A man goes to see his doctor. The doctor listens to the man's complaint, questions are asked and the session ends with the doctor writing a prescription.
The man returns to the doctor's clinic a few more times to discuss the nature of the problem before the medic issues the man with a certificate giving him a clean bill of health.
But this is no ordinary doctor's clinic and the ill man is no ordinary patient. Welcome to the Thai 'language clinic', which has just concluded a stage performance introducing an alternative fun way to correct people's spoken Thai.
But the clinic is not for foreigners, trying to improve their Thai, but for native speakers of the language.
The language clinic was one of a raft of activities held at the Thailand Cultural Centre and throughout the country last week to mark 'Thai Language Day' on July 29.
The aim of the various workshops and events was to raise awareness about the state of the language among native speakers, which organisers say is in trouble.
Thai is the national language, spoken by over 80 percent of the 63 million inhabitants in this South-east Asian country.
Thailand is also home to about 60 minority languages (such as those belonging to hilltribe people in the north), some of which are considered to be endangered.
Thai language has its origins in 'Tai', an ethnic, cultural and linguistic group from southern China who migrated south over a long period of time.
By the 13th century the Tais had become the dominant group along the valleys of northern and central South-east Asia, having conquered the indigenous peoples of the area, the Mons, imposing their language on them.
The basis of written Thai also dates from this period. It was King Ramkamhaeng who, in 1283, is said to have devised the first writing system for the Thai language.
The writing was based on Pali and Sanskrit, also incorporating many Mon and Khmer words.
Deviated tones
''Many Thai people today don't speak Thai clearly,'' said Senator Damrong Puttan during a seminar organised by the National Culture Commission.
Damrong is the chairman of the Damrong Puttan Foundation, which aims to raise awareness about Thai culture and language.
''Some people speak Thai in deviated tones. Some misspell or use words for wrong meanings, while others often speak English mixed with their Thai sentences,'' he said.
Like Chinese, Thai is a monosyllabic language made up of five tones: low, middle, high, rising and falling.
As with all tonal languages, the meaning of a syllable is determined by the tone in which it is pronounced.
Take the syllable 'kao' as an example. Pronounced using a low tone it means 'news', pronounced using a rising tone it means 'white', and pronounced using a falling tone it means 'rice'.
Critics argue that the tones of words are changing due to a mixture of laziness and because the younger generation sees it as fashionable to alter the original tones in an effort to be different.
The other area causing concern is with the import of English words, which do not just add to the language, but in many instances have dislodged perfectly acceptable Thai words.
Many proper names today you can often hear Thais referring to someone as looking 'dern' suggesting they look fashionable.
''I know it is not so nice speaking English and Thai together in sentences, but adults themselves often do that. These are often teachers, politicians and people on television. Some might think they look better when the speak like that and we learn from them.''
But, Thitikorn agreed that some language mistakes go too far leading to bad communication and misunderstanding.
''I know I cannot just talk to people my own age. I probably won't learn much from different groups of people if what I say doesn't make any sense to them,'' she said.
''It would be nice if we could meet somewhere in the middle — neither too modern nor too conservative,'' said Thitikorn.
