Thai students studying at international schools in Thailand must study Thai language. For many students this will mean they will follow the Cambridge IGCSE First Language Thai syllabus (0518). This course is for learners whose first language is Thai making it unsuitable for all but the most advanced learners of Thai as a foreign language.
More details of the course, past papers and examiners reports are available on the Cambridge International Examinations website.
Bangkok is to be named by UNESCO as World Book Capital 2013.
Activities and exhibitions are planned at the following locations:
More details here:
We have compiled this list of more than 330 publishing companies in Thailand.
Please post a comment if you would like to suggest a correction/addition or report a broken link.
Thailand’s international trade representative Nalinee “Joy” Taveesin (นลินี ทวีสิน) has been accused of holding a secret offshore company in the British Virgin Islands.
Nalinee Taveesin – Thailand international trade representative
According to the Guardian newspaper, Taveesin’s secretary said:
She [Taveesin] strongly affirmed that she had neither known nor heard about this so-called Hall Kingston. The information about her being [a company] shareholder is incorrect.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/apr/04/offshore-secrets
Nalinee Taveesin is no stranger to controversy, having previously been blacklisted by the US government for her involvement with Grace Mugabe in Zimbabwe. According to the US Treasury website:
[...] Nalinee Joy Taveesin, a Thai businesswoman who has facilitated a number of financial, real-estate, and gem-related transactions on behalf of Grace Mugabe, Gideon Gono, and a number of other Zimbabwean Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs). Ironically, Nalinee Taveesin has participated in a number of initiatives on corruption and growth challenges in Africa and Southeast Asia while secretly supporting the kleptocratic practices of one of Africa’s most corrupt regimes.
Source: http://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/hp1295.aspx
Thailand observes the Buddhist calendar which means we are currently in the year 2556 BE (BE = AD + 543). Many Thai people attribute certain numbers and number patterns with good luck and today is notable for the sequence of numbers in the date.
Today is the third day (3) in the fourth month (4) in the year 2556 (’56) making the date 3/4/56. Note that Thai people always write the day number before the month number unlike in the US where the system used is month/day/year. However, Thai numerals are rarely used when writing dates as most Thai people prefer to use Arabic (or “Western”) numerals like this:
วันที่ 3 เดือนเมษายน พ.ศ. 2556
Chok dee na!
Thong Pha Phum National Park (อุทยานแห่งชาติทองผาภูมิ) includes rich forests, mountains, rivers and waterfalls. Sharing a border with Burma (Myanmar), the park can be found in the Thai districts of Amphur Thong Pha Phum (อำเภอทองผาภูมิ) and Sangklaburi (อำเภอสังขละบุรี). It covers an area of 1,120 sq. km.
The park has steep limestone mountains with rocky outcrops and spectacular views. It supports a range of tropical forest habitats that are rich in native wildlife, including elephants, mountain goats, tigers, bears, buffalo, barking deer, civets and many species of birds.
The national park has a visitor centre and accommodation including a camp site. Flooding can present a danger during the rainy season and leaches can be a nuisance unless suitable protection is worn.
Bangkok has some excellent bookstores and libraries but nevertheless cannot escape the global trend of fewer young people visiting libraries and reading books. According to The Nation, Thai children read only 5 books per year, compared with Malaysia (40), Singapore (45) and Vietnam (60).
It would be interesting to know whether these figures exclude graphic novels and comic books that are very popular with many Thai teenagers and young adults.
I thought it would be interesting to see how adult literacy in Thailand compares with that of neighbouring countries. The results were surprisingly good.
UNICEF statistics suggest that adult literacy in Thailand is as good or better than nearby countries but this is a crude measure of “persons aged 15 and over who can read and write”. It does not take into account attainment levels and nor does it mention fluency in a second language.
| Country | Literacy % |
|---|---|
| Thailand | 94 |
| Vietnam | 93 |
| Malaysia | 92 |
| Burma (Myanmar) | 92 |
| Cambodia | 78 |
| Laos | 73 |
More UNICEF data can be found here:
http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/eastasia.html
I received an email from a work colleague today letting me know that Adobe are now giving away Adobe Creative Suite 2 (CS2) for free. His email mentioned that I might need to register an account to download the software but I followed his link and downloaded the software (about 1.9GB) for free.
Downloading the software took about 10 minutes but we have a super-fast Internet connection at work. Absolutely no registration or payment required!
The serial number for Mac platform is 1130-0412-8377-1896-9751-5759
The serial number for Windows platform is 1130-1414-7569-4457-6613-5551
http://www.adobe.com/downloads/cs2_downloads/index.html
Since posting an article about The Hobbit (Thai language edition) we have received several emails about where to buy or borrow a copy of this book. No doubt interest has picked up since the release of The Hobbit movie in Thailand.
Naiin bookstore are advertising a paperback copy of The Hobbit for 224.10 baht. We have only seen this book online and the front cover is shown with English and Thai text. We are uncertain whether the book has been translated into Thai language – or merely has a bilingual cover – but it is definitely worth investigating.
ฮอบบิท The Hobbit (ปกอ่อน)
เจ.อาร์.อาร์ โทลคีน
Published by แพรวเยาวชน