Cloggie

I think we all know the book "Thai for beginners" from Benjawan Poomsan Becker.

I started again my study Thai and this is the only book that I like, I also have the MP3 files so installed these on my MP3 player for my study

For those who have the book, look at page 12, 13 and 14 - tones - this is exactly the problem I have.

When I listen to the MP3 files I can't hear any difference at all as it all sounds similar to me, high / low / rising .....

When 100 people from different languages tell me the word "sheep" I am sure it will be pronounced 90 times different BUT I am still able to understand probably "sheep", even from somebody who comes from France

As nobody speaks the same and high / low / short / long is maybe different for people and maybe even different between male / female / old / young, how can you hear what they say????

I have been told that this is one of the reasons Thai ask for confirmation 'chai mai' as sometimes they are confused as well what the speakers wants.

A still confused Cloggie

@kikenyoy, thanks for the offer but I don't live in Pattaya

@swissie, that's the problem I have as well, only my family and friends understand me...

I also have been told that:

- you MUST learn to read Thai as 'it' tells how to pronounce it, it will tell you long / short vowel - rising or falling etc.

- if you are male (like most of use) you need a male teacher as otherwise you will learn Thai with a female accent

Time for study

How much data do you need to backup-up?

You have changed the error message as that is NOT what a Windows error looks like, what is missing??

Why don't you talk with your landlord first? My fridge failed and he said he was not surprised as it has been repaired before - two hour later a new fridge was delivered.

I don't think I have problems with my ears, well not that I am aware off....

I think the difference is so minimum between 'k' and 'g' that I just can't hear it.

If you tell me 'bicycle' or 'car' yes I can hear that but if you tell me ไก่ or ไข่ they are identical for me and as the information is in the tones, I / they don't understand what I want.

With High Speed Thai, they have a graph that shows the differences in the tones.....so as you practice listening to the different tones you also have a visual representation to help you differentiate between the tones.

Helped me a lot, as I considered myself "Tone Deaf" when I first started to learn.

I am confused Cloggie that you cannot hear the difference between chicken and egg, one is pronounced with a "g" as in gate, the other with a "k" as in Kate.

Good Luck.

Cheers.

Will have a look at High Speed Thai

If you tell me 'gate' or 'kate' I will not hear the difference but only will understand it from the sentence, like her name is Kate / close the gate.

Live and work now for almost 15 years in Thailand and still after all those years are not able to hear the difference between all the tones, 'chicken'/ 'egg' it sounds all the same for me even after my girlfriend will repeat it a 1.000 times.

Can hear the difference between short and long vowels but when it comes to mid / low / rising / falling / high again, I completely fail, don't understand that people hear difference between them as I don't hear any difference at all. Even if I hear a small difference then I am still confused because what is high for you maybe rising for me...

If it comes to reading and writing I can see the words but will be unable to pronounce them as I can't pronounce the tones correct. My girlfriend will understand them, in the bar they will understand me but a conversation with another Thai will be impossible. Is there still hope for me or should I just give it up after all those years.

I hope you didn't invest all your money into this dream and do you have a plan 'B' - what if you loose all the money, can you start again?

I can remember a storey from a friend of mine who rented a house and painted it at his own cost. After that the landlord increased the rent as the house looked much better now...

Whatever you rent DON'T change anything and don't forget make pictures of everything especially what areas are damaged and both sign them!

http://yourthaiguide.com/

Same here, use Keepass2 and very happy with it. Saved the database in my Dropbox folder so I can access all my accounts also from my Android phone.

It's all about location, location, location - ask the neighbours in your building what they use.

Don't know what you do but if you work at places and / or jobs NOT described in your work permit and the police check you, you have another bigger problem, so I would be more worried about working 'outside' your work permit than the money.

Correct, several people on another message board complained about the use of Imageschack - that's why I have deleted my account.

In Asia copyright means: the right to copy - everything that is successful will be copied (shoes, perfume, clothes, watches everything)

As far as I know the ONLY movie Thai did not dare to copy was "The Legend of Suriyothai" - when you asked the vendors about that movie they said no - no - no

Thanks for all your comments so far, don't understand why I can't upload pictures in a post so lets do it this way, tyre looks like this:

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/89/20130517082447.jpg/

Maybe 'glue' will help, can try it - important or not its my back wheel, passengers seat.

Moderator, please delete this post - can't attach picture

Would like to hear your advise before I go to BQuick, Cockpit or any other tire dealer as I already know there answer "oh, can not sir, can not repair, can not, can not"

Noticed that my tire is damaged (small cut) but want to know if this still can be repaired yes / no?

Have you ever been in a Thai office? Paper, boxes, folders everywhere, every piece of parer generates at least 5 extra pieces of off paper (PO / PR / Quotations / they glue small invoices on A4 paper, hold that together with another piece of paper)

Work permits, tax papers means piles of documents - between one and two centimeters thick - with signatures on EVERY piece of paper (sometimes two on one piece of paper).

To make a long story short, I don't think so, Thai just love to generate documents as much as possible...

After that you can visit the Swiss Sheep Farm as well: http://swisssheepfarm.com

Doesn't look like Santorine but it is all about take pictures, take pictures, take pictures, take pictures etc.

It's all about one word - L.O.C.A.T.I.O.N. Check with your neighbors what they use.

There is no best ISP, maybe there are NO telephone lines available anymore, maybe you want 3BB but ONLY TOT is available and a combination of all these 'problems'

Again nobody can tell you what to buy as it is all about L.O.C.A.T.I.O.N. (like many things in Thailand) and nothing else!

Hua Hin possible?

If you are happy with XP, leave it like it is - no need to upgrade. I know support will end next year but that does not mean "it's the end of the world" for your PC.

If you also accept the fact that MAYBE new hardware will NOT support XP anymore then I would just stay with XP (make sure you have a good virus scanner like Avast)

Just my two satang