I always drop in to this shop.
At home, I have a large collection of books written for Thais learning English. I bought them when I first arrived in Bangkok, and still use them to help me teach.
Back then, the books were written mainly by Thais who had learnt English at university, here and abroad. They were dry, heavy, and boring.
Today, we have entered the digital age, and publishers are getting smarter.
Many 'pocketbooks', as Thais call them, are sold together with a CD-Rom, by television personalities, Thai and farang alike, who have their own TV shows and language schools.
More ambitious authors package books together with VCDs in huge boxes which are plastic-wrapped. You have to ask staff to open them if you want to take a look.
I saw one on sale, written by a Thai, for B700. I took one look at the blurb in English and knew straight away whether it was worth that price. It is among the top 20 best-selling items in the shop.
What happens when the buyer gets his or her purchase home? I suspect the 'pocketbooks' end up on the sitting-room table. The bigger packages, in the pre-wrapped boxes, might end up under the bed.
Confronted with so much choice, some parents give up, and let their children get on with it. They park them in front of the English language section, while they browse elsewhere.
I tried to look at what was on the shelves, but could not reach them. The space between the aisles is narrow, and youngsters were sitting on the floor, reading.
Next to me, one biggish Thai woman was negotiating with her two children, aged under 10.
'Now, just one book each today, please...' she said in Thai.
She tried to move past, perhaps to give me more room.
'Ex- cu-seme ...fub.'
In English, she was trying to say, 'Excuse me, please.' And maybe she did say it, but it was so faint I could barely hear her.
Ironies abound in this place. We were standing right in front of a bank of books on English grammar. She was talking to a farang. Yet she could barely bring herself to speak the language she wants her children to learn. Perhaps she was worried someone would hear.
I looked at the beaming television personalities on the shelves - Khru Lilly, Khru Andrew, Khru Chris, and a few other sunny faces I didn't know. All want to teach Thais how to learn English.
They were smiling from the covers of their attractively packaged 'pocketbooks' and VCDs - but they were not laughing at her.
They know better than to mock...they just want to sell more books.
I think most people are reticent to speak a foreign language they do not know well. I took 3 years of highschool German and barely used it when I visited Germany. And it was difficult for me to use the tiny little bit of Thai that I learned before my latest visit. I did manage a couple of words and phrases here and there which worked quite well actually. But I think the fear of embarrassment is very great and getting over that initial hump is the hardest part.
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