Looks Thai but doesn't speak Thai

[coloradokid]

I have a few friends who were born in the USA and Australia to Thai parents. They speak only English. When they explain (in English or in broken-Thai) that their nationality is American or Australian, the Thai people can’t seem to quite get it.

Is there an explanation as to why Thai people find a Thai looking person who doesn’t speak Thai an oddity almost beyond comprehension?

When a person is born to a Chinese couple that has migrated to Thailand settle and raise a family in Thailand and the children speak little or no Chinese, do other Thai people normally identify the children of the Chinese immigrants as Thai or Chinese?

[Jaime]

I have a few friends who were born in the USA and Australia to Thai parents. They speak only English. When they explain (in English or in broken-Thai) that their nationality is American or Australian, the Thai people can’t seem to quite get it.

Is there an explanation as to why Thai people find a Thai looking person who doesn’t speak Thai an oddity almost beyond comprehension?

The vast majority of Thai people are incredibly insular and, frankly, ignorant of the outside world. The idea of a multi-cultural society, of nations formed of successive waves of immigration such as the US or the UK is anathema in Thailand. If you are not an ethnic Thai or Sino-Thai and Buddhist to boot then you can't be Thai. Ergo if you are these things then you must be Thai and nothing else. Thai people still can't quite separate ethnicity and nationality - my wife still struggles with the idea that Black or Indian people can be British and although she holds a UK passport she does not really regard herself as British. This attitude is why we, as farangs, can never become Thai, no matter how long we stay in Thailand and will always be outside mainstream Thai society. We are always 'farang.'

[Oe]

I am a Thai person and I do not think its strange when someone who looks Thai cannot speak Thai, it depends on where the person was borne or the situation of the parents, who does the person spend most time with Thai parents or farang parents or does the fact that they live in a English speaking country mean that the use of Thai is a very small percentage of the speaking done in the household and general life. But for me a have many friends who are farang so maybe I understand better than some.
There are so many Thai /Chinese that they are really just accepted as normal and not really mind if they do not speak Chinese.

Cheers
------------------------
HH Classic Scooters

[VincentD]

There are so many Thai /Chinese that they are really just accepted as normal and not really mind if they do not speak Chinese.

Cheers
------------------------
HH Classic Scooters

Which is sometimes quite a pity as some businesses depend on their ability to speak and write the language of their parents/ grandparents. I once had a Chinese herbal remedy given to me through my sister (her mother-in-law is a Straits-born Chinese, so obviously it was written in Chinese script). The people who now run the Chinese medicine shop in Thailand do not know the Chinese names of these medicines, let alone read the prescription!

[Rider]

I have a few friends who were born in the USA and Australia to Thai parents. They speak only English. When they explain (in English or in broken-Thai) that their nationality is American or Australian, the Thai people can’t seem to quite get it.

Is there an explanation as to why Thai people find a Thai looking person who doesn’t speak Thai an oddity almost beyond comprehension?

The vast majority of Thai people are incredibly insular and, frankly, ignorant of the outside world. The idea of a multi-cultural society, of nations formed of successive waves of immigration such as the US or the UK is anathema in Thailand. If you are not an ethnic Thai or Sino-Thai and Buddhist to boot then you can't be Thai. Ergo if you are these things then you must be Thai and nothing else. Thai people still can't quite separate ethnicity and nationality - my wife still struggles with the idea that Black or Indian people can be British and although she holds a UK passport she does not really regard herself as British. This attitude is why we, as farangs, can never become Thai, no matter how long we stay in Thailand and will always be outside mainstream Thai society. We are always 'farang.'

This is wisdom. I've only heard from myself and three others of this taboo subject mentioned and stated. A Xenophobic streak runs quite deep here in this land. For the tourists it is a smiling friendly face, only after some time as they stay longer and become expatriated do you notice a somewhat different (not necessarily bad) side to the country.
If every falang expat living in thailand recognises and understands this we will truely have a solid expat network that sticks together and looks out for one another through thick and thin.

[Guess]

Interesting comm nts here. One point I would like to add here though is that Chines have been integrated with the Thai for many centuries if not millenia.

There is a similarity of appearance. I have known many families, my own included who have some Chinese ancestry somewhere down the line.

One thing though is I have never personally met a Thai with two Thai parents and sometimes only one that can not speak Thai. This more or less applies to Chinese aswell.

Both nations are very keen to retain there ancestral tongue.

Many Europeans (some of whom have emigrated to the US , South Africa, Australia and Canada mainly) have take deliberate steps to hide their origins. Sometimes this is just to get a job easier, sometimes its just to fit in with the local community and settle more easily and be accepted and sometimes it has been for much more sinister reasons. This could be excaping from persecution or evasion of foreign authorities with tentacles everywhere that consider them enemies of there home country.

I can endorse this statement from circumstances involving my own family.

In Thailand they have never really had any enemies that have managed to oppress Thailand with a couple of short historically recorded exceptions. I.e. the Burmese occupation of 1767 to 1776 and the Japanese occupation of 1942 to 1945.

Some of you can look closer to home to a similar situation. Ireland was dominated by the British until 1917 and part of it still is to this day. As far as most Irish people are concerned, to be Irish you have to be O something or Mac something and have all your antecedents Irish.

I remember a converstaion with an educated man in Dublin about a half Afro footballer winning the Irish player of the year award. His opinion was that, how can someone with black skin possibly be Irish.

I do not believe that this statement was in any way racist in it's intentions. As Jaime said it is the the insularity that formulates opinions.

During the American Civil War the locals in the North East, New York and Philadelphia mainly, were rebelling on the streets about the governmets mandate that all people should join in the fight on the Unionist side. To them they were the true natives of the US.

I think a few Amerindians might have had a different opinion.

Xenophobia is born out of ignorance of other cultures.

The good thing about Thailand is that we are alll accepted and I have never heard of organised racist purges as there has been in many European based countries.

The fact is though that we are all hear and most of wish to stay. Surely that speaks volumes.

As for what you like it does not really say much. Some people look typically like a native of a country that they are from. Other can pass off as many different. Malaysians and Indians are always a bit surprised when they speak to my wife and she has to tell them in English that she does not speak their language. I have had the same reponse in Italy, Spain and France.

Thailand is becoming a multicultural society whether thay want or not. So mare many more countries in the world. This is now the age of the Jet Airliner and many more people will discover that another country is preferable for them than they home.

As we are on the topic of relationships my last word is that the compatibilty of the two people in that relationship has a much greater importance than the cultural background or the skin colour.

Please everybody try and comprehend the culture of your partner and accomodate rather than trying to force your culture on them. You might find it works miracles for you.

[chelsea]

Guess
I do not know how long ago it was that you had the talk with the guy in Dublin re the afro player winning player of the year in Ireland, but a quick look now at the next World Cup (in particularly England, France, Holland and even Poland) would now answer his question.
These countries in particular are now getting to 3rd and 4th generation of these races, and is now considered the norm.
I now some aussies that I have worked with that cannot get there heads around the fact that the african looking players and TV stars that they see sound just like normal everday english people and not an african.

[Wanderlust]

Great post Guess. Yours and chelsea's comments remind me of the amazement on American's faces when they hear a black person speak with an impeccable English accent, or a thick Scottish brogue, rather than what they are used to in the States. I wonder if there are any blacks their with a deep South accent and a Confederate flag on their car?
Incidentally the footballer you mentioned - was that Paul McGrath who used to play for Aston Villa?

[chelsea]

Wanderlust
Ireland or should I say the Republic of Ireland (my gf is from Dublin), so am always being picked up on that, had a few around and before that time. Chris Houghton (ex spurs) was one of the full backs and think that he would have been before that.
It all seemed to start as soon as the rule came in about if you had relations, long lost relations etc that you qualify for that country. You then had all of the players that could not get a game for England (in particular), found they had long lost Irish relations and were suddenly playing for the Irish. The after match interviews were a scream, as there was not an Irish accent in sight, mosty London and the Midlands.
It is not so bad now, but at the time it was very amusing.

[Guess]

Wanderlust and Chelsea.

Incidentally the footballer you mentioned - was that Paul McGrath who used to play for Aston Villa?

Yes it was Paul McGrath, I could not remember the name.

It was at least thirteen years ago that I was last in Dublin. I guess many things have changed there just like anywhere else especially in countries like The Republic of Ireland and Kingdom of Thailand who have experienced such rapid economic growth rates.

[DawnHRD]

I have a different cultural experience here. My boyfriend is Thai & he & his son (born to a Thai mother) live with me. His son is 4 and has lived with me since he was 2, so he regards me as his mother (he doesn't know his birth mother exists, not having seen her since he was 6 months old). He is also very obviously pure Thai in looks, you'd never mistake him for mixed race.
Of course, he now speaks Thai & English fluently. If we go out with my boyfriend, everyone seems to accept our family as normal, but if I'm with my son, alone, we attract a lot of interest. Of course I understand & expect that, but what I find funny is that Thais hear us speaking to each other in English and assume my son can't speak Thai - they will ask me in English (or occasionally in Thai) if he speaks Thai. I'd be interested to find out why. Do people assume I've adopted him & brought him up speaking only my language? It just seems to be the polar opposite to the original posting.