cdemundo

"limited number of opinion pieces I start topics with" When will the limit be reached? I, for one, am ready for them to end.

From the photos I am gonna be extremely judgmental and say she is a party girl. Often that life style involves heavy use of drugs and alcohol. Again, the possibility that some sort of impairment was involved seems likely. Even still, sad.

I gonna take a stab and guess that you haven't seen it once. Just seems unlikely to me.

I think it might be time for a few members to start a new thread where they debate "How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?" I expect it to be about as productive as some of the arguments in the thread.

Are you seriously not getting this? "Shirley you jest"

As far as the website LearnWithOliver dot com. being for those just starting, yes. Also for those who have learned a lot. Tons of exercises and resources at all levels, I was a member for a long time before I learned of everything available. Don't think that this is only for beginners, not trying to sell it, just being honest.

Free advice appropriately priced. Worthless. "Books not needed" is that your family motto?

Moving to the PI to save money brings to mind the saying: "You get what you pay for". Similar to those who tell me I could get a cheaper condo, they don't understand I am paying for the exclusion of low income undesirables as neighbors.

I feel like it can't be emphasized enough. What worked for others just might work for you. This thread is a great resource for ideas and thing to try from self-proclaimed non-experts just telling what worked for them. As far as the self-proclaimed experts who say must do this, must not do that... it ain't necessarily so.

"CRUCIALLY: It is most important to STOP TALKING ABOUT learning Thai, and actually DO IT, instead. Talking about learning Thai is what most people do, of course." This is true I think. Also, you are a grown ass man, try what you want to try, don't need to follow any musts and must nots people give you. If it worked for someone else it may work for you. But do something rather than talk about it is very good advice.

If it worked for him why is it so bad? Teaching protocol, who cares?

Others may disagree with every word of my post but this is what has worked for me. There is a website with free and inexpensive paid memberships that has been helpful to me. LearnWithOliver dot com Tons of activities, it took me a while to realize how good it was. Paid membership is like 10 USD a month and includes sound files and I regret not paying for it sooner. To learn the alphabet, get an English alphabet for Thai speakers kid's book. I'm talking about the English alphabet book for Thai kids learning English . Make sure it has the little pictures of animals and common items and Thai transliteration of the English word. You know how to say elephant and you can see how the English sounds would be written using the Thai Characters. Then you know the sounds of the Thai characters, voila! Tones are less of an issue than you might think. I copy the Thai phrase I am trying to learn into Google translate, listen to Google's pronunciation and then see if I can say it so the app understands me. If the translate app understands me, Thai people usually will as well. As far as reading and tone marks, much like the International Phonetic Alphabet, not as vital any more because of sound files on phone apps and websites you can just hear the words. IMHO the time and effort you would spend learning tone rules and consonant classes is better spent learning to say words and phrases so a translation app understands you and then trying it out on Thai people. Also, with respect to tones, if you learn phrases more than words, tones won't be a problem. Thai people will know from context if you mean dog or horse, tiger or shirt, or other words that sound close. Be realistic, over about age 12 years, any language you learn you will have an accent. Also, leave your pride at home, if someone laughs when you speak it is because it sounds funny, they aren't laughing at you. Also, learn to laugh at your mistakes rather than getting frustrated. If you do this while learning you will also do it while trying to speak to someone and they will be more likely to help you. Even Thais that speak English well are likely to remember the struggle of learning and will be glad to help you. Those who don't speak English well are going through the same things as you and will understand and usually laugh along with you. Learn the (simple, crude?) translation of this phrase "I try to learn Thai language but what I learn today I forget tomorrow". Almost always gets a big laugh. "ผม พยายาม เรียน ภาษาไทย. แต่ วันนี้ เรียน พรุ่งนี้ ลืม ครับ" Thai people have repeatedly complimented me on the liberal use of the word Khap at the end of utterances. I highly recommend practicing saying it when you are drilling and then you will say it when you speak. It is called the polite particle, but really if you don't say it your speech is impolite. Last comments, the book GG recommends is very good, one big reason being the large type face makes the Thai readable. The publisher of this book Thai for Beginners, by Benjawan Poomsan Becker also has a good dictionary app in the App Store it is "Talking Thai <> English Dictionary" from Paiboon Publishing. Also, Everyday Thai for Beginners by Wiworn Kesavatana-Dohrs (Author). Note the similar titles, but very different books. One great thing about this one is the sound files and exercises are in Thai only so you are forced to learn without translating. I still recall the phrase I drilled in this book before I tell the taxi driver where to turn. This one looks expensive compared to others (38 USD) but it is that much better. Good luck.

Nothing like third hand, vague testimony to convince me.

doesn't explain group brawls which appear to be some kind of team sport

What is the appeal of fighting? Why do so many seem to enjoy it?

Glad to hear things are working out so well for you.

The discount was significant, I think 50% on some routes. Sad to see it go. I will say from the Thai point of view Thai seniors are more likely to be in need of it than foreigners. As my Thai cleaning lady pointed out to me, the Thai monthly pension would last me about 1 day.

In addition I often see riders walking away from the turnstiles that are dedicated to MC/VISA and going to the ticket window, apparently due to some problem with access. I rarely see this at the other turnstiles.

I'm guessing if you sat in a high traffic area and observed behavior of pedestrians systematically that your groupings wouldn't hold up. When I lived in Los Angeles I used to think to myself that luxury car drivers were such arrogant entitled drivers, but I'm guessing that Toyota drivers were just as bad. Certain types get under our skin and we take note of their bad behavior. Now Russians...

If when you say Cassandra you mean a pompous self-deluded fool, I am sure many who know you think that of you. A prophet of things to come, not so much.

Why do you say "old farts"? Pattaya is full of reprobates of all ages. As far as wanting to think "that their lives are relevant", silly comment. They are there for reasons immediately obvious to the most casual observer as your photo illustrates.

I'm very proud of gg who has recently become a statistical researcher. I don't remember hearing about this until recently. Congrats on your new profession,

I like Pattaya. I wish I could go there more often. Darn job in Bangkok cuts into my free time.

I think it's just a numbers thing. Lots of Brits are here and a few are bad actors. Now if the Maltese were constantly in the news for bad behavior it might mean something is amiss with the character of people from Malta. As far as Thais, I think a farang is a farang. My coworkers for instance don't seem to know or care if I am from UK, US or OZ, all the same to them I think.

Would you really expect those things in an article like this?