meadish_sweetball

there are many experts who believe that vaccines only play a small role in decreasing the prevalence of these diseases.

A few links to these experts so we do not have to take your word for it?

Your points about prevention, healthy food and exercise being important are very true, I do not think anybody would disagree... but they are not mutually exclusive with vaccination, nor can we deny the reality that a fair number of people do not live healthily in sufficiently clean conditions... that's just the way the world works.

I find it interesting that vaccinations for simple childhood diseases like mumps, measles and chickenpox

need boosters for life, otherwise, is you catch the disease as an adult the outcome can be very serious.

For these childhood diseases, I agree it makes better sense not to vaccinate as immunity following a bout of either of these is preferable for the reasons you state - they can become serious conditions in adults - but this does not invalidate that vaccination against diphtheria is a good idea. Got to separate apples and pears here.

To vaccinate a child before an epidemic of a potentially life-threatening disease such as diphtheria makes perfect sense. Even if pharmaceutical companies and doctors make a buck from it, too.

When I ate at my favourite Santi Asoke vegetarian canteen I noticed a rather staid and non-social mood whereas in wats and community fars it seems more realxed and congenial. Perhaps it is a class thing - middle versus working class?

Yes, that could be part of it. Also, with the exception of tourist areas, I find many Thai people tend to avoid social interaction with strangers except when at their 'home base', surrounded by close friends and family.

Further ideas, maybe the Santi Asoke people are trying to boost mindfulness and therefore avoid social interaction?

I had the same thing happen to me Sunday around 11 AM. I would guess two more reasons for the lack of space:

Increasing numbers of staff drive and park their own cars, rather than motorcycles.

There is a current pandemic of RSV virus going around right now, and Ram consistently appears to recommend hospitalization for younger children. So you get all the families staying with their kids at the hospital as well as relatives coming to visit...

Thai students are taught to spell their names using roman characters during their English classes.

According to the individual English teacher's own ideas and shortcomings, rather than according to a system that has been created by experts for the purpose and taught universally to English teachers at all Thai schools, which would be the only way to handle this issue properly. Deciding on the right committee for this purpose will turn into an enormous prestige struggle.

I think in this multicultural and soon to be bilingual environment, more thought can be put into reconciling RTGS or whatever system you decide to use, and the people who will use it.

Oh, I agree, and so does everyone who has any experience of the problems. China, Vietnam and Japan have already introduced perfectly functional and universally recognized romanisation systems for their languages. However, this is Thailand. Most Thais don't care enough.

Head, meet brick wall.

I would guess Albacore has caught the right one, and to answer the OP's additional question: yes, 'Really?' is an appropriate translation.

Literally: "true, or?", "real, or?"

We tried using a phonetic extension of RTGS on this forum when it was new. We chose RTGS as the basis because everyone should be familiar with it; it is the official scheme for maps. The result has been a complete failure, and I suspect most who post transliterated Thai do not understand this phonetic completion.

An indicator of how it has fallen by the wayside is that Meadish has just transcribed ผงชูรส 'MSG' as 'pong[R] choo[M] rot[H]', when the scheme would have used '[R]phong [M]chuu [H]rot'. It tempts me to just render as phaṅjūrasa and mock the incomprehension. Fortunately, a combination of Thai script and unidentified transcription almost always serve to convey the pronunciation. Or perhaps not fortunately - may be this is why there is no common transcription on this forum.

I've resigned to the fact that most people who comment on the site appear to be native English speakers who are unhappy with any type of transcription that does not follow English conventions (as they interpret them). There is no ideal solution for the aspirated/unaspirated distinction. Use 'ph vs. p', and the unsuspecting pronounce 'ph' as 'f'. Use 'p vs. bp' and people scratch their heads at how to pronounce 'bp'. Whatever system you apply, somebody will complain...

ผงชูรส

pong[R] choo[M] rot[H]

When the ส consonant occurs in syllable final position, it is realised in Thai as a silent d/t sound. That means the tongue stops at the same spot in the mouth (alveolar ridge, the ridge behind your upper front teeth) as it would when pronouncing a 'd' or 't' - but instead of removing it to create the distinct 'd' or 't' sound, it stays put.

R:rising

M:mid

H:high

Maybe, but I think there's a link between the usage of this system and Thai student's ability to learn English.

More like the other way around. The fact that Thais use a pronunciation helper script based on Thai letters is a big invitation to Thai-ify their English pronunciation.

The vast majority of Thais pay no attention to the RI system of transcription: it is not taught at schools, and if it is taught to government officials (which I do not know, but doubt, given the inconsistencies in signage even within Bangkok, not to mention the provinces) then the teachers have not been successful.

Thanks for this offer, Godfree.

Are there TNH and/or Advaita groups in Chiangmai?

Green Papaya Sangha practices in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh.

Much easier to learn Issan I think! Basically same without tones.

All the various dialects in Isaan have tones too, so in that respect, they are not any easier than Standard Thai. And unless you plan on only spending time in Isaan, Standard Thai is what is spoken on TV and radio (except for a few regional shows), the language of teaching at school, and the language of writing all official documents - you can use it to make yourself understood all over the country. So while picking up everyday speech in the local dialect certainly is useful, if you want to take your learning further, you should consider going with Standard Thai. Four tones or five tones does not really matter much in the end, once you understand the concept of tones you'll be able to learn other tonal languages quicker (but the first one you learn may well interfere with the following ones, in the beginning).

please satisfy my curiosity-why vang vieng

what is it people do there?

At one time - not long ago - they were known for having opium dens and lots of other drug use. I have no idea if that is still the situation.

It seems to have been escalating for some time. But not for much longer it seems. The Lao Government is cleaning the place up to make room for a 'new breed' of tourist. No more tubing, crackdown on bars selling drugs, expat staff told to leave.

GNC should have it, too. Very common supplement.

Easiest way to find it, around the corner from Yummy pizza& Francesca's, up the road from Mr,Chan & miss Pauline,almost opposite Coaches pizza, this is becoming a real fine food Area!

Almost opposite Kao Mao Kao Fang too.

Starting to be like Lygon Street, Melbourne. And that's a good thing.

Homesick?

Thanks for the tip, looks like a nice place to spend an afternoon. I'll bring along my own little safety beta tester as soon as time permits.

Many thanks for all your suggestions.

In case you have tried any of these places in person, a short review of your experience would be great too. If you don't want to post it publicly for some reason, feel free to PM me.

Just to clarify, my friend is not interested in a long-stay visa, as he's based elsewhere.

Is this car good enough to drive long distance in thailand?

Yes. It's a decent mid-sized car, albeit not luxurious in any way. Toyota Altis models are the most frequently used vehicles as metered taxis. Everything works ok, and the air conditioning is one notch over many competitors.

I have a friend who has learned Thai boxing at a camp in Rawai, Phuket a couple of times. Each time, he would stay for about a month.

Now he is wondering if there are any similar options here in Chiang Mai. He doesn't speak Thai, but he is familiar enough with Thai boxing already that only very basic English should still work.

This man killed innocent children and has no remorse. Norway may feel that because they have no death penalty they are special or have a higher form of democracy. I feel they are absolutely wrong in this case and this animal should have received a death sentence. He will now live in solitary for 21 years probably no parole and maybe an extension of his sentence unless he shows remorse and good behavior. The victims families will never receive closure and will feel unsafe and tortured as long as he is still alive. Citizens of Norway will be paying the bill for Breivik's incarceration. So in essence everyone loses and is threatened except Breivik. He will probably write a book, gain popularity and god forbid, a copycat killer comes along and continues his mission. I say if he acts like an animal he should be treated as one would in a pack or herd under nature's laws. Sometimes animals behave more sanely than we do and have laws that are simple but fair. In a pack, herd, flock, etc a deranged animal that is threat to the group will be killed by the group swiftly and life goes on.

Animals do not envision future dystopias, plan out mass murders years in advance or see themselves as "warriors of light" or whatever he thinks he is. That type of behaviour is distinctly human.

I support Norway fully in their decision, and I do not believe that the families or society as a whole would be any happier by the death penalty.

Laugh all you want.

This is true, assuming that the writer is making correct claims, and does not write this in spite because he has an ax to grind after breaking with the group. The accusations are serious, so I wonder what response they will get.

Not to worry - stop your Kling-on, and you'll be fine, the Buddha said.

Saw it on the news. She was from a hill tribe that I did not recognize.

Lahu, according to the Straights Times article. One of the most numerous hilltribes.

The news sources I read, which I also think elektrified is referring to, quoted the woman as being "of the Musur hill tribe".

Not many references to that term online, other than those related to this particular story. I think Musur is actually the name of the mountain and that she was either Lahu, Lisu, or Hmong...

-Mestizo

Mussur/Musoe มูเซอ (=hunter) is the most common Thai name of this hill tribe. Their name in English is Lahu (similar to what they are called in Chinese and Vietnamese). They call themselves Ladhulsi or Kawzhawd.

I do believe we tried to develop a system back in the Dark Ages of the forum, but it did not really catch on, even among the most prolific posters. I think there are many reasons why none of the systems developed so far have gained universal popularity...

There are many dialects in Sweden and the vowel sounds do vary.

In Stockholm Swedish and many of the surrounding dialects, including my own, long A corresponds most closely to the Thai อ in ขอ whereas long Å corresponds more closely to Thai โ in โค.

This Swedish alphabet chart demonstrates this quite clearly if you press "Aa" and "Åå" buttons (listen closely to the sound and try to avoid thinking about the symbol it is associated with):

http://swedishalphabet.tripod.com/alpha.swf

That being said, 'short' å in Swedish, for example in 'råtta' (rat) is closer to Thai อ...

Thais do not all think the same even if it is possible to generalize.

คน in and of itself just means person (singular) or people/persons (plural), and the rest is down to the individual speaker's idea of nationality/ethnicity, like Peppy says. In your first post you already mentioned noticing that many Thais show surprise when somebody does not fit their idea of what the world is like. This is common.

I think เป็นคนแคนาดา เชื้อชาติเกาหลี is very clear and if people still think that is difficult to understand, then I would call it their problem, not yours.

sn't ah moi actually อาหมวย - ah muay and not ah moi

Yes, it is. But it seems some people have a tendency to pronounce diphthongs as single vowels. It's not necessarily that you're mispronouncing it, it could just be that the Thai person is keen on finding a dirty meaning for laughs.