Thailand Voice

A round up of words, pictures and video from this morning. Some people justify the UDD’s campaign of blood-pouring rituals, saying the practice has a spiritual or mystical significance that is largely impenetrable to foreigners. That may well be true but none of the Thais I’ve spoken… Read full story >>>

High-tech ways to monitor Bangkok road conditions Traffy Thailand’s National Electronics and Computer Technology Center (NECTEC) has developed Traffy , an excellent Google Maps mashup that makes it easy to follow Bangkok traffic conditions. traffic.thai.net NECTEC also runs traffic.thai.net… Read full story >>>

That’s not the red shirt, that’s the red short movement. Maybe I’ll go out on a limb – hey yes I had wrongly called the yellow protest a day before those maniacs invaded Suvarnabhumi. But looks like the Million Man March utterly failed. The rather grotesque peaceful bloodletting aside… Read full story >>>

This YouTube video clip provides a good bird’s eye panoramic view of the red shirt protests…. Read full story >>>

Free Download: Thai Reader Project… If your Thai learning adventure has come to a halt due to the lack of intermediate to advanced materials, the University of Wisconsin’s Thai Reader Project could be a fine fit: The authors have attempted to create effective lessons in the reading of Thai that will help learners progress … Read full story >>>

Angkhana Neelapaijit, whose husband has “disappeared” mysteriously for years while defending southern activists as a lawyer, says the bomb-detecting GT200 incident shows that the military hasn’t followed the “politics-leads-military” policy. She tells Thai Post in an inteview published today: “After the … Read full story >>>

Considered weird food by some, ant eggs are a delicacy in Northern and N.Eastern Thailand especially. Red Ant Eggs ( Kai Mot Daeng) are available in local markets but many Thai people will collect the ant eggs by themselves. This can be a hazardous exercise as the red ants do not take kindly … Read full story >>>

Week three of my 30 day Thai language trial… I am settled into a study schedule, so that’s it. It took three weeks for me to gain a new language learning habit. Nothing odd happened this week so I won’t post the results. I basically … Read full story >>>

Week two of my 30 day Thai language trial… The more I note the lack of sleep in the weekly reviews of my trial, the more I am getting pissed off. Insomnia has been a part of my life since my toddler days and … Read full story >>>

Jonas Anderson is one of best known singers in Thailand of the Thaimusic genre known as Luktung and most surprisingly is not a Thai. Jonas Anderson was born in Sweden and came with his parents to Thailand when he was just 9 years old. They settled in Nakorn Ratchasima in Isaan, N.E. Thailand … Read full story >>>

The new year is almost here… It’s that time again: New Year’s resolution time. And this year I am serious about using the opportunity to ramp up my Thai language learning. Because even with the best intentions, it seems that I can find the time to do everything except for … Read full story >>>

Ho, ho, ho and a subliminal oh! … Last year I wrote a Christmas post on subliminal products for learning Thai: Subliminal Thai… ehh? And as it was such a huge hit, I thought I’d do the same this year. Amazon has two on offer: Learn To Speak The… Read full story >>>

Google Translate does more than before… Google Translate has added three more items of interest: Translations as you type: Type your text in the main box and the translation appears below. Romanization option: the ability to receive transliteration instead. Text-to-… Read full story >>>

I fancy myself something of a pretty good martial artist. Back in the day when I was younger (okay, okay, MUCH younger) I used to pride myself on my ability to kick very high and with excellent form. It took a long time for me to be able to kick like that… Read full story >>>

Ah, to have the insecurities of a kid again… When I was fourteen, I moved from the glorious New Zealand to the enormous U.S. The U.S. was too strange, too big, too shiny new. Worse, I did not assimilate. My experiences were not the… Read full story >>>

Sesame Street comes of age… This week, on November 10th, Sesame Street turned the big FOUR OH. My, oh, my, does time fly… So if you didn’t know Sesame Street as a child, then your brothers or sisters, nephews or nieces, or even … Read full story >>>

L-Ceps Personaltrainer language learning software… I played around with L-Ceps Thai Language Software last year, but I did not spent a lot of time with it (my bad). There were three reasons: L-Ceps had too much of a PC feel I already had Rosetta Stone (also PC) I did … Read full story >>>

Anocha “Mai” Suwichakornpong’s debut feature Mundane History has generated good buzz at the Pusan International Film Festival, where it premiered on Sunday in the New Currents competition. It has two more screenings on Thursday and then will hopefully be awarded when the festival closes on Friday. The Hollywood Reporter’s Maggie Lee has a review . Here’s… Read full story >>>

Considerations for Thai phrase book apps on your iPhone… Choosing a Thai language phrase book for your iPhone is similar to choosing a hardcopy Thai language phrase book . But not quite. For instance: If you are a first time tourist or expat new to… Read full story >>>

Matichon reports that NACC spokesman Klanarong Chantik said that in relation to Samak, as the head of the government being charged that Samak would have known well that there could be damage and an effect on territory and social issues. Also, Samak asked Noppadol to help Hun Sen… Read full story >>>

Thai language resource: thai-language.com… You all know Glenn Slayden from an earlier interview: Interviewing Successful Thai Language Learners: Glenn Slayden . Today I’m writing a brief overview of his site, thai-language.com . Mission Statement: The mission of thai-language.com is to offer English speakers the highest-quality non-commercial Thai language resource… Read full story >>>

Well not really but it is on it’s way and is already having a big affect around Ubon Ratchatani. The rain slowly started yesterday mid morning and has slowly built up to be a steady continuous shower then hasn’t slackened at… Read full story >>>

A couple of days ago Reuters put together a summary of “five key Asian political risk themes”.  Hidden among the consolidated insights on Japan’s new government, Chinese trade, corruption in Indonesia, and India-Pakistan relations, is a short blurb about the “health of Thailand’s king”.  … Read full story >>>

The Thailand-Laos-Cambodia Studies Group and New Mandala are planning a new initiative that will offer regular book reviews of important new texts (in English and other languages) on mainland Southeast Asia. The reviews will be jointly published on the TLC email list and on New Mandala . This will … Read full story >>>

The Economist : These latest antics are an embarrassment for him [Kasit] and for the prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, who came to power in the wake of the PAD’s debilitating protests but has testy relations with the group. Nationalism is a powerful tool for demagogues such… Read full story >>>

Thai Rath ’s political analysis the other day is summarized below. A Democrat MP from Bangkok, Boonyord S, and a Democrat MP from Samut Songkrahm, Rungsima R, have been suggesting that Thaksin has a serious disease. Thaksin has denied this in a twitter posting and showing a picture of him getting his… Read full story >>>

Chiangmai University Open Courseware… TCU’s Open Thai Courseware : What a brilliant find by Kokesat, a member of the ThaiVisa Thai language forum! Quoting SoftWater: I don’t think I’m overstating the case (?) when I say this is the BEST beginners material I have … Read full story >>>

The Office of the National Economic and Social Development Board has issued a report on Thailand’s social outlook in the second quarter of 2009. The report, which was acknowledged by the Cabinet, covers four major areas, namely the quality of human resources, social…

The free FSI Thai lessons… If you have been anywhere near WLT’s extensive resource page, Learn Thai for FREE , then you’ll know all about the fantastic Thai lessons created by the Foreign Service Institute . And ever since I’ve known about the… Read full story >>>

I first found out about this annual festival held in Nakhon Phanom last year through a series of cryptic e-mails my girlfriend had sent with pictures of beautiful illuminated boats attached. I say cryptic but the reality of the situation was that she couldn’t explain… Read full story >>>