I’ve never seen a Thai person reading a book

[TropicalGuy]

16 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

So you got a very limited view of the Thai population and therefore your statement about the intelligence of the Thai population isn't worth much.

Worth as much as any layman I suppose. I have travelled all over Thailand & SE Asia. Uniform Charming Ancient Passive Cultures so easily judged with limited observation.
 

I don’t recall commenting on intelligence only intellect. Some causality or correlation with book reading for sure?
 

SE Asians appear from studies to have basically same average IQ as Europeans. They just chose not to use it as magnificently as the West.  

 

Creative Spark & Inventive Drive appears quite different to IQ. No Thai Mozart, DaVinci or Einstein.

What explains the massive creativity, inventions and achievements of the British for example, holding only “average” (Thai level)  IQ?Ethnic Mix perhaps ?

Or the Japs with zero ethnic mixing and (so) the highest world IQ but inventing originally Nothing and bayoneting Chinese Babies as Sport ? What explains India with higher average IQ than UK ?
 

Interesting Puzzle……Charles Murray in his famous race IQ studies book said IQ (Intelligence Measure) is extremely reliable BUT only one of many important elements in human progress & achievement.

 

Thanks for triggering this Race IQ summary piece…….

[TropicalGuy]

23 hours ago, RafPinto said:

5555555

 

I had already constant stress with my Ex.

Just reading on Aseannow, she was angry like hell.

 

Bad webpage, only talking bad about thai people.

No. I told her, we are being educated, how to deal with all the thai lady tricks.

 

They prefer young, fresh, innocent tourists who don't know a thing about thai women and are an easy target.

and dislike Thai -speaking farang as “ know too much “ …….

[RafPinto]

19 hours ago, MJCM said:

My Wife is reading her Bank Book all the time

And your latest bank statements to see when and where you have taken money out of ATM and made unusual payments.

[FritsSikkink]

2 hours ago, TropicalGuy said:

Thanks for triggering this Race IQ summary piece…….

I didn't trigger anything, you started this racist nonsense and keep it going.

Edited January 7, 2022 by FritsSikkink

[JackGats]

I remember a European linguist who mastered the Thai language saying that the Thai script was not at all "reading efficient". He didn't elaborate what he meant but I surmise he meant reading Thai required too much brain work. Learning Thai myself and having learnt some mandarin in the past, I wonder if mandarin is not easier to get your head around. Once you recognise a character in Mandarin its meaning and syntax in is instantaneously clear. In Thai you're always scanning back and forth figuring out what belongs to what. Could it be that the Thai are stuck with a script that discourages protracted reading of the kind implicit in the reading of books?

Edited January 7, 2022 by JackGats

[TropicalGuy]

3 hours ago, FritsSikkink said:

I didn't trigger anything, you started this racist nonsense and keep it going.

You started with  “Intelligence”” and I finished it.

All races are equally accomplished then are they ? No differences right ?
Best not to discuss groups as some don’t present or compare well at all.

Then anger, envy and offense result.

Always found it best to set groups aside & assess only individuals on merit alone. 

 

[Thunglom]

there are many Thai book stores

Thai books are NOT expensive and there are tonnes of book exchanges too. 

I think the OP just another example of foreigners who just don't take the time to notice what is going on around ten......why bother when you can just jump to conclusions instead.

[FritsSikkink]

8 hours ago, TropicalGuy said:

You started with  “Intelligence”” and I finished it.

All races are equally accomplished then are they ? No differences right ?
Best not to discuss groups as some don’t present or compare well at all.

Then anger, envy and offense result.

Always found it best to set groups aside & assess only individuals on merit alone. 

 

No, you started insulting all Thais including your on wife about their intelligence. You are not only a racist but bent the truth multiple times too..

[TropicalGuy]

You are disconnected from reality, delusional , unable to separate Truth and Fact from Belief. Gone Native Too. Yeah, Thai Culture / People are so advanced and rational and beyond criticism ……you even think like them .

Get a Grip man. ……

[Thunglom]

On 1/7/2022 at 3:27 AM, TropicalGuy said:

Facts are not Racist.

What a telling comment - why is it that racists spend so much time arguing that the racist things they say and aren't racist, when they actually are advocating racism?

Edited January 8, 2022 by Thunglom

[Thunglom]

Thai reading ability is nothing to do with race. There is an argument that the Thai writing system doesn't lend itself to reading and writing as much as some other systems.

 

When it comes to IQ and race they say more about the advocates than Thailand

IQ - is at best a very unreliable concept, at worst it is a false , racist. construct based on western: -preconceptions to bolster up the idea that "westerners" are more intelligent.

When it comes to racism - this is based on a false concept of the human race - tat actually has a very confined taxonomy and nowhere near becoming "different".

Before believing in race, you should understand that there is "stupid, stupider and then racist".

[Opossum]

Reading books on paper makes me feel like typing on a typewriter - very classic. Nowadays, I wouldn't conclude any intelligence in this, just a little bit old-fashioned?

[Capella]

You won't see many people reading books in the West these days either. They're all glued to their phones.

[djayz]

Vaguely remember seeing a statistic a few years back which stated that Thais read an average of one book per year. The lowest rate in Asia. 

 

[bbko]

How much truth behind this statement saying Thailand ranks 2nd in the world for reading the most books (2016)?

Edited January 12, 2022 by bbko

[spidermike007]

On 1/3/2022 at 9:21 PM, SCOTT FITZGERSLD said:

thai people are doing their readings in hiding, usually at home in their private rooms.

it is a cultural thing. unlike in the arrogant west, where people go out to cafe and bars

and read books asif to show the whole world "look i am reading a book", the humble thais

are reserving their reading to the quiet and private times they spend at hope, with or without

their families.

That sounds like a rather ridiculous and highly presumptuous assertion. Many of us do not care one iota what others think of us, and trying to impress others means less than zero to us.

 

Reading can be highly fulfilling. Whether in public or in private. I read whenever I can. Occasionally printed books, but lately most of my books are free downloads on my phone or iPad. 

[Berkshire]

22 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Many of us do not care one iota what others think of us, and trying to impress others means less than zero to us.

 

Please.  Perhaps this comment is about yourself, but certainly not most on this thread....based on the comments.  Most are outright judgemental.  Especially the OP.  He appears pretty obsessed about "what others think" and is happy to pass judgement on others with little to no evidence.  And he rarely shows up to defend himself.  This kind of behavior I find rather cowardice. 

Edited January 13, 2022 by Berkshire

[MSMU1993]

If you got off the barstool once in a while you would...."Coffee shop"  lmao....

Edited February 23, 2022 by MSMU1993

[Chomper Higgot]

On 1/7/2022 at 4:50 PM, JackGats said:

I remember a European linguist who mastered the Thai language saying that the Thai script was not at all "reading efficient". He didn't elaborate what he meant but I surmise he meant reading Thai required too much brain work. Learning Thai myself and having learnt some mandarin in the past, I wonder if mandarin is not easier to get your head around. Once you recognise a character in Mandarin its meaning and syntax in is instantaneously clear. In Thai you're always scanning back and forth figuring out what belongs to what. Could it be that the Thai are stuck with a script that discourages protracted reading of the kind implicit in the reading of books?

Roman script languages were not always presented in the format we use today, that of individual words in punctuated sentences.

 

Classical Latin, a root of very many European languages was written somewhat like modern Thai, all words in a single sentence conjoined, with no punctuation. The only punctuation used was the ‘period’, usually elevated to the centerline of the text to indicate the preceding letter is an abbreviation.

 

Latin sentences were first broken into individual words around the 6th Century CE by Irish monks. 
 

The most plausible explanation for this change is the decline in Latin as a spoken language and hence to aid reading Latin as a second language.

 

The European linguist to whom you refer was of course likewise reading Thai as a second language.

 

Edited February 23, 2022 by Chomper Higgot

[JimTripper]

There is a great bookshop on Sukhumvit between Suk 22 and Thonglor. It feels very western though, most books are in English and I think the owner is a foreigner. They served a bit of coffee, had some tables in there, bit is mostly for browsing and reading. Made me feel homesick.

 

I don't think bookshop culture has taken off in Thailand the way it has in the USA or Europe, for example.

 

I knew a lady in Chiang Mai who was into reading comic books, and even that seemed like an oddity. It always seemed very childish or immature to me, like, hey why are you not reading real books? I can understand steam punk interest in comics, but when your reading it like reading material it seems a bit odd??

 

Thai's like Spider Man a lot, not sure why. It's a pretty old character in the Usa where I come from. Would only still be popular with young children or a die hard group of fans.

 

 

Edited March 8, 2022 by JimTripper

[it is what it is]

hummm... OP; not sure where you hang out, or the type of people you hang out with. most of my thai friends read books, in fact many read novels and/or books associated with their work in english.

 

how many books do you, dear OP, read in a second language?

 

maybe open your eyes and experiences before you seek to criticise.

[impulse]

Bookstop

Borders

Crown Books

Waldenbooks

 

All bankrupt. 

 

Gotta love the guys who compare Thailand today with the "back home" they think they remember, that they left before smartphones, the modern interweb and laptop computers.

 

The same guys who ridicule Thais for their love affair with their smartphones, because they don't remember anyone from their high school glued to a smartphone.  As if they existed back in the 70's.  The same guys who forget the scandals from back home where men beat their wives, insisting that's all about Thai small man syndrome.

 

[KennethWinkels]

No need to insult OP and turn a simple observation into an ad hominem thread.

 

OP didn't say that Thais can not read, or that they don't read, simply observed that s/he hadn't seen many examples of reading in public. There could be a difference between different cultures regarding how often certain activities are engaged in publicly. For example, in Japan I did observe that it was extremely common for people to read books on public transport, typically they would be fairly small paperbacks, easy to carry and hold unobtrusively in a public place or a crowded train. I don't know whether or not this means that leisure time reading is more common in Japan than other places, or that it means anything at all, other than the pure observation that on public transport, to pass time, often times people read small handheld paperback books. It could be that Japanese read overall even less than <comparison culture>, but wind up being seen reading on trains more because commutes are long and somehow that is established as a common activity to pass the time while commuting.

 

It's possible that Thais read overall, a bit less, a bit more, a lot less, a lot more, the same, whatever, as <comparison culture>, but that whatever the degree of reading may be, typically this reading not done in a public setting. Who knows. OP just felt as though they had not observed the reading of books in public places very much.

 

This could be an incorrect observation, of course. Perhaps if someone did a scientific study of the frequency of reading books in public places it could be shown that OP's observation is incorrect. That doesn't mean it should be interpreted as an insult and lead to personal attacks on OP.  If OP is wrong about it, it's not a moral issue. Could just say, "OP, thank you for the thought, however my experience is that it is not uncommon to see Thai people reading in public places."

 

Some congeniality and common courtesy could help the forums. Would be nice if we all had, as our first instinct, kindness and acceptance rather than looking for angles/opportunities to level a personal attack on someone.

 

K

 

Edited March 9, 2022 by KennethWinkels
edit

[JimTripper]

On 3/9/2022 at 1:46 AM, KennethWinkels said:

No need to insult OP and turn a simple observation into an ad hominem thread.

 

OP didn't say that Thais can not read, or that they don't read, simply observed that s/he hadn't seen many examples of reading in public. There could be a difference between different cultures regarding how often certain activities are engaged in publicly. For example, in Japan I did observe that it was extremely common for people to read books on public transport, typically they would be fairly small paperbacks, easy to carry and hold unobtrusively in a public place or a crowded train. I don't know whether or not this means that leisure time reading is more common in Japan than other places, or that it means anything at all, other than the pure observation that on public transport, to pass time, often times people read small handheld paperback books. It could be that Japanese read overall even less than <comparison culture>, but wind up being seen reading on trains more because commutes are long and somehow that is established as a common activity to pass the time while commuting.

 

It's possible that Thais read overall, a bit less, a bit more, a lot less, a lot more, the same, whatever, as <comparison culture>, but that whatever the degree of reading may be, typically this reading not done in a public setting. Who knows. OP just felt as though they had not observed the reading of books in public places very much.

 

This could be an incorrect observation, of course. Perhaps if someone did a scientific study of the frequency of reading books in public places it could be shown that OP's observation is incorrect. That doesn't mean it should be interpreted as an insult and lead to personal attacks on OP.  If OP is wrong about it, it's not a moral issue. Could just say, "OP, thank you for the thought, however my experience is that it is not uncommon to see Thai people reading in public places."

 

Some congeniality and common courtesy could help the forums. Would be nice if we all had, as our first instinct, kindness and acceptance rather than looking for angles/opportunities to level a personal attack on someone.

 

K

 

but that would be boring. we come here for entertainment.