nelson111

Thanks Costas. I'll obviously have a look around, but I was kind of hoping for specific recommendations of good ones (for a two year old).

I'm after ones with a bit of a story rather than specific 'teaching' orientated ones. The good thing about Peppa Pig and Ben and Holly is my daughter picks up lots of useful language and socail stuff without it being overly didactic.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Nelson

Hi,

Has anyone come across - either through their language learning or parenting - Thai cartoons suitable for a 2 year old? Our little girl loves Peppa Pig and Ben and Holly, and it would be great to have something similar in Thai for her so she's getting more exposure, especially as we're not living in Thailand.

My wife speaks Thai to her, and she hears us speaking Thai to each other and to Thai friends, but she's certainly getting a lot more English input and we'd like to help balance it out in any way we can.

Any suggestions gratefully received.

Cheers,

Nelson

1. What level are you at?

Intermediate, but with patchy fluency as I only lived in Thailand for a year and 3 months and have done most of my learning out of the country. My other-half is Thai but prefers to speak English, so I 'know' a lot more than I regularly use in proper conversation.

2. Can you read and write Thai?

Yes, but not at any speed and with big vocabulary holes. I got my laptop in Korea, and didn't want to muck up the keys with stickers, so can actually touch type in Thai - albeit extremely slowly! The only time I type is if I'm looking up words in an online dictionary or entering new cards in Anki (a spaced repetition flash card programme, mentioned elsewhere in this thread).

I've recently been trying to read The Daily News as often as possible, but I'm still at the regular trips to the dictionary stage and only do one article a day (on the days that I even read it)! That said, I can usually skim through and get the gist fairly easily before I go back and try to understand each sentence in detail with dictionary back-up. I occasionally put the Thai subtitles on when I'm watching a film, but that sort of speed reading is beyond me at present. One day...

3. How long have you been learning for?

I started 5 years ago, have been learning in earnest for about 3, and reasonably effectively for probably the last 2. Like a lot of language learners (or learners of anything), I'd do things a lot differently if I started again. Which, of course, is all part of the 'learning'! Learning and speaking more Thai when I actually lived in Thailand would be top of the list, followed by using Anki consistently from the start.

4. How did you learn?

I picked up bits and bobs from around and about for the first 6 months, spent 20 hours having 1:1 lessons (which got me my 'letters' and made my pronunciation mostly understandable) then had probably a couple of years going at the Benjawan Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced books, plus her first couple of 'Speak Like a Thai' CDs, dabbling with the Learn Thai Podcast (LTP) videos and dipping in and out of Anki. I had a few months going at Thai kids books (the workbooks they use in Thai schools), but didn't really get on with them as the vocabulary they were teaching me didn't suit the real life context I want (although if I do need to ask for a long, tapering, black scythe to chase the field frog through the ditch, I should now be alright).

The last two years I've got into a routine of using Anki more or less daily, first with some decks which I got as part of the LTP package and then adding my own from the Benjawan CDs, the Higbie/Thinsan Grammar book (bought 2 years ago - I'm up to page 100 out of 400-odd! Although I have learned all the classifiers from the back), the LTP vids and stuff I pick up from the newspaper and soaps. I also have a little pad I jot random words down on whenever I think of something I'd like to say in Thai that I don't know, and once I've filled a page I sit down with the dictionary and stick them in Anki.

I realised I wasn't getting enough Thai listening practice about a year ago (or that's when I first started doing something about it, anyway!) and started donwloading lakorn off youtube.They're on there in around 10 minute chunks, so I alternate with and without English subs, which works really well. I find that with the subs I can work out what they're actually saying in Thai most of the time, less so without. That said, there are 10 minute chunks where I seem to pick up nearly every word, and others where they might as well be speaking Burmese!

The regular reading of a newspaper is a newish thing, but a great vocabulary builder, and when I go from reading an article back to reading sentences, words and phrases in Anki, my improvement in reading 'fluency' is very noticable.

5. What other languages could you speak before Thai?

School-boy French (which is now being bullied out by the Thai - anyone else finding that?). Native English.

I think the main thing I've come to appreciate through this process and would tell anyone starting out learning Thai is that you don't learn 'a language'. You learn some of it. And you should appreciate what you have achieved and can understand rather than constantly beating yourself up over what you don't know.

When I think of how far I've come, especially as someone who spent his school days and 20s horribly resistant to the idea of learning a foreign language, not least because I didn't think I'd be able to, I'm proud of the place I'm at now. Whilst remaining painfully aware of how much further I'd like to get! If my experience is anything to go by, playing around with the various different learning materials and styles until you find something that works for you is probably the best approach. And regularly ringing the changes keep things interesting. Enjoy!

I've actually just logged on with a similar query to the OP (we're also off to France in the summer, my wife's also currently on a 2 year spouse visa in the UK).

One additional question: it says on the French embassy's website

http://www.ambafrance-uk.org/Family-member...n-European.html

that

7. If your Marriage Certificate has been issued outside the European Union, it must be stamped by the Foreign Office of the issuing country, or its Embassy in the UK.

We have a translated copy certified by the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs (as per requirement 6. on the above site) but haven't had our actual certificate stamped, apart form the usual Amphur office stamp. Has anyone had experience of getting this done at the Thai Embassy in London and/or is it actually necessary to get the Schengen visa at the French embassy?

It seems a little excessive, given that they already have the certified translation. But then so much of most visa application processes does!

I am a UK citizen who needs to get a Police Clearance Certificate from the Thai Police for a teaching job in the UK.

I am currently in the UK but worked in Thailand previously and as such need to get this certificate before I can work with children here.

One of the requirements for applying for this (http://www.thaiembassyuk.org.uk/police_clearance.html) is 3 sets of fingerprints from the UK police. I went to my local police station and was told that I'd need some forms for the fingerprints from the Thai police. I got the wife to phone them and they were (predictably) less than helpful. Seeing as 3 sets of fingerprints currently retails at 120 quid I'm quite anxious to get them on the right bit of paper.

Has anyone else done this? Any advice/useful links to fingerprint forms would be very helpful.

Also, the only proof that I have of living/working in Thailand are my entry and exit stamps (the work permit went back to my school when I left, as per Thai law). In other people's experience, does this cause any problems?

Incidentally, I'm also doing this for Korea, where it's all done through the UK Embassy and the total outlay is one SAE. Ha.

You are a UK citizen and you are in the UK , looking for a teaching job in the UK ????? You need nothing from the Thai police !!! The school in which you want a job will submit all of your details to the police for the checks to be made prior to your appointment at the school and before you commence work.

If there is not enogh information given to the UK police they would contact you for further checks to be made.

As for fingerprints from the Thai police - what the hel_l for ?

From the fact that you're a senior member I'll assume that you spend a lot of time on here making provocative and ill-informed comments with multiple exclamation marks. Still, keeps you off the streets which is probably a good thing.

Anybody out there with something useful to say?

I am a UK citizen who needs to get a Police Clearance Certificate from the Thai Police for a teaching job in the UK.

I am currently in the UK but worked in Thailand previously and as such need to get this certificate before I can work with children here.

One of the requirements for applying for this (http://www.thaiembassyuk.org.uk/police_clearance.html) is 3 sets of fingerprints from the UK police. I went to my local police station and was told that I'd need some forms for the fingerprints from the Thai police. I got the wife to phone them and they were (predictably) less than helpful. Seeing as 3 sets of fingerprints currently retails at 120 quid I'm quite anxious to get them on the right bit of paper.

Has anyone else done this? Any advice/useful links to fingerprint forms would be very helpful.

Also, the only proof that I have of living/working in Thailand are my entry and exit stamps (the work permit went back to my school when I left, as per Thai law). In other people's experience, does this cause any problems?

Incidentally, I'm also doing this for Korea, where it's all done through the UK Embassy and the total outlay is one SAE. Ha.

Just a quicky before my credit runs out - text yesterday at 1646, picked up the visa today (2407), dated 22-07. So, a little under the 12 week mark,which was a happy surprise.

At the airport now for an overnight flight, in time for my mates wedding tomoorow at 11am.

26 hours ago it looked like Bob Hope and no hope for attending that. What a turnaround. I sent them a mail a couple of weeks ago about the wedding, never got a reply but maybe it shuffled things along a couple of days. Who knows?

OK, better get going, be a shame to miss the flight after all this! Good luck to those still waiting, I hope this is a sign that things are improving.

My name is Andy I got married in April and applied for my wife's settlement visa on the 8th/04/2009 its been 7 & a half weeks now and we still have heard nothing, from what i have been reading it look like we will have at least another month to wait. Good luck to all you people out there in the same situation as me and my wife Joy. It would be nice to think the embassy cud do something to speed up trhe prosess but we are all jus hangig on a string like puppets wait on them to sort things out. being a newly wed it has been very hard spending the first 2 months of our marrage apart. but we talk 2 or 3 times a day on the phone. good luck everybody and i will update as and when we hear anything.......

Another page already. Another new claimant for the list too. Good luck to us all.

tlusername 04/3 granted 15/5 - 10weeks 2 days

AnyaDharu 09/3 granted 19/5 - 10weeks 1 day

Tango7 10/3 granted 12/5 - 9weeks

Johnson83 11/3 granted 22/5 10 weeks 2 days

chanthas 12/3 granted 25/5 10 weeks 4 days

Gypsymoth 13/3 ????? 25/5 10 weeks 3 days

Kennkate 17/3

Chewy 18/3

TheFiend 20/3

Sumrit 24/3

Merangue 25/3

fluidfusion 27/3

TickTock 30/3

Borodave 01/04

JasonThai 02/4

Mrburb 03/4

feasantplukka 03/4

Kate46 (son) 08/4

AndyJoy 08/04

scotland 22/04

CinnamonRoll 29/4

Rolypies 29/4

alanr 07/5

Looks like we've been waiting just about long enough to join the club now! We put the papers in 04/05 and have - of course - heard nothing since. The wife and I are waiting in Chiang Mai slowly throwing money we don't have away while the British Embassy do whatever it is they have to do. Funfunfun.

Nice to be on here people, misery loves company.

Good luck to you all!

tlusername 04/3 granted 15/5 - 10weeks 2 days

AnyaDharu 09/3 granted 19/5 - 10weeks 1 day

Tango7 10/3 granted 12/5 - 9weeks

Johnson83 11/3 granted 22/5 10 weeks 2 days

chanthas 12/3 granted 25/5 10 weeks 4 days

Gypsymoth 13/3 ????? 25/5 10 weeks 3 days

Kennkate 17/3

Chewy 18/3

TheFiend 20/3

Sumrit 24/3

Merangue 25/3

fluidfusion 27/3

TickTock 30/3

Borodave 01/04

JasonThai 02/4

Mrburb 03/4

feasantplukka 03/4

Kate46 (son) 08/4

AndyJoy 08/04

scotland 22/04

CinnamonRoll 29/4

Rolypies 29/4

nelson111 04/05

alanr 07/5

Thanks for the tips, people, and sorry about the delayed resonse. I went down south the day after I posted and managed to stay away from computers until today. I believe that's a personal best for me!

I'll have a proper look through when I get back up north.

Cheers.

I was wondering if anyone knows of some decent Thai workbooks?

I've been through the Benjawan series and my spoken Thai is fairly decent (intermediate, I reckon) but I'd like to find some workbooks to help improve my reading and writing, and to help expand my vocabulary.

I've had a look at a couple of bookshops in Chiang Mai and there's a wealth of the kind of stuff that Thai kids use to learn in school. Can anyone recommend a particular set of books?

I'm in Thailand for another 6 weeks or so then my (Thai) wife and I will be going back to England for a couple of years so I'd like to buy a bunch of books to mail over so I can keep improving the written side of things, even if my speaking gets a bit rusty.

Any suggestions gratefully received.

Cheers.

Thanks for your thoughts, gents. I figured the 'no recourse to public funds' factor would be their biggest concern.

Does anyone know how the UK Embassy view credit card debt?

I've got around GBP 6000 of debt on my 2 credit cards, out of a limit GBP 9000.

Over the last 3 months I've put away GBP 4000 in a savings account to cover initial expenses while we find work in the UK.

So, I've technically got minus GBP 2000.

But have access to GBP 7000.

Should I just show the Embassy the savings account or should I come clean about the credit cards too?

One of the reasons we're moving home now is so that we can pay off the debt a bit more quickly.

Hi,

At the end of the online application process it asks if I have any other information that I would like to add.

There doesn't seem to be any guidance on this and I'm guessing that if nothing springs to mind it probably means that I've got nothing to add, but I just wanted to check what anyone else might have put in here in case it can help my application.

Cheers.

Hi, I've got my affirmation to marry from my embassy, it's currently being translated and then I need to get it certified by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bangkok. I live in Chiang Mai so want to do this by post.

The translation agency we are using will do this for us but charges a fairly hefty fee.

Some friends posted it to the MFA themselves for their wedding but unfortunately don't have any useful details (addresses, phone numbers etc). We've tried phoning the general MFA numbers but get run around from dept to dept with no clearcut answers. Unsuprisingly, to be fair.

Any advice on the process along with helpful addresses/numbers, would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers.

Hi,

Does anyone out there know of a good Chiang Mai ENT clinic? My left ear's completely bunged-up, drops aren't shifting it, and I think it probably needs syringing.

Given that it's a bit invasive and I'd like my eardrum to stay in one piece, thought I'd scope for reccmomendations rather than trustung pot luck...

Cheers.

Are you using the "oil" type of ear drops?....Ive never found them effective if there is a lot of built up wax. Try to find drops containing Sodium peroxide...this actualy breaks down the wax...you feel little bubbles in your ear as it works. I get this problem on occaisons and I found that directing the warm shower spray into the ear helps a lot. If you try this make sure the water can drain out...its a flushing action you need.

sorry ..wrong info.....its Hydrogen Peroxide....urea hydrogen peroxide.

cheers for the advice. the GP surgery nurse back in the UK told me not to use that as it can damage the ear. so I ignored her and used it anyway. no damage as far as I could tell, but it didn't shift the wax either. this time I've been using olive oil (following nursey's instructions) and it's actually cleared up a bit since my last post. think I'll wait and see, and maybe hit the HP sauce if it doesn't go away.

Ta.

Hi,

Does anyone out there know of a good Chiang Mai ENT clinic? My left ear's completely bunged-up, drops aren't shifting it, and I think it probably needs syringing.

Given that it's a bit invasive and I'd like my eardrum to stay in one piece, thought I'd scope for reccmomendations rather than trustung pot luck...

Cheers.