Learning limits
Re: "Populism fails", (BP, Oct 21).
I agree with 99.9% of Burin Kantabutra's knowledgeable views on Thai matters, but when he said, "For those in our vital tourism industry, halving the costs of intensive language training would have empowered Thai guides to demand more for their skills and save tour firms from having to import foreign guides," I disagree as a university and high school teacher.
For all of the wonderful things I love about Thailand, a downside of many-to-most Thai teenagers and Thai young adult students is -- if learning a language is not happy, fun and entertaining at all times, then they zone out on their phone games and (nowadays) often smoke what I call the "sawas-dee-WEED."
Given all of those aspects of Thai culture, offering deals on intensive language training (which I bet the tourists would pay for, yet again increasing the cost of a trip to a nation which tourists are avoiding in droves anyway) is a bad investment; culture defeats deals.
Jason A Jellison
TV sports snub
Re: "Sports blackout", (PostBag, Sept 16).
There has been a lot of talk in the US about the use of the "N" word. I suppose this has finally filtered down to the people who oversee programming at TRUE Visions.
The first "N" word that they eliminated from their programming was "NFL!" No broadcast of the "N"ational Football League games here in the Kingdom.
It would appear that starting tomorrow, the second "N" word will also not be available here. We're talking about the "N"ational Basketball Association or NBA. The world's premier basketball league kicks off in the US on Oct 22 with the Houston Rockets vs the Oklahoma Thunder and the LA Lakers vs the SF Warriors.
Earlier, "N"ascar racing was dropped to complete the purge.
Good thing there aren't too many replays that start with "N" or TRUE would be left with nothing much to show.
Fred Prager
Tourism's toll
If you are worried about why tourists are not coming to Thailand, please come down and see what has happened to Nai Harn Beach, Phuket. It was previously a breeding ground for sea turtles and was regularly voted the top 3 most beautiful locations in Thailand. All the damage is man-made.
AM
Letter fatigue
Just reading the first sentence in some letters in PostBag, and you realise who the writer is. Pumping out their same mantra. We have read your repeated views. Now move on, please.
Ron Martin
