ELL's Cabin

Anonymous

00:04

It's okay because the pronoun is a complement of to

Anonymous

But if you have a particle + unstressed personal pronoun: *I picked up it doesn't work (unless it is exceptionally stressed)

Araucaria

00:24

Wow, there's people around!!! :)

Or maybe there aint ......

Oooohh, tumbleweed ....

Damkerng T.

00:45

@Araucaria I'm here now!

Good morning!

@snailboat Between "to it" ~ "to the elevator" and "to it" ~ "to get it open", I take it as the latter, and that makes it interesting to me.

Anonymous

00:58

No, that's not possiblr

Anonymous

Dumb phone

Anonymous

It refers back to the elevator

Damkerng T.

@snailboat Oh!

It's still interesting anyway, because N1 to N2 is not very common, I think.

StoneyB

Hi, all. I'm seeking refuge -- meatie and Law seem to be synergizing around prepositions and dictionaries.

Damkerng T.

@StoneyB Ah, I saw one of those questions: ask of X, enquire of X.

I'm not sure if that's the right way to learn a language.

fancying a tag learner-trap or maybe dictionary-misuse...

StoneyB

01:08

And 'The 13 Weeks To September' . . . I'm quite sure that stringing verbal beads is not the way learn a language.

Damkerng T.

I have to admit, though, that they do have very good eyes to spot this kind of thing!

The sentence that would normally be used is "thirteen weeks leading up to September. — Catija 3 hours ago

Catija's explanation makes perfect sense to me.

StoneyB

@DamkerngT. <grump> I don't think obsessive-compulsive behavior in the pursuit of trollery is a virtue</grump>.

Damkerng T.

Agreed!

Anonymous

Law Area has begun editing random spaces into people's answers

Damkerng T.

@snailboat Eh?

Anonymous

01:16

ell.stackexchange.com/posts/54716/revisions

Damkerng T.

That's strange!

Maybe they find it a bit too difficult to read without spaces.

Anonymous

Yeah. Well, Law Area's been submitting some questionable edits lately...

StoneyB

AND carriage returns . . .

Anonymous

And is very insistent on them

StoneyB

I am very much afraid that Law is going to find his legal destiny as a corporate compliance officer.

Anonymous

01:22

Sometimes Law Area edits things without understanding them

Damkerng T.

This kinda reminds me of a code edit war I had a long time ago. We had developed our code base maybe about 30% of the project, then someone rolled out a style guide, and I rejected to edit all the stable modules we'd already had!

Anonymous

english.stackexchange.com/posts/83984/revisions

Anonymous

I'm sure the edit was well meaning, but

Damkerng T.

(It was a very tight schedule and I thought we didn't have time for that.)

@snailboat Oh, on ELU too!

Anonymous

A lot of these edits are detrimental

StoneyB

01:26

Exactly what I tell the compliance orcs.

@DamkerngT. When I was in grad school we called that "paint it green", after the directing professor who came to final tech rehearsal and said "I don't like that blue set. Paint it green."

Damkerng T.

@StoneyB Oh, no! (to the professor) -- Thanks for a new phrase for me!

StoneyB

Thank you, Ed [redacted] Amor.

Damkerng T.

03:02

Hmm... I expected the two ungrammatical choices would have had fewer number of results in the charts!

Anonymous

Which are the two ungrammatical choices?

Damkerng T.

03:18

kinds/types of word and kind/type of words

According to oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/kind

Damkerng T.

09:20

Not absolutely sure if this is it, but I remember that I've heard the term "iron man" (or men) used once in a movie about American football. When they go iron-men, it means that the same players will play both defense and offense, which is very demanding, and only tough men can do it. I think it was the same about programming way back then, i.e. only tough guys could made it. I searched a bit for "ironman" in the NFL context, and found this: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-platoon_system. — Damkerng T. 38 mins ago

Ahh... even after correcting the obvious typos I made while typing on iPad, I still missed could made it. -- sobbing

Freddy

09:33

hola

@DamkerngT. You can still correct it, guess how? :)

Damkerng T.

@Freddy Delete and repost?

Freddy

yes, but you need to add 3 more steps. copy, delete, paste, correct, repost! :D

@DamkerngT.

Damkerng T.

LOL

Nah, I'd better leave it like that. :D

Good evening! BTW

Freddy

Good evening (I think @3:15 evening is better)

So how's your day going? @dam

Damkerng T.

My day? It was raining today. :P

How's yours?

Freddy

09:45

Great because there is 5th episode of game of thrones on torrent so tonight I am planning to watch it!

raining in summer is good.

Damkerng T.

LOL -- Nice!

Freddy

0

Q: Sarcastic response using "accept bootstraps"

Saw this response on GoFundMe: "I want to donate enough to really help you out, but I can't figure out how to get GoFundMe to accept bootstraps" I assume it's sarcasm but I don't get it - what does he mean by "accept bootstraps"?

meaning-in-context

I don't like sarcastic people

Damkerng T.

10:02

I think that quote's beyond sarcastic.

But I don't really know the background, so...

Freddy

I can't follow the answer

Damkerng T.

I think that poster meant "help yourself" by "bootstraps".

macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/american/bootstraps

Freddy

So I think that sentence mean He can't figure out himself and he need someone's help.

@DamkerngT.

Damkerng T.

I think it's the opposite.

Hmm... I don't want to translate that line. I think Maulik got the right idea, though his explanation is quite awkward and fuzzy.

Let's say you badly need a large amount money for some serious medical problems, so you ask for help.

But maybe you're someone who always claims that "help yourself first before asking for help", and I kinda don't like you (or more than just don't like, maybe more like waiting and lurking), so...

instead of helping you out by giving you the money you need...

I could say, "Oh, I really want to help you, here is my help, help yourself first."

Freddy

10:20

oh okay that gives perfect explanation.

I think you should put that as an answer

Damkerng T.

I don't want to be involved in that kind of post.

Freddy

Yup i feel same it might be something personal

Damkerng T.

nods

Proverb of the day: Never hit a man when he’s down (see also idioms.thefreedictionary.com/kick+when+down)

Freddy

@dam I have never seen you using unnods when you disagree. :p

Damkerng T.

LOL

I could shake my head. :-)

Freddy

10:26

nods :D

Anonymous

11:18

1

Q: "A big deal" vs "(a) big of a deal"

What are the differences between the following: Maybe you don't see moving in together as a big deal as I do? Maybe you don't see moving in together as big of a deal as I do? Maybe you don't see moving in together as a big of a deal as I do?

grammar

Anonymous

Of the options in the question, I like #3

Anonymous

But is that a dialect or idiolect difference? I have trouble finding many examples of people talking that way (though of course there are some)

Anonymous

I mean, I already know (or at least think) big of is limited to AmE

Anonymous

And it's very widespread

Anonymous

But I can't find examples like option #3

Anonymous

11:20

So maybe I shouldn't have mentioned it

Anonymous

(It was originally based on my comment, which I deleted a while ago)

Man_From_India

16:02

Hi @DamkerngT.

Finally I managed to install Ubuntu...and I started to like it a lot :-) though I am running Win 7 along side.

This is how my desktop looks like after few customization :-D

Anonymous

16:40

saySay doesn't appear to be learning from anything

Anonymous

16:53

@Man_From_India Pretty!

Anonymous

17:45

Hey, I have exactly 19000 reputation on ELL!

Man_From_India

thank u @snailboat :-)

Fantasier

18:57

I'm learning Latin! Tehe :-)

(For three days now. I plan to spend around 20 minutes with it every day til the end of uni holidays. I should've made some progress by that time [if not too lazy] :-)

Oh, and I'm trying to practice English listening every day, too. It's sort of the weakest point of my English (or any language I learn; I think my ears aren't very keen.) Any advice would be really welcomed and appreciated @DamkerngT.

Damkerng T.

19:16

@Fantasier You can try to open your ears!

Fantasier

@DamkerngT. And how do I do that, exactly?

Damkerng T.

By listening to things without caring about comprehension.

Iplodman

A good staple gun?

;)

Damkerng T.

@Iplodman LOL

Fantasier

@DamkerngT. Ah, I see.

Damkerng T.

19:17

A moment. I think I need another glasses.

Iplodman

another glasses?

:)

Damkerng T.

@Iplodman Yeah, that's an effect of being unable to see the screen clearly!

Iplodman

Ahhhh :)

Damkerng T.

@Fantasier Ah, but you already get the idea! :-)

Iplodman

Hullo @Catija!

Damkerng T.

19:19

Hallo!

@Man_From_India Cool! Wait, isn't that a Mac desktop!?

Iplodman

@DamkerngT. It's a well designed Ubuntu one :P

(I think)

Unless I missed the joke c:

Catija

Hi!

Iplodman

How are you? :)

Catija

I could use some advice about an answer I deleted... I don't want to undelete it but would like advice if anyone can see deleted answers.

Iplodman

Can you see it?

Could you take a screenshot? :)

Fantasier

19:22

@DamkerngT. I've been observing myself. I often get lost when I didn't catch a word and, if it's something (supposedly) easy, I get really upset. For example, I listened to a fairly easy (aimed at learners way below my level) recording a while ago and I didn't catch "practising" in "I've been practising a lot" (I heard [p] as [b], which is understandable).

Damkerng T.

@Iplodman So well designed that it has Apple's logo at the right-top corner? "P

Catija

I can see it, but it's the comments that are more the issue. I was hoping to run into one of the mods and I may just end up posting a meta question about it.

Iplodman

@DamkerngT. Yup, the font on the clock is out of whack, and so is the alignment of the notification bar widgets c:

Catija

2

Q: Usage of tenses

Is the following sentence correct: I know you were thinking of me when I would be getting married. To put it in context to make the intended meaning more obvious: John and Mike; close friends. A month ago, they were sitting and talking. Mike kept silent. John said to Mike: "I know you wer...

grammar grammaticality grammaticality-in-context

Fantasier

@DamkerngT. There's one thing that's even worse. I sometimes miss a whole bunch of words! (Which, of course, if I listen again I catch them all, but it can be quite frustrating)

I suspect it's probably my concentration problem.

Iplodman

19:24

What kind of comments did you get?

Damkerng T.

@Fantasier I guess that happens to everyone, even native-speakers sometimes. There are too many factors involved.

Catija

It was really just the OP who was, essentially, refusing to accept my answer as the truth and trying to wriggle around it and come up with all of these cases that are still wrong... and claiming that he's doing something that he's not.

Iplodman

@Fantasier Don't get down about it. I mis-hear things every so often, and I've been speaking my entire life (-2/3 or so years.)

Catija

I don't need him to accept the answer but 10 comments explaining why he thinks it's wrong is just pointless and he should just downvote.

Iplodman

@Catija Right, that sounds awful.

@Catija Do you know what his username was?

Damkerng T.

19:26

@Fantasier You can try evaluating your listening still according to my scale. :P

Catija

@Iplodman Johnny.

Fantasier

@DamkerngT. Which is?

Iplodman

@Catija Oooh, right, my mistake :)

Catija

Damkerng T.

May 3 at 13:41, by Damkerng T.

@user62015 In case you might want to evaluate your listening skill level, try transcribing this clip (it's about 80-90 words long): http://pd.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/me/2014/01/20140129_me_hr_2_return_029.mp3

Catija

19:27

Damkerng T.

@Catija Wow, lots of comments!

Fantasier

@DamkerngT. Woah, woah. Am I allowed to pause or anything?

Catija

@DamkerngT. yes. :( I felt like I was talking to a brick wall.

Damkerng T.

@Fantasier Yes. You are allowed to even repeat it. Transcribing is a bit hard to do in real time.

Iplodman

Hm, I reckon you should un-delete!

Whether he likes it or not, you're right!

Damkerng T.

19:29

I'm sure I can't do it in real-time even in Thai.

Iplodman

Although I think it may be a misunderstanding caused by his... uh, how do I put this? Persistence?

We could invite Jon into this chat.

Damkerng T.

But let's say that you shouldn't repeat listening to the same utterance more than three times.

Catija

I flagged it for a mod to look at with a note trying to explain what was going on.

Damkerng T.

> John and Mike; close friends. A month ago, they were sitting and talking. Mike kept silent. John said to Mike: "I know you were thinking of me when I would be getting married" (the moment John would be joyfully experiencing when he is getting married).

Iplodman

@Catija Good choice c:

Fantasier

19:32

Good morning, (a proper name or something?). Snow and ice sweeping through the south caused an epic traffic jam yesterday around Atlanta. One couple stuck on a freeway found themselves in a different kind of jam. Their unborn baby wouldn't wait to get to the hospital. So the father and a local police officer helped deliver the baby girl right there in the middle of afternoon rush hour. Mother and baby ultimately made it to the hospital and yes, they are doing fine. It's morning edition.

Damkerng T.

It's a bit ambiguous about what happened before what.

@Fantasier Wow! You're already at the 90%+ level already. :-)

Fantasier

@DamkerngT. Usually I get everything within two times, if I'm ever gonna get it.

Damkerng T.

> Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. Snow and ice sweeping through the South caused an epic traffic jam yesterday around Atlanta. One couple stuck on the freeway found themselves in a different kind of jam. Their unborn baby wouldn't wait to get to the hospital. So the father and a local police officer helped deliver the baby girl right there in the middle of afternoon rush hour. Mother and baby ultimately made it to the hospital, and yes, they are doing fine. It's MORNING EDITION.

@Fantasier So I think you're at about the same level as mine.

Here is my theory to continue sharpening the skill.

Catija

I'm not sure why but I think I'm starting to understand what he's asking, actually... Something about rereading the question... but it's still a really convoluted sentence.

Damkerng T.

Being at this level, it means that we can hear everything clearly, if the speaker speaks carefully enough, like in neat handwriting.

Iplodman

19:37

@Catija Mind if I give a crack at answering it?

@Catija I don't think he knows what he's asking.

I think he knows, but not knows.

You know?

Damkerng T.

But real-speech is probably more like speedy handwriting at times, and that's the gotchas for us. :-)

Catija

@Iplodman I don't mind... but i think it's actually more of a punctuation issue... there needs to be a semicolon between the clauses.

Iplodman

In his example sentence?

Catija

Something more like: [Last month,] I know you were thinking of me; when I would be getting married.

Fantasier

@DamkerngT. Most movies are still tough for me. I mean, for most movies where the story is not very complicated, I can follow without subtitles.

Catija

19:39

Something to separate them, somehow... and I think "about" instead of "of". "I know you were thinking about me and when I would be getting married."

Fantasier

But not with complicated ones :o

Damkerng T.

@Fantasier I think I can catch about 95+ without much attention to things like news and clear speech. (I think you can do it too.) On average movies, I can catch about 70-80%.

Except for some movies which somehow the recording seems to be much better and I can catch about 90+% too.

So, it depends.

Fantasier

@DamkerngT. Clear speech is OK by me (if not too long, I guess). I think with movies I'm at around 55-65%, I guess.

Iplodman

@Catija I think he should just re-write it :)

Damkerng T.

@Fantasier At this stage, I'd recommend you to just listen "more". :P

Catija

19:43

Yeah.

Fantasier

@DamkerngT. But there are difficult clear speeches, too, like this one examenglish.com/cpe/CPE_listening2.htm I got lost after a while. The second time is better, but still not quite good enough. Probably due to some unfamiliar words, too. With this one I'm not too upset, though, it's a CPE practice test.

Damkerng T.

@Fantasier Oh, I forgot to ask. What accents are you familiar with? Maybe it's about accents.

Fantasier

@DamkerngT. I've studied with a British teacher for a long time, but I watch a lot of American movies... So, I dunno lol.

I guess I find American accents easier in general.

Damkerng T.

@Fantasier One possible reason you got lost after a while could be because she sounds a bit boring because she speaks too slow and over-enunciate almost every word.

@Fantasier I could get lost easily when I listen to an AusE accent myself.

@Fantasier Maybe you can post the clips that "surprise" your listening here and we can discuss them together. ;-)

Puzzle of the Day 20150509 surprises me, like, every time on my loud speakers. When I listen to it on my headset, I can hear it just fine.

Fantasier

That never happened. (????) that never ever happens.

Damkerng T.

19:54

@Fantasier Try to think of it not as sentences, just words run together.

Anonymous

@Fantasier Bonam fortunam!

Damkerng T.

@snailboat It's Latin!

still reading Catija's post to figure out what the OP was thinking...

@snailboat Good morning!

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. おはよう！

Damkerng T.

おはようございます！

Anonymous

@Catija That's a lot of comments!

Damkerng T.

20:00

Google Translate's konnichiha is my keyboard!

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Remember, you type konnnichiha or kon'nitiha or the like, but you pronounce it konnichiwa

Catija

@snailboat Yeah... But now I actually get what he's asking so I understand him trying to clarify, even though I didn't understand what he was trying to say until just now.

Damkerng T.

@snailboat A-ha! Thanks for the tip!

ell.stackexchange.com/questions/56613/…

> Moreover, the speaker is still not married yet. So, they talked about that 3 years ago, but the speaker is now telling some people about the conversation the speaker and his friend had and what he literally said to his friend. – Johnny 3 hours ago

Anonymous

The question is underspecified

Damkerng T.

Did he mean "was"? or "3 years in the future"?

Anonymous

20:03

It should locate the marriage in time

Damkerng T.

nods -- I think his use of tenses is confusing!

Catija

@snailboat how are you on semicolon use? I'm iffy at best and could use some quick feedback...

I'm considering recommending this: I know you were thinking about me; when I would be getting married.

Anonymous

@Catija Usually you want to be able to replace a semicolon with a period

Catija

I think the semicolon does a lot to separate the two clauses but show that they're connected, which is what I think they're for... but I'm not sure it's correct.

Anonymous

Semicolons (in this use) join two independent clauses

Damkerng T.

20:06

Maybe they wanted John to say, "I know you were thinking of me because I would be getting married."

Anonymous

They show a closer relationship than simply writing them as two separate sentences.

Catija

An example I found online was: Some people write with a word processor; others write with a pen or pencil.

Anonymous

The other major use of a semicolon is in lists, as a sort of "super-comma"

Catija

I'd have a difficult time imagining "others write with a pen" as a standalone clause.

Anonymous

It is an independent clause.

Anonymous

20:07

It has a subject and a predicate

Catija

Would you agree that adding some space there somehow to separate the two clauses is important, though? I though of using "and" instead: I know you were thinking about me and when I would be getting married.

Anonymous

When I would be getting married, on the other hand, is not an independent clause

Catija

Maybe I'll just do the American thing and put in an ellipsis.

Anonymous

@Catija That changes the sentence. That's a good thing, of course―it needs changing

Anonymous

But the thing is, there are lots of different ways you could fix it

Anonymous

20:10

And I'm not sure which change would preserve the OP's intended meaning

Damkerng T.

I think Iplodman's versions are fine in the OP's meaning (if I get the OP's intended meaning right.)

Catija

But the recommendations I'd made before don't actually retain his intended meaning.

Anonymous

Because I'm not entirely sure what they're thinking

Anonymous

The sentence is unclear to me

Anonymous

Your and version is definitely an improvement.

Catija

20:11

Using the "and" that way is an unusual use of "and" but it's definitely something I've seen before.

Damkerng T.

Maybe... "I know you were thinking of me because you thought I would be getting married."

Catija

20:22

If it had to come down to it, here's what I think he's trying to say: I know you were thinking about my future wedding.

Fantasier

Oh, it's this late and I'm not sleepy.

I must have slept too much today.

Damkerng T.

Plot: John and Mike are lovers. One day John's father decided to marry John to Jane. John couldn't defy his father. Being broken-hearted, Mike left home to Paris to put his mind into his arts education. What Mike didn't know was that the wedding was cancelled two months after he left. Four years later, it's a joyful spring in New York, they meet again. -- Cut scene to Central Park, Mike and John are sitting on a bench, talking to each other...

@Fantasier Oh, no!

Fantasier

By the way, I didn't catch that puzzle :P

Damkerng T.

Oh, no! Let me listen to it again.

Fantasier

Told you. If I'm ever gonna get it, it's within two times @DamkerngT.

Anonymous

20:25

Which puzzle?

Fantasier

May 9 at 2:30, by Damkerng T.

Puzzle of the Day 20150509 (from ELL): https://www.dropbox.com/s/96s2qmbcn0dmxt2/20150509%20Puzzle%20of%20the%20Day.mp3‌?dl=0

This one ^

Anonymous

Should I write down what I heard?

Damkerng T.

On my loudspeakers, I remember I thought I heard, "That never happens. I've never seen anything like that. That never ever happens."

Fantasier

@snailboat That'd be great.

Damkerng T.

On my headset, it's rather clear that it's "That never happens, do you understand?, like, that never ever happens."

@Fantasier +1

Fantasier

20:29

I should go to sleep, before my sleep cycle is wrecked.

Anonymous

> That never happens. Do you understand that, like, that never ever happens?

Damkerng T.

@snailboat I expected it to be #2, maybe the first as made a sound strange to me.

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Maybe my idiolect is weird.

Damkerng T.

@snailboat Oh, yes, I missed that that.

Anonymous

I dunno. I'm too lazy to investigate right now :-)

Anonymous

20:30

Sometimes I talk funny. That's okay. I'm allowed :-)

Damkerng T.

@snailboat I think I talk a bit funny, too. (Maybe not just a bit! :-)

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. I wrote the whole thing as a question even though it doesn't have question intonation

Damkerng T.

@snailboat The intonation makes me unsure where I should put the question mark!

Anonymous

It wasn't really spoken as a question

Anonymous

But it has the grammatical form of a question, so a question mark goes at the end :-)

Anonymous

20:33

Informally, people are a little more free with question marks and periods

Damkerng T.

nods -- It's more like a rhetoric question!

Anonymous

People online in chat sometimes use the two to signal intonation when, in formal writing, you'd expect the punctuation to follow the grammatical form

Anonymous

And that's okay, but my inner editor always wants to change them

Anonymous

"Noooo! Not a question mark! Noooooooo!"

Anonymous

I'm one to talk. I don't even bother with punctuation half the time in chat

Damkerng T.

20:34

LOL

Anonymous

And half of the time I do, my punctuation is a smiley face for some reason :-)

Anonymous

I've been trying to break the habit of oversmiling my entire online life.

Damkerng T.

Oh, yay! I got a fake 13k points!

Anonymous

It's too hard a habit to break, though.

Anonymous

In my defense, I'm a nervous smiler, so I smile all the time in real life, too

Anonymous

20:35

@DamkerngT. Fake internet points?

Damkerng T.

Fake 13k.

Anonymous

Ah, I see

Damkerng T.

It's not really 13k yet. :P

Anonymous

I have a fake 19.1k then

Damkerng T.

LOL!

Hmm... I remember that sometimes people say "I got" to mean "I've got". Not sure if it's really safe.

Anonymous

20:39

There's three things to talk about there.

Anonymous

1. Sometimes people say "I got" to mean "I got". As in the past tense of "I get"

Anonymous

> I got a new poster. (I acquired a new poster.)

Anonymous

This could also be, in non-standard English:

Anonymous

> I got a new poster. (I've got a new poster.)

Anonymous

Usually if someone's speaking otherwise Standard English, you should assume the former interpretation, since the latter is non-standard

Anonymous

20:41

2. For speakers with the non-standard defective verb "to got", it isn't actually ellipsis of "have":

Anonymous

> I got a poster. (I've got a poster.)
> Do you got a poster? (Do you have a poster?)

Anonymous

We can see by the presence of do-support that it can't be ellipsis of have

Anonymous

3. Certain dialects with the non-standard verb "to got" have the inflectional form "gots":

Anonymous

> I gots to see that movie. (I have got to see that movie.)

Anonymous

Compare also gotta ("I gotta go" = "I've got to go")

Damkerng T.

20:45

I think I've never run into gots before!

Anonymous

It's non-standard

Anonymous

You'll find it in AAVE, for example

Anonymous

It's common, but you probably shouldn't use it yourself

Anonymous

I mean, it's common for certain speakers.

Damkerng T.

1

Q: What are the transcripts at 2:23 and 2:31 in this Tonight Show clip?

What does Chris Evans said at 2:23 and 2:31 in this Tonight Show clip "Chris Evans Is Starting to Speak Like His Toddler Nephew" (https://youtu.be/OP7H2fMdfqk?t=2m23s)? What I heard are: 2:23 for nature 2:31 You just kinda say (If he said so, then what does it mean? Does he mean "you just sort o...

sentence-meaning listening

"I donk bike it"! -- LOL

Damkerng T.

22:36

@Fantasier I can recall another technique to enhance your listening: in all the audio materials you can catch 90%+ of words, try to listen to them at about the same level as the bare minimum level you need to hear similar stuff in Thai on the same device.

To find the bare minimum level, get something Thai play on the device, turn the volume knob (or the control level) to the minimum (i.e. the absolute quiet level), and the carefully increase the volume gradually. Once you start to hear well enough to understand the content, stop. That's the bare minimum level.

(Usually, I find it much much quieter than I expect.)

Transcript for