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8 hours ago, NotYourBusiness said:

 

Fascinating thread. There is compelling evidence of the existence of a huge (over 500 feet long), ancient, man-made, boat like object at 6.300 feet above sea level.

I saw several of these at Suvarnabhumi airport the other day with lots of strange  writing on the side like "Finnair" and "EastStarJet"

Is one of them Sweden by any chance?

So the 65k Embassy letter of proof of income, is this now completely off the menu or does it still work for the nationals of some countries?

I suppose there is no way to take into consideration the 3M Baht worth of shares that I have on account with a Thai stockbroker. After all its a permanent investment in the place and nearly 4 times the 800,000 they are looking for. Then again, its me that gets the dividend payouts rather than the Thai banks getting almost interest free loans. so I guess the answer is probably 'no'. 

Its not those kinds of tips they are after - you are all so cynical, all you think about is money. What they are really after is either the winner of the 4.20 at Kempton Park tomorrow or helpful suggestions about running and improving the office.

Its worked pretty darn good for me, three times now and completely problem free. Well done สำนักงานตรวจคนเข้าเมือง - and thanks!

Its pure and simple racism. Its a Thai with a ten word pidgeon-english vocabulary saying to a falang who has probably 3000+ words "all falangs are so stupid and dumb that its impossible to even conceive of learning, let alone having the temerity to use, our wonderful language" ... or rather " falang suer buer can spik thai tink no man kum can doo".

Going through a very basic children's Thai grammar book, I found the following exercise question (presumably) asking the reader to pick out one of three words containing a particular vowel:

คำในข้อใดมีสระ .. ...

Then there are three very simple words, one with the correct answer.

Its the structure of the question that seems a bit difficult. Translating directly you would get:

"word in case/instance what has vowel....." or in more normal form "Which word contains the vowel....".

So does this structure apply to every question of this sort. For example, would the following follow the same form:

"Which tin contains beans..". (the red tin, the green tin, the blue tin etc)

กระป๋องในข้อใดมีถั่ว.....

Thanks.

When did you study there?

As I did my placement test in July and was also assigned to Thai 3, which I've just finished.

Some of the Burmese guys in my class also found it really difficult, so it's not just us Farang. Although for them it was mainly the speaking which was difficult, same with the Japanese guys, where they find it difficult to pronounce the final consonants (but find using tones/classifieds and the general sentence structure easier than English speakers).

For me it was mainly the writing/spelling which was hard (since I've been here for 4 years already so am already pretty confident at speaking) and trying to stop some bad habits which I'd picked up from speaking but never been corrected on (e.g. I'd always say ผมมี.... For things like a cold or sore body etc since that's how we say it in English but for years ppl never corrected me lol).

The test for new students is tomorrow I think. When I did the test in July it was freakishly difficult and I ended up just giving up on it (especially when I saw the 1pg essay in the last page for which I didn't even understand the question lol). But because my listening/speaking was good during the interview, and I can read/write, but was just missing vocab + had terrible spelling, they put me into lvl 3 (which was where I wanted to be anyway).

To anyone doing the placement test tomorrow, good luck. I personally found the course to be difficult but really good, and am amazed at how much additional vocabulary I've learnt over the past 2 months. So if you're doing the course, maybe I'll see you around on campus

July 1 to Aug 14.

"What is the general format of the test? e.g. Does it involve reading/writing/listening/speaking? Is it on paper or on a computer? Does it ask for the proper names of letters/vowels etc, or just that you know it's function? does the test have questions in English and answers in Thai? or full Thai? or is it just an interview with someone from the school?"

There is a ten minute interview with someomne from the school. the other 2hrs 50 mins of the placement test is basically comprehension. You have several passages to read and answer questions about. The passages are not simple but not unrealistically difficult.

After the placement test I got assigned to Th 3.

"And from what I gather, the dress code is smart casual? (long pants/jeans and a collared shirt)"

Well, one lad from Japan insisted on shorts throughout the course but it didn't seem to raise eyebrows.

"How many students are in the classes? And are there usually many farang students? (Or are they primarily from other Asian countries?)."

This is really the major failing of the course, its geared to Asian studends rather than falangs. After just a couple of days it was obvious that the Asians benefited from the structures of their respective languages, which appeared to be similar to Thai language structures. Very soon the group was being lead at the pace set by the Asians. We had six Asians and three falangs. One falang dropped out about 2/3rds of the way through, one disappeared for a bit and I stuck it out without missing a day. Completed most of the homeworks, probably studied an extra 30 hours per week in addition to the course time. Still failed Th3.

Really would not recommend the Chula courses to falangs, its only really for Asians.

Oh great, really helpful, thanks so much.

Would someone kindly give me a translation for "headband", the kind of thing worn for sport or while exercising for keeping the hair or sweat from getting in the eyes. Dictionaries not much help. Many thanks.

The combination of low consonant + no tone mark + k/p/t final is the only one where the vowel length plays a part.

low consonant + no tone mark + long vowel + k/p/t final = falling tone

low consonant + no tone mark + short vowel + k/p/t final = high tone

If the final is 'open' (ie 'mng' or no consonant), the tone is always mid tone (assuming no tone mark)

Of course, this means you have to learn which vowels are short and which are long.....

Thats a very good way to deal with these low class consonants, many thanks Rick.

So, in general, the length of the vowel takes precedent over the sound of the final consonant when it comes to determining the tone of the word?

No, no. There's nothing taking precedence over anything else in this case. The vowel length and the sound of the final consonant are both factors in determining the tone (along with the consonant class and presence or non-presence of a tone mark).

The relevant rule here is:

low consonant + no tone mark + long vowel + k/p/t final = falling tone

Whatever book you're using to learn Thai should go over the tone rules thoroughly--they do seem like a lot at first (I put off learning them for nearly a year, even though I started learning to read and write right away) but they're absolutely necessary to be able to read correctly, so don't give up!

I know, to be able to read and get these rules right is the key to everything in Thai. In fact in speaking, unless you can 'see' the word and its component parts in your head, there is a high risk of getting the tone wrong, apart for a few hundred common words that one can learn the tone off by rote. Ironically I find the words with tone marks over the top the easiest to deal with. Its that group of words beginning with a low class consonant and different combinations of long or short vowels plus the 'kpt' or 'mng' sound endings (or no consonant ending at all) that seem especially tricky at the moment.

Good luck, you seem to be making more progress than myself!

It's falling because the vowel is long, like in มาก, for example.

ยก is high because the vowel is short.

Thanks Peppy. So, in general, the length of the vowel takes precedent over the sound of the final consonant when it comes to determining the tone of the word?

Why is เลิก a falling tone? Its a low class consonant and the word ends with a 'k' sound, which surely indicates a high tone, according to the 'rules'.

In fact the other part of the translation for 'cancel' (ยก เลิก) seems to follow the rule as it has a high tone. Does Thai have irregular tones where the 'rules' don't apply?

But he's right about the attitude at Tesco at Market Village. I was given 360 baht in 20 baht notes as change at one of 'basket' tills. I protested and asked for some hundreds but she just ignored me and started to serve the next person, like I didn't exist. Some lessons in customer service would not go amiss.

P&M

And did you politly ask if you could have 100 notes if it was possible she had them? Did you actually ask if she had any ??? or did you do what I always see foreigners in Tesco/Big C and any other major store do...rant at her in a pigeon English, flapping your arms and pointing at the till.......??? some of the staff are not so friendly, but hey, if I worked in Tesco in the UK and did the same to a customer and they started ranting at me in Swahili or Tobagon.....I really would just ignore them and serve the next customer.

Usually the other way round mate. Falang politely makes a request, often in Thai, only to be met with a look of total disbelief by the clown behind the checkout and an aggressive rude attitude of 'how dare you speak Thai to me', then its the clown that carries on in english that is usually completely incomprehensible and resembles more the ramblings of a lunatic than any recognizable european language. Wise up..

is this market village in Hua Hin ?

Its Hua Hin

Are you sure it was only six large bottles and nothing else? If you buy enough it is classed as retail sale and is allowed 24 hours a day....I always find it is the opposite, outlets let the foreigners buy but refuse the Thais. The law is enforced since 1st Jan 2006 so almost 5 years should be enough for anyone to know, also signs are posted in Thai and English...Mom and Pop shops will sell anytime and in fact can be cheaper than Tesco, mine sells Leo cans at 27 baht 7/11 and Tesco charge 30 baht

Yup, 6 * 630cl = 3,780L, watched them scanned and that's all the alcohol the dude had. Agree about the M&P stores, far better, cheaper, friendlier, and will even speak Thai with the falangs; rather give them my dough that an ill mannered multinational. Just sometimes its a bit more convenient to get all the shopping in one go. Personally prefer the super at the complex, often cheaper than TossCo, no prohibition, and locally owned.

As ridiculous as the liquor buying prohibition between 1400-1700 and before 1100 is, I was under the illusion that the law applied equally to Thais as well as falangs. Well, evidently not so, as I saw around 1620 today in the Market Village Tesco. An elderly falang, no doubt looking forward to a nice cold one after a hard day had his two bottles of Chang light seized, followed by a Thai two minutes later who managed to get his six Singha large ones through the checkout unimpeded. So much for the checkout-goon that informed me once 'Till have timelock cant sell beer'. Not only do Tesco at Market Village have the rudest employees in the whole of Thailand but they have now become overtly racist in their interpretation of the national liquor licensing laws. Tesco stinks in more ways than one.

Watch the video...you can clearly see the british man look around just before his wife goes in to the mark. These guys are working a classic confidence game. Textbook my whinging friends! She mixes the merchandise up and then switches positions to confuse. puts one mark back but has two....the one goes in the bag from the other side where the man stands watching before he comes around and looks at her to see if she has made it as well as block the view from back stage left. She leaves before him and from a different exit point. You have to focus on the body language around the mark not on the mark itself. Remember they know there is a camera and they do not care because it wont matter later when they scream CORRUPTION on the part of the shop because the mark is not in their possesion and the video is vague concerning the path of the mark into the bag and because the fourth person(keen or not) gets on the plane with the mark which was handed to him in the security line. The problem with their game in this case is that they assumed that since they did not have the mark when searched that they would be let free(this is usually the case)This is where the corruption comes in...Thai law provides for immediate incarceration for shoplifting until the court case which in Thailand can take months...but only the video is enough to incarcerate. Look....these guys freaked out like landed fish(typical of confidence guys) and were offered a way to avoid hard time and they cut a deal and paid and this was not part of their plan to have to pay. Now they are looking for(and obviously getting) your confidence in them as victims of dreaded incarceration due to misunderstanding and corruption. In Chang Mai last year an Aussie man shot another man in the face at point blank over a war that has been protested extensively for 30 years and received only 2 years in the chang mai jail and spa resort where you can get sleeping poills, KFC, Pizza Company delivered to your door. He will be out soon and paid nothing to speak of...NOW THERE IS SOMETHING TO WORRY ABOUT. In some countries you would lose your hand for what they did. Anyone who lives an honest life in Thailand should be glad this happened.

where do you get the video mate?

"I prefer to walk in the shade" - ผมชอบเดินอยู่ในที่ร่ม

That's how Thais would say.

in the shade - ที่ร่ม

Thanks yoot also.

Good question! I'm guessing, something like

ผมต้องการเดินถนนอยู่ในร่มเงา

Looks promising. ร่มเงา seems to have some logic about it. Ill give it a try when I get home. Many thanks.

I occassionally find that what should be the most simple of things to say in Thai ends up as a major complication that none of my relatives can resolve so I then need to turn to this forum. When out walking the other day I needed to say "I prefer to walk in the shade" that is, under the trees away from the sun. I didn't need a paraply (ร่ม) nor a lamp with a shade (ฉาย ??) but just to walk in the shade. Would somebody kindly help me with this phrase. Many thanks