Archive for March 2010
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Successful Thai Language Learner: Herb Purnell
Interviewing Successful Thai Language Learners… Name: Herb Purnell Nationality: American Age range: 70+ Sex: Male Location: Currently in Chiangrai March to mid-April 2010, then Bangkok to the end of August, then to the U.S. Profession: Retired from university teaching in applied linguistics but still active in field language projects in Thailand. Current projects include producing [...]
Learn Thai with Bon: First YouTube, now Blogger and Skype
The new YouTube kid in town: Learn Thai with Bon… Noticing her new learning Thai videos on YouTube, I contacted Bon Ratta back in February, for a mid-March post. But… the Red Shirts happened – something is always happening in Thailand, yes? – so I’m coming in late. Again. Apologies Bon! In Learn Thai the [...]
Thai Language Thai Culture: Telling Tails – Thai Ending Particles
Telling Tails – Thai Ending Particles… It is important to learn how to use Thai ending particles. The most common and well known are ครับ /kráp/ (for males) and คะ /ká/ (for females). They are used as a “politeness tag” at the end of sentences. Ending particles are also known as หางเสียง /hăang sĭang/ (tail [...]
Pulp Fiction: Advanced Thai Listening Practice
Advanced Thai listening practice… Last week I posted Gaccha’s Thai Reading and Listening materials. And as mentioned, Gaccha’s aim is to encourage others to create more Thai learnings materials. To show what else is possible, here’s Gaccha’s Pulp Fiction YouTube video (below). Creating videos such as these can be extremely time-consuming, so thanks Gaccha! A [...]
Red Shirts in Bangkok: Signs of the Time
The signs of the Red Shirts… Bangkok is dripping in red: Red shirts, red hats, red clappers, red headbands and more. All are slathered with slogans. Some are for an English audience – hello BBC! – but most are in Thai. So… do you know what the Red Shirts are saying? In Thai? If you [...]
The Red Shirts: Thai Reading and Listening
Learn Thai with the Red Shirts… When it comes to learning the Thai language, there is a real need for decent materials. Gaccha, an expat living in Bangkok, aims to inspire others to contribute their Thai skills towards creating the needed materials. I ‘met’ Gaccha online last year when he translated and compiled a Pulp [...]
The Red Shirts in Bangkok: Thai Army goes RoboCop
RoboCops cover the Thai army… Thailand’s RoboCops made an appearance on day one of the Red Shirt’s march into Bangkok. Impressed and surprised, I had Khun Pissout whip around to drive sloooowly past this Bangkok bunch. But it wasn’t until day two, when I was dwarfed by RoboCops, that I realised just how impressive they [...]
The Red Shirts in Bangkok: The Faces of Day Three
Day three of the Red Shirts in Bangkok… Ok, today is even more rushed than yesterday as I have company arriving any second soon. Yikes. So here they are, the faces of day three… Ok, my guests just walked in (they are watching me type this actually) so time to go! EDIT: If you want [...]
The Red Shirts in Bangkok: The Faces of Day Two
Day two of the Red Shirts in Bangkok… Well. Well. I’ve had a huge splash of visitors in the past several hours. Welcome to WLT everyone. To those coming in new, I am not a journalist. Or even a proper photographer. I’m just an expat in Bangkok who happens to have a camera. Or three. [...]
The Red Shirts are in Bangkok. Again.
There be Red Shirts… Thursday afternoon I tried to focus on a Friday post. Sigh. But I could not, would not settle. With everything going on this weekend, there was too much on my mind. The closer the Red Shirt rallies came, the more alarming the news. Protesters plan to paralyse Bangkok: city could burn [...]
Traditional Thai Puppet Theater: Joe Louis
When googling goes wrong… Before I head out into Thailand, I learn what I can about my target subject. It usually works a charm, but this time my googling ended with a FAIL. You see, finding outdated(?) information about the Joe Louis Thai Puppet Theatre set my heart on a traditional puppet show with… well… [...]
Seven Tips for Learning the Thai Language
Tip Number 1: Take your time, enjoy your studies… “Why does it have to be sooooooo hard?” “Why does it have to take sooooooo long?” Maybe we need a little attitude adjustment…? Maybe we need to listen more carefully…? Most of us do have nearly excellent hearing skills for normal conversational volume… BUT, most of [...]
Thai Language Thai Culture: Telephone Thai
Talking Thai on the telephone… It probably took me ten years before I could understand anything anyone said on the telephone here in Thailand. It’s not the language. My wife had the same problem in English when she got to America. It is just really hard dealing with a disembodied voice and not seeing the [...]
