day wandering around bangkok? That answer is; 100% YES!!. And NO I’d never ever contract with a foreign owned company for ANY job here, and I had about bids from three foreign owned ones. Actually I did steal, errr, I mean borrowed one of the foreigners tile layers; as he had his own wet saw instead of that b/s hand held grinder they use to cut tile.

3 years on living on the ground floor of a flood prone area, and the wood floors have been underwater too many times to count, yet not a single plank or parquet has warped, came loose or popped up. The tile work I had done is still pristine; although I was unable to find anything other than that b/s tile grout they sell here so I hafta re-grout the floor tiles in the bathroom every once in a while. Still the tile is firmly stuck down, none has chipped, cracked or broken out, so that's a plus.

I concur the reason the quality is so iffy is there are no vetting processes in being a tradesman here. It would appear that any Tom, Dick or Somchai can be what ever they want to be simply by possessing basic hand tools, making business cards, plastering up stickers or painting the side of their truck with their field of alleged expertise.

FWIW; I haven't really had any problem with the quality of HVAC tradesmen here as it's mostly installed by the company you buy the units from.

"ChAoS87" I know you are a 'newbie' on this forum (with only 23+ posts) ,

BUT, I hafta ask you; are you using ANY of the FREE resources available or just asking whatever question you wanna ask?

There are TONZ of free "learning thai" sites on the internet, (that will teach you b/s thai and give you the meaning of thai words)!! Use them FIRST, then ask a question.

Believe me, I am NO thai language pundit but some of the things you ask are tooo far out there to even answer.

My humble advice; Research FIRST, ask AFTER!!

That's my motto, among several..

As was pointed out to me by "DavidHouston", I misspelled the word ประเภท, although I believe the link I provided actually has the correct spelling

it should be

ประเภท - type; sort; category; kind; class; variety

It would also appear that the bulk look up I linked to doesn't work. If you go here:

http://www.thai-language.com/dict scroll down to the bulk look up and type in อย่าง ชนิด ประเภท แบบ it should work

Sorry about that. ..

This is what I gleaned from a new program (which coincidentally I won by submitting a comment about it on the poster known as desi's website "Woman Learning Thai & some men too!). It's a program put out by Benjawan Becker called English-Thai Thai English Dictionary and actually is pretty darned good, although the definitions are less informative than say either the thai-language or thai-2-english websites.

(Shameless commercial plug for desi's site is finished.. .. Please continue reading for your answer..)

It would seem these words are all used for different things. It would appear they are in the most general sense classifiers which denote a style, specification, model, or a sense of commonality in the group being discussed.

อย่าง - kind (sort, type, category)

ชนิด - kind (sort, type, category); sort (kind); species (type, kind); type (kind)

ประเพด - for kind, type sort, category

แบบ - form (structure); pattern (model); type (pattern style form)

Plugging the words into thai-language-dot-com under their bulk look up feature yielded these results;

http://www.thai-language.com/?blu=zcLo0qcgqrnUtCC7w9DgwLcg4bq6KA!!

You can click on any of the words to get more in depth meanings and example sentences of how they're each used.

Unless I'm mistaken, the current colloquial way to ask what kind of 'style' of a man or woman you like is to use a short bastardized version of the english word "specification", as in the word "spec" (สเป็ค). It is all too common in everyday thai. Please note that due to the thai penchant in using their pronunciation rules when pronouncing engrish words, it is not just a single syllable word like in engrish but more like 'sa-bpec' because the character ส carries an inherent short 'a' sound making it pronounced more like this; สะ-เป็ค

You sentence would be something like this; คุณ ชอบ ผู้ขาย สเป็ค ไหน

It's also used to talk about specifications of a wide variety of things especially in moto-cys, cars, in regards to engine, tires, tricked out stuff, etc.

Hope it helps. .. Sorry its long. ..

Just FWIW; more people than you can shake a proverbial stick at get married at Bang-Rak (บางรัก). Most every foreigner I know married to a thai in Bangkok has been married there. They're even open extended hours on Valentine's Day as they are swamped with people wanting to marry on that day!

However, most everyone I've run across here gets divorced out at Bang-Jak (บางจาก).

Might be handy to know for future reference, I dunno really. ..

The actual "document" I signed of the advise of the need to deposit 800 000 in my account for my next extension - appeared to be "a copy of a copy of a copy" - in other words - not printed - poorly copied - but in good English. It was without any official letterhead on top. I did not receive a copy of it myself.

I also question the validity of this "document". My income "verification" is ofcourse just a simple statement signed by me and verified by the US Consulate. I intentionally only declared an income large enough to satify the Thei Immigration requirement.

For next time I had intended to just supply more income verification - in case asked for.

I would be very interested in comments and other people experience - advise etc..

Did the immigration officer actually state that the next time you would need to have THB 800,000 deposited and could not no longer use your income?

It sounds to me like maybe this documents is something they have started asking everyone to sign, so that you know your cash deposit needs to be seasoned just in case you would want to use bank deposit the next time you apply. Obviously I'm just speculating here and I could be completely wrong, but it sounds unlikely that they would know about upcoming changes that has not yet been published.

Sophon

No, the Immigration Officer did not actually tell me that I had to have THB 800 000 in the Bank - but rather he gave a form to sign which stated that.

I now believe - as Lopburi suggested - that this was a mistake (or at least inefficiency) - I should not have received this form since my application was based on my monthly income.

As I stated before the form was a poorly copied form without any official letterhead.

Sorry to nest all the quotes, couldn't figure out whose were whose...

I just went out to Changwattana and helped with an extension of stay based on retirement last week for yet another acquaintance. They still have these three documents that you sign at the end but can't get anywhere except from the officer at the desk where you do your extension. (Meaning the Information Counter out front when you first enter the Immigrations doesn't have copies).

They are copies of copies of copies. Any time an acquaintance has used the income verification route (or letter of sufficient funds from their country's embassy) the Immigrations officer has had me write the engrish words; "OR PENSION" on the one which I have titled "Financial Notification", and yes it is also the one with NO official letterhead or thai on the entire page, unlike the other two which are labeled in thai on the top right corner.

FWIW: Here’s the three documents, which I have on file. .. Sorry they're PDF format. AND they may or may NOT work anywhere but at Changwattana in Bangkok.

Financial Notification.pdf

Statement.pdf

Terms.pdf

Will people stop at nothing to boost their post count?

Actually in looking in my online slang dictionary; I think in the title of this thread, the O/P might have possibly meant "peeps", as in somewhat antiquated slang for 'people'.

Then again he could have meant "peps"; dunno the meaning of that one though.

I see I must print an addendum to my earlier post. (Actually I thought to myself when I first posted, if anyone was gonna comment on this, it would be the poster known as "kriswillems"). In reality, I do know several people who attended every level of a Union based thai language school, as well as took the prep-course for the government proficiency test. They can read, write, converse, (one guy I know is even wicked fast typing SMS's in thai thru his antiquated mobile phone, no small feat in and of itself!!).. FWIW the three guys I know all passed the proficiency test several years ago when it was still being given (not to be confused with the test currently given which only grades you against who ever happens to sit the test when you do).

What I was referring to are their “crash programs”. The schools I've re-conned really hard sold those, mostly due to price point or hours in class. I dunno about their 'full on' courses as they never talked about them to me.

Apologies must go out to "kriswillems" and anyone else who took a Union based method to learn thai. If it work(s), work(ed) for you, great!! It is good to hear you wouldn't accept the karaoke engrish books and made them provide them in thai.

When I attended ONLY the teacher’s book was in thai, and she wouldn't let me copy it. I even went so far as to meet with and talk to the owner of the school to voice my displeasure. FIVE years on, when I entered that school, I was treated worse than a soi dog. (I happened to do just that last year to ask about their conversational thai course). I guess it's not just elephants who never forget, it can be thais too. (Then again I am all to easy to identify. I even go so far as to say; you may not remember me, BUT believe me when I say; you'll never forget me )..

I doubt the new computer system theory, chances are that someone told on him.

being that the OP and some other friends know of their blacklist status. he might have been shagging a much more brighter broad than many of his friends on no list.

I have come across a number of farangs here who love to tell their secrets when they have had a few bevies.

<SNIP>

Of course it is conceivable that some whiz kids in immigration got their act together, but far more likely to be a careless word in a bar, IMHO...

I must wholeheartedly concur that is FAR more likely he was ratted out by a "friend" or co-worker after imbibing a few too many. Don’t forget the old WWII adage; “Loose lips, sink ships!”, as it totally has relevance here too. I've only been here a while, yet the things I've overheard people say when they were drunk has been, well it’s been mind-wobbling .

I sincerely doubt it was thru any great cooperation between either the different thai government agencies (because they fight like cats & dogs over info sharing, although in their defense they are getting better) or by an accommodating first world country who happens to share their intel with thailand. As far as facial recognition, mmmm, maybe someday, but not today I'm afraid. Although as cheap as that type of software has become I am sure it’s on the horizon. ..

FWIW, thailand is building one hellova data base at Immigrations, both when you enter the country and when you apply for an extension of stay, (as well accruing a pretty impressive collection of index fingerprints too)..

I love a bit of nguu nguu plaa plaa action...

Literally it translates as snake snake fish fish... but it is baby talk like poo poo or tum tum...

Thanks for that explanation, and this is one of the confusing things about the Thai language, meanings can change depending on different situations I find.

I had nguu nguu plaa plaa explained to me by a Thai, and he said it is meant to describe someone who tries his hand at everything but isn't very good at anything.

Sorry to burst both your bubbles there 'Thaddeus" and "Daewoo", but actually if the truth were to be told (and it is because I'm telling you now), the phrase 'snake, snake, fish, fish' (งู ๆ ปลา ๆ); spell it in engrish how ever you want to do in karaoke engrish, is a VERY common thai idiom. It means; not proficiently, or not to a high level of competence. It is most often used when referring to a thais ability to speak engrish, or a foreigners ability in speaking thai, but can be used to denote anything which someone isn't very proficient in. It is neither baby talk, nor denotes a "jack of all trades master of none".

Interestingly enough the phrase 'banana, banana' (กล้วย ๆ); again, use what ever karaoke engrish that floats your boat, means; something which is done effortlessly, or without thinking, kind of like the idiom 'a piece of cake'.

And now back to the ever informative and meaningful thread of what NOT to do while living here in and amongst the thais. ..

I think once 'saraburioz' (which I guess means the auzzie in Saraburi Province) gets done with this series we will all be better for it. Perhaps he can compile all the common "fox-pawz" <sic> (faux pas) foreigners can fall into here and come up with a nifty handbook called "What NOT to do in Thailand". By the sheer views on his topics he seems to have a ready made market of avid fans.

FWIW: doubling adjectives or descriptive terms in the thai language is so common as to be a non-issue for anyone who even knows a smattering of thai. It's actually called mother language interference; when language rules of your mother tongue are used in speaking a dissimilar language. Thais use it when speaking about possessive's too, 'mother me', 'sister me', 'friend me' because in thai the possessive word comes AFTER the noun not before it like engrish.

Native engrish speakers also suffer from this affliction when constructing sentences in thai using engrish sentence word order, as the words are outta sequence when translated directly into thai. A normal thai hearing a foreigner speak this way would hear it as just plain gibberish with no meaning.

IMHO; about the only thing worse than foreigners who use word doubling, are ones who speak either baby-talk thai-engrish to their significant others or the ones who speak two words in thai, then a word or two in engrish, then switch back to thai; due to either a lack of thai vocab or too much time spent in questionable areas of bangkok.

And now back to this thread already in progress. ..

Another option although admittedly off the O/P’s topic is to take a train from Hua Lamphong (the train station located at the last stop of the MRT (subway).

IMO it's a far nicer ride out there via train than by bus, and just as cheap if not cheaper.

On the weekends it can sometimes be tough to get a third class (the cheapest) ticket as it's a MAJOR destination for thais to go on a day trip.

In my re-con of the various and sundry private thai language schools scattered around Bangkok, I've toured more than one school which uses the original Union School’s Methodology. In fact, most schools which use this method only change the cover of the text book to denote it's their school. I've got three or four module one text books from various schools which use this methodology, and they are word for word, page by page exactly the same. Unless I'm greatly mistaken; this is an OLD method originally designed to teach missionaries who were comin' here to the glorious "Land 'O Thais" to convert the thais to christianity.

Most if not all the Union based schools are owned by original group of Union teachers; who were at the time of its inception young, but are now not so young. This group of original core teachers all broke off to open their own schools.

I have seen that most also run the same promotion/program, either 60 hours for 6,000baht, or 80 hours for 7,000baht. They go thru a module in like 20 days. This means they are very FAST paced classes. Little if any time is spent on review of the previous days vocab, and it is up to the student to retain, and remember the material covered in a previous lesson.

The text books are only in english and karaoke thai, (phonemic transcription; representing thai words/sounds using the english alphabet, a mixture of backward written english vowels, along with some squirrelly superscript characters to denote toning). As the sentences and vocab are not written in thai (until Module Three I believe); practice outside the classroom with any 'run-of-the-mill' thai is difficult at best. Most thais I've come across (and I've come across a fair few) can't read karaoke thai unless they’re already familiar with teaching this method. The teachers in the classes ONLY write in karaoke thai on the white boards too, so until you go thru a few modules you're not even exposed to anything written in actual thai.

When I first washed up upon these shores, I took one of those crash courses at an unnamed Union based school. The class was filled with foreign missionaries, Korean and Japanese housewives whose husbands worked here. It was far too fast, taught far too few high value thai words. It spent way too little time on review or proper sentence constructs in the thai language, making any vocab you did learn worthless as far as using them in another sentence other than the one we were taught

It is my humble opinion that these 'crash courses' actually provide very little measurable 'bang-4-the-baht'. in terms of either retention of vocab or anything more than a very rudimentary grasp of thai sentence constructs. After Module One, a student is unlikely to come out of there being able to do more than parrot out more than the tourist phrases found in the Lonely Planet or Rough Guide.

I think it is much more advisable to under take the module(s) like the poster known as ‘SoftWater’ mentioned in the previous post. Spread it out over a longer time period in a one-on-one teaching scenario. Allow ample time to review previous vocab and give yourself plenty of time to practice this vocab outside the classroom as an adjunct to your lessons.

I stand by my original assertion that before ANYONE who is contemplating attending a private thai language school hands over a single satang, to sit a free lesson or three to see if their methodology ‘clicks’ with your way of learning. What I think sucks, you may think is the cat’s meow, and vice versa.

WARNING: Please remember these are my opinions ONLY. Despite my somewhat critical observations, they are neither for nor against any particular school or any particular school’s methodology. You mileage may and in all likelihood probably will differ from mine.

There are quite a number of pretty good pet shops up near Jatujak.

If you take the MRT (subway) to the Kampaeng Phet exit and go out on the exit labeled "Farmers Co-op". Behind the GIANT Farmers Co-op fresh market there is a soi filled with pet shops.

They sell all manner of pet supplies, pet foods, medications, grooming stuff and pet accessories etc. While I didn't specifically see leather leads up there this weekend, they do have various lengths of nylon ones.

The big chain Manoon's is up there too. Most have free delivery if you make a minimum purchase as well.

FWIW: Several years ago I was enrolled in a private thai language school for the standard 180 hours (lessons, or what ever you wanna call 'em) per year. I attended class religiously for the stated Ministry of Educations minimum of 4 hours per week.

Now doing even rudimentary math a person can see that at 4 hours a week the lessons/hours run out after 45 weeks, leaving a short fall of 7 MORE weeks until the full year is up. However going to immigrations I still got my extension of stay for the full 90 days even though my classes had actually ended the week before.

Have your friend contact the school he's attending. They'll most likely give him the supporting documentation from both the school and the Ministry of Education to continue his visa until the years up.

So yes, he should get another 90 days. Although this being thailand, and you not saying where in thailand he's actually attending school nor named the school; your friends mileage may indeed vary.

However that is my experience. ..

It is my experience that 90 day reporting, AND flyin' either in or outta the country are "whores of a different color", errr (SORRY to the Modz, please don’t ban me!!) I meant; "horses of a different color" .

At Suvarnabhumi there is NO 90 day reporting desk, nor do they care if you have EVER reported in thailand, as that is NOT their job. Immigrations at Suvarnabhumi either stamps you in or out of the country (and IF you have an OVERSTAY), nothing MORE nothing less.

As an aside; maybe you should take the 90 day report slip outta your passport. Just in case it is now different.

Personally I have never seen, nor heard of a single person 'flagged' at Suvarnabhumi flyin' outta here who either did or didn't report EVER!

They are two different entities entirely, although BOTH are run under the "thai immigrations" banner.

Then again my experiences may run counter to yours, please take care when following my advice.

When you get off the sky train at Mo Chit, (on the Jatujak side) there are a TON of grey/silver mini vans going to a plethora of destinations parked on the side of the road. Sadly their signage is ONLY in thai .. .

You want one that is going to the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs. That's the building where thai nationals go to get their passports. It's just slightly down Changwattana Road from the soi Thai Immigrations (for foreigners) is located on, which is Soi 7. It's 25 baht for the minivan ride out there.

They'll drop you off at the mouth of Soi 7 no problem. Some of the mini-van drivers don't know it, (no thai ever hasta go there, because it's only for foreigners ), but if you just say Changwattana Soi 7 they'll stop and let you out.

FWIW: there is supposed to be a free shuttle bus at the left side of the mouth of Soi 7 that takes you to the entrance of the government complex building where thai immigrations is located. I've never actually seen it with my own eyes, so can't comment. Maybe I was there when it wasn't, but I've always hadta walk it, and it is a LONG walk down that soi .

Going back to Mo Chit you hafta take the cross over and get to the other side of Changwattana Road, but still the mini-vans will take you back for another 25 baht.

As has been mentioned by a previous poster; the merits (or shortcomings) of the Walen Method to learn the thai language has been done to death here. Also, as they are a forum sponsor you're unlikely to find overly critical posts about them on here .

When Mac first opened the thai language section of his school over 3 years ago, I attended for a year. I was between 'visas'. My non-O Multi was running out and I was too young to 'retire'.

Now I could already read some thai going in, so wasn't just 'dead in the water' like so many new students I observed in that year. It did increase my recognition of written thai words, but it did NOT teach me any valuable tools to speak thai better. In fact, it doesn’t appear to concentrate on spoken thai at all other than parroting the answers to the question the teacher asks out of the book. Currently there are A4 posters in the class rooms which say something like 'stick to the method', 'teach according to the book', 'never use phonetics to spell a thai word', 'save questions for break time', blah-blah-blah. Not the most student friendly class enviroment, lol.

I have said it before, I possibly know HUNDREDS of former and current Walen students as well as most of their teachers. As I live directly behind the Times Square Building, I’ve walked past the school every day several times a day for over 3 years now, as its located right where the crossover to the BTS is. I also routinely eat lunch with current students, and former teachers.

I’ve NEVER EVER in all that time seen someone come into that school ‘cold’ (knowing neither how to speak or read thai) and come out after a year with anything resembling even a modicum of proficiency in either skill.

Did the students become accomplished at parroting the answers from the text book? YES they did! (In fact, they are some of the best trained 'parrots' I've ever come across, yet often when pressed had abso-tively posi-lutely NO frickin' clue what they'd just said)

Were any students able to read even the most basic thai signage, or info outside the class? Not unless they stood there looking at it for quite a while to decipher it .

Were any that I’ve met able to take the vocabulary learned and use it to construct simple thai sentences? Nope, I’ve never yet met a single student who could do that.

In fact most students I know who actually progressed in their spoken thai skills either took private lessons from another teacher not affiliated with the school, or engaged in some supplemental study program outside the 4 hours of class they attended per week.

Yes, it is disconcerting to show up for the first day in class only to be on page 50 of a book some of the students had already gone thru 10 times. You do have the option to wait until the book gets back to page one and start at that time though, if you ask.

I agree they DO need an orientation, and broached this subject with Mac Walen all too many times during the year I attended and several times after that. However, nothing ever came of it.

I'd say, there is NO shortage of private thai language schools in the greater Bangkok Metro Area. Most are offering the same tuition/hours, etc structure; currently about 25K baht for a year's study of between 180 and 200 hours). Some schools include text books, some places you buy them.

BEFORE you pay A single satang to ANY school go and sit their free class. After sales customer satisfaction or customer service and/or refunds are some things nearly unheard of here in the glorious "Land 'O Thais". The last thing you want is 200 hours of class time in a school which ultimately sucks as far as learning thai.

Good Luck, read the reviews in the pinned topic of "Best Thai Language Schools" at the top of this forum. You'll get more than enough information to make up your mind about where you want to go.

As an aside to klons; funny video, sadly NOT Walen's school, but still funny in it's own right.

Moral of that video; 'thai teachers don't let thai students play video games via mobiles in class'.

Good luck.

If you live full-time (or even part time) here in the glorious "Land 'O Thais" and have a thai (in)significant other; you must always ask them the question, which is in this song from the band KISS.

It is an ‘oldie but a goodie’ entitled: "Do You Love Me?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1m0fXVMt7g

Sorry. .. (in real thai it would be kinda-sorta like this; เธารักฉันไหม??)!!

No, they changed their policy a few months ago.

Sadly; Chamchuri Square is now ONLY for foreigners who are with a registered BOI company, and they will NOT take 90 day reporting slips, from anyone else!! Even if you reported there before .

Then again, I could be wrong (but I don't think so, as I tried to report there before, although at that time I had 5 passports, plus mine, in tow! )

But thanx for the heads up on the bookstores and dictionaries. I'll scope them out

U guyz (and gurlz) are a great resource!!

Tod

Thanx to all for the good info posted!! I'd never figured it out. ..

As a more than slightly off topic aside;

While I’m sure if I took the time to do a forum search I could get the answers, I’ll ask here anyway;

What thai-english, english-thai dictionary has the thai pronunciation after a thai word like this (สวัสดิ์; สะ-หฺวัด, สวัสดี; สะ-หฺวัด-ดี) which is found on Glenn Slayden's site if you activate the RID tab in the settings?

I have a coupla different dictionaries Se-Ed's, etc, yet none of them have a pronunciation guide like that for the thai words. I looked at Asia Books but none of theirs have it either.

While I'm getting pretty proficient in looking up thai words in a thai dictionary, I still would prefer to know how a specific word is pronounced in thai rather than just the english meaning. I'd also like one which had both english-thai and thai-english if possible.

Also if you recommend a dictionary, where would I be likely to purchase it? Kinokuniya, Chula, online, etc? (Oh yeah, I’m in Bangkok near Suk/Asok BTS)

Thanx again.

Much to my chagrin , I am currently teaching some thais conversational english in trade for them teaching me conversational thai. They cannot read english at a high enough level and I have resorted to using a book written in thai called "เรียนง่าย...เป็นเร็ว สนทนาภาษาอังกฤษ".

It has situational conversations, vocab, etc, and the sentence written in english, thai and then thai writing which when read sounds like a close approximation of the english words.

FWIW: The thais seem to be able to read this quite well, and once they read the thai meaning, then the thai version which 'speaks' the engrish sentence they know most of the words right off the bat. Their conversational level of english isn't bad, plus they have a very good spoken/understood english vocabulary too, they just can't read english very well. They also lack confidence in their sentence constructs (something which I told them I lack too when I speak thai, lol, much to their amazement given my demeanor .).

My question is; what is the character called which looks like a little dot and (at least in this book) is under sooo many of the thai words spelling out the english word sounds? It's the character on a thai keyboard which is accessed via 'shift' and the สระอิ key. (It only took me 5 minutes of intent scrutiny of my p/c's keyboard to locate , as I've never used it, nor even knew it existed before).

Not only what is it called but what does it do, as I can't remember ever seeing it used in a thai word before.

Here's are two examples of it being used;

What kind of food do you like?

คุณชอบอาหารประเภทไหน

วอท ไตนดฺ ออฟ ฟูด ดู ยู ไลคฺ

Good morning. May I help you?

สวัสดีครับ มิอะไรให้ผมช่วยไหมครับ

กุด มอร์นิง เมย์ ไอ เฮลพฺ ยู

(Sorry they don't display all that well, but if you look they are under the words 'kind', 'like' and 'help' when written in thai phonetics.)

The only thing I can think of is that it means to aspirate the ending sound, instead of having it 'bitten back'.

Dunno really but any help would be appreciated, as even the thais I'm teaching don't know what to call that symbol nor what it does really.

Thanx in advance for any answers.

Yesterday I was on the Sky Train comin' from Mor Chit to Asok. Now it was chok-a-blok with people, I mean we were packed in worse than sardines in a can of mustard sauce .

Anyway, at Siam Station a uni-gurl obviously from Chula got on. Now judging from the length (or lack there of ) of her black skirt she was either working on her masters degree, or was on the "10 year plan" for graduation.

It is my experience that the longer a thai gurl goes to a university, the shorter her skirt will become , until at some point, possibly working on her PhD, she can no longer even sit down, and just props herself in the corner of the classroom. At that point in time, her skirt is too short to allow anything but standing. Sitting, bending, crouching down to retrieve dropped objects are all OUT!

When she got on the train, there was another bunch of young-ish thais crowded around the door, and I swear she said, "เถิบน้อยซิค่ะ". Now when she said it, everyone of those kids scooched over a tiny bit and made room. However, I cannot find the meaning of the word เถิบ. One thai I questioned last nite said it is a shortened version of กระเถิบ and carries the same meaning as ขยับ or เขยิบ (BUT not to be confused with the word ขมิบ, which I utter all to often, when I mix up my words, lol). ...

When I asked if เถิบ could be used to make people move a little bit, they said as long as you used น้อย with it, and ended in the polite particle ครับ it was okay. Even when using the imperative ซิ, which I always thought meant it more as a command than a polite request.

Anyone else heard this before? Just checking, as small frozen hi-value phrases are something I keep on hand to use without having to think about what I'm saying.

Tod, based on our visit on Wednesday...

Sorry man, got my lefts and rights mixed up. I stand humbly 'erected' eerrr corrected. ..

PS to Tod - Did you read the recent post by member Gubeman -- I'm assuming you can be bought for cheaper than that...and probably do a better job as well...

That was one of the craziest posts I've read in the visa sub-forum, I mean, it is just mind wobbling someone would actually cough up that kinda money for something that is pretty much straight forward (as far as things go here in thailand) . While I can't really be 'bought' , I can certainly do something like that far cheaper!

Christ, we must have all walked past one another . I had a stack of 6 passports that needed 90 day reporting, (sadly none of them were mine, so hafta slog back out again for myself in a few more weeks! ).

The counter where you queue is very important as every area out there is clearly marked by different letters, and the queue tickets all have the area letter on the top. FWIW: I think yearly extensions of stay are processed in area L, the first area to the right, just after you get the queue tickets, ED visas are in the next section over, re-entry permits are on the opposite side of the room, and 90 day reporting is in its own tiny room by itself on the same side of the area as re-entry permits.

Even though I go out there 4 or 5 times a month (if not more) and the counter staff knows me by sight, they’re still reticent to give me multiple queue numbers. Usually if I have an 'acquaintance' getting an extension of stay, I'll excuse myself once I see their paperwork will fly, go back and get another queue number for their re-entry permit or their 90 day reporting.

Personally, even though it's quite a bit further for me to travel; I'd prefer to make the slog out to Changwattana ANY DAY than go back to that hel_l-hole that was Suan Plu. Only down side is; I don’t do moto-cy taxis, so that walk from where the bus drops you off at the mouth of Changwattana Soi 7 all the way down the soi is a LONG one for me .

Funny, this was the third time I ran into the same thai guy who is the 'runner' for Bumrungrad Hospital in the 90 day reporting room. He had almost 30 passports. He recognized me from before, and when I chatted to him, he said he runs out there every day. Even though I didn't ask him at all, he graciously switched queue numbers with me (he was one number ahead of me, lol), so it cut my time down waiting.

I guess Bumrungrad is doing a bang up business charging anyone who wants to walk thru the door, their 500 baht fee for 90 day 'we-report-4-u service' that they offer.