Frank Timmons’ Blog

I have been making a more concerted effort to learn Thai this past year. I have made quite a lot of progress, and have generally improved my comprehension, speaking, and reading / writing skills. However, I still find that I am far from satisfied with my ability to follow some conversations, understand some of the details of the evening news or newspaper articles, or speak with confidence especially concerning business related subjects.

I think one of my barriers to significant progress is that I am unable to properly immerse myself in Thai language. At home I need to speak English to ensure that my children have the opportunity to develop into proper bilingual Thai / English speakers. At work I spend most of my time mostly immersed in English, either reading, writing, or thinking deep thoughts (at least I want the boss to think that I am thinking deep thoughts). I have been conversing in Thai more often in the office, which has been a great help, but it would be an exaggeration to describe this as “Thai immersion”.

One of the things I’ve been doing to increase my exposure to Thai language is reading the Thai newspapers whenever I get a chance. If I am in a waiting room, or enjoying a bowl of noodles in a small shop, I always try to pick up the current paper and read some of the headline stories. I often read the editorials that are always posted at the top of page 3 in the Thai Rath daily newspaper. I can always follow the basic storyline, but there are always important aspects of the articles that I am unable to grasp due to unfamiliarity with some of the special words used.

Last week I resolved that I would buy an electronic dictionary to carry around, so I could look up unfamiliar Thai words, and also so I could do a better job of translating my thoughts into Thai when speaking with friends. I choose the Besta CyberDict 11, which is a new model in the popular CyberDict family of electronic dictionary products.

I must say that I find the quality of the Thai English and English Thai dictionaries to be much better than the “ThaiSoft Dictionary” commonly found on PC’s in offices throughout Thailand. I was often frustrated with the ThaiSoft Dictionary, as I felt that it didn’t do a very good job of translating common Thai words and phrases into useable English. By comparison, the CyberDict 11 does a wonderful job, and even when I am sitting at my PC, I reach for the CyberDict 11 instead of opening the ThaiSoft Dictionary.

Carrying the CyberDict 11 has definitely helped me to increase the amount of quality time I spend each day learning useful Thai words and phrases. It can’t make my rapidly aging brain any more supple or able to absorb and imprint new words; I still find myself looking up the same words 2 or 3 (or more) times before I am able to properly retain them in gray matter. However, I am pleased that I am at least steadily adding new words and phrases to my Thai vocabulary.

I also bought a 4 GB memory card for the CyberDict, so I can use it as an MP3 player. If I am going to carry it nearly everyplace, I decided that I didn’t want to also be carrying a separate MP3 player. The CyberDict actually produces a much better quality sound than my cheap MP3 player, and holds around 10 times as many songs. Unfortunately it is also 10 times as heavy. It fits well in my shirt pocket, but it definitely is a bit too heavy to keep there comfortably all day. Wish the leather pouch that comes with the CyberDict would allow it to be worn on my belt, but perhaps that would make it a bit too “geeky”.

If you are looking for a decent electronic dictionary, that also can double as an MP3 player and has some PDA type functionality, you might want to check out CyberDict.

Frank T.

Recently driving around Thailand, one sees lots of cars, and a few trucks, with small dolls dangling from chains on the rear bumper. Most of them look kind of cute, though I personally have no particularly strong interest in hanging a doll, or anything else for that matter, from my rear bumper. Yesterday I saw a 10 wheel truck with what looked like an 14″ tall Pooh Bear swinging from the bottom of the tailgate. Poor Pooh Bear seemed to be having a rather hard time of it, and was mostly grey from multiple layers of dirt the poor fellow had accumulated.

What is quite interesting is the reason why so many Thais are dangling dolls from their bumpers. Global trends in recent years have been promoting a wide variety of vehicle safety devices. Even entry level cars today have at least one airbag, and most cars have multiple air bags, side impact protection, antilock brakes, brake force distribution systems, vehicle stability control, automatic seatbelt tensioners, and other miracles of modern automotive technology.

Probably for as long as Thais have had cars, Thais have been having their vehicles blessed, adorned with various amulets, ancient Pali symbols, and written incantations to provide protection to the vehicle and its occupants. I myself have always had my Thai vehicles blessed, and always keep fresh flowers hung from my rearview mirror. My belief is that the flowers and other symbols help to remind me that Buddha rides with me, and that if I drive irresponsibly, Buddha will get out, leaving me to drive alone. This, in keeping with Buddhist philosophy of self reliance and self sufficiency, reminds me that my safety is in large part up to me, and that I must take personal responsibility for my driving behavior.

The newest trend in Thai Vehicle Safety is to hang a small doll from your rear bumper to prevent evil ghosts or spirits from attacking your car from behind. I suppose that even a ghost can only safely approach a car  from the rear, to avoid getting run over, though I must say that I don’t know much about metaphysical logic or other such matters.

Most Thais are wonderfully practical people. They themselves may not always deeply believe in the various supernatural theories and practices that commonly circulate in society. However, many will simply justify their actions through the logic that “it might not help, but it can’t hurt”. I had a friend who, after having visited the west, was fascinated by the western habit of saying “God Bless You” after someone sneezed. His hosts explained the ancient western belief that when someone sneezed, his / her soul was expelled from the body, and to protect the soul from being snatched by the devil, it was necessary to bless the soul back into the body. Upon returning to Thailand, my friend realized that, if this Western belief had any basis in fact, he was in trouble, because in Asia nobody blesses anyone after sneezing. Hence, he took to saying “God Bless Me” after sneezing, just in case his own soul might be at risk for being snatched.

I suppose dangling bumper dolls is no more illogical than the devil snatching your sneeze - expelled soul. I wonder if they still make Smurff dolls. A nice blue Papa Smurff would match my blue D-Max nicely.

Recently I have been thinking quite a lot about planes and aviation. Many years ago I earned my Private Pilot License and an Instrument Rating, but it has been a long time since I did any real flying. These days I am rarely even a passenger on commercial planes, and I have yet to visit the new Suvarnabhumi Airport.

Perhaps because of my recent preoccupation with flying, I took special interest in the 19 May 2007 report on Pattaya City News of a plane crash here in Pattaya. The reporter identified the plane as a Cessna 152 trainer, though from the video it was clear that this was a much larger plane. It is actually a Cessna 206 Stationair, which is a quite nice 6 seat plane. I am quite sure I saw this tied down at the Pattaya Airport a few months ago when the kids and I attended the Pattaya Fly-in.

The plane was being flown by Lieutenant Batiwat, age 31. He was seriously injured in the crash, and of course I wish him a speedy recovery. Apparently he had no passengers on board.

The plane doesn’t appear to be too badly damaged, so hopefully they were able to recover the plane from the farmer’s field without inflicting more damage.

Reflecting on this accident, I was inspired to pull out my old Pilot’s Logbook and review some of my old flights. Over my brief flying career I logged 300 hours as Pilot in Command, and flew 11 different planes (all Pipers). I also managed to get some stick time in a Steen Skybolt, a Piper Cub, Cessna 150, 152, 172, and a 310 twin, but did not log this time as Pilot in Command. I did an Internet search to see the current status of each of the planes I had logged. I was quite surprised to learn that 5 of the planes had been destroyed in crashes, with a total of 9 people killed. I couldn’t find any information on one plane; it no longer exists, but there is no record of any accident. My guess is that it too was destroyed, but probably the accident didn’t require any investigation (i.e. no injuries, property damage, or violation of flight rules).

Realizing that half the planes I flew subsequently crashed caused me to reflect a bit on my own mortality. However, each of the reported accidents were caused by serious pilot errors. So I suppose that the planes I flew were never dangerous, but some of the Pilots who flew them certainly were.

I have recently become very attracted to the Velocity SE canard pusher homebuilt aircraft. As a teenaged pilot, and subsequently as an Aerospace Engineer, Burt Rutan was always my aviation hero, and I really liked his Long-Eze plane design. The Velocity is an updated version of his Long-Eze, and it is certainly a beauty.

I am also fascinated with recent advances in Diesel Engine technology (I am certainly pleased with my Isuzu D-Max), and so I was quite interested in the DeltaHawk V-4 diesel engine design. This engine, which is likely to be certified soon by the FAA, is designed to replace current aviation engines such as the Lycoming O-360. Velocity and DeltaHawk have cooperated to install a prototype DeltaHawk engine in a Velocity RG. I really love this combination, and I now find myself very excited again with airplanes and flying.

The Velocity SE can be built in around 1,500 manhours for approx. 3 million baht ($85,000 USD). Considering that this is a very strong and modern 4 seat IFR capable aircraft with a 1,000 mile range and cruise speed of nearly 200 MPH, this is quite a bargain. Unfortunately, this project is approx, 2.9 million baht over my budget, and I certainly don’t have a spare 1,500 manhours to spend laying up and sanding fiberglass composites. So, I suppose that this will remain in the realm of dreams, which is probably exactly where it belongs.

When I converted to Buddhism, I was determined to avoid materialistic desires and focus strictly on my family. The Velocity is the first project that has seriously challenged my personal pledge to avoid selfish desires. I supposed therefore I should be thankful that whereas my resolve has proven a bit weak, my limited financial resources have saved me from my materialistic desires.

Frank T.

A few nights ago I watched the famous Thai movie “Bang Rajan”. This movie, which was made in 2000, recounts the true story of the village of Bang Rajan, which heroically held off an invading Burmese Army for 5 months during the year 1767.

A historical account of the battle can be found on Wikipedia at:

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

An article on the film can also be found on Wikipedia at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bang_Rajan_(film)

The movie is quite interesting, and surprisingly well made despite its very low budget. Oliver Stone saw the movie and was so impressed that he edited the movie and released it in the USA. I have never seen his version. My copy is the original, and unfortunately doesn’t have English subtitles. I found it quite difficult to follow the Thai dialog, which my wife explained was in “ancient Thai”. It did seem that they made a great effort to faithfully depict the customs of this historical period.

The water buffalo pictured above actually became quite famous in Thailand. It died shortly after the movie was released, after having made several publicity appearances around Thailand. The buffalo was given an elaborate funeral ceremony, which I suppose befitted his celebrity status.

Some have compared this movie with Bravehart (staring Mel Gibson). The movie is in fact quite violent, and at times is a bit difficult to watch due to the graphic nature of some of the battle scenes.

I did find it somewhat amusing when I realized that the Bang Rajan villagers wore their hair similar to mine, with close cut sides and a bit longer on top. I was wondering what they used for hair gel back in 1767 to get their hair to stand up. I am also wondering if my hair style should therefore be characterized as ancient, brave, heroic, or primitive.

The story of Bang Rajan is truly an important part of Thai culture and history. It serves to demonstrate the strength, resolve, dedication, and bravery of Thais. Unfortunately, it also reminds us of the failings of the Ayutthaya kingdom, which failed to provide support to the villagers. When Bang Rajan fell and was literally wiped out, the Burmese Army marched into Ayutthaya and completely obliterated the city, ending the Ayutthaya Kingdom and paving the way for the Chakri Dynasty and the establishment of Bangkok (Krung Thep) as the Siamese capital.

Frank T.

Like most Thai neighborhoods, our neighborhood has a number of vendors who make daily or weekly rounds selling various goods. We are visited every morning by a lady who delivers drinking yoghurt, and also a drinks vendor who sells various hot and cold beverages including coffee, hot chocolate, and a selection of flavored drinks.

This afternoon the kids and I decided to have some Thai Ice Cream. The day had been a hot one, as are most days here in Tropical Thailand. The Ice Cream Man drives a modest motorbike with a side car upon which is the stainless steel ice cream tank. The tank is a double walled tank, with ice in the outside chamber to keep the ice cream cold. The motorbike has a large beach umbrella to keep the sun off of both the vendor and his valuable ice cream.

Typical homemade Thai Ice Cream is a bit different from store bought varieties. I am certainly no expert on Ice Cream, but I find the homemade variety to be richer with a less sticky feeling in the mouth. I believe both the Coconut and the Chocolate flavors are made with coconut milk. The chocolate has a very light chocolate flavor and is quite good, though I personally prefer the coconut flavor.

The kids and I typically have our Ice Cream served in plastic cups. In typical Thai fashion, some sticky rice is put into the bottom of the cup, then scoops of Ice Cream are added. The ice cream is then topped with some small kernal dried corn and some condensed milk. This is a very refreshing way to cool down on a hot Thailand afternoon. Each cup of Ice Cream costs 10 baht.

A few days ago the kids and I were swimming at the neighborhood pool when I saw the Ice Cream Man drive by. He stopped just outside the pool fence and dismounted his bike. Turns out that he had driven over a screw which had punctured his very well worn rear tire. He took over my life guard duties for a few minutes while I walked home to get a tire pump from the house. Unfortunately, the tube refused to hold any air, so he had ride on the flat tire to the motorbike shop. Fortunately the bike shop is just a few dozen meters up the road from our village, so the wheel and tire survived quite well. Today the Ice Cream guy told me that the new tube cost him 130 baht (around $5 US), which is a significant expense for an independant businessman such as himself. The bike still had the same well worn tire, which I am sure will give many more weeks (or months) of service, given the perpetual slow speed at which our Ice Cream Man makes his daily rounds.

Thank You Mr. Ice Cream Man for your delicious and refreshing Ice Cream. Hope your daily rounds continue to be profitable and safe.

Frank T.

Thought I might share a few observations about my 9 month old Isuzu pick-up truck. It is an SLX 3.0 Liter 4 Door, with manual transmission, airbags and ABS. I also ordered the leather interior, so I wouldn’t need to worry as much about stains from the kids. Pictures are available in my Photo Gallery at  http://www.apichet.com/gallery2/main.php
 
Basically, I really enjoy driving this pick-up truck and would highly recommend it to anyone who would like economical, reliable, and safe daily transportation. It is suitable for a family of four, though fortunately we also have a 7 seat Chevrolet Zafira (a rebadged Thai built Opel) which Sopha uses to take the kids to school, and we use when we need to carry more people in relative comfort.

I had a Carryboy fiberglass deck lid installed on the truck bed, which provides a clean, aerodynamic appearance for daily driving, and can be raised electrically for carrying large items or to provide a covered seating area for taking the extended family on an outing. This lockable deck lid is wonderful for shopping trips, effectively converting the truck bed into a large trunk. The truck still looks like a pick-up truck, but functionally it delivers all of the convenience attributes of a 4 door sedan.

Unlike conventional pick-up trucks, the short bed 4 door seems to have a good front / rear balance. I would never begin to claim that the truck approaches the classic 50/50 weight balance of some sport cars, but the rear axle does have good loading and never seems light or lacking in traction.

My biggest disappointment in the truck was the performance of the suspension. On unimproved country roads or on uneven pavement at highway speeds, the shock absorbers seemed to be quite lacking in damping action, especially on rebound. Also, any large bump which tended to raise only one side of the rear axle would cause the truck to steer in the direction of the bump.

Installing a set of Gabriel G-Force 9 valve shock absorbers front and rear solved the suspension performance problems. If you are driving an Isuzu DMax, I would highly recommend upgrading the shocks with a set of Gabriels. I also installed a shock absorbing track bar on the rear axle, which combined with the new shocks has completely tamed the rear axle. The truck tracks in a straight line over all terrain, and is a complete pleasure to drive. Ride comfort is certainly comparable to our Chevrolet Zafira, not quite as soft as the Honda Accord 3.0L, but definitely better handling than the Accord. The taller seating position, large side view mirrors, and comfortable steering wheel position and controls provides a pleasant driving experience even on those long 8 hour drives to Udon Thani (12 hours if one is dumb enough to try the drive just before the New Years holiday).
 
The stereo / CD player is OK, but certainly would never satisfy a true audiophile. Of course, one must have realistic expectations, as this is an economical truck and not a luxury sedan. When my cash flow permits (which unfortunately might not be anytime soon), I plan to install sound damping insulation on the floors, cab walls, roof, and in the doors, along with a decent head unit, speakers, and amplifier. The truck has a standard Double Din dash opening, so I have the option of installing either standard Din or Double Din head units. The truck is certainly not noisy at highway speeds, and sound from the diesel engine can be barely distinguished from normal highway noise when running at cruising speed. However, the truck is not as quiet as a decent sedan, and some sound damping insulation should really help quiet the cab.

I have always liked driving diesels, and the Isuzu is no exception. The 3.0 liter Commonrail has loads of torque, and is fun to drive with the manual 5 speed transmission. Passing is quick and easy in 5th gear, and I rarely find a need do downshift. I get between 12.5 and 14.5 km / liter (29.5 to 34 miles / gallon) depending on type of driving. This truck is also sold as the Chevrolet Colorado (with slightly different body accents and trim).

These wonderful Thai built trucks are not available in the USA, but Chevrolet is now building a near identical Colorado in the USA. I don’t know how faithfully Chevrolet has executed this Isuzu designed truck in the USA, but I do know that they are not offering the Isuzu diesel engines. Such a shame, as the 2.5 liter and 3.0 liter engines are proven highly reliable and fuel efficient. Isuzu builds 16 million engines per year for many vehicle manufacturers. Too bad the US consumers are not offered a reliable, powerful, and fuel efficient engine option for their medium sized trucks and SUV’s.

There has been a rumour that Thai built trucks may soon be exported to the USA. Hope you folks get to experience some of these wonderful Thai built vehicles in the near future.

Frank T.
 

I have been learning to read and write Thai. My Thai teacher is excellent, and the course material is well suited to building vocabulary and grammar skills that are important for use in daily life. Unfortunately, sometimes the reading assignments are not terribly interesting or exciting.

In hopes of accelerating my Thai studies, and also to have a bit of fun and enjoyment along the way, I have decided to begin reading the Harry Potter book series in Thai. I did enjoy the books in English, so I thought this might be a good way to increase my exposure to common Thai vocabulary and grammar, and to practice my reading skills. It also occurred to me that a book originally intended for kids might be easier to read than an book intended for adults. Finally, since I already have the English language versions of Harry Potter, I would be able to compare the Thai and English texts to help improve my Thai reading comprehension skills.

I am pleased to say that so far my expectations have turned out to be reasonably correct. K. Sumalee has remained very faithful to J.K. Rowling’s original text, so I can assess my comprehension paragraph by paragraph. Usually I find that my comprehension is reasonably accurate, but once in a while I get stumped. It can be frustrating when you realize that you understand every single word used in a sentence and still can’t tease out the sentence’s meaning. Thai and English are very different languages, and hence comprehension is often much more than simply the mathematical sum of individual word meanings. I suppose this goes to the heart of computer automated translation challenges and limitations. Star Trek’s “Universal Translator” is certainly not yet a reality, and despite exponential growth in computational power still lies an unknown number of years in our future.

I must admit that I thought it would be a bit easier for me to read Harry Potter in Thai. I have learned more than a few words in Thai, and I suppose I thought that I would be able to rather easily interpret the few special words I might encounter without running for my dictionary too often.

As it turns out, I find 3 or 4 unknown words in each paragraph that I must check in the dictionary. I can generally understand each paragraph and follow the basic storyline without using the dictionary. However, I have decided that if I don’t take the time to understand the meaning of new words and phrases, my reading exercise becomes more of a entertaining diversion, and I won’t gain much language skills benefits. I suppose that my basic reading skills would still continue to improve, as the lack of spaces between words and the absence of most punctuation makes the process of reading Thai more difficult to master.

Initially I tried to read Harry Potter in bed. I usually find reading in bed to be quite comfortable and relaxing. However, this was not to be the case for my Thai reading exercise. To read Harry Potter, achieve full comprehension, and to mark new words and phrases while lying down proved to be most inconvenient indeed. Across my lap would be my large Thai English dictionary and the English Harry Potter, plus of course the Thai Harry Potter book. On the bed or bedstand was my pencil, highlighter, and eraser. Also challenging was highlighting words and writing translations; somehow even highlighting is difficult when working on your back, and writing tiny translations between lines, in a legible manner, was almost impossible.

My new strategy seems to be working much better. I work in my office reading and translating the Thai text. I can use the Thai English software dictionary on my PC, with which I can look up Thai words much faster than in a paper dictionary despite my somewhat poor Thai typing skills. I don’t spend much time working on comprehension or trying to commit new words to memory.

Later, I can relax in bed and re-read the Thai text. Since the new words are already translated, I can spend my time pondering the meanings of the text and trying to imprint the new vocabulary in my mind. Of course, some new words tend to stick better than others. I can also refer periodically to the English version to double check comprehension, which also gives me the opportunity to compare differences between English and Thai idioms.

Perhaps the biggest challenge is to ensure that reading Harry Potter doesn’t distract me from my genuine Thai homework. Thai Harry Potter isn’t an adequate substitute for a properly designed Thai language program. I am confident that when I have completed the Thai language course, reading Thai novels and newspapers will become the most effective way to maintain and expand my Thai language competency. However, at this time my primary focus must remain on the school coursework, and my friend Harry Potter must remain an extra-curricular pasttime.

I am privileged to have received Thailand Permanent Resident Status last year. This means I have permission to stay in Thailand indefinitely, and hold an immigrant visa. As the name implies, this privilege is permanent, but it is subject to a few important restrictions. One of which is that I must visit the Immigration Department each year on or before the expiration date of my visa to have the visa renewed and to confirm my residence and status in the country.

I have been dealing with the Thailand Immigration Department, both the main office in Bangkok and the Pattaya and Jomtien branches for more than 10 years. I have always found the officers at all offices to be courteous, efficient, and polite. This seems to be in great contrast to the experience of some other westerners, at least the vocal minority, who complain greatly about poor service and all manner of problems experienced. Perhaps my experience has been somewhat different because I have always been sure to treat the Immigration Officers with respect, just as I would hope that I am treated. I find that this simple philosophy works well for me when I am managing staff in an office environment, employees on the factory floor, or in most any other type of typical human interaction.

During the short time I spent at the Immigration Department I was quite disappointed to hear quite a lot of complaining and cursing by my fellow farangs. One guy was quite enraged because there were not enough pens at the writing desk for filling out immigration forms. This same guy, and a few others in my vicinity, were long overdue for a shower and some deodorant, which certainly didn’t put me in a particularly good disposition towards them. Being that it was barely mid-morning, there was hardly any excuse for such a ripe aroma.

After successfully and painlessly completing my business at the Immigration Department, my next stop was at the District Police Station. Foreigners living in Thailand under the typical tourist or non-immigrant (work permit) visa don’t need to visit the Police Station. However, as a Permanent Resident, I am required to also be registered with our local police station, and have an Alien Registration Booklet. The policeman in charge of maintaining this register and for signing my Alien Registration Booket is titled the “Alien Control Officer”. I found myself smiling as I read the sign in English, because it quickly brought to mind the movie “Men in Black”. In our case, the MiB Team would stand for Men in Brown, but I suppose most other aspects of the job are not too different from the popular movie.

Being fresh from my visit to the Immigration Department, I couldn’t help but think that some of us Farangs do seem to be more than a bit “alien”. Strangely bloated bodies, reeking of harsh sour aromas, and speaking in languages very strange to the Thai ear, some of us really do work hard to live up to the “alien” description.

I suppose since Permanent Residence Status is somewhat unusual, the Alien Control Officer always reminds me of the old Maytag Repair Man. In these old American washing machine commercials, the Maytag Repair Man was always cheerfully waiting in his office hoping that some customer might visit him to break his harsh isolation and boredom. Unfortunately for him, Maytag Washing Machines were highly reliable, dooming him to a boring, lonely existance. Same with my friend the Alien Control Officer.

As with the Immigration Department, the Alien Control Officer was most pleasant and efficient. This year he stamped my Alien Registration Booklet with a 5 year stamp, meaning that unless I change address or job, I don’t need to visit him again for 5 years. This certainly put a smile on my face, though since I am presently between contracts, I suppose (or I certainly hope) that I’ll be getting a new job soon and will need to visit him again to report my new place of employment.

Thailand is generally a wonderful place to live and do business. However, relationships and attitudes are very important. If one chooses to be arogant, demeaning, harsh, or smelly, one will receive commensurate service and cooperation. So, for optimum service, be sure to put on a fresh attitude, and a fresh shirt.

Frank T.

I find the written Thai language to be quite fascinating. Much like English, the Thai language uses a phonetic alphabet, is written from left to right, and words are formed by combining consonants and vowels that represent phonetic sounds to create written words.

However, there are some very interesting differences between written Thai and English. The most obvious one is that Thai uses a completely different alphabet, consisting of 44 consonants and 32 vowels (some of which are clusters of vowel characters). Since Thai is a tonal language, it also includes 4 tone marks (and a few other marks) to indicate the proper spoken tone of a syllable.

The Thai language has only one case, i.e. there is no upper or lower case. That turns out to be quite convenient in our modern electronic world, as otherwise there would not be enough keys on a typical keyboard to accommodate all of the Thai characters. The most common Thai characters are represented on the conventional keyboard as “lower case”, and less common characters are entered by hitting the shift key. This does make typing in Thai a bit more difficult than English, as evidence by the fact that an experienced Thai secretary can type Thai at 40 words per minute, compared with 70 words per minute for a typical English secretary. On several occasions I have greatly surprised my Thai friends and colleagues when typing, as in English I can usually exceed 70 words per minute, which appears (and sounds) quite amazing to Thais. Of course, when I type in Thai, I am lucky to manage 4 words per minute, with long periods of time spent “hunting”, and very little actual “pecking” taking place.

The Thai language also uses very little punctuation. There are no periods or commas, and only in modern times have parenthesis and quotation marks been adopted. Sentences and phrases are separated simply by a space. This proves to be quite adequate, because spaces are not inserted between words in Thai. The lack of spaces between words tends to be quite a problem for the beginning reader. Fortunately, the Thai kindergarten and first grade reading books are written using spaces between words. However, starting with the second grade, spaces between words are eliminated. Now that I am perhaps reaching the third or (optimistically) fourth grade reading level, I am finding that many common words are beginning to almost “jump” off the page at me, and are almost as clear and distinct as if they were separated from other words by spaces, as in English. I suppose this is proof that the Thai style of writing doesn’t require spaces between words. Since spaces between words are not very expensive, the Thais would certainly have added them long ago if they were of any real value to their system of writing.

Perhaps it is the very interesting method of vowel usage that ultimately makes spaces between words unnecessary. Unlike English, vowels in Thai words and syllables do not necessarily appear in the order of pronunciation. For example, in my name FRANK, the “a” sound comes after the F and R sounds, and of course before the N sound, hence the spelling of my name. However, in Thai, the vowel used to make the “a” sound must be placed at the front of the syllable. Thus, using Thai characters, my name would be spelled something like “AFRNK”. Each Thai vowel has a specific placement rule, these rules are never broken. Some vowels come at the beginning of a syllable, some after the leading consonant(s), on top, underneath, or sometimes involve multiple symbols which are placed in front, on top, and after leading consonant(s). Obviously this takes a bit of getting used to, but the system seems quite efficient and works quite well, at least for the Thai language.

As Thai is a tonal language, the spelling of a syllable must also indicate the tone associated with that syllable. Otherwise, words like “Near” and “Far”, which actually both sound exactly the same, “GLY”, but with different tones, could not be clearly understood when written. Rules for tones are a bit complicated, but basically tones are associated with consonants. Consonants are divided into three classes (and a few subclasses), each class having different tone characteristics.

The tone of a syllable is determined by the leading consonant(s), as modified by a tone mark that can be added above the consonant. Tone marks change the tone of the consonant according to various rules; tone marks do not always indicate the same tone. For example, the tone mark that looks like a small vertical line above the consonant causes some class consonants to produce a low tone, and other class consonants to produce a falling tone. I am still struggling to remember which consonants belong in which classes; though I expect to eventually get most of the system memorized (at least I try to remain optimistic).

The Thai language is different from English in an amazing variety of ways, such that this brief description has only scratched the surface. For those with an interest, and who are able to accept differences without prejudice (why can’t Thais write like us, why is the Thai system so complicated, etc.), exploring the Thai language can be a fascinating adventure. I am enjoying my journey, though the path isn’t always an easy one.

Frank T.

Having lived in Thailand for more than 10 years, I have managed to develop a fair ability to “chit chat” in Thai. I had help from a few good teachers along the way. I even managed to learn to read a bit of Thai.

Recently, I have decided that I am far from satisfied with my level of competency with the Thai language. I feel that if I honestly want to become integrated into the Thai community, including members of my wonderful extended Thai family, then I need to significantly enhance my Thai language skills. Fortunately, since I am now spending my weekdays in Bangkok working for PTT Exploration and Production, the Thai National Oil Company, I have reasonable access to several Thai language schools with extensive experience teaching Thai to foreigners.

I started formal Thai lessons in mid-October, 2006 at Thai Language Achievement (TLA). First order of business was to assess my current language competency. After reading several assignments from various school textbooks, my teacher determined that I should start at Level 5. The TLA program consists of six levels, plus a significant number of “elective” courses focused on specific areas of language development, such as Reading the Newspaper, Social Studies, etc. My speaking skills, pronunciation, vocabulary, and general reading skills were consistent with their typical Level 5 students. However, my writing skills, especially my spelling, needed quite a lot of work to catch up with other Level 5 students. I am proud to say that I have made quite a lot of progress with my writing skills, and my handwriting is actually quite nice, but I still have a lot of work to do before I can claim to write reasonably well.

Other farangs (as we western foreigners are called here in Thailand) occasionally ask me how I learned to speak Thai, and what I might recommend to help them learn Thai. Everyone, myself included, is looking for a shortcut, an easier way, and/or a faster way to learn Thai (or I suppose any language). Unfortunately, I am now quite convinced that there are no shortcuts. Learning any language takes a degree of dedication and determination. To imprint a new vocabulary onto old mental synapses takes time and patience.

I can observe that some languages are easier for native English speakers than others. In high school I learned French. French wasn’t so difficult, and I actually learned quite a lot about English language and grammar from studying French. I spent a year trying to learn Russian, back in 1988 when I was assigned to a project to build a chemical plant in the Soviet Ukraine. Russian was more difficult than French, mostly because of the grammar. Reading Russian actually wasn’t very difficult. The Russian alphabet looks intimidating, but it is in many ways very much like the Latin alphabet which is used for English and many other languages. Russian is a beautiful sounding language, and I enjoyed talking in Russian, though my project was canceled before I achieved any real competency.

Working for a few years in Colombia, I found Spanish to be a very easy language to pick-up. I taught myself Spanish mostly by using my Spanish / English dictionary, chatting with friends and colleagues at work, and reading the local newspaper. I do wish I could pick up Thai language as easily – I’d be completely fluent by now. Unfortunately, today I can remember only a few words of French, Russian, or Spanish. When I try to speak in any of these languages, it invariably comes out mixed with a bit of Thai, which is embarassing for me and obviously sounds really strange. I suppose the expression “use it or lose it” holds true for languages.

So what advice do I have for anyone interested in learning Thai? First, if you are serious about really learning Thai, and want to be able to do more than just chit chat in broken Thai, then I strongly recommend that you learn to read and write Thai. I am convinced that you will have great difficulty absorbing new vocabulary, learning proper pronunciation and grammar, and imprinting various sentence patterns onto your gray matter unless you first develop decent literacy skills. My young children have obviously learned to speak fluent Thai and English, and are just now beginning to learn to read and write. However, we older folks simply don’t retain the natural language learning abilities of young children. For us, we need to be able to sit and ponder over words and sentence patterns, giving the words time to imprint onto our far less resilient brains. Yes, this can be done through listening skills only, but far too much information simply will flow in through one ear and out the other without ever having the opportunity to be captured and retained.How about writing skills? Perhaps reading skills are important, but why should one take the time to learn writing skills, particularly spelling? Basically, I don’t feel that one can reasonably separate reading and writing skills, especially with respect to the Thai language. Thai is primarily a mono-syllabic tonal language, meaning that most of the words are single syllable, or are compound words composed of multiple single syllable words. Each syllable is assigned one of 5 tones. The tone is in fact as much a part of the word as are the other sounds used to create the word. Change the tone and you get a completely different word. The Thai words for “near” and “far” are the same sound, but have different tones. Trust me, it is nearly impossible to hold a conversation if you can’t recognize and reproduce tones properly; you literally won’t know if you are coming or going (or how far you’ve gone)! Thai vowels also have long and short pronunciations. As with tone, if a word is pronounced with the wrong length vowel sound, a different meaning can result. Some of these results can be embarrassing, to the extent that today I am very reluctant to ever talk about “snow” in Thai language. Mispronouncing the Thai word for “snow” can be very embarrassing, indeed. Fortunately, it doesn’t come up in conversation here all that often, except for a few curious Thais who just can’t imagine what life in a freezer must be like.

By learning to read, you will find that you can more effectively expand your vocabulary and your repertoire of sentence patterns. However, to really learn proper pronunciation you must learn to write. The written Thai language is very phonetic, the way it is spelled very much matches the way it is pronounced. This is quite unlike English, in which half the words are not spelled the way they are pronounced, and the other half are not pronounced the way they are spelled (I believe this quote is attributed to Winston Churchill). The key step in learning to spell a Thai word is to learn the proper pronunciation. Once you clearly know the tone and the length of the vowel, and of course you know the various spelling rules, you have a good chance of spelling the word properly. Unfortunately, the written Thai language is very complicated, with 44 consonants, 32 vowels, and 4 tone marks (give or take a few). There are often several ways to generate a given word sound, and just to make it more interesting, many Thai words include letters which are not sounded, and often include sounds which are “inherent”, that meaning that they are not represented by any of the written characters. It is not uncommon for words to be written without any vowels, for example. The vowel sound is inherent, through the various writing rules. Yes, writing Thai isn’t an easy exercise, but I believe it is a quite necessary exercise if one is truly determined to speak proper Thai.

So, given all of the above, do I ever expect to be truly fluent in Thai. Not in this lifetime! However, I am determined to achieve a level of competency sufficient to allow me to understand the evening Thai news broadcasts, read a Thai newspaper, and conduct business and work with my Thai colleagues using Thai language. I have already given a few speeches using my broken Thai language, and hope to do a much better job in the future.

My plan is to continue taking Thai lessons throughout 2007, and to sit for the Thai Government Sixth Grade Language Competency Test. This test is offered once per year in mid December. I am not sure I’ll make my goal, as I have a long way to go yet and the clock is ticking. However, I suppose that perhaps the most important criteria for learning Thai are to have a clearly defined goal and a deadline. Without these, I personally would find it most difficult to drag myself to class two evenings per week, and even more difficult to get the homework done. Wish me luck . . .Frank T.