[denwerdinoss]

My wife and at least two of our good friends (all Thai) are voracious readers and book collectors. They ain't city-folk either, and they're not antisocial... ok, well maybe a little bit. Anyway, how do those stats stack up against USA, for example? It doesn't seem that a whole lot of reading is getting done over here these days either.

-mike

[ephennaCypota]

What web browser are you using? You should be able to set your encoding so that it renders Thai characters correctly.If you are using IE go to "view" in the menus and choose "encoding". Here you should be able to choose the correct encoding to allow you to view Thai script.
Hope this helps

[kylsq0Ln]

What web browser are you using? You should be able to set your encoding so that it renders Thai characters correctly...

Somanea is blind, so she may have some extra issues with her screen-reading software...

Maybe she can get it saying "gor gai..." sometime soon

[enasseneiff]

What web browser are you using? You should be able to set your encoding so that it renders Thai characters correctly.If you are using IE go to "view" in the menus and choose "encoding". Here you should be able to choose the correct encoding to allow you to view Thai script.
Hope this helps

i am assuming that it rendres them correctly.
i am using ie6, but it doesnt matter because i cant c them anyway. its my screen reading software that reads them as blanks. it reads everything else correctly, but when it comes to the thai script, it doesnt tell me if there is anything is on the screen.

[maniaringsq]

thais never like to read "good book" I think I know the answer; I answered this question to my husband. I told him:" my parents never read to me". indeed we never have any good writer for children books. In the states, we have wonderful libraries where books are. if you don't start reading when you're young you'll not learn how to enjoy reading. my kids read when the go to bed at night. Of course we read to them since they were in my womb. Oh! no cable is a good deal!.... I have basic cable which we pay only $10 a month: we are cheap! but we can make kids sit down and read.
Jerome,
I'm trying to crack a code in DaVinci code but my 11 years old son already finished the book now he wants to see the movie.

[Assungusa]

I started learning to read thai several years ago and it's not that easy on the eyes even after all these years. Comics are easier to read in thai than the novels. I have tried to read some novels but I gave up cause I end up re-reading a lot which is annoying. It might be that I need more practice. Also, from what I have tried to read, their novels seem to lack some of the artistry of english novels; they kinda seem dull to me.

I don't think all thai tv is bad; there are some good lakorns(thai drama series) better than some of the junk tv from the US. However some of the quality programs are on so late at night you wonder how they wake up and go to work in the mornings. I have an aunt in thailand who stays up til four in the morning watching tv. I think tv in thailand is just easier for the thai's to understand than reading books.

The boom in those thai star's pocket books have encouraged reading in thailand, but once again it's just some novice writer yapping on about useless info. I don't really like those pocket books.

[DownloadMan]

My wife watches news on TV in Thai, but she has many duties at her school, They have shinn sat. which might explain why she works on her computer here at home until midnite most evenings setting up teaching scheds. and doing downloads on her handy drive to transfer to school computers, so she gets very little time for reading as a hobby or for enjoyment, now if they had someone running the school that wasn't drunk by noon each day and could do his job, she would have more free time.

I read about anything that is available, I read novels, but mostly history or engineering based stuff that have actual roots and info in the real or historic world. I never went to school much but am able to do design engineering and drafting of prototypes used in actual construction and work.

I can do many things and have invented and designed equip. and machines for specialty jobs and got the education from reading to be able to do this, reading anything in print is never a waste of time and sometimes comes in handy in life situations.

[ephennaCypota]

Oh no, I can foresee a deluge from FiP and VC coming this way......

[nryFBa9i]

Sorry may be u may get thai people wrong in the reading-style.. everybody surely reading their selection included the comic books but anyway thai culture is sharing culture so one book will have at least 4-5 people read together. And the style we're reading more magazine and disposable papers such as newspaper.. many thai read it in every pages and one paper they read together (that's why the paper must to be separatable--55) and one of the reason foreign may not know that thai people is reading cuz normally it's not our culture to show much that what we are reading and discuss about it ( if u are israeli this is important--i've heared)
And as u try to learn thai may be u know how difficult of reading thai and writing too.. anyway it's fine languge and have many books translated from other languges also.. My family many bros and sis each buy their selection and share to read also.

[Wachearex]

I have not met many Thai people that read much at all either but i was interested in the point Jerome said about knowing Thai people that are often interested in only Thai things which always did remind me a little bit of American's. Here in England everyone i know's tries food from all over the world possibly because English food isn't world renowned but whenever I ask any Thai friends have you tried this or that from various other countries they usually havn't. Thai food is absolutely great no doubt about it but there is so much other world cuisine and it just always striked me as being a bit cut off in that sense. Is it down to Thailand being a lot more patriotic as this seems to be the same as in America, I was always amazed at how many flags you see flying :O that was one thing i noticed because in England you would be very hard pressed to find the Union Flag or St.Georges Cross flying anywhere but in Thailand it was amazing how you couldn't move without seeing one :O. Sorry for the Tangent a bit but i was just curious

[WertyNtont]

My wife reads newspaper and magazines, but, again, no novels. I read primarily scientific journals. I don't bother with novels either. My wife has not had much formal schooling, and she takes pride in her ability to read Thai. She also knows her ABCs and does word search puzzles all the time. When her restaurant switched from hand-written to computer generated tickets, she learned to recognize the words on the slips within a few days, and prepares the orders almost flawlessly. Everyone at the restaurant was quite impressed.

If one is intelligent formal schooling certainly provides an advantage, but schooling doesn't automatically make one intelligent. Conversely, a lack of schooling does not automically mean someone lacks intelligence.

To me, most novels are boring and I only watch TV to give my brain a rest from all the academic stuff. It helps to get stupid once in a while. My wife reads to stay in touch with what is going on in Thailand and to pass the time a bit.

[DownloadMan]

My wife says she likes the american novels in Thai script that we sometimes find at the book shops in Chiang Mai, she got some Dean Koontz that she would stay up late and read after we went to bed, but she says as far as Thai novels goes,,she would rather watch TV.
Her and her kid watch the 3 american movie channels almost 24/7.

[Caursedus]

I never read novel's for the simple fact, no author has a better imagination than my self, why would I want to read some one else's mind, when my own mind is so much more interesting.

[enasseneiff]

Somanea is blind, so she may have some extra issues with her screen-reading software...

Maybe she can get it saying "gor gai..." sometime soon

heheh smiles lol. i hate jaws 7.0. there is a japanese version that i installed a few years back. boy was that a fiasco lol. i finally had to reformat my hd to uninstall it lol. because the thing was saying unknown function bla bla bla. it wasnt funny at the time, but now i find it hilarious rofl.

[RafaelYV]

I agree with what was said by Jerome about the Thai value of community.
Living in a more rural setting, my attempts to spend time at home alone reading are constantly interrupted by people inviting me to do things. And I believe they aren't inviting me because they want to spend time with me, but rather because they are afraid I am lonely.

Even when my fellow teachers (all Thai) drive by my porch, they don't say, "What are you reading? Look kids, reading is good!" they say, "Always reading! You are lonely!"

Regarding the offerings of Thai TV, there are plenty of decent educational programs on the most basic UBC