New section: Business Thai

I added a new page on the blog: Business Thai. It will be a short cheat sheet with the most helpful vocabulary for a business or professional setting. You can bookmark, print, or even memorize it.

I’ve debated whether to include a plain old vocabulary component to this blog. There are already plenty online resources for looking words up. I am also uninterested in a word-a-day format for the blog.

On the other hand, much of my exposure to Thai is in a business setting, and I often feel liberated or empowered when I learn a new word or phrase. I want a way to share this feeling with others. Most recently, I felt frustrated at the latest BarCamp (a kind of software conference). I realized that an English-language presentation on business Thai would have gone over extremely well, but I was unprepared to deliver something like that on the spot.

Therefore, I will address the situation in this way: I set up a new page, Business Thai, where I will (for now) maintain a table of words, adding to the list as I think of them (or as readers suggest them). To help us through the Hell that is hump day, I will post to the blog a weekly digest summarizing the new additions every Wednesday.

I am not aiming for comprehensiveness, because that would be just a dictionary, and I don’t want a dictionary. Instead, I want the cheet sheet that you can print or memorize to get the most bang for your buck. Most foreign professionals operating in Thailand quickly realize that their speaking Thai is discouraged; however, Thai is still spoken all the time and you want to be prepared for that.

Family Guy video taken offline

YouTube has taken the clip I posted of Quagmire (Seth MacFarlane) speaking Thai (from here) offline:

This is to notify you that we have removed or disabled access to the following material as a result of a third-party notification by Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation claiming that this material is infringing:

(Foul) Thai language on The Family Guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8liBWSKu6XQ

I feel that my usage of the clip constitutes fair use; however, I will not be submitting a counter notice (thereby inviting a lawsuit from Twentieth Century Fox) under the DMCA safe harbor provision.

What I can’t figure out is how so many other videos from “The Family Guy” remain online.

New Category: Obscene

I am adding a section to the blog labelled “obscene.” Posts in this category may be not safe for work because of inappropriate language.

I am an advocate of clean language on the Internet. I think it’s more interesting because it’s more challenging. Profanity detracts from the experience in a similar way that dirty jokes detract from comedy. Comedian John Cleese explains this phenomenon in an interview from the “Fawlty Towers” DVD special feature:

However, I have an interesting post pending that shows a professional American voice actor speaking Thai. It’s noteworthy, however the things he says are not too nice. So that is why we have this new category.

The Return of TLT: Request for Thai Dictionaries, Books, Etc.

Just as you all started reading this blog, I let it wither! I’m sorry; I spent the last few weeks on a side project that consumed most of my spare time. That’s complete now so it’s time to get back to work!

I have a request for readers of Thai Language Tricks. I am looking for reference material useful for English-speakers learning Thai, for example, dictionaries, encyclopedias, phrase books, and things like that. Here is what I need:

• Electronic format: PDF, HTML, plain text, or any other format that I can download
• Freely distributable: I will re-distribute it, so it should be public domain, creative commons, or otherwise permit copying

I will explain my purpose in a subsequent announcement. For now, I will say that I am seeking the most valuable electronic reference material I can find, and I will make it more accessible. Thai Wikipedia is currently at the top of my list. Any suggestions?

New Category: Nailing Thai

I created a new category called Nailing Thai. Nailing Thai is like nailing an athletic performance. Done well, it looks graceful and easy; but any small mistake typically leads to disaster.

Here will go discussion on emulating the subtlety and nuance that a native speaker would make. For several reasons, Thai is a very strict language concerning word choice and pronunciation, and if you get it wrong, you quickly make no sense.

Some past articles have been retrofitted into this category.

Moved the Blog

I moved the blog from the old location (http://www.proven-corporation.com/blog) to here. All old links and feeds are still valid but they will redirect to here. Also, I changed the name of the blog to reflect its focus. If possible, please update your links for your readers’ convenience. Thanks.

Video: What is Free Software

I finished getting video working on my corporate site. You can view it on the About page. Besides serving as a test run, the first video is a relatively clear (if a bit dramatic) explanation of what free software is and what the objectives of the Free Software Foundation are. It was shot just before the GPL version 3 came out, and Eben Moglen summarizes what the foundation has been doing from its inception until then.

My plan is to regularly post original content consisting of dual Thai-English educational material about free software. Due to the language barrier, Thailand does not extract as much value as it could from this resource, and I plan to address that from the bottom up.

Thai-English Pseudo-cognates

This is a category for coincidental moments of sameness between Thai and English.

Introduction

This new blog is for me and my activities.

My name is Jason Smith; I was born in 1981. I do computer software, networking, and security, and I have been operating from Bangkok, Thailand since 2002, working with universities, banks, telecoms companies, and government.

I think my primary skill is integrating valuable things out of free software or open source components.

As a hobby, I write about the Thai language.