A WEBSITE FOR EXPATS, BY EXPATS

Hmm, I checked again ... the same.
I can see the ''report'' option..... ''reply'' is hidden inside ''Action''.
It may have something to do with those embedded spaces for Google ads or the browser. I'm using Chrome.

THIGV wrote:

Now, less than 24 hours from my last post, the report function seems to have appeared,  Very curious.   

إنها إرادة الله

I use iPad Air with both Chrome and Safari, and the only thing on the right side of the other person's avatar is an envelope in purple colour.  When tapping on that envelope, I see her message (small size), nothing else. 

Below her avatar is the country of her origin.

Then below it:  Accept, Reject, Block, Message.  Tap Message and a new window is open for me to send reply message to her.

On my iPhone 7, using Chrome, when I tap on her avatar, the new window (full size) shows her avatar, country and "Accept contact request" in orange colour, and "Send a message" in white.

I don't see any of the things everyone else sees.

@ MODS -- I've been receiving notices saying there were new posts on this topic, but haven't actually seen any.  Is something wrong with the automatic notification for this particular topic?

I've also had that happen.

Ciambella wrote:

@ MODS -- I've been receiving notices saying there were new posts on this topic, but haven't actually seen any.  Is something wrong with the automatic notification for this particular topic?

Did you report this ? I will tell the team, because I think I have also seen that on other forums, but always report so everyone will be on the same page more or less.

I haven't, but will do.  Thank you.

Hi everyone,

"I've been receiving notices saying there were new posts on this topic, but haven't actually seen any"

This is because by the time you read the thread, the post has already been removed, in most cases if nothing is posted to inform members, it might be a spam/dating/one word post/double postings.

We will see what can be done so that you don't receive notifications for such postings.

Thank you for pointing this out,
Bhavna

I just reported an unsolicited private message offering relocation services in Hanoi.  If I block the user, the thread is deleted.  Will my report remain or is it deleted too?

The report goes to admin.

Reported posts are dealt with very quickly and normally one of the admins gets back to you.

SimCityAT
Expert Team

SimCityAT wrote:

Reported posts are dealt with very quickly and normally one of the admins gets back to you.

SimCityAT
Expert Team

I have been contacted, not for every report, but for those where action was taken.  In this case, my question was a little different.  It was if I block the offender from my private messages, will the report still go to moderators.  To do so, it would have to be deleted from my vision, but not from theirs.

You will have to ask the admins to get the correct answer, I don't know.

SimCityAT wrote:

You will have to ask the admins to get the correct answer, I don't know.

That is what I was trying to do.   

The 123 language spammers are trying again - just dumped and banned another about an hour or so ago.
That lot just wont take the hint so please report them as soon as you see one of their spam posts.
That way they get ditched faster.

Thwow them to the fwoor, centuwion!

eodmatt wrote:

Thwow them to the fwoor, centuwion!

Careful, Bigus will come for you

Fred wrote:

eodmatt wrote:

Thwow them to the fwoor, centuwion!

Careful, Bigus will come for you

Bigus Dickus is in the house.

colinoscapee wrote:

Fred wrote:

eodmatt wrote:

Thwow them to the fwoor, centuwion!

Careful, Bigus will come for you

Bigus Dickus is in the house.

Nah, last time I heard he was in Wome.

eodmatt wrote:

colinoscapee wrote:

Fred wrote:

Careful, Bigus will come for you

Bigus Dickus is in the house.

Nah, last time I heard he was in Wome.

I saw him with Elvis at the Vincom Center.

colinoscapee wrote:

eodmatt wrote:

colinoscapee wrote:

Bigus Dickus is in the house.

Nah, last time I heard he was in Wome.

I saw him with Elvis at the Vincom Center.

Elvis was with Ray Charles when I saw him leaving the building.

This thread is hilarious.
Note: Monty Python actually lived.  See
http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10. … 3100207666

Keep laughing.

He can't have been. I'm Elvis and so's my wife.

Hi. I live in Canada not an expat yet but will be visiting Vietnam this winter. Any helpful information would be appreciated
I will be withdrawing from the ATM's all over Vietnam and I use a four digit PIN number, would it be a problem??
Also in order to save some money in the withdrawals, can I get at least 8 million dongs at once? which banks ATM"s allowed that?
Thanks a lot

Elvis may be of assistance to you.....

donjuan1962 wrote:

Hi. I live in Canada not an expat yet but will be visiting Vietnam this winter. Any helpful information would be appreciated
I will be withdrawing from the ATM's all over Vietnam and I use a four digit PIN number, would it be a problem??
Also in order to save some money in the withdrawals, can I get at least 8 million dongs at once? which banks ATM"s allowed that?
Thanks a lot

There are several threads on just this issue of ATM withdrawals.  So unless this site does not allow new members to search, you might consider a few searches such as bank or ATM instead of posting on this thread which happily had degenerated into a general grousing venue.    Please don't take it personally.  I just like to post that one.

BTW Dong is a collective noun (at least in English) so it is "8 million dong at once."  Dongs are things you see in porno films and even there you are not going to see 8 million at once unless it's on one of those crazy Japanese TV shows. 

THIGV wrote:

BTW Dong is a collective noun (at least in English) so it is "8 million dong at once."  Dongs are things you see in porno films and even there you are not going to see 8 million at once unless it's on one of those crazy Japanese TV shows. 

It's also a collective noun in Vietnamese.  In fact, every noun is a collective noun In Vietnamese.  To maintain the separation of porn and currency  ,  simply use the abbreviation VND.

Ciambella wrote:

To maintain the separation of porn and currency  ,  simply use the abbreviation VND.

I also find a good way to separate is make your own porn...it's free that way.

Ciambella wrote:

It's also a collective noun in Vietnamese.  In fact, every noun is a collective noun In Vietnamese.

I know I am not telling you anything you don't know but my minimal understanding of Vietnamese tells me that there is a word for many (nhiều) or else one uses a counting particle (con, cái, quả and others) followed by a number.  The counting particle varies according to the noun described.  The noun does not change form as it does in English, hence one reason why Vietnamese learners of English struggle with the plural /s/.  The other is that although Vietnamese has an /s/ letter, it never falls at the end of a word.   This affects pronunciation of the third person singular as well.  The first situation causes a writing problem while the second is more important in speaking. 

The reason that I developed my minimal understanding of the above was to help my students.  A solution that I found works for speaking is to write sentences out on the board and draw in slashes and have students pause after the final /s/ words.  For example:  The brothers / go to different high schools / but their sister goes / to the university.  The pause after the /s/ words seems to help.

THIGV wrote:

donjuan1962 wrote:

Hi. I live in Canada not an expat yet but will be visiting Vietnam this winter. Any helpful information would be appreciated
I will be withdrawing from the ATM's all over Vietnam and I use a four digit PIN number, would it be a problem??
Also in order to save some money in the withdrawals, can I get at least 8 million dongs at once? which banks ATM"s allowed that?
Thanks a lot

There are several threads on just this issue of ATM withdrawals.  So unless this site does not allow new members to search, you might consider a few searches such as bank or ATM instead of posting on this thread which happily had degenerated into a general grousing venue.    Please don't take it personally.  I just like to post that one.

BTW Dong is a collective noun (at least in English) so it is "8 million dong at once."  Dongs are things you see in porno films and even there you are not going to see 8 million at once unless it's on one of those crazy Japanese TV shows. 

Dongs? Withdrawals? We defer to your undoubted superior knowledge of such matters, Mr. THIGV. 😋

THIGV wrote:

Ciambella wrote:

It's also a collective noun in Vietnamese.  In fact, every noun is a collective noun In Vietnamese.

I know I am not telling you anything you don't know but my minimal understanding of Vietnamese tells me that there is a word for many (nhiều) or else one uses a counting particle (con, cái, quả and others) followed by a number.  The counting particle varies according to the noun described.  The noun does not change form as it does in English, hence one reason why Vietnamese learners of English struggle with the plural /s/.  The other is that although Vietnamese has an /s/ letter, it never falls at the end of a word.   This affects pronunciation of the third person singular as well.  The first situation causes a writing problem while the second is more important in speaking. 

The reason that I developed my minimal understanding of the above was to help my students.  A solution that I found works for speaking is to write sentences out on the board and draw in slashes and have students pause after the final /s/ words.  For example:  The brothers / go to different high schools / but their sister goes / to the university.  The pause after the /s/ words seems to help.

Hence why I married an LHD!

@THIGV --  Your understanding of Vietnamese language is more than minimal; I would even say your pot of knowledge is fuller than most Vietnamese of younger generation (anyone who was born after the war ended).  I seriously doubt grammar is taught in Vietnamese schools nowadays.

"Nhiều" is the error-free quantifier thus the best to use in all situations.

Third person singular was problematic for me when I switched from French to English.   I had 10 years of French already before conjugating the first English verb, so the change was a bit confusing.  When Italian became my everyday language 30 years later, I fell into it like a starving man at a sumptuous banquet, for it's so much more refreshing than English and more flowery than French.  And its grammar!  How I was  head over heel in love at the first congiutivo!   

Ciambella wrote:

@THIGV --  Your understanding of Vietnamese language is more than minimal; I would even say your pot of knowledge is fuller than most Vietnamese of younger generation (anyone who was born after the war ended).  I seriously doubt grammar is taught in Vietnamese schools nowadays.

"Nhiều" is the error-free quantifier thus the best to use in all situations.

Third person singular was problematic for me when I switched from French to English.  I've had 10 years of French already before conjugating the first English verb, so the change was a bit confusing.  When Italian became my everyday language 30 years later, I fell into it like a starving man at a sumptuous banquet, for it's so much more refreshing than English and more flowery than French.  And its grammar!  How I was in love at first sight.

Stoppit! I am overcome with a fit of the vapours 

In 1996/7/8 & 9 I was the EC adviser on matters appertaining to landmines and stuff in Cambodia. Because there was a Brit embassy, A French embassy and a German embassy there we (our group of consultants) had to do the rounds of the embassies to report on our work. It was a PITA.

So we decided that we would present our reports etc at a different embassy during each trip, and the ambassadors and staff would attend the meetings in the different embassies in turn.

It was still a PITA. But it had to be done. The French ambassador was an even bigger PITA and always used to sneer at my lack of ability with the French language. When we presented our reports at the French embassy he insisted in having the meeting all in the French language ("such a pity that Mr. EOD will not be able to understand .....").

At the UK embassy I gave my presentation in English and the French ambassador insisted on having a translator there - much to the amusement of the Brit and German ambassadors, I might add, since everyone knew that the French ambassador could speak perfect English.

When we came to giving our presentations at the German embassy, the German ambassador enquired as to which language we wished to report in and I said quite firmly that we should do so in the German tongue. The British ambassador had no objection and since my team comprised of Belgian, French Italian and German people, all of whom spoke German, it was agreed. The French ambassador went puce at this....... ("such a pity that His Excellency the French ambassador will not be able to understand........").

A translator was found for him.

During our last consultants visit to Cambodia and whilst we were in Phnom Penh we were invited to a "do" at the French embassy - free booze, wooo hooo, the French embassy do's are always good for some decent food and wine!

Not long after we arrived the French ambassador made a beeline for me and said loudly, so that everyone could hear "Ah Mr. EOD, such a pleasure to see you again and how are your French lessons coming along, you speak French now, no?".

Now, I had imbibed a couple of nice glasses of wine by then - and we had partaken of a couple of drinky- poos at a bar on the way there. So I was full of beer and bonhomie.

I responded thus: Dear Mr. Ambassador, it is always a great pleasure to meet you, but I am ashamed to say that I have progressed very slowly in my endeavours to learn the French language, it being so difficult to learn a dead language.

I was immediately showered with icicles as His Excellency  turned and flounced away, chilling the room as he went.

I am ashamed to say that I have progressed very slowly in my endeavours to learn the French language, it being so difficult to learn a dead language.

Sticking the knife in is one thing, twisting it is rough on the victim, but doing a dance with blood still dripping from the gaping wound is really going for the kill.

Ciambella wrote:

@THIGV --  Your understanding of Vietnamese language is more than minimal

I am afraid it truly is minimal.  Most of what I have learned about Vietnamese grammar and pronunciation is things that I have researched to help myself be a better English teacher and not to learn the language.  So if I notice that students are using a particular construct, called code switching, I want to understand where it comes from so that I can manage to coax them into the English construct even if, as is often the case, the English is different from most of the other languages in the world.  English grammar is actually the odd one out with all its irregular verbs and putting the subject first.

I have failed on at least three occasions to learn another language and, based on aptitude testing, the US Army chose to not send me to the Monterey Language School to learn Vietnamese as they did most of my classmates in intelligence training.  Through self examination, I have reached the conclusion that I have always had very poor short term memory and of course it is not getting any better.  I managed to get through grade school without fully learning the multiplication tables.  I can't count in Vietnamese past năm but I do know how to say ba mươi ba.   

Fred wrote:

I am ashamed to say that I have progressed very slowly in my endeavours to learn the French language, it being so difficult to learn a dead language.

Sticking the knife in is one thing, twisting it is rough on the victim, but doing a dance with blood still dripping from the gaping wound is really going for the kill.

Well, you have to remember that I'd had to suffer several years of the blokes continual jibes every time we met and that he knew that I couldn't retaliate as I was an employee of ECHO. However what he didn't know, on the last occasion that we met, was that it was my last trip as an ECHO consultant so I really didn't GAF.

THIGV wrote:

Ciambella wrote:

@THIGV --  Your understanding of Vietnamese language is more than minimal

I am afraid it truly is minimal.  Most of what I have learned about Vietnamese grammar and pronunciation is things that I have researched to help myself be a better English teacher and not to learn the language.  So if I notice that students are using a particular construct, called code switching, I want to understand where it comes from so that I can manage to coax them into the English construct even if, as is often the case, the English is different from most of the other languages in the world.  English grammar is actually the odd one out with all its irregular verbs and putting the subject first.

I have failed on at least three occasions to learn another language and the US Army chose to not send me to the Monterey Language School to learn Vietnamese as they did most of my classmates in intelligence training.  Through self examination, I have reached the conclusion that I have always had very poor short term memory and of course it is not getting any better.  I managed to get through grade school without fully learning the multiplication tables.  I can't count in Vietnamese past năm but I do know how to say ba mươi ba.   

Interesting ....! I have largely given up with learning Vietnamese, simply because, although I can mimic sounds - and accents, very well, the differences in the Vietnam language appear to be almost street by street.

I earned to speak German with relative ease in 1981. And along the way I always managed to pick up a smattering of the language of whatever country I happened to be working in at the time.

But there came a time in 2011 when I was working in Laos, I became ill with stress, very ill in fact. And one day at a meeting where the spoken language was German, I realised that I couldn't understand a word of what was being said. It was all just noise. That night I packed up and went to Vientiane, caught a flight to BKK and thence to London.

My German speaking ability has come back, but its still patchy.

This is the most entertaining thread since the Thought Police were called in. Keep it up, it hilarious.

eodmatt wrote:

THIGV wrote:

donjuan1962 wrote:

Hi. I live in Canada not an expat yet but will be visiting Vietnam this winter. Any helpful information would be appreciated
I will be withdrawing from the ATM's all over Vietnam and I use a four digit PIN number, would it be a problem??
Also in order to save some money in the withdrawals, can I get at least 8 million dongs at once? which banks ATM"s allowed that?
Thanks a lot

There are several threads on just this issue of ATM withdrawals.  So unless this site does not allow new members to search, you might consider a few searches such as bank or ATM instead of posting on this thread which happily had degenerated into a general grousing venue.    Please don't take it personally.  I just like to post that one.

BTW Dong is a collective noun (at least in English) so it is "8 million dong at once."  Dongs are things you see in porno films and even there you are not going to see 8 million at once unless it's on one of those crazy Japanese TV shows. 

Dongs? Withdrawals? We defer to your undoubted superior knowledge of such matters, Mr. THIGV. 😋

He who withdraws his dong, shall remain childless.