Women Learning Thai… and some men too ;-)

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The Common Koel and why I’d make a lousy Buddhist… Around November of last year a longtime member of my neighbourhood bird community, the Common Koel (lovingly known for his stealth gliding through the trees), transformed his pleasant warbling into an incessant, high-pitched shrill. Right outside my bedroom window. All of my windows actually. And [...]

National Museum Volunteers Annual Lecture Series… Last year was my first chance to attend the lectures about Thailand, Thai history, and culture arranged by the National Museum Volunteers. Along with many events, their Annual Lecture Series was postponed due to the Thai floods. But, now that the new year is upon us, the series has [...]

Basic Thai flood phrases… In my last post, the Primer on Thai Disaster Words, I shared flood vocabulary found in Thai conversations, TV, and Thai Newspapers. If you’ve found yourself in Thailand during the floods, the few phrases below will help you to communicate at a basic level with your Thai neighbours and friends. Please [...]

Primer on Thai disaster words… The Thai great floods of 2554 have affected almost everyone in the country. The rains in Chiang Mai, where I live, have subsided and the floods only lasted a short while. But the water had to go somewhere, and it did. And now Ayudhaya and Bangkok are getting the water [...]

Bangkok bracing for the predicted floods… For weeks we’ve been reading conflicting news on whether Bangkok will flood or not. First the Governor states that Bangkok is ready, come hell or high water. Then that very same day, Yingluck, the Thai prime minister, warns of floods threatening Bangkok. Soon after we had an expert assuring [...]

Word order in Thai “Wh” Questions… It is common for beginning students of Thai (or students of most foreign languages for that matter) to start off making sentences and answering the teacher’s questions. In fact, quite often the art of ASKING questions is frequently left to much later, and sometimes is forgotten altogether. This is [...]

Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Yearly… I have often heard the advice given to people just learning how to read, that they should practice reading Thai street signs. That made me think, why not collect pictures of a bunch of real signs and compile them into a fun practice reader? Since I am always looking for projects [...]

Five things to change about the Thai character… In Thailand, if you don’t read or speak Thai, or know someone who does, you miss out on all sorts of goodies. For instance, several weeks ago a Thai friend arrived all excited about a radio talk show. During the show a Thai politician expressed an interest [...]

Tiger, lion, bull, rino… politicians are WILD BEASTS! After writing about Thai politician Chuvit in two posts: Thai Politician Chuwit Kamolvisit: A Man. His Dog. Their Park and Chuvit’s Angry Man Campaign Posters Translated, it’s now time to feature another star of the Thai political show, the Vote NO! animal posters upsetting many Thais. The [...]

Chuwit Kamolvisit is one colourful Thai politician…. It’s party time in Thailand! And who living here can miss it? The country is slathered with campaign posters on light poles, along highways and sidewalks, and stuffed under the Skytrain even. Weekly, new posters go up, entertaining expats and locals alike. And what Thai party is knocking [...]

Does Written Thai Need Spaces? Not! I recently read a post titled Reforming Thai Language Structure which advocated changing the Thai written language by adding spaces between words to make written Thai easier to read. The writer mentions that written Thai is a “scriptura continua” language, one that does not use spaces between words. He goes [...]

Slavery and Thailand… Once again, slavery and Thailand are linked in the news. Shocking (to me) US companies have been enslaving Thai workers for years (see Combatting Modern Day Slavery in Hawaii and Mainland U.S.) Thailand in turn has been accused of similar crimes against non Thais (see Burmese Fishermen Are Trafficked and Abused On [...]

Thailand’s Jumbo Banquet and Jumbo Queen contest… I received a Dumbo sized disappointment this weekend. All over the Internet there were announcements of Samphran Elephant Ground’s Jumbo Banquet and Jumbo Queen Contest. I’ve been dying to take photos of a Jumbo Queen contest so was thrilled at the thought of a new adventure. jumboqueen.com: On [...]

Nang Songkran by Thai Artist Sompop Budtarad… About this time last week saw the beginning of the Songkran bare breasted ladies debacle. For those who missed it: Three extremely young lasses danced topless during the Songkran celebrations in Silom, Bangkok. A YouTube video of the three minutes (?) went viral. The Thai Ministry of Culture [...]