Do you think that it's possible as a foreigner to fully assimilate into Thai culture?

[aboctok]

On 4/25/2021 at 6:00 PM, Lacessit said:

IMO it is not possible, because Thais are inherently racist themselves. The attitude comes down from the very top.  It doesn't bother me, as the term farang is far less pejorative than the Japanese gaijin or Chinese gweiloh. I am amused by shopkeepers who need calculators when I've already added up the total cost in my head.

I've integrated as far as I want to, speak Thai reasonably well, eat about 80% Thai food, and live comfortably on my terms. I don't consider I would ever think like a Thai, nor would I desire that.

 

 

Many (and I mean many) Thai shopkeepers need that calculator when there's only one item. After realising in delighted shock that you speak Thai, they happily have a conversation with you—in Thai—before reaching for a big clownish calculator when it's time to announce the price. Obviously, Thai is not your native language—you probably still haven't learned numbers.

[Maha Sarakham]

When I first started coming to Thailand, I went through incredible efforts to learn Thai.  Over time, I've realized its a cheap party trick that gets people asking 'why can you speak Thai?' and gets them clamoring amongst themselves about how many Thai girlfriends you've had and how long you've lived in Thailand.  Beyond that, very little of value has come out of it and I would not recommend it to anyone. 

 

We will always be regarded as 'Farang'.  Furthermore, I have nothing in common with most Thai men to want to assimilate anyways.

[thaibeachlovers]

3 hours ago, Maha Sarakham said:

When I first started coming to Thailand, I went through incredible efforts to learn Thai.  Over time, I've realized its a cheap party trick that gets people asking 'why can you speak Thai?' and gets them clamoring amongst themselves about how many Thai girlfriends you've had and how long you've lived in Thailand.  Beyond that, very little of value has come out of it and I would not recommend it to anyone. 

 

We will always be regarded as 'Farang'.  Furthermore, I have nothing in common with most Thai men to want to assimilate anyways.

I can remember only one occasion when speaking more Thai than the basic I knew would have been of benefit for me. I spent most of my time in English speaking areas, and when I didn't I had married a translator.

Frankly, I had no desire to know what the village gossips were saying about "the farang". 

[Sticky Rice Balls]

6 hours ago, Maha Sarakham said:

When I first started coming to Thailand, I went through incredible efforts to learn Thai.  Over time, I've realized its a cheap party trick that gets people asking 'why can you speak Thai?' and gets them clamoring amongst themselves about how many Thai girlfriends you've had and how long you've lived in Thailand.  Beyond that, very little of value has come out of it and I would not recommend it to anyone. 

 

We will always be regarded as 'Farang'.  Furthermore, I have nothing in common with most Thai men to want to assimilate anyways.

This!  If I can speak thai then the ONLY way possible is by having a thai gf it seems---as opposed to immersion......so I mirror thais back by saying they have a farang bf since they can ask me "where u from"....oooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhh,,no..mai mee......oh??? then HOW did you learn english? the bar?

[GinBoy2]

5 hours ago, Sticky Rice Balls said:

This!  If I can speak thai then the ONLY way possible is by having a thai gf it seems---as opposed to immersion......so I mirror thais back by saying they have a farang bf since they can ask me "where u from"....oooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhh,,no..mai mee......oh??? then HOW did you learn english? the bar?

I gave up.

 

I'm a bit of a polyglot and I speak both Thai and Lao fluently, yet I can't tell you how many time I've spoken to someone in a store, and they won't answer me, but speak directly to my wife, like I was invisible.

 

This isn't unique to Thailand, and this probably sums it up nicely

 

 

[Maha Sarakham]

4 hours ago, GinBoy2 said:

I gave up.

 

I'm a bit of a polyglot and I speak both Thai and Lao fluently, yet I can't tell you how many time I've spoken to someone in a store, and they won't answer me, but speak directly to my wife, like I was invisible.

 

How could I forget, that one is a classic too.  It's better to just let the wife run the show in Thailand.

[Rhys]

... it helps... 

[thaibeachlovers]

16 hours ago, GinBoy2 said:

I'm a bit of a polyglot and I speak both Thai and Lao fluently, yet I can't tell you how many time I've spoken to someone in a store, and they won't answer me, but speak directly to my wife, like I was invisible.

Easily solved by not taking the wife when going shopping. Besides, I hate going shopping with women.

[Sticky Rice Balls]

18 hours ago, GinBoy2 said:

I gave up.

 

I'm a bit of a polyglot and I speak both Thai and Lao fluently, yet I can't tell you how many time I've spoken to someone in a store, and they won't answer me, but speak directly to my wife, like I was invisible.

 

This isn't unique to Thailand, and this probably sums it up nicely

 

 

yep  happens to me--i take cute chinese glas out to eat and the waitress looks at them and speaks thai...i sit back and watch...then explain..phoot thai mai dai.....china pooying!  then I order in northern dialect---jao!!!  I just fun with it and play along...as they are what they are....

[BritManToo]

11 minutes ago, Sticky Rice Balls said:

then I order in northern dialect---jao!!!

You do understand only women and ladyboys use 'jao'?

[Sticky Rice Balls]

3 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

You do understand only women and ladyboys use 'jao'?

I use it with my thai friends as they get a chuckle from it...oy!  What if I become a ladyboy-medical visa? ????

[ICELANDMAN]

As a tourist, classified 0 non-immigrant, the question is irrelevant.

[DavidH555]

On 4/27/2021 at 7:03 PM, 2009 said:

 

I do, too.

 

But not for the in-laws; they are a bunch of redshirts.

Why do you do it?

[2009]

56 minutes ago, DavidH555 said:

Why do you do it?

 

My work

[Neeranam]

On 4/28/2021 at 3:08 AM, Maha Sarakham said:

When I first started coming to Thailand, I went through incredible efforts to learn Thai.  Over time, I've realized its a cheap party trick that gets people asking 'why can you speak Thai?' and gets them clamoring amongst themselves about how many Thai girlfriends you've had and how long you've lived in Thailand.  Beyond that, very little of value has come out of it and I would not recommend it to anyone. 

 

O totally disagree, speaking Thai has got me so many things that have changed my life, like meeting my wife, getting good jobs, etc. There are soo many. Going down to the wood shop today to buy stuff to build a little shed -  I couldn't imagine how hard it would be being illiterate. 

[Neeranam]

13 hours ago, BritManToo said:

You do understand only women and ladyboys use 'jao'?

i wonder how you know that ???? 

[grin]

On 4/23/2021 at 1:20 AM, KannikaP said:

Jethro Tull 1972.   LOL

Saw them 3 times at the Boston Garden back in the 70's.

[geronimo]

Yes from me because of the word 'possible'. Given the right circumstances it can happen.

[Jonathan Swift]

On 4/23/2021 at 10:06 AM, Pilotman said:

No, further more, I'm not at all sure why anyone would want to fully integrate/assimilate and in effect, reject their own heritage. They are not, or should not be, mutually exclusive. That is why I cannot understand those who go for Thai citizenship. 

Of course you don't understand. You're a nationalist. You consider your culture to be superior. That's why you could never, or would never assimillate. 

[Jonathan Swift]

The 81% who voted no are the ones who can never assimillate because they don't care to or lack the qualities necessary to do so. The 18% who voted yes are likely the ones who DO manage to assimillate. I see the happily well assimilated ones all the time, as well as the cranky complaining non assimilated ones. The position you find yourself in is your own doing, your own choice, based on your own attitude. I am satisfied with the degree which I have assimilated which, though not 100%, is sufficient to let me know I have won the respect of Thai people by first showing them respect for their culture and ways. You will never hear me call them racist because if that's what you think it's because you brought that attitude out yourself.

[Jonathan Swift]

On 4/23/2021 at 10:14 AM, FritsSikkink said:

Integrate and assimilate are 2 completely different things. Integration is good, assimilating is rejecting your own heritage. 

Thank you for that. And when does your version of Webster's splitting hairs over semantics dictionary come out? And how did you know which the questioner actually meant? Resistance is futile. You will all be assimillated. 

Edited April 30, 2021 by Jonathan Swift

[thaibeachlovers]

10 hours ago, Neeranam said:

O totally disagree, speaking Thai has got me so many things that have changed my life, like meeting my wife, getting good jobs, etc. There are soo many. Going down to the wood shop today to buy stuff to build a little shed -  I couldn't imagine how hard it would be being illiterate. 

Hmmmmm. Had my wife not spoken English I'd have been saved from a horrible fate, I didn't work in LOS, and at the wood shop I used the staff spoke English, just like every building supply place I ever bought anything at.

At the village I took my wife to translate, which was probably the only beneficial thing she ever did for me.

[thaibeachlovers]

13 minutes ago, Jonathan Swift said:

I am satisfied with the degree which I have assimilated which, though not 100%, is sufficient to let me know I have won the respect of Thai people by first showing them respect for their culture and ways. You will never hear me call them racist because if that's what you think it's because you brought that attitude out yourself.

LOL. It wasn't I that caused my Thai family to be racist towards "Burma people". They did that all on their own.

The greatest insult my wife thought she could give me was to equate me to a "Burma".

[Jonathan Swift]

On 4/23/2021 at 10:44 AM, mstevens said:

I answered no and honestly, I think the vast majority of Thais would never consider a foreigner (especially a Caucasian) to be Thai, no matter how hard he or she tried and no matter how fluent they became in the Thai language. In Thailand, Foreigners will always be foreigners. 

That is what you get when you superimpose your rigid and prejudiced western sensibilities onto Thai culture. I'm sure you will never be fully accepted because you don't want to be, and aren't trying.. It isn't a matter of foreigners always being foreigners, it's a matter of foreigners being accepted among Thais as equals.  It's a matter of mutual respect and acceptance

[thaibeachlovers]

2 minutes ago, Jonathan Swift said:

That is what you get when you superimpose your rigid and prejudiced western sensibilities onto Thai culture. I'm sure you will never be fully accepted because you don't want to be, and aren't trying.. It isn't a matter of foreigners always being foreigners, it's a matter of foreigners being accepted among Thais as equals.  It's a matter of mutual respect and acceptance

To be completely honest, I didn't care if I was "accepted" or "respected" by Thais or not. I never wanted to "be" a Thai and what I had in my wallet was always good enough to get whatever I wanted.

My secret to my success in LOS was to smile, bow, never argue and be prepared to pay. I never expected anyone to do anything for nothing as I would back home. However, sometimes I was pleasantly surprised.

[Neeranam]

17 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Hmmmmm. Had my wife not spoken English I'd have been saved from a horrible fate, I didn't work in LOS, and at the wood shop I used the staff spoke English, just like every building supply place I ever bought anything at.

At the village I took my wife to translate, which was probably the only beneficial thing she ever did for me.

I'd hate to need a translator everywhere I went, what a bondage

[thaibeachlovers]

4 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

I'd hate to need a translator everywhere I went, what a bondage

I didn't need a translator "everywhere", just in the village. She didn't work while in the village so it wasn't a problem for us to go shopping together.

I lived in Pattaya and Chiang Mai so speaking English wasn't a problem.

Even in the occasional place where they didn't speak English I knew enough Thai to get by- just not conversational Thai.

[Old Croc]

Nobody was more assimilated in his own mind than this guy, but he had an enormous struggle to get recognition by Thailand. I would bet he still gets called falang and treated differently.

 

So proud to be Thai! American born funny man gets Thai nationality at last - Thailand News - Thai Visa Forum

 

(Apologies if he has already been mentioned in the thread)

[Old Croc]

35 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

I'd hate to need a translator everywhere I went, what a bondage

I have an app on my phone called Google Assist.

It "interprets" the spoken word and can even "translate" written Thai.

 

It's an enormous help with my struggling language skills.

[Neeranam]

3 minutes ago, Old Croc said:

I have an app on my phone called Google Assist.

It "interprets" the spoken word and can even "translate" written Thai.

 

It's an enormous help with my struggling language skills.

Would have been better if you had joined that thread I started in 2005 in the language section. Learn one word a day!