CaptHaddock

In Canada you can plan and budget. In Thailand the government is a failure at managing the economy, the value of the baht and inflation. They simply don't have a clue what they are doing to themselves. You can't plan anything to any level, as you are seeing.

Do you folks with all these opinions ever check to see if you know what you are talking about? Here's a graph of the annual GDP growth rates for Thailand and Canada for the period 1993 to 2015. Canada begins the period in a long and deep recession/depression which dwarfs in size and duration even the Tom Yung Kung crisis of 1997 in Thailand. Thailand then recovers particularly well during the Thaksin period until the global crisis of 2008 and the period following, when the economy was damaged repeatedly by successive military and judicial coups destabilizing the legitimate government. Canada's natural resource economy is doing quite more recently now that global trade and, in particular, China have caused resource demand to spike. Canada is a great country with a high standard of living, which cannot be said for Thailand, but Thailand has had spectacular growth and improvement in standard of living during the past thirty years or so second only to China, a huge achievement.

Here's the graph comparing annual inflation rates for the same period. We would normally expect inflation to be higher in developing countries than in those economies that are already fully-developed. Nevertheless, Canada hardly looks better and is certainly much more volatile than Thailand. Canada was in deflation repeated during the period, a much more ominous outcome than inflation, in general.

As for the future, the number of military dictatorships that have successfully managed economic development is very small indeed. Think Myanmar, for example. Therefore, I would put my money on Canada, if that were the only consideration.

The answer to the OP's question is yes. He will be able to hear the difference with practice. It may well take more practice than he expects, but if he works at it he will be able to distinguish and produce the correct tones. If he doesn't work at it, then he won't be able to distinquish the tones no matter how long he is in Thailand. There are any number of long-term expats who can demonstrate the truth of that statement.

When I began learning Thai on my own 4 years ago I had the usual difficulties with distinguishing tones. Now it's not a problem. I can hear the difference in the girl in the video's two sentences, although she doesn't make as much difference between สวย and ซวย as she does in other word pairs.

I found having an expert teacher to correct me constantly to be an indispensable part of acquiring skill in tones. It might be possible to do without, but it would be much harder and the student is more likely to give up.

I write practice sentences using recently-learned vocabulary and have my teacher correct it during our one-on-one class. Yes, it takes a long time to learn the correct context and usage that way, but it's the best way and the only way to know if you are using it correctly since most Thais won't correct your mistakes any more than most Americans would for English. It is always the case, even for your mother tongue, that you recognize and understand more words than you can use correctly.

Unfortunately, the online dictionaries, at least those that I am familiar with, do not provide information about context and usage, although dict.longdo.com does supply some examples. There is no Petit Robert or OED for the Thai language.

Come on. For all those posting about the US supporting democracy think about who they have supported in the past & continue to do so. Obama has just been to the "hub" of middle east democarcy, Saudi Arabia, most recently known for sentencing a man to 10 years in prison & 1,000 lashes for criticisng some clerics. Supporting Saudi is all about oil & using them as a buffer in a country that is the very antithesis of democracy. If the Vietnam war was happening now the US would not have said boo about the coup.

That's right. The US supports democracy around the world to the extent that doing so does not interfere with its national interests, which is frequently. In those cases the US reserves the right to support the likes of Pinochet, Pol Pot, Diem/Thieu/Ky, Franco, Saddam, etc.

Nevertheless, in this case the US is on the right side vis-a-vis Prayut and the rest of the thugs. Symbolic gestures do matter, but in the end the US will neither cut off military support for nor establish a trade embargo against the anti-democracy clique in Thailand.

That's an excellent idea! Keep it up!

Any suggestions for us lazy people that have been negligent with that for several decades?

You can do a vocab test to get a rough estimate of how many words you know, like this one:

http://linguee.me/vocabularytest/index

i got 5,100 words.Not too bad considering i know a bit less than 4,000(based on words that i've written in my notebook).

http://i.imgur.com/WD4wYcX.jpg

What's your score,guys? (no cheating please )

I got 5,065, but I think I pretty sure that I know more than that since my flashcard database has 9,922 words and phrases. The test slights the more advanced words like วิวัฒนาการ กฎอยการศึก ธนาธิปไตย ผลิตภัณฑ์มวลรวม เจาะลึก สารระเหย และอื่นๆ

To the OP at the beginning you might get the impression that mastering the tones is the main problem for Westerners learning the language. In fact, you will be able to produce and recognize the tones fairly quickly if you have a good teacher to correct you. After that there remain many levels of difficulty to master the language such as the levels of usage such as slang, spoken, written, formal, semi-formal, literary, poetic, rachasap, etc. All languages have similar distinctions, but they are more important in Thai than in European languages. Pronoun usage is vastly more complex than in a language like English. Combining verbs in idiomatic narration is yet another skill. And so on.

So, there is a long row to hoe and for most Westerners here it isn't worth it. It can't be necessary if someone like Bill Heinecke can become a billionaire in Thailand on a vocabulary of no more than 100 words. In most cases, the limiting factor in learning languages is insufficient motivation. For those willing to put in the effort there is a reward in understanding the society and culture that is worth it.

For TV series is very hard to bet the "Couch potato" and "sabnzbd" combo, which automates everything, and your series just arrive ready to be viewed in your favorite media player. These two programs work well on the Mac, Win, Linux and Android.

This combo works fine on linux, not so well on Win 8. But although it runs fine on linux, there is still the problem that many of the movie files on usenet are malware calling for phony "codecs", etc. Have you found a way to filter these out, other than manually reviewing?

Sumaa Institute. At least the best in the opinion of the current and former ambassadors who have studied there including: US, UK, Australia, Ireland, Belgium, Germany, among others. Foreign Services have a lot of experience in language training, particularly compared to the average Thai visa poster. Most or all of the schools on your list are not even competent, certainly not remotely comparable to the level of a university in Europe or the US.

Perhaps you should call your poll, "The Best of the Worst." Ridiculous.

When I disparage "Thai visa" I mean the community of posters at thaivisa.com, specifically including the current, uninformed OP.

The list carefully excludes the two best Thai language schools in Bangkok. Typical Thai visa approach.

Both Japan and Germany were devastated by WWII.

Their industry was smashed.

It had to be rebuilt after the war.

That is why both Germany and Japan got new start after WWII.

Ironically, that gave them a newer more modern base to restart from than Thailand, or for that matter the U.K.

Thailand never had that "advantage", that Japan or Germany had.

If you follow that, consider what Vietnam will be like in another decade or so.

The USA never bombed North Vietnam in the same way they bombed Japan and Germany. If they had the war would have been over in two weeks. The primary thing the US bombing did in the Vietnam war was kill trees and dirt.

If you made a conscious effort, you could not possibly be more incorrect. You really need to go back and study your history. It is estimated the US was responsible for more than 2 million deaths in Vietnam and Laos. 2 million! And you speak of bombing dirt? The death and destruction in Hanoi alone was unspeakable. That war was a completely unnecessary atrocity. And I speak as an American. One who is quite ashamed of that chapter of American history. Granted WWII was a different level. And a far more righteous war. But, that does not excuse what happened in Vietnam.

Tammy Arbuckle, correspondent for the Washington Star- News, who visited Hanoi at the end of March. In a dispatch printed in the Star-News on April 1, he said: United States air strikes against legitimate military targets in Hanoi seem to have been carried out with almost surgical precision. The impression after nine hours spent in this city is that Hanoi's people, contrary to some reports, seem to have had an easier war than some .... Pictures and some press reports had given a visitor the impression Hanoi had suffered badly in the war--but in fact the city is hardly touched. This compares with South Vietnamese, Cambodian and Lao towns that are completely razed.

http://www.aim.org/publications/aim_report/1973/05.html

If you weren't there at least get your facts straight.

What a load of crap. Vietnamese deaths due to the 20-year plus war with the US are estimated by the Vietnamese govt at 3 million out of a population at that time of about 60 million.

Those who were there are probably the least likely to get their facts straight.

for cooking. Either raw or roasted. Anyone know where to buy?

While you're at it when you are renewing your passport spring for the passport card as well. Then you can produce the card when identification is demanded.

So, if I apply for a new passport, presumably at the US Embassy here in BKK, how do my visa and my extensions from Thai Immigration get migrated over?

Switch your default search engine from google to duckduckgo.com.

Wallet with money, etc. always in front pocket. Empty wallet in back pocket. When walking in high traffic area like the BTS/MRT hands always in both front pockets.

I don't even have basic Thai.
Despite coming here for years and now living here I know maybe 100/200 words,
language doesn't come easily to me.

Learning a new language doesn't come easily to anyone. Those who succeed at it put in a lot of work to do so.

Yes.

There is just the 1900 baht fee for the extension application that will be under consideration.

When you report back all you will need is your passport so they can do the extension stamp in it. No fee then.

The one year extension will start from the date your current permit to stay ends.

So my wife does not have to go with me when I report back to get my extension stamp?

Just has to come with me for my application visit right?

Correct.

Violent crime against westerners outside of the hours 11:00 pm to 6:00 am is almost non-existent here. Pickpocketing and purse snatching exist, but that is the case in virtually every city of this size on earth. If you are drunk, with gold chains hanging off you, wandering some side soi at 3:00 am - the law of the jungle will manifest itself - and you will probably be relieved of your gold. Otherwise, if you look alert, and keep your wits about you - predators will go looking for easier prey - which usually means tourists.

A woman does have to be a bit more circumspect about moving around solo at night, via taxi - my suggestion would be to find a place to live within walking distance of a BTS or MRT stop, and go home early enough to catch the last train (roughly midnight).

The reports of police stops were - in my opinion - vastly overblown - and I say that as someone who walked along/through the most frequently sighted intersection almost every weekday evening for the past 12 years. Maybe one in 2,000 foreign passersby got stopped - during maybe a one-week "surge" every four or five months - for years. Then - starting maybe five months ago - the military government shut down a lot of the sidewalk business activity along Sukhumvit - and the Police - having fewer opportunities to exploit the street bars, vendors, etc., stepped up their activity stopping random foreigners for maybe six weeks. Of every 100 foreigners stopped, probably 95 were inconvenienced for five minutes or less, with no ill effects. If urine testing occurred, I doubt that even 20 people - total - were ever affected. If drugs were planted - that might have happened maybe once or twice in ten years - and somewhere else (like Ekkamai bus station). If they ever stopped a 26 year old western woman dressed in "business casual" along Sukhumvit - neither I nor anyone I know ever heard of it.

95% of all bad stuff that happens to foreigners here happens between midnight and sunrise. If you are habitually out during that period, you number will eventually come up. If you avoid being out frequently during that period, your chances of running into problems are minimal.

MS

To the OP,

All of the reassuring statistics in this post were simply made up out of air by the poster since no one is tracking such events, certainly not the poster himself.

Probably you will not have any problem in Bangkok, but the relevant responses are those from other women here. My Thai women teachers are afraid to take a taxicab, but are not afraid of the BTS or MRT train systems. They do take motorcyle cabs, but complain about the behavior and unsafe driving habits of some of the moto drivers. If you can avoid the motorcyle and tuktuk drivers you would do well to. Whether you can or not depends on where you live. Bagsnatching does occur in some areas.

With respect to the effect of the military takeover, the fact is that under a dictatorship you don't actually have any rights. We don't hear stories of foreigners being detained so it probably doesn't happen much. There really is no way of estimating the chances of your having a problem with the authorities such as a violation of your human rights by an illegal search of your person. We all still live here so that tells you that we think the risks are manageable, but of course we don't really know.

Personally I prefer to make flashcards from blank business cards with Thai on one side and English on the other. I can then just slip a bunch of them in my pocket and practice whenever I have a few spare moments.

Or you could use Anki on your mobile which is synced through the cloud with your desktop Anki and practice whenever you have a few spare moments that way.

Writing new words down in a notebook is an excellent way to help memorize the word the first time you encounter it because it adds the physical channel. The more channels we use to interact with a word, i.e. physical, vocal, aural, visual, etc. the more likely we are to remember it.

But then what? Are you going to go over your old notebooks at some frequency to review words you have learned, but haven't encountered often enough to memorize fully? Some of those words you have got by heart by that point so that reviewing them is a waste of time. Other words you will have forgotten completely so that you will have to learn them again fresh. This is the task that spaced repetition programs, of which Anki is the best, set out to solve. Space rep programs function as flash cards. Your Thai vocabulary is an Anki deck. When you practice with Anki it has scheduled more frequent prompting of the cards that you have got wrong recently and less frequent occurrences of those that you got right. It knows if you remembered the card correctly in one of two ways: you speak the Thai word to the English word prompt and tell Anki whether you got it right or you type the response in Thai characters which Anki can score. So you spend more of your time on words that you don't know well. Makes your study time more efficient. If you use the typing method, which is what I recommend, you will not only learn Thai spelling, but you will learn touch typing in Thai without making any special effort as long as you use the correct finger for each key. If you can touch type English you already know which finger to use for each key.

When reviewing Thai vocabulary you will normally set Anki to prompt with the English word and then type the Thai word in response. However, you will sometimes want to review in the other direction, i.e. saying the English word in response to a prompt of the Thai word. It's easy to do this in Anki.

After you have been working at learning Thai for a few years you will have thousands of words and phrases. I don't think there is a practical way to review a vocabulary of that size without using a computer flash card program. I tried several before settling on Anki as the best of the breed.

Good luck with your Thai study.

“The planning and implementation problems in the climate change policy process mentioned earlier are not only confined to climate change policies. Rather, they are a microcosm of Thailand’s low level of institutional capacity.”

"Thailand’s institutional structure and political economy will hinder its capacity to address climate change and, while these capacities will improve as the country democratizes, it will still be limited.

I'll read the article with interest. The author's optimism in 2011 as to the further democratization of the country is in need of urgent updating however.

If he were to get married in the US, he wouldn't need the affirmation letter. My wife and I were married in the US, although some years before, and I didn't have to get any documentation from the US Embassy. My wife did register the marriage with the amphur here in Thailand. If married in the US, he can get the non-imm O visa from a Thai consulate in the US. No documentation of assets required at that point.

I'm not so sure about this.

I married a Thai here in Thailand, after two and a half years she got her visa to live with me in the U.S. ( a very difficult and long process )

Six years later, we decide to live here in Thailand.

It was much easier for me to get my Non Immigrant ( based on marriage ) visa to stay here in Thailand than to get her into the U.S.

But.....I did have to show proof of income ( or money in a Thai bank ) to get the visa and have had to provide proof of income every year since to get my extensions.

If no documentation of assets is required, I wish you would inform the immigration office!

When I got my first non-imm O at the Thai consulate in New York, no proof of assets (or income) was required. That first visa granted in NY allowed me to live in Thailand for a year, but I had to leave and re-enter every 90 days. I did leave at the first 90 day mark, but then applied for an extension for which only the 90 day reporting was required. With that extension and all the others since, I certainly did have to prove assets/income. At the time of the first application in NY I was surprised that no documentation of assets was required, but it makes sense. After all I could hardly be expected to show a balance in a Thai bank never having lived in Thailand at that point.

The Thai Consulate in NY was very easy to deal with. No waiting, no hassle.

If he were to get married in the US, he wouldn't need the affirmation letter. My wife and I were married in the US, although some years before, and I didn't have to get any documentation from the US Embassy. My wife did register the marriage with the amphur here in Thailand. If married in the US, he can get the non-imm O visa from a Thai consulate in the US. No documentation of assets required at that point.