A Taste of Thailand

Hey look Ma, I canz writes my own name

I learned to write my name recently. Well, I knew how to write it in English (thanks, Misses kindergarden teacher I don’t remember) but I hadn’t really learned it in Thai. I had looked up how to write Bill on some website and it gave me a rather complicated way which I never bothered with. But recently I had to have some business cards made up and the front is in English and the reverse (or the front, depending on how you look at it) is in Thai. The printer looked at my name in English and wrote บิล รินิ. I can read enough Thai to be able to sound that out and I was like “Damned, that’s pretty easy. Almost easier than English.” The one I had copied from the website used two L’s (ล in Thai) in Bill and had some accent marks which I guess was to try to get the pronunciation as close to Bill as possible but many people are still going to call me Khun Beow anyway so writing it “BEE-L” is close enough.

My last name is actually perfect since written in Thai more Thai people say it correctly than when I write it in English and an English speaker tries to say it. The name is of Italian origin so the “i” in Italian is pronounced like saying the letter “e.” So in Thai the little little cap over the two letters in my last name is the same sound. The first letter is an R sound followed by the letter E then the N sound and then the letter E again.

All my life I’ve had people call me Rin E (pronouncing Rin like Rin Tin Tin and then saying the letter E), Rene, and all sorts of weird pronunciations. Only when in Italy do people pronounce it correctly and not have to ask. Granted, the Thais tend to give the R a little of an L sound but LINI is better than Rene.

What?

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, Thai is a tonal language. Whether you say a word with a rising tone or a falling tone can mean the difference between asking for a doctor or a pig. But to a certain degree, I think living in Europe causes one to become somewhat tone deaf. In order to understand a Londoner, someone from Manchester, a Irishman, and a Scott you need to ignore all tones and just concentrate on the word. It’s even worse for people who are speaking English as a second (or third, or fourth) language. You quit listening for tone and just try to hear the words.

Of course, that complicates Thai which is all about the tones. My friend Rob the other night commented on the fact that when I say something in Thai that’s supposed to be a question I use a rising tone even if the word doesn’t have a rising tone. This is partially an English language thing but it is also a habit picked up living around Spain. “We go to the store, No?” You would say that with a rising emphasis on “No” to indicate it is a question.

Rob called me out on it when I asked the waitress for some water the other night. I asked for Naam Bplau with a slight rise in tone on the last syllable to indicate I was politely asking if she could bring some (rather than demanding it).

What’s even worse is that in Thai there are words you use to indicate a question. For instance you might ask someone “Kao jai, mai?” which means “Understand?”. The word “mai” is there to indicate that you are asking a question rather than making a statement. But I often find myself just changing the tone of the word and omitting the question word. If I’m explaining something to a Thai in English I might stop to confirm their understanding by saying “Kao jai?” but without the “mai” it’s a statement not a question as to whether they understand.

That one, I think most of the Thais I deal with they cut me some slack and know I’m asking. I don’t think anyone other than my Thai teacher has ever corrected me on my poor form.

Thaimes are a changin’

Speaking of Thai teachers, I got a new one. I needed to make some adjustments in my schedule and the timing of my class needed changed. I asked if the school had something more convenient for me and suggested Monday and Wednesdays from 1:00 – 3:30. That was a bit of a jump since my pervious class was twice a week as well but only 2 1 hours and 45 minutes each session. This was three two and a half hours each session.

I agreed though and thought it might be good because they were about a month or month and a half behind where my class was so I could get in some review. I was sort of getting a little frustrated because I had spent how many every months taking these classes and I still didn’t feel very confident about my Thai.

So when I showed up for my first class with the new teacher and she started speaking to me (and expecting to respond) in Thai I was a little taken aback. Hey, this class is supposed to be at least a month behind where I was and within 10 minutes I had spoken more Thai than I would in a whole session in my other class.

But I really dug it. It’s amazing how much more quickly you pick things up when you’re forced to think and respond in Thai. In the other class we basically read scripted conversations from the book but in this one the teacher would ask “How do you get from your apartment to the grocery store?” It’s fairly basic but when all you’ve had to do is read the response in a book rather than actually giving real directions it changes how you process the language.

I also like that the teacher gets farangs. she understands how we think. If I had one criticism of my previous teacher it is that she really didn’t get how our educational system makes it difficult for us to process information without understanding it. For instance, in my previous class we had been given a rule about writing a particular vowel. The teacher told us there were four exceptions and told us the four words that were different. Okay, but why? She just said to memorize the four words. The new teacher explained why the exceptions exist and there’s actually a logical reason for it so remembering those words is much easier because you know why they’re exceptions.

Thailand through the eyes of a woman

I was thinking about this the other day and a friend brought it up in a conversation which convinced me it wasn’t just some weird thing on my part, but if you’re a farang in Thailand almost all of your experiences with Thai culture are through women. My friend asked, “How many male Thai friends do you have? Not a co-worker or your driver but someone who is close enough to you that you would just go out and have a beer with.” Out of five guys, the grand total was five. And that included people like me who had to answer zero.

First off, women dominate the service industries. Go into any shop or department store and chances are 90% of the staff is female. Stay in a hotel and chances are the receptionist and most of the staff other than the doorman and security are female. Go to your mobile phone company and nearly all of the customer service staff are female. Go to any restaurant and chances are everybody on this side of the kitchen is female. So most of the people you meet are either other foreigners or Thai women. You almost can’t help it.

Secondly, Thai men don’t hang out where farangs hang out. The one glaring exception to that is up in Chiang Mai a couple of places we went to there were several Thai guys hanging out. Other than that one experience, when I go out to a bar or a nightclub the chances of seeing a Thai guy who isn’t parking cars or asking to see your ID are slim. Sure, if you go out to Thai nightclubs you’ll see plenty of Thai guys but most of the time when that happens you’re the only white guy in the place.

It’s not that there’s any tension between farang and Thai men. Most are very friendly and chatty. It’s just that they don’t tend to socialize with farangs much. Farangs have our world which consists of some fairly well-known areas of Bangkok (lower Sukhumvit, Koh San Road, Silom, etc) and the Thais have all the rest and those two worlds seldom intersect.

There are some exceptions. It’s not totally black and white. But the exceptions aren’t very common. Like I said, between five guys, some having lived here 10 years or more, only five Thai male friends between them. I’m guessing that’s pretty much standard.

So, what I’m getting at here is that whatever you end up learning about Thai culture tends to come from Thai women. They could be telling you something no Thai guy would ever agree with but you’ll never know because chances are you don’t have any Thai male friends you can ask.

Why I was thinking about it is it struck me how slanted a perspective of America I would have if I only knew women. From tastes in films to music you would have this completely distorted view of “Americans” if you only really interacted with 50% of them.

So, am I going to go out and make friends with a bunch of Thai guys? Probably not. It was just something that was on my mind 🙂

Things are getting getting hot in here

This time of year is when it starts to get hot and steamy. November, December and January are the cool months. That means it gets down to 85 during the days and may even get to a bone chilling 78 at night. Starting in February it starts to get warmer and warmer and warmer until it peaks out around April or May. It’s not that it’s hot but it’s humid too.

But this February things are getting even hotter than normal because the former PM Thaksin is awaiting a verdict on whether or not the government was just in seizing about $2.2 billion of his cash when he was tossed out in a coup in 2006. Word on the street is that he took a beating in the Dubai real estate crash and this $2.2 billion actually means something to him.

The verdict in the case is expected for Feb 26. His supporters have been causing trouble around the kingdom in the hopes of intimidating the judges into ruling in Thaksin’s favor. For instance last weekend someone tossed a grenade near the government house and later they found a few kilos of C4 explosives wired up like a bomb in the parking lot of the government house.

The thing that just blows my mind (no pun intended) about Thailand is that a general in the Thai army was suspected of being behind the grenade attack. He responded to press questions saying that it was obviously not him because this type of attack wasn’t his style. He said that everyone knows if it was him he would have called and warned people ahead of the attack. That’s his proof. Or better yet, you have a general in the armed forces saying that if he were going to attack the government he’d do it differently. Who gets to keep their job after a statement like that? In Thailand that’s normal.

Another general, Maj Gen Khattiya Sawasdiphol, (who publicly supports Thaksin) got a public bitch slapping from the top army general Army Chief Gen Anupong (who is not a Thaksin supporter) and removed from command. He later told the press, “I want to warn judges to be careful both before and after judgment day because I don’t know when they’re going to shoot you. The gunman may be a professional killer or a hit man hired by people, because now the red shirts have become fanatical with patriotic sentiment as they feel they do not receive justice.”

So to add to the tension it was recently reported that Thaksin’s supporters have recently received $10 million from an anonymous source outside the country. Hmmmm . . . who has that kind of money, lives outside the country, and really, really, really wants to see Thaksin get his $2.2 billion back? The list of people is a list of one, Thaksin.

And the only reason $10 million would come at this particular moment is because they need money to pay protesters to come out and protest. And, to possibly finance some domestic terrorism (or hire the hit men Gen Khattiya warned about) in the hopes of destabilizing the current government.

So all in all, things should be pretty interesting up to Feb 26th when the supreme court renders their decision. Pretty much everyone sees this as Thaksin’s last stand. So it’s a no-holds barred match. He’s pulling out every piece of ammunition he has because once the government gets that $2.2 billion he’ll never see it again.

One suggestion I saw floated recommended the government give the money back to the people directly. Basically just say “Hey, here’s all the money Thaksin stole from you,” and hand them a check for 1100 baht ($33 USD). That might not sound like a lot but you have to figure that a waitress in Bangkok makes about 7000 baht ($212 USD) per month. That nearly 16% of your monthly wage. Plus, the vast majority of people in Thailand live in the villages and on farms where 7000 baht is big money. Many get by on 3000 – 4000 baht per month or less.

Some people have suggested that this time his supporters may not limit their attacks to Thai targets like they normally do. They may hit at the tourist/farang parts of town in order to damage the tourism industry which might help destabilize the government. I’m not sure I’ve changed my normal habits much but I’m not hanging out if I see some shifty looking Thai guys loitering about in farang establishments. 🙂

Hmmm . . . . anything else? Nah, I think I’ve rambled on enough. Enjoy your day!