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This column is for self-study or classroom use and gives guided help with reading the wide variety of writing styles and topics that appear as feature articles in the Bangkok Post. The lessons include background information, skill-building practice and vocabulary explanations. March 16, 2004 Our wordsmith INTRODUCTION

If our editorial staff had a contest for the writer with the best English language vocabulary, one of those favoured to win would have to be feature writer and movie reviewer Kong Rithdee. That’s quite remarkable since Kong is not a native speaker. Far from it. Kong has never studied abroad and he didn’t use English growing up at home. His primary and secondary schools used a Thai language curriculum and it wasn’t until his university days as a marketing major at ABAC that his coursework was in English. Kong attributes most of his fluency in the language to a life-long love of reading, particularly fiction. "I’ve read so many books," he explains, "and I’ve always liked fiction. Even in primary school I read fiction starting with books at the beginner’s level." He built his vocabulary through interest and hard work, he says. His most valuable tool was the dictionary. "I still use dictionaries because I want to know the exact meanings," he says. "I tend to use Webster’s and Collins. I like the big ones. Learner’s dictionaries don’t contain adequate description." Kong says his method of acquiring new vocabulary has changed somewhat through the years. At first he used to stop and open the dictionary whenever he encountered a new word in his reading. "But since my vocabulary has become more adequate, I can get a sense of the meaning and I go back to the dictionary later." Kong says the key to remembering new vocabulary is using it. Here he often uses a second tool, the thesaurus. "When I want to use a word, I look it up in a thesaurus to see if there any other similar words. I pick words from a thesaurus for variety and for colour, but sometimes I have to go back to the dictionary to check the meaning or tone. That’s what I’m interested in, getting the nuances of each word," he relates. Kong strongly suggests that serious learners follow his example and use a dictionary regularly. And to be able to use a word, he says that you should start by writing it down and putting it in a sentence. "Just make one up," he says. Reviewing movies Of all the types of writing he does, Kong says he much prefers his movie reviews. "If you write news, its very straightforward, very purposeful," he explains. "But with a film review, it’s about feelings; it’s about your perceptions. It allows me to explore ideas. A feature is more or less like news because you have a story to tell, but in a film review, it’s your own ideas." Kong is constantly trying to use his extraordinary vocabulary in new and creative ways. Here is an example from his recent review of the Thai movie Tawiphop. Try to read it as Kong reads fiction. First try and get the overall idea of the piece. Does he like the movie or dislike it? What reasons does he give for his opinion? Try and get the overall sense of any vocabulary you may not know and then come back to it later after you have tried to understand the review itself. OUR STORY FROM THE BANGKOK POST

Tawiphob (The Siam Renaissance) Present-day journey reflects on 400 years Thai-Dutch relations Rangsiroj Panpeng and Abyssian-eyed Florence Vanida Faivre in Tawiphob Story by NISSARA HORAYANGURA Starring Florence Vanida Faivre, Rangsiroj Panpeng. Directed by Surapong Pinijkha In Thai with English subtitles Review by Kong Rithdee A melodrama without tears, a history book without weight, a nationalistic pep-talk without any pep, Tawiphob drifts through its self-constructed void before crash-landing on our laps like an oversized, gift-wrapped box with nothing inside. Taking such brazen liberties as adapting (rewriting would be more like it) the novel of the same name by Dhommayanti to such an extent that a completely new title for the pic would be more fitting, director Surapong Pinijkha warps the story’s heroine back to the reign of King Rama IV. There she becomes a spectator of worrying chapters in Siamese history when Western superpowers, through their use of gunboat diplomacy, threaten to rob the Kingdom of its independence. What’s surprising is that Surapong, a proponent of controversial, left-wing interpretations of history, doesn’t offer any revisionist insights on those critical moments in our past, and ends up restating what’s conventionally known and accepted. But the film's main artistic flaw, I think, is its inability to channel through its many characters the anxiety, frustration and (finally) the resigned acceptance of people living in that period. Abyssinian-eyed Vanida Faivre plays a gangly waif who walks through turbulent history with the unperturbed serenity of a catwalk superbabe, while Rangsiroj Panpeng fits the archetype of a robot-faced warrior-thug. I admire Surapong’s modernist attempt to tell an old story with a new, challenging method (thus the fusion of historical realism and surreal conceits) but the outcome is just too lightweight, too disjointed to be taken seriously. Know these words and phrases wordsmith a person who has skill with using words, especially in writing warp (from time warp) to move in time between the past, present and future walf a small thin person (often a child) who looks as if they haven't had enough to get thug a violent person melodrama a story that is full of exciting events and exaggerated characters and events proponent a supporter of an idea or course of action turbulent of sudden often violent change, confusion or disagreement fusion the joining of two or more things pep-talk a short speech intended to make somebody work hoarder or to have more confidence revisionist Kong says the writer tends to interpret history in a new way, i.e., he is a revisionist. He thinks some chapters in history need reinterpretation, but strangely he doesn’t do this in his film. unperturbed not worried or anxious surreal strange; more like a dream than reality – the movie uses time travel, for example self-constructed void Kong says the movie is elaborately constructed; the sets had to be built, the costumes had to fit the historical period, but it all came to nothing – a void. Abyssinian Abyssianian refers to someone or something from the African Ethiopia. Kong uses it to mean exotic or strange. "The actress looks exotic. She has wide, Arabic-like eyes. She is also quite dark-skinned." serenity peacefulness conceits artistic effects or devices brazen open and without shame gangly thin and awkward archetype the most typical or perfect example of something disjointed not connected • This lesson was prepared by Maureen Paetkau, a professional teacher of English as a second and foreign language and Assistant Manager and Webmaster for Learning Post at the Bangkok Post. Read our other feature focus columns here. Return to our home page. | © The Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd. All rights reserved 2004 | Last modified: March 15, 2004