Frank Timmons’ Blog

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.