connda

Well the United States won the Philippine's from the Spanish as a result of the Spanish American War in 1898, after the Philippine- American War 1899-1902 the Americans defeated the revolt of the people of the Philippines and made English the primary language of, the government, education and business, The US controlled the Philippines from 1898 to 1946.

So to answer your question, Why the people of the Philippines have more English speakers and teachers then Thailand, was a result of 48 years of English language was forced on the people of the Philippines as it official language!

Cheers

First of all sir it was never forced on the Filipino culture. They did have two bases there but are now down to one and Subic Bay is located outside of Angeles city.

English is there second-language because of the American influence, that is correct! I visited many schools when I was in the Philippines basically because I was a principal from the USA. They are taught English on the first grade level through the 12th grade level. They are the third largest English speaking country in the world. They have approximately 94% literacy in the Philippines.

I visited a first grade class with 51 students and you could hear a pin drop. When working for my Doctorate I also did a survey of some of the Filipino educational systems. Their curriculum is very sound and their universities are basically top notch. The number one University is located outside of Manila in Quezon City and the number two is in Dumaguete. The International Universities are totally top notch and with the core of instructors that they have it appears that they are extremely sound.

To sum up most of the questions asked here, it mainly depends on the lecturers or the instructors at the University that makes them a sound and quality-based educational system.

If Thailand had this quality of instructors I truly believe that their educational system could have possibilities, But they must change the curriculum in order to meet the accreditation requirements. Thai students can only be as good as the instructors or the leaders of that individual school. Thai students are extremely intelligent if Instructed properly with quality educators. Once again do not give total Autonomy to the owners of the school and the school must meet accreditation because the teachers are qualified but not in English. This is not the problem of the teachers but the leaders of the school.

I'll agree with you to a point. There are major cultural differences too. Thais are taught not to question authority and not to lose face So independent, analytic thinking is not a trait that is developed in the school systems, nor is risk taking. And in order to learn, you need to to do both. You need to be willing to make mistakes and then learn from your mistakes. That doesn't happen here. And there are some excellent instructors here. Don't let that Doctorate go to your head. Unless those cultural issues are addressed, effective learning doesn't take place, regardless of how dedicated an instructor is.

I didn't see those issue in the PI school systems or with Filipino students. It's a different culture. So please don't arbitrarily blame it on 'poor instructors' or 'poor curriculum'. Within the education system, Thais need a 'quantum leap' in their cultural perspective .

Mr Panther sir one reason may be, go to google and type, "List of countries where English is an official language." Thailand is not on there, I don't think. Philippines is on there I think, Check it out,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_where_English_is_an_official_language

If you really didn't now the Philippines was a US colony and had thousands of Americans stationed at naval bases in the country for years after that.

The Philippines fought on our side during WWII and the Thais on the other side.

ok ok pedant anonymous member here,

but Philipines was colonised that is why they are catholic , or some branch of Christian and all speak bludy good English

Yeah, it was a Spanish colony before. Then the US took it over. I have met some people from there who speak Spanish (along with English and Tagalog). They have a saying about it...don't remember. Ask a Filipino and they will probably know it. Several have told it to me and laughed.

During one visit to Luzon, a Filipino friend said, "The Spanish gave us religion (Roman Catholicism), The Americans gave us English and Civil Service and the Japanese gave us Kamikaze drivers". I thought it was funny and he continued the conversation is fluent English, complete with the latest jokes and comedy.

They do mix there "Fs" with "Ps" though, which can be kinda funny. I had a Filipino girlfriend of mine (lived in the SF Bay area) tell me a bunch of jokes that were a play on words that Filipinos couldn't say well. Her English was flawless, so the jokes were pretty darn funny.

Here's one:

Q: What do you call two Filipino pilots?

A: A pair of pliers.

Ok, two:

Q: What do Filipino tennis players wear on their feet.

A: Tenacious.

Thai woman take great pleasure in bringing down relationships.

There are six things that the LORD strongly dislikes, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.

—Proverbs 6:16–19

I guess this is not just a Thai problem eh?

The Five Precepts:

Refrain from killing

Refrain from stealing

Refrain from gossip, lies, and false speech

Refrain from intoxicants

Refrain from improper sexual conduct

Just like many Westerners are brought up on the bible, Thai are brought up knowing the Five Precepts of Buddhism.

Many try to follow the Bible and Buddhist teachings. Many fall short. Such is life. How many perfect people are out there.

Back home, you would be lucky to have a girlfriend, here you have a "girl $$ friend " and you cheat on her - with a prostitute.

I'm not a gossip/y sort but I'd say those folk have something to chat about.

Thanks for reinforcing our trite stereotype, well done.

Too funny you are stumped not to see your trashy actions not worth a gossip. Do you think your own countrymen would not be equally shocked?

Heck, they might have just been having a good laugh, I mean what fool brings a hooker to his place of residence?

I do know how working gals work here. Your 'girlfriend' might have 1, 2, 3 or more farang boyfriends right along with you. So, don't think for a second that fidelity is something special here in LOS. It isn't.

I thought this was funny. Durex had a survey a couple of years back. Turns out Thai women are more likely to have a gig on the side than Thai males. And Thai guys get the bad rap LMFAO. (Please don't ask me to source that. Google it. It's out there)

I spent time in the PI while in the Navy. The PI and the US have had close ties since WWII. Folks from the PI can join the military, eventually granted citizenship, many live in the US. They just have closer ties to America than Thailand. And Filipinos have a much broader 'world-view'. They understand what is happening in other countries. I didn't see the self-centered, nationalism that I see here. So there is incentive to learn English. They tend to find jobs in global companies and corporations, where English is the basic business language. I know a lot of Filipinos who speak excellent English. And I've had many Filipino friends. There are some really good people over there.

Sorry, but farangs from Western countries have completely different spending habits than tourist from China, the Middle East, Africa, the Near East, and ASEAN member countries. Good luck Thailand when the supply of farangs dry up and you're left with the rest.

When I was married back in the US, if I brought a women back to my home, would you think that my neighbors wouldn't say something to my wife? That sort of 'gossip' is kinda universal.

I'm assuming you have never lived in a small town in a Western country. Everyone in town knows your business LOL. Nothing different here.

I have a house in Phuket. Through personal experience, I found out that mail posted in Phuket and sent to Europe, arrives ok. Parcels sent from Europe to Phuket, arrive ok. Letters sent from Europe to Phuket, never arrive. Letters sent from Singapore, always arrive.

My assumption is that letters from Europe is always opened in BKK or Phuket in the hope of money being inside. Parcels are sorted separately and harder to discretely search for valuables such as money or cheques. Mail from Singapore maybe goes through a separate sorting line and/or there isn't a natural assumption that cash or cheques are inside an envelope.

I also have a house in a village outsideUdon. I never have mail or bills sent there. Any address written in English means the mail won't arrive. Just incompetence though rather than corruption.

I'm in my 60's, and I learned from my parents about 45 years ago one simple lesson in life: "Never send money thru the mail - ever!!!"

That's just asking for problems.

I've had a PO box at the main Chiang Mai Post Office for the last 5 years. I have not had any problems (knock on wood). However, I have had a number of items sent from the US using USPS Express International that have taken up to two weeks to arrive. You'd assume the problem would be on the Thai end. That hasn't been so. When I check tracking, the delay comes from the point of origin in the US until it hits Suvarnabhumi. Once at the airport, it clears customs and reaches the CM post office within 2 days. I've also had packages sent by normal USPS first class international mail (untrackable, I just say a 'Hail Mary') and the packages normally arrive faster than the USPS Express International (go figure).

With all this said, I don't have anything mailed to my physical address. I don't trust the mail carriers, especially the rural carriers. If you send stuff to a PO box, you eliminate one last place where things can (and do) go wrong.

Sending mail outbound, I send via EMS mail (if it's important enough). Mail generally makes it to Suvarnabhumi in two days or less. The only problem is tracking. Once it leaves Suvarnabhumi, tracking is really hit or miss. That has only concerned me when sending FBAR reports to the US Treasury each year. I did this one year and I save the receipts from the Thai PO and put it with my yearly tax documents. After that I've sent them via DHL so I can track the document to their doorstep. Penalties for non-filing are just Machiavellian, really harsh. Thank god they're going to an electronic system this year! As far a letters, I just sent them via Thai first class international and they have always made it.

Again, knock on wood, no problems.

I'm good at what I do, I enjoy teaching, but mostly, I get a charge out of watching others develop their skills.
It's as simpy as that.

Yes! Age discrimination is rampant. Falsifying your CV is not very wise. You would have to falsify your supporting documents too. That's fraud, and it's just wrong. That's life. Nobody said its fair. But, if you're qualified, you can still get a job if you're 60+. You've just got to be smart about it: Know the market, know your competition, and be able to market yourself better than a younger person.

I asked the same question of few years back. To this day I haven't found any silver bullion dealers here in Thailand, which I consider very unusual. I've asked a number of sources, but have never gotten a good answer as to why 99.9% bullion isn't traded on the retail market. Go to Singapore, go to India, you can deal in silver bullion. Here? Nada!

However, if you happen to find someone that deals in retail silver bullion, let me know. Good luck!

Damn! Are my family members going to be arrested for having Samsung Galaxy phones??? Drug related equipment!

Maybe they heard of Bali.

or Vietnam.

Having been a regular, twice a year, visitor to Phuket since 1996 I gave up on the place three years ago and am so glad I did.

For a city break Saigon beats Bangkok hands down with amazing architecture and some of the best and reasonably priced French resteraunts ever, and the beaches around Da Nang area are hastle free and beautiful.

Another major advantage is an hours less flying from HK.

Da Nang beach....

P1140104.JPG The view from my 500 baht per night suite

P1140135.JPG

P1140131.JPG

What are prices like for food, transportation, and entertainment at Da Nang?

The only office that I can recall that has an appointment system is Chiang Mai and from reports it is booked up months in advance.

You can do your extension within the last 30 days (45 at some offices) of your extension.

Thanks. I just set up my appointment (Chiang Mai). Yeah. Already booked out to late March.

That time of year again and I need to set up an online appointment for my yearly extension.

I can set up an appointment 30 day prior to the expiration of my current extension? Is this correct?

Regardless of who is at fault, I hope both recover. That's just a horrific crash for a motorcyclist. It looks like the motorcyclist came off the bike, and hit the driver side front window. I drive both a car and a motorcycle here, and as a motorcycle driver, that picture just gives me the chills. Scary!

More ineffective road blocks. Until they put patrol cars on the roads and enforce moving violations with hefty fines, nothing will change. I'm not holding my breathe.

However......I'm sure Chalerm could personally do this in 30 days.

What fools will follow a man like this, or is it only money that make them follow ?

Answer that with, by any chance do you remember the story of Jonestown or Heaven's Gate, only slightly differing from the story around "have you seen the little piggies" If not, there's always the author of the book "My Struggle" (Changed from "Four and a Half Years of Struggle against Lies, Stupidity and Cowardice." not with any reference to Thailand)?

Hitler, Mussolini, Mao, Pol Pot to name a few: Charismatic leaders all. Scary huh?

Gen Xers and Millennials probably wouldn't grasp the significance -- it's off their radar, and who studies history anymore anyway?

The man has obviously gone totally mad. Who on Earth gave him the right to order the police about, demand that YS resign as caretaker PM (which, by the way, would be illegal under the present constitution) and order the army on to the streets?

The Dear Leader is starting to think that he is the supreme authority, a very dangerous path to go down.

He did, when he declared the PTP/Yingluck government was no longer legitimate. The police are part of the problem.

This silver haired fox knows exactly what he's doing, step by step. The police haven't laid a hand on him, and after the rumored "secret" meeting with the current and former heads of the Thai Army, appears he's got all the backing he needs; which was probably the case from the very beginning.

He will be judged by history depending on his success or failure. The Founding Fathers of my country were rebellious dissidents, now revered as heroic patriots. Had they failed, would just be martyred footnotes on the Colony's Wiki page.

Your Founding Fathers created a Constitutional Republic with democratically elected representatives to Congress. They didn't destroy a democratically elected government and implement a quasi-dictatorship to get there.

Those who are victorious generally write the history books.

The country's on a bit of a slippery slope. I hope this doesn't end badly for everyone's sake. Just my humble opinion.

I posted this on another thread before this topic opened, sorry.

Best headline of the day from one of the other English language newspapers.

The government hasn't got the money to pay the farmers because they haven't sold enough of the overpriced rice.

Perhaps some of the wealthy members of PTP could dip into their savings accounts and assist the rice farmers?

Maybe an own goal coming up.

The government hasn't got the money to pay the farmers because they haven't sold enough of the overpriced rice.

I love it. Classic Thai circular logic. I'm sure nobody in the government saw this coming. lol

Yeah, my wife wants a government subsidy for her Lumyai. If she doesn't get it, she's going to stand in the road with the dogs and stop traffic -- ah huh -- fat chance. I'm a political atheist, so I'll sit on the patio and watch.

Ag subsidies for select groups really isn't fair. Produce a quality product and compete on the world open market. If the government wants to get involved, maybe they should regulate the percentages that the middlemen rake in, or assist in the marketing to other governments. Unfortunately, farmers generally get the shaft. Subsidizing commodities at a loss is stupid. But if they are going to subsidize, my wife (and dogs) want their cuts too.

WOW this guy is actually starting to talk exactly like a dictator

That's what dictators do: Dictate. He's on a roll. It doesn't bode well for a stable, democratic government.

In my 10 years in Thailand I have never had an encounter with the Tourist Police, positive or otherwise. My point is, do they actually pro-actively approach tourists like in the lovely photo above, or is it just for show?

Yes, I've seen them chatting with tourists in Chiang Mai. Some of them are friendly and helpful. I sort of think that some of the one's that aren't so helpful are somewhat English-language impaired in a shy, "I really don't know how to speak English very well" sort of way.

What ever happened to the Bangkok cab driver that hacked the American to death with a machete? I never saw a follow-up regarding a trial. Perhaps I just missed it. Anyone know?