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Negligent posted:Are any of the things that pop on the first page of Google for 'learn thai online' worth half a poo poo? I could use some practice. Learn Thai the Rapid Way - take all the free courses and watch all the youtube videos (search on youtube for them). After you get past those, it costs money, but it is really well made I think. Note that it doesn't teach you to speak, but "just" to be able to read and pronounce Thai script. It uses weird mnemonics, but they stick in your head. L-Lingo Thai - A modern Rosetta Stone clone. Teaches you a lot of words through "baby learning" (see picture, hear word). Free for the first many lessons, small fee after that. Thai for Beginners + Audio CD - hardcore studying book which will teach you to read, write, speak and understand. Note that it requires a lot of discipline and repetition, but that's how you learn... no easy way around it. Combine with the Audio CDs for pronunciation. I found this to be the best resource of them all, but combining will teach you more. thai-language.com - A massive dictionary and reference. The lessons are rather poor, IMO. I burned out on it after a few months, but depending on how dedicated you are, I think you can get the basics covered with these resources. There's also an intermediate and advanced book by Paiboon Publishing.
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May 29, 2014 12:18
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Cool thanks, I bought the L-Lingo app, seems to fit the bill nicely.
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May 29, 2014 14:56
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I had someone mail me a ton of material for learning Thai. Honestly, the quality of Thai language products available in the states is a disgrace, and you can get really cheap books with DVDs and CD-ROM components for very low prices (of course wrapped in plastic to protect them, as all Thai books are :P) in or from Thailand. I got a number of materials myself over the years, some from Amazon and other sources and some mailed to me as previously mentioned: 1. There are several good iPhone apps to learn letters (Thai Flash, for virtual flash cards) or a few instant translation style apps you can use to speak to a cab driver for you. 2. Thai for Beginners, Benjawan Becker 3. Thai-English dictionary, Paiboon Publishing 4. Instant Thai, Tuttle 5. Learn Thai Easily, Chris Schrelber 6. Speak Thai- Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 (learnspeakthai.com) 7. Thai Survivor Guide, Amarin Pocket 8. Also I bought a few CDs on important thai phrases that I listen to in the car and can be burned onto a smart phone. and finally, and most awesome, are a series of flashcards by http://www.thailandfood.in.th that provide pictures, descriptions and visual aids to help with tones. Honestly, knowing how to get around (ask directions or give directions), pay for poo poo, and get food are the most critical things. Most places have a Thai Temple that does Thai Language study for free as well, assuming your trip isn't for a few months. Shammypants fucked around with this message at 17:27 on May 29, 2014 |
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May 29, 2014 17:18
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Yeah, that's the other thing. They teach you a bunch of stuff at first when you take lessons, but what they should start with after basics and pleasantries is food. Every casual conversation in Thailand - even the greetings - are about food, and knowledge of food and the ability to talk about food is about the most important non-complex language knowledge. After that you can get into where are you from, what does this do, how do I use this and so on, but up front you need the pleasantries, some directions and then shitloads of "Have you eaten yet?" "What have you eaten?" "Are you full?" "What vegetable is that?" "Is that Chinese or Thai garlic?" "Is that sauce lime or tamarind based?" and so on.
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May 29, 2014 17:34
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caberham posted:What makes you so absolute on picking SEA may I ask? There are other teach abroad programs like JET, EPIK Hong Kong's NET, etc. Do you want to be in education as a career? I really strongly prefer warm climates. Like, 70 degrees Fahrenheit is too chilly for my comfort. And I'm under the impression that people who live in warm places generally tend to enjoy more laid back lifestyles than people who live in cold places. Cambodia seems super appealing to me because of how common it is for people to consume cannabis there. But I've decided that smoking weed should be low on my priority list while I'm in Southeast Asia, and it will be a relatively long time before I actively seek out weed while in Thailand, if I ever do. I really hope I'll be able to make it to Cambodia sometime, but Thailand makes my parents less anxious and may perhaps be a safer place to start for someone with as little international experience as myself. I feel extremely unsure about what kind of career I should want to pursue or what kind of stuff I should be wanting to do for the remainder of my life. I had a lot of fun with the CELTA course I took in June 2013, so I suppose it's possible that I could end up being a teacher until I die, but I really don't know. I'm also very unsure of how I'll be spending my days in Southeast Asia or how long I'll be living there. So yeah, it should be an interesting experience and I'm just going to try to stay open-minded about everything. Thanks for reading my post!
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May 29, 2014 22:13
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I'm thinking about checking out that restaurant you goons were at a few weeks ago tomorrow.
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May 30, 2014 06:49
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The one with the ladyboys dressed like medieval knights?
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May 30, 2014 07:50
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XyrlocShammypants posted:The one with the ladyboys dressed like medieval knights? If this post is real, I need more information about this place.
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May 30, 2014 10:14
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XyrlocShammypants posted:The one with the ladyboys dressed like medieval knights? And the Chinese dancing dragon with Thaksin's head?
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May 30, 2014 10:47
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I meant the gold bay place
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May 30, 2014 11:12
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Atlas Hugged posted:I meant the gold bay place Ah, poo poo, how long you in town for? In Laos this weekend.
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May 30, 2014 14:26
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MothraAttack posted:Ah, poo poo, how long you in town for? In Laos this weekend. Just a few days. Next time.
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May 30, 2014 16:04
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Almost got tricked by the old address, but a waitress ran across the street to bring us over. The dude was holding his hat so I didn't see him. I'll be here for a bit.
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May 31, 2014 12:20
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Sorry if I missed it, but what is the thread consensus on the coup wrt Thai travel? I figured it wasn't too big if a deal, just lean towards non Bangkok locations?
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May 31, 2014 22:34
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The coup is unlikely to affect even Bangkok tourism significantly, but some mild inconveniences are probably to be expected. Unlikely does not mean guaranteed, Thais are not passive people once roused and there are some serious stakes involved here. If you find yourself in the middle of a demonstration or whatever great, have fun, but realize there are real risks there and you may want to remove yourself from that situation.
raton fucked around with this message at 00:03 on Jun 1, 2014 |
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Jun 1, 2014 00:01
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Curfew at midnight makes crosstown travel a bit less available than usual right around (or after) midnight, that's about it so far. The occasional BTS station outage. It'll come up here if something changes. EDIT: Asoke is apparently a bit hot today. Follow Ratchaprasong News on FB or Twitter for one source with pretty decent updates. ReindeerF fucked around with this message at 09:27 on Jun 1, 2014 |
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Jun 1, 2014 01:20
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I ended up getting a 150baht foot massage across the street from Gold Bay Leaf. They spent time debating among themselves if I was really a foreigner because I was speaking in Chinese with my friend. "She must be Chinese, but what about him. He's speaking it too."
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Jun 1, 2014 04:01
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Taxi driver told us not to go downtown today because of protests. Anything going on?
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Jun 1, 2014 05:54
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Currently sitting on the beach in the Gili Islands getting ready to go diving. 5 day holidays in SEA kick rear end! Beats the hell out of a long weekend in the Lake District.
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Jun 1, 2014 06:20
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MrNemo posted:Currently sitting on the beach in the Gili Islands getting ready to go diving. 5 day holidays in SEA kick rear end! Beats the hell out of a long weekend in the Lake District. You and me both sir. Bintang cheers to ya.
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Jun 1, 2014 08:45
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Another goon on Gili? Crap should have posted earlier, I'm flying out tomorrow morning so no time to party/drink more than is medically recommended. Let this prove a cautionary tale goons, always tell the SA forums about your travel plans.
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Jun 1, 2014 12:53
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I seem to find comparatively very few articles recommending Indonesia as a place you'd want to live in SEA. Is there a reason for this? It looks like the cost of living in Bali is comparable to most places in Thailand, Malaysia etc. and Indonesia seems gorgeous.
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Jun 1, 2014 17:44
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I'd guess because it's a largely Muslim country with a recent violent past. It seems beautiful enough, but the documentary The Act of Killing shows how even today murderers are considered national heroes.
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Jun 1, 2014 18:46
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Because gently caress Indonesia. It's the type of country that will execute drug smugglers (non violent criminals, giving drugs to people who WANT to use them) and award a token prison sentence for terrorists who build bombs and kill hundreds of people who probably didn't want to be blown up. It can be nice enough though, but it's definitely not as easy to do as the more developed countries nearby. Everything's a little - or a lot - more difficult. Rumour has it that the Thailand curfew business is spreading. Next stop, Koh Tao!
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Jun 2, 2014 00:39
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I think the major reason is that Bali is a tourist town and intolerable for longer stays and Jakarta is a hole and living as an expat in a smaller city is pretty tough.
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Jun 2, 2014 01:09
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Jakarta is a chill city with a great (better than Thailand) party/club landscape. The reason people dislike it is because, like the Philippines, there is a more obvious disconnect between the wealthy and poor and the traffic is somehow worse than Bangkok. I mean look, there really haven't been many terrorist activities in Indonesia in the last few years. A good handful of the terrorist incidents involve disputes between local police and drug dealers anyway, or grievances in Papua (a horrible place with 100% of women experiencing physical, sexual or other violence). A handful of Australians have been killed since 2000, but I can't recall any Americans at all being killed in any specific incident. I am sure there has likely been at least one, but I just checked the online terror database and didn't see any.
Shammypants fucked around with this message at 01:18 on Jun 2, 2014 |
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Jun 2, 2014 01:15
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A lot of how countries get rated is based on their major city. I mean not entirely, but if the stepping off point sucks then people tend to poo poo on your country in my experience. Exceptions are countries where the major city isn't the primary port of tourist entry (e.g. Cambodia). Jakarta, like Manila, apparently sucks. I know expats who like it for various reasons, but even they agree it's a shithole.
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Jun 2, 2014 01:19
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XyrlocShammypants posted:Jakarta is a chill city with a great (better than Thailand) party/club landscape. The reason people dislike it is because, like the Philippines, there is a more obvious disconnect between the wealthy and poor and the traffic is somehow worse than Bangkok. I mean look, there really haven't been many terrorist activities in Indonesia in the last few years. A good handful of the terrorist incidents involve disputes between local police and drug dealers anyway, or grievances in Papua (a horrible place with 100% of women experiencing physical, sexual or other violence). A handful of Australians have been killed since 2000, but I can't recall any Americans at all being killed in any specific incident. I am sure there has likely been at least one, but I just checked the online terror database and didn't see any. I think the normal ratio for Aus:American deaths abroad is about 4:1 so maybe we're due.
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Jun 2, 2014 01:23
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ReindeerF posted:A lot of how countries get rated is based on their major city. I mean not entirely, but if the stepping off point sucks then people tend to poo poo on your country in my experience. Exceptions are countries where the major city isn't the primary port of tourist entry (e.g. Cambodia). Jakarta, like Manila, apparently sucks. I know expats who like it for various reasons, but even they agree it's a shithole. I dunno, I've spent time in Manila and it has some very nice areas, like Makati (the obvious moneyed area). Sheep-Goats posted:I think the normal ratio for Aus:American deaths abroad is about 4:1 so maybe we're due. My work actually produces a document on likely terrorist areas based on previous attacks. So certain markets, villages etc. It's weird but also strangely nice to have.
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Jun 2, 2014 01:25
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XyrlocShammypants posted:Jakarta is a chill city with a great (better than Thailand) party/club landscape. The reason people dislike it is because, like the Philippines, there is a more obvious disconnect between the wealthy and poor and the traffic is somehow worse than Bangkok. I mean look, there really haven't been many terrorist activities in Indonesia in the last few years. A good handful of the terrorist incidents involve disputes between local police and drug dealers anyway, or grievances in Papua (a horrible place with 100% of women experiencing physical, sexual or other violence). A handful of Australians have been killed since 2000, but I can't recall any Americans at all being killed in any specific incident. I am sure there has likely been at least one, but I just checked the online terror database and didn't see any. 95 is a pretty big "hand full." 7 Americans is a hand full though, I guess. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Bali_bombings and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_Bali_bombings and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Jakarta_bombings
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Jun 2, 2014 02:20
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Bali is a lot bigger than the shithole around Kuta. There's plenty of good places to live in around the island. Also Bali doesn't have the strict Islam laws that rest of Indonesia has, owing to being a Hindu majority island. Staying somewhere in Bali and using that as a base to visit rest of Indonesia is generally fine.
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Jun 2, 2014 02:49
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Finch! posted:95 is a pretty big "hand full." 7 Americans is a hand full though, I guess. Still insubstantial yes. To me at least. Let's just say the odds, even in a country like Indonesia, are hugely low to the point of being irrelevant, for being killed by an international terror event. So low as to be easily ignored. You drive on SEA roads and you run a huge risk from just inattention or crazy taxi drivers. You eat food that isn't inspected by health agencies as they are (at least in part) in the States. You take risks every single day you enter an older building that likely isn't to anyone's code. The risks of terror are lower than all of them by 100-fold. Shammypants fucked around with this message at 04:07 on Jun 2, 2014 |
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Jun 2, 2014 03:58
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XyrlocShammypants posted:You drive on SEA roads and you run a huge risk from just inattention or crazy taxi drivers. You eat food that isn't inspected by health agencies as they are (at least in part) in the States. You take risks every single day you enter an older building that likely isn't to anyone's code. The risks of terror are lower than all of them by 100-fold. Meh, apart from the terrorism, all of that applies to Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand too. A buddy I worked with in Saigon has been in Jogjakarta for almost a year now, he likes it. I was there for two weeks and loved that city.
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Jun 2, 2014 04:23
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Senso posted:Meh, apart from the terrorism, all of that applies to Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand too. A buddy I worked with in Saigon has been in Jogjakarta for almost a year now, he likes it. I was there for two weeks and loved that city. Yea, 7 Americans have died in attacks since 2000 (maybe there are more, but probably not more than 2) and 7 Americans just died to some random douchebag killer in Santa Barbara. Are you safe anywhere? Not really. But you don't sweat it unless it's terrible, like Afghanistan or something.
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Jun 2, 2014 04:35
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XyrlocShammypants posted:I dunno, I've spent time in Manila and it has some very nice areas, like Makati (the obvious moneyed area). I got my Pinoy friends to take me out to do stuff local style and we'd either end up at a boring outdoor venue that served poo poo food and charged too much for beer or sitting at red tables with red chairs drinking Red Horse, heh. Just imagine that almost every tourist's first impression of Manila is the Centennial terminal at Ninoy airport, heh.
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Jun 2, 2014 05:45
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REGIONAL VISA ACQUISITION NEWS NOW: https://www.facebook.com/groups/bkexpats.kc/permalink/886804004680189/ quote:Brace yourself visa runners! Over 600 people in Vientiane Thai Embassy this morning, 5 hours wait! Thailand hit the jackpot with this new policy
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Jun 2, 2014 10:25
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Hah, I was there this morning. Apparently it's been passing 700 daily. Get there at a reasonable time before it opens and it still only takes a couple hours.
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Jun 2, 2014 12:44
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And that's why I just paid for a tourist visa. What are people doing here for so drat long they need to do multiple visa runs anyway? Sexpats? Hippies delaying the inevitability of finding a job in the real world?
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Jun 2, 2014 12:55
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All of the above. Mostly, staying. Just staying.
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Jun 2, 2014 14:55
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cent0r posted:And that's why I just paid for a tourist visa. Hahahahahahaha welcome to the thread
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Jun 2, 2014 23:23
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