Understanding Isaan

[Guest]

It is apparent, in many posts, that many farang's have no idea what Isaan is? 

 

Or they have 1 idea based on where they live only.

 

Isaan is a region in Northeast Thailand composed of 20 provinces.

 

It is also Thailand's largest region.

 

When folks say they are from Isaan, it could mean the difference in night and day depending on WHERE in Isaan they actually live.

 

It could be a huge city such as Khon Kaen or Udan Thani, or it could be completely out in the sticks, 40+km from the nearest 7/11.

 

Of course there are different financial, educational, skill, etc. levels between the two.

 

The city area's have large universities, educated women, professional jobs, a middle class. No different really from Bangkok.

 

The area's out in the sticks, most folks have limited education and work manual farm jobs. Poverty is a common theme as well.

 

You cannot generalize Isaan or Isaan people unless you know where in Isaan is the people you are referencing come from.

 

The educated people in the city are completely different than the farm hands out in the sticks.

 

I suppose many folks live in Udon Thani and Khon Kaen and base their experiences on that Isaan.

 

I base my experience on being out in the sticks Isaan.

 

Out in the sticks, my support group is all family. I can converse with them, so nothing to be lonely about.

 

There is always someone willing to take a drive, go out to eat or whatever; just so happens they are all family.

 

Always a bunch of family get togethers for what ever reason

 

No other expats in site.

 

For ME, I don't miss being around them at all.

 

I have a few former colleagues/friends online, that I have known my whole life and can always catch up if any intelligent stimulus is needed.

 

However, I enjoy the peaceful easy living of being out in the country. Doing what ever I want.

 

For some, it might be boring, however, we do have the means to travel if we ever feel the need to hit the beaches in the south or the mountains up north or any other place.

 

Our part of Isaan is pretty darn boring for most folks and that is just the way I like it!

 

[DJ54]

Up here in the NE 25 clicks to 7/11 .. 70:to UDT out in the country nice and peaceful.. 90 day 

check in is an excuse to go to the big city,,  one day is enough... people are nice and no complaints 

[kimamey]

I think that applies to almost anywhere really. Even somewhere like Bangkok you won't live away from other people but there will be rich and poor.

I live in Isaan in Mahasarakham. We're only about 8 km from the centre of town so not out in the sticks but at the edge of our village so just a few houses and mainly rice fields. There is I think a farang just down the road but I've never seen him and if there are others I don't know about them.

 

[puchooay]

Lack of understanding is particularly evidenced in comments like " I the village where I live they speak Isaan" or " my wife and her family speak Isaan". 

 

Isaan is a region, not a language or dialect. There are many dialects in Isaan, all with their own names. Such as Laos ( Often incorrectly referred to as "Isaan"), Khmer, Gui, Thai Korat.........

Edited January 15, 2022 by puchooay

[bbko]

Different strokes for different folks.  If I'm ever found to be in Issan for 5 days, it means I've been dead for 2 ????, 3 is all I can take, and I've been to several areas many times visiting the wife's family, Phetabun, Sakon Nakon, Buang Khan.

[stigar]

Hmmm...how many of bargirls from Isaan..mostly!!!How many foreigners been cheated by Isaangirls..alot!!!What is the place in thailand with most foreigners married to much younger thaigirls compared to number of citicens..UDON THANI!!!etc etc

I see the topic about why Isaangirls is so good wifes.Dont rosepaint Isaan..their not better then any other.Its an old saying in thailand..MAMA ISAAN HAVE BIG GREEDY HANDS!!!!

[it is what it is]

 

generalisations about geographical areas exist in most countries; the north of england, the deep south of the usa, etc. including bangkok thais generalising about issan inhabitants...

[Guest Isaanlife]

5 hours ago, puchooay said:

Lack of understanding is particularly evidenced in comments like " I the village where I live they speak Isaan" or " my wife and her family speak Isaan". 

 

Isaan is a region, not a language or dialect. There are many dialects in Isaan, all with their own names. Such as Laos ( Often incorrectly referred to as "Isaan"), Khmer, Gui, Thai Korat.........

You must be a ball of fun at a party?

Not!

I will call it exactly what I want to, I am not in language school!

Always those thinking they are holier than though.

Running through life as the grammar police, acting all knowing, thinking their doo-doo doesn't stink.

Please, please, please don't ever spawn and move your klan to rural Isaan; where we speak Isaan! 

[Guest Isaanlife]

5 hours ago, stigar said:

Hmmm...how many of bargirls from Isaan..mostly!!!How many foreigners been cheated by Isaangirls..alot!!!What is the place in thailand with most foreigners married to much younger thaigirls compared to number of citicens..UDON THANI!!!etc etc

I see the topic about why Isaangirls is so good wifes.Dont rosepaint Isaan..their not better then any other.Its an old saying in thailand..MAMA ISAAN HAVE BIG GREEDY HANDS!!!!

How many farmers in Isaan? Do you have a figure or just guessing?

No foreigners in my village so the number married to younger women must be 1, me!

Surely Bangkok is higher than 1?

Those that live in Isaan and married to Isaan know what we are talking about and we can rose paint the truth. Unlike you probably never even visited.

No Thai is greedy. Just ask them! They will tell you they are not greedy.

Are you a Udon Thani hater? I have never lived there so I have no comment.

Out here where I live, we are completely FREE of BS'er's like you.

Please do not move to rural Isaan.

Thank you.

 

[sirineou]

We live just outside the ring road in Khon Kaen, a large city as the OP mentioned,  10-15 minute drive to Centra plaza or Hospitals , or any other big city facilities and services, yet still at a country setting. There are many advantages to such arrangements, but a few negatives also. One of them are the dogs and roosters. 

   Roosters don't only cacadoodledo, in the morning to greet the rising sun, They they cacadoddloodoo all day. 

   Dogs everywhere barking day and night. If you are a lite sleeper don't move to issan , LOL

[puchooay]

1 hour ago, Isaanlife said:

You must be a ball of fun at a party?

Not!

I will call it exactly what I want to, I am not in language school!

Always those thinking they are holier than though.

Running through life as the grammar police, acting all knowing, thinking their doo-doo doesn't stink.

Please, please, please don't ever spawn and move your klan to rural Isaan; where we speak Isaan! 

I've lived in rural Isaan for over 20 years. My wife's family have lived in rural Isaan for generations. They are Khmer speakers. That is one of the many Isaan languages.

 

I have also studied local cultures and languages. That is how I know and understand what I wrote, which is correct. To say one speaks "Isaan" is simply incorrect. 

 

Nothing to do with being holier, better or anything like that. Just being correct in the fundamentals of local languages. That is all. 

Edited January 15, 2022 by puchooay

[BritManToo]

40 minutes ago, puchooay said:

I've lived in rural Isaan for over 20 years. My wife's family have lived in rural Isaan for generations. They are Khmer speakers. That is one of the many Isaan languages.

 

I have also studied local cultures and languages. That is how I know and understand what I wrote, which is correct. To say one speaks "Isaan" is simply incorrect. 

 

Nothing to do with being holier, better or anything like that. Just being correct in the fundamentals of local languages. That is all. 

Agree,

Lots of foreigners living in Thailand that have no idea how many different languages are being spoken.

[JayClay]

38 minutes ago, puchooay said:

have also studied local cultures and languages. That is how I know and understand what I wrote, which is correct. To say one speaks "Isaan" is simply incorrect

I wonder how many speakers of these languages actually know the nuances of which you speak. 

 

My experience is limited to meeting Issan girls in bars who, upon realising that I can speak Thai reasonably well always then go on to ask me "Can you speak Issan?"[I can't]

 

I'm never asked if I can speak Khmer, Laos or any other of the dialects that you mention. Are the girls just simplifying it for me? Or do they not even know what language they speak? Or are these dialects in reality so close together that it's easier to lump them together as "Issan"?

 

I, for example would rarely say that somebody speaks scouse or mancunian... I'd just normally say that they speak "Nothern English". Or probably just that they have a northern accent.

 

 

[BritManToo]

22 minutes ago, JayClay said:

I'm never asked if I can speak Khmer, Laos or any other of the dialects that you mention. Are the girls just simplifying it for me? Or do they not even know what language they speak? Or are these dialects in reality so close together that it's easier to lump them together as "Issan"?

I was once trying to talk with a girl in Central Thai.

She turned to me and said, "I'm Akha, I only speak English and Akha"

Apparently there are 40 different languages used in Thailand.

 

My Mil speaks a Thai Laos village variant, it's so different that when she comes to stay only 2-3 old folk in our village can chat with her (out of 250 households).

[Denim]

23 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

I was once trying to talk with a girl in Central Thai.

She turned to me and said, "I'm Akha, I only speak English and Akha"

Something similar happened to me when I was a courier in the Uk.

 

Delivering in Cardiff I stopped to ask and asian man for directions.

 

He replied.  ' I'm from Nepal , I only speak Nepalese and Welsh.'

 

Talking of Isaan , whenever someone asks about your linguistic abilities it is always 

' wow lao pen bo ' ....no mention by them of Isaan.

[Guest Isaanlife]

20 minutes ago, Denim said:

Something similar happened to me when I was a courier in the Uk.

 

Delivering in Cardiff I stopped to ask and asian man for directions.

 

He replied.  ' I'm from Nepal , I only speak Nepalese and Welsh.'

 

Talking of Isaan , whenever someone asks about your linguistic abilities it is always 

' wow lao pen bo ' ....no mention by them of Isaan.

 

In that sentence Lao can mean Laos or Isaan.

 

In my area people ask that meaning can you speak Isaan because that is where they are and I am.

 

No definitive meaning.

[Hummin]

You go to one state in USA, and believe you know America and Americans! You go to one city or village in Isan, and believe you know Isan and Isan people. Same same. 

 

It is like seeing an american High School movie, and believe it is like that when you read Private Dancer!

 

and of course all bar mongers is like the characters described there, we all know they are so raw and brutal without any compassion. Just exploit girs and trow money at them!

[OneMoreFarang]

27 minutes ago, Hummin said:

it is like that when you read Private Dancer!

 

and of course all bar mongers is like the characters described there, we all know they are so raw and brutal without any compassion.

Come on, Private Dancer is the best non-fiction book about life in Thailand.

And there are lots of characters in that book. You can identify with anyone you like and I am sure we all recognize people who we know in some of those characters.

[Hummin]

5 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Come on, Private Dancer is the best non-fiction book about life in Thailand.

And there are lots of characters in that book. You can identify with anyone you like and I am sure we all recognize people who we know in some of those characters.

One bad brutal one, and one naive stupid one driven by to much guilt and feelings is the characters I remember, but to be true it must be 15 years years since I read it. 

 

Reading stickman did something to most after following that page for a few months, and read through the history section as well. Well it took me some experience and time to figure out, it was not really like that if you did not put your nose in the the worst bars and lived a bar life. 

 

I have lived between bar girls and other service workers as lady boys and girls who where sponsored and waiting for their bf´s coming back to Patong. It was a life experience I would not been without. Translated e-mails, wrote e-mails and helped out as a middle man when it got to difficult, and learned quick to keep my opionion to myself, and in most cases have more emphaty with the girls than the men being exploited. But have to say in my experience, the explotations is equal, but it is mostly the good ones who get burned and hurt.

 

Anyway, as said a life ecperience and I have to say most of the bar girls was more good than bad. At least my experience. 

 

I never met any characters like Joy, but I met many Pete Wanders. 

[stigar]

5 hours ago, Isaanlife said:

How many farmers in Isaan? Do you have a figure or just guessing?

No foreigners in my village so the number married to younger women must be 1, me!

Surely Bangkok is higher than 1?

Those that live in Isaan and married to Isaan know what we are talking about and we can rose paint the truth. Unlike you probably never even visited.

No Thai is greedy. Just ask them! They will tell you they are not greedy.

Are you a Udon Thani hater? I have never lived there so I have no comment.

Out here where I live, we are completely FREE of BS'er's like you.

Please do not move to rural Isaan.

Thank you.

 

I been living in Isaan for many years before.I been visit many places there.Im not a Udon hater.

Im just pointing whats a fact.Of course not all is bad or good like everywhere else,but to say Isaan girls is better then others is not true.

[Fat is a type of crazy]

5 hours ago, sirineou said:

 

   Roosters don't only cacadoodledo, in the morning to greet the rising sun, They they cacadoddloodoo all day. 

   Dogs everywhere barking day and night. If you are a lite sleeper don't move to issan , LOL

You have mentioned this before. To me it would be at the top of my list as reasons to move. Sometimes, if it doesn't seem to bother other people, you put up with it but I would want to get out of there fast. 

Edited January 16, 2022 by Fat is a type of crazy

[OneMoreFarang]

1 hour ago, Hummin said:

One bad brutal one, and one naive stupid one driven by to much guilt and feelings is the characters I remember, but to be true it must be 15 years years since I read it. 

 

Reading stickman did something to most after following that page for a few months, and read through the history section as well. Well it took me some experience and time to figure out, it was not really like that if you did not put your nose in the the worst bars and lived a bar life. 

 

I have lived between bar girls and other service workers as lady boys and girls who where sponsored and waiting for their bf´s coming back to Patong. It was a life experience I would not been without. Translated e-mails, wrote e-mails and helped out as a middle man when it got to difficult, and learned quick to keep my opionion to myself, and in most cases have more emphaty with the girls than the men being exploited. But have to say in my experience, the explotations is equal, but it is mostly the good ones who get burned and hurt.

 

Anyway, as said a life ecperience and I have to say most of the bar girls was more good than bad. At least my experience. 

 

I never met any characters like Joy, but I met many Pete Wanders. 

Over the years I read Private Dancer a few times, I still enjoy it.

I remember when I read it the first time there was a chapter which played in the back office from the bar where Joy worked. I remember that office from real life. It was in the back of Voodoo in Nana and the guy who worked there in real was described in the book. I was there once inquiring about my favorite girl from that time so I could emphasize with Pete from the book.

 

 

Edited January 16, 2022 by OneMoreFarang

[Hummin]

2 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Over the years I read Private Dancer a few times, I still enjoy it.

I remember when I read it the first time there was a chapter which played in the back office from the bar where Joy worked. I remember that office from real life. It was in the back of Voodoo in Nana and the guy who worked there in real was described in the book. I was there once inquiring about my favorite girl from that time so I could emphasize with Pete from the book.

 

 

I might need to refresh my memory, and see what I think today.

 

The best thing with my Patong experience, I never got involved with any of the girls in the building complex, just friends and my body guards. No matter how drunk I was, they always brought me safe home. 

[KhunLA]

Lived in Isan (Udon ThanI) for 16 yrs, mostly 'in the sticks' although with most of Thailand, that only takes about 5 minutes of driving from the Amphur Muang town center.  Maybe 10 province it will take 15+ mins ????  Unless living in Krung Thep.

 

For language, it's a 'broken' dialect now, as separated by borders.  UT for example, they speak Isan or 'broken' Lao dialect from days past.   When I use to do border runs, pop over to Vientiane, and we'd be in a tuk tuk around town, I'd ask the wife what are they saying, and she could only piece it together, barely.   Their Thai was better than her 'Lao'  and why I say it's a 'broken' dialect of days past.

 

It can be boring as all hell, even the landscape, unless living on the edge of the plateau, then quite nice, as you'll get rolling hills, cliffs, or the river.  Once on the plateau, and away from that, well, 'shoot me now'.

 

OK, wet season is lovely, rice fields or whatever else, but after harvest, it's dry, hard, dusty, and air polluted with the burning.

 

I'm really good at self entertaining, but Udon Thani, living less than 30 minutes away from downtown, it was challenge, and considering that's one of the largest towns in Thailand, boring as all hell after couple years, unless you're a alky or need the companionship of other farangs.  And personally couldn't wait to leave.  Although looking at my 'living location' history, I tend to get bored of, everywhere after 5 yrs, and move on.  Not much keeps my interest after I've explored everything within 100 kms radius of the house.

 

Probably why we're out & about so much, unless something going on locally.

 

Where ever you are ... ENJOY.

[sirineou]

35 minutes ago, Fat is a type of crazy said:

You have mentioned this before. To me it would be at the top of my list as reasons to move. Sometimes, if it doesn't seem to bother other people, you put up with it but I would want to get out of there fast. 

I have soundproofed the bedroom. so no problem sleeping and was able to persuade the neighbor to get rid of his rooster. I found the most annoying bouzouki music  I could find on Youtoube  ( extremes bouzouki ) and played on a loop   all day loud, after a week of it the neighbored was happy to come to an understanding. LOL

April we are going to Greece to explore options. I qualify for a Greek passport . so no more visa extensions, and I can buy into the Greek national health system. . We will still keep the Thai home and do winters here.

 

 

Edited January 16, 2022 by sirineou

[Hummin]

1 minute ago, sirineou said:

I have soundproofed the bedroom. so no problem sleeping and was able to persuade the neighbor to get rid of his rooster. I found the most annoying bouzouki music  I could find on Youtoube  ( extremes bouzouki ) and played on a loop  it all day loud, after a week of it the neighbored was happy to come to an understanding. LOL

April we are going to Greece to explore options. I qualify for a Greek passport . so no more visa extensions, and I can buy into the Greek national health system. . Ee will still keep the Thai home and do winters here.

 

 

Well, a single muslim coming to mind,  trying to make village people back home trying to understanding his needs. Well done, Im sure you are popular. 

 

Anyway, it can be your experience when Turkey invade Greek again. 

[sirineou]

4 minutes ago, Hummin said:

Well, a single muslim coming to mind,  trying to make village people back home trying to understanding his needs. Well done, Im sure you are popular. 

 

Anyway, it can be your experience when Turkey invade Greek again. 

I am very popular with all the neighbors, they really did not like the rooster guy. We all had a big laugh over the bouzouki music, The rooster guy will come around in time , I am actually a very nice guy. 

[Hummin]

2 minutes ago, sirineou said:

I am very popular with all the neighbors, they really did not like the rooster guy. We all had a big laugh over the bouzouki music, The rooster guy will come around in time , I am actually a very nice guy. 

That what we all think we are, and I hope it is true ????????????

 

I have to admit, I have stepped on some toes, and not choosed the popular route always, and sometimes the middle road is better, and occasionally just sit still and hope it will pass. 

 

Now, I cant botter anymore, it is what it is, and I moved away from the village and closer to the jungle. But, when one go, other see, and do as well. Still 300m to closest neighbour

Edited January 16, 2022 by Hummin

[Guest Isaanlife]

3 hours ago, Hummin said:

You go to one state in USA, and believe you know America and Americans! You go to one city or village in Isan, and believe you know Isan and Isan people. Same same. 

 

It is like seeing an american High School movie, and believe it is like that when you read Private Dancer!

 

and of course all bar mongers is like the characters described there, we all know they are so raw and brutal without any compassion. Just exploit girs and trow money at them!

Do you actually think Udon Thani is the same as rural Thailand as previously shown?

[Hummin]

7 minutes ago, Isaanlife said:

Do you actually think Udon Thani is the same as rural Thailand as previously shown?

I do not think, I know Udon Thani is not Like any other place, village or city in Isan!