Why Thais get triggered when westerners say “Ni Hao” to them?

[buksida]

Is using Chinese greeting “ni hao” (你好 or hello) on Thais by Westerners considered a racist move?

The question was fiercely debated since yesterday when a viral video showing a national park advisor in Krabi province telling a Russian couple that their vacation on an island is over after were found enjoying themselves on the island during off-limits period by hiring a guide to take the boat there, and when informed about why it’s not permissible, the Russian man replied to Mr Siranath Bhiromphakdee, AKA Sai Scott, the park advisor, with the word “ni hao”.

Siranath then went ballistic and told the two their vacation on the island is over for the day and if the man repeated the Chinese greeting again, he would be “deported”.

Siranath, a self-avowed marine environmentalist who refuses to eat seafood because he doesn’t want to harm marine life, is a scion of one of the richest Thai families, (Singha Beer wealth, if you need to know). He posted the video clip of the confrontation on his FB page, which has 213K followers and explained the incident in English. The video on Saturday was posted as news by a British tabloid news outlet.

“To come to Thailand, and not even have the respect to know the difference between Thailand and China is extremely racist. You cannot plan a vacation here to enjoy our natural resources and ignore the Thai people who live in the country. Something as small as saying “Ni Hao” to a Thai person, it’s not only disrespectful to Thais, but to Asians as Asia is not one nationality. It would be like me going to England and thinking it was the same as Russia,” Siranath wrote five days ago.

Full story: https://www.khaosodenglish.com/opinion/ ... o-to-them/

Its a bit hypocritical when they say 'hey, you, farang' to us all the time ... but TIT.

[buksida]

Apparently, it was some "leuk kreung" rich kid volunteering at the park that caused the fracas and has now left the position.

https://www.khaosodenglish.com/life/soc ... -response/

[Big Boy]

Reading that, I think we can come to our own conclusions regarding who was the racist party.

A racist rich guy on a power trip - what a combination

[pharvey]

A racist rich guy on a power trip - what a combination

And hardly uncommon wherever you may find yourself!

Its a bit hypocritical when they say 'hey, you, farang' to us all the time ... but TIT.

And no different to China and their use of "Lao Wài" ("老外") or "Gwáilóu" in Cantonese (HK/Kowloon) - both pretty derogatory in their use these days...

[GroveHillWanderer]

While the Thai person has completely overreacted, it's a bit naff of the Russians to have used "Ni Hao" to a Thai. It would be like going up to an English person in the middle of the English countryside and saying, "Guten Tag" or "Buongiorno," to them.

[KanDoo]

While the Thai person has completely overreacted, it's a bit naff of the Russians to have used "Ni Hao" to a Thai. It would be like going up to an English person in the middle of the English countryside and saying, "Guten Tag" or "Buongiorno," to them.

And would that person in the middle of the English countryside "completely overreact" in the way this guy did with those greetings in a foreign language the way this guy did? Certainly I would not.