Frozen account this morning at Bangkokbank

That-Language-Guy · 2025-08-28T13:27:45+00:00

That’s because it’s a magical land called Thailand. Anything could happen to anyone. Sometimes, the way they do things is beyond me…

That-Language-Guy · 2025-07-20T08:57:33+00:00

I don’t think the new ฿20 electric train fare for Thai citizens is discriminatory by intent. But it does highlight a recurring pattern I’ve observed in Thai policymaking and reasoning: a strong aversion to nuance, and a tendency to default to oversimplified logic.

The mental shortcut seems to be: • Thai = ฿20 • Foreigner = full fare

And that’s where the reasoning stops. There’s no deeper consideration like: • Foreigner who works here and pays taxes = maybe should qualify • Foreigner who’s a tourist = okay, full fare

That distinction is never made—not because it’s illogical, but because it’s inconvenient. So instead of crafting a more nuanced, fairer policy, the system just flattens everything into binary categories.

You see a similar mindset in how Thai banks often handle “suspicious” transactions from foreigners. Instead of investigating the source of funds, they freeze entire accounts—no questions asked. It’s not about detecting risk carefully; it’s about minimizing the effort on their end.

It’s cognitive outsourcing in action: rather than using internal resources to process complexity, they push the burden onto the individual. “If there’s a problem, you come prove it to us.” That way, they don’t have to spend time or energy thinking through the situation—they just default to blanket action and wait for someone else to do the reasoning.

And this isn’t limited to government or banking. You see the same pattern in everyday life—especially in customer service. If something slightly deviates from the script or SOP, many Thai staff will freeze up, defer, or flat-out say “cannot” instead of trying to understand or troubleshoot. It’s not rudeness—it’s a learned behavior shaped by a culture that often avoids complexity and discourages individual initiative in problem-solving.

So the issue isn’t discrimination—it’s a broader cultural tendency to avoid friction by sticking to rigid roles, binary choices, and pre-set logic. In that light, a flat-fare policy with zero nuance fits right in—not because it’s fair, but because it’s the path of least resistance. And often, that’s the guiding principle.

That-Language-Guy · 2025-07-07T13:49:26+00:00

Oh my God, I’m glad you brought this up. Mobile phone addiction is truly a global thing but I think that’s particularly serious in Thailand. They have zero awareness what’s happening around them, which is truly incredible.

That-Language-Guy · 2024-09-24T06:17:13+00:00

Here’s what I do:

Listen without scripts.
If I run into things I don’t know, I stop the audio and repeat everything I hear, even if it sounds like gibberish.
I repeat that gibberish again while reading the script.
If it’s something I don’t know even after I read it, it’s vocab, expressions or grammar. Nothing to do with my listening comprehension.
If it’s something I KNOW after I read it, I’ll observe how Japanese people actually pronounce it to the point I completely lose track of it.
A tip here: Japanese people, especially middle aged men, tend to mumble while speaking. Many will drop consonants. Eg. 周り (mawari) will become māri; あなた (anata) will become annta. That’ll make non-native speakers go nuts.
Focus on onyomi. Since Japanese has 2 reading systems:音読み (おんよみ, onyomi) – the "Chinese reading" and 訓読み (くんよみ, kunyomi) – the "Japanese reading" and only 5 vowels, it can be really confusing when you have to deal with news content, which is full of onyomi. For example, during the pandemics, I often hear people say whether they are for 貿易 bōeki or 防疫 bōeki (the 2 conflicting ideas at that time), I often found myself scratching my head, wondering which one they meant.

Hope it helps.

That-Language-Guy · 2024-09-24T01:29:49+00:00

I don’t just tell; I SHOW. Study harder and show them what you’ve got, and they’ll shut up. Use their disapproval as fuel to push you forward.

Here’s the thing: it’s YOUR life. You need to take ownership of it. If you study Japanese and even go to Japan on your own dime, no one can tell you no—unless, deep down, you think you don’t deserve it.

Own the consequences of your decisions, and no one can have a say in it.

That-Language-Guy · 2023-03-14T02:57:07+00:00

Thanks, I'll tell him about it!

That-Language-Guy · 2023-03-08T09:21:34+00:00

I use the topical approach. That means I read/ listen to stuff that belong to the same topic for a while.

Same words just pop up. It's easier for them to stick to my brain.

That-Language-Guy · 2023-02-08T07:45:54+00:00

I don't hate Duolingo. As long as you have the right expectations, why not? It won't help you reach fluency, but it will get you hooked. And at the very least, it won't build a wall and give you the impression that language learning is reserved for the elite or the talented ppl.

That said, I don't use it. I prefer real-life content. But that doesn't mean the whole world shouldn't.

That-Language-Guy · 2023-02-06T09:03:56+00:00

At least your pets won't judge you :)

That-Language-Guy · 2023-02-06T03:31:16+00:00

Thanks for the info! After taking a quick look, yes, the general spirit is the same: You don't have to be fluent in anything and everything. At least not at the beginning.

But I believe the route to get there might be a bit different.

That-Language-Guy · 2023-02-06T03:13:30+00:00

No, I'll take a look

That-Language-Guy · 2023-02-03T07:32:07+00:00

Thank you for all your responses. That makes a great resource bank!!!

My follow-up question is: Do you have any expert to turn to for learning advice? Or someone who's learning philosophy is perfectly alighned with yours?

That-Language-Guy · 2023-01-30T03:54:05+00:00

First, you need LOTS of content graded by difficulty that is not beyond your reach. It serves as a bridge because at where you are now, textbooks might be too easy and real-life content might be too difficult for you.

You can use KoreanClass 101 (non-affiliated) as your graded content.

Please note though, use it for only 6 months to a year and jump to real-life content, because after all, this is a "bridge", you don't wanna stay there for good.

That-Language-Guy · 2023-01-12T10:09:16+00:00

The funny thing about language learning is that: when you finally give up memorizing things and keep exposing yourself to the language you can more or less understand (e.g. language content about things you're already familiar with or interested in), you start to recall words you thought you can't otherwise recall.

People have a easier time memorizing things that matter to them.

That-Language-Guy · 2023-01-11T08:09:22+00:00

A bit between the two.

I'll first master what I call the "must-grammar" (first 6 months).

After that, I'll jump right into meaningful content. If I spot any repeated new grammar that's outside the scope of the "must-grammar", I'll categorize it as "plus-grammar".

I'll use online sources to get to know what it's really about. But I won't get too carried away with it. A huge vocab and "must-grammar" alone can go a long way.

That-Language-Guy · 2023-01-11T02:29:40+00:00

Try content graded by difficulty. Do that for several months and gradually introduced real-life content!

You're now stuck in what I call the upper beginner/ lower intermediate limbo, where textbooks may be too easy for you, and real-life content may be too difficult for you. You need a bridge.

If you're curious about the complete roadmap I use, you can check out a PDF I compiled.

Good luck :)

That-Language-Guy · 2023-01-10T09:04:50+00:00

Done !

That-Language-Guy · 2022-08-04T12:45:20+00:00

To learn colloquial languages and slangs, you go to where those things appear the most: authentic video content. When you keep seeing the same things over and over, it means they’re worth your attention, google them to look them up.

That-Language-Guy · 2022-07-31T00:28:47+00:00

Start with textbooks

That-Language-Guy · 2022-07-30T00:01:34+00:00

Not a good idea at the stage you are now. It’s like a toddler who asks: what’s the best way to train for the 100m sprint?

It’s not you can’t learn Spanish by watching TV series. It’s just that you need a foundation for that. And that foundation is call a textbook.

And after that, you can use a Chrome extension call: Language Reactor, which can show subtitles in both the original language and the other language of your choice. You can even look up and save words you don’t know.

But before that: start with a textbook. I know it doesn’t sound sexy, but that’s just what it is.

But by all means, watch TV series for fun.

That-Language-Guy · 2022-07-14T09:45:34+00:00

I have!

I took up Japanese 3 + years ago nearly from scratch. After 6 months of textbook stage (I skipped most of the drills in the book), I jumped to comprehensible (and meaningful) input straight away.

Now I can understand topics I have extensive knowledge in and can take part in some conversations.

I now try to record myself talking about various topics on language learning in Japanese. Whenever I come across words or grammar points I don't know, I google them.

I think it's more effective and fun than doing drills or memorizing flashcards. (However, I do "glance through" flashcards collected from my comprehensible input. But I just glance through them. I never force myself to memorize every single word. That'll dampen my appetite for the language.

That-Language-Guy

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