Thais reading what in 2022

[webfact]

 

Thais do read and they read a lot according to data collected by Thailand Knowledge Park (TK Park), so let’s erase that old belief that Thais read just eight lines per year once and for all.

 

The TK Park library at CentralWorld has just revealed the news that its members have set a new record in books borrowed in 2022, both print and online, averaging 2,908 titles at any one time or over one million books in total.

 

Interestingly, all books have been borrowed at least once and the highest record was 1,644 times for one book. TK Park Online Library also boasts more than 16,000 e-books, magazines, and audiobooks, all in Thai from leading publishing houses. It’s great value too with members paying a fee of just 100-200 baht, meaning that it costs 2-4 baht to read one book if the member borrows 50 books a year. Given the economic hard times of today, that’s a real bargain and also exemplifies the circular economy. It’s friendly to the environment too.

 

Thais still read “a lot”

 

Although it seems that Thai people spend a great deal of time on social media, they do also read. The latest survey carried out by the National Statistics Office and TK Park revealed that Thais spend around 80 minutes per day reading, mostly electronically, online media that include e-books, e-magazines, articles from online platforms and websites.

 

Full story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/thais-reading-what-in-2022/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2022-12-28

 

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[ezzra]

Thai read? this is an oxymoron, yet to see a Thai person sits somewhere and reads other than their electronic equipment, and i have been here for long, long time now...

[anterian]

Thais may read but what is the quality of the content, I don't count reading k-pop magazines as being meaningful literature. 

[Gaccha]

The only non-electronic reading I see are class texts, work documents, manga and biographies of revered Thai monks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jacko45k]

3 hours ago, ezzra said:

Thai read? this is an oxymoron, yet to see a Thai person sits somewhere and reads other than their electronic equipment, and i have been here for long, long time now...

Strangely enough my Mrs does, as does her 85 year old mother.. real books, with writing not pictures! Member of a local library.

[BangkokReady]

9 hours ago, webfact said:

so let’s erase that old belief that Thais read just eight lines per year once and for all

You'll need to provide a little more than the statistics from members of a library to do that.

 

"Thai people who are members of a library like to read a lot" does not mean much for Thailand overall.  What percentage of Thais are members of a library?

[StayinThailand2much]

15 hours ago, ezzra said:

Thai read? this is an oxymoron, yet to see a Thai person sits somewhere and reads other than their electronic equipment, and i have been here for long, long time now...

Years ago it used to be (the speech bubbles) in comic books. Nowadays probably more like posts on Twitter, FB, and Line...

[mikebell]

My GF can't even keep up with the Thai subtitles when watching a movie.

[stupidfarang]

"Over one million books" and the population of Thailand is around 70million? Not a good percentage, also it would have been interesting to know what the titles of the top 20 books were.

[lujanit]

22 hours ago, ezzra said:

Thai read? this is an oxymoron, yet to see a Thai person sits somewhere and reads other than their electronic equipment, and i have been here for long, long time now...

Impact had a book fair several years ago and we went during the week.  It was packed to the rafters.  What really surprised me was the number of people in the English books room with seemingly everyone buying multiple books.

[Nsp64]

7 hours ago, mikebell said:

My GF can't even keep up with the Thai subtitles when watching a movie.

Think about what you just said there !

 

[Neeranam]

On 12/28/2022 at 10:21 AM, webfact said:

Although it seems that Thai people spend a great deal of time on social media, they do also read.

I think you could forget the Thai here, all people. 

[Neeranam]

On 12/28/2022 at 11:28 AM, ezzra said:

Thai read? this is an oxymoron, yet to see a Thai person sits somewhere and reads other than their electronic equipment, and i have been here for long, long time now...

This highlights the social class of the Thais you hang out with. 

 

Go down the RBSC and you'll see many reading, there's even a reading room there. 

[zzaa09]

6 hours ago, lujanit said:

Impact had a book fair several years ago and we went during the week.  It was packed to the rafters.  What really surprised me was the number of people in the English books room with seemingly everyone buying multiple books.

Shouldn't come to any surprise for some that numerous book fairs are packed in attendance - an example might be the annual [week long] Bangkok Book Fair sponsors by PUBAT, in which a wide variety of Thai publishers are promoting their wares and the daily crowds are wall-to-wall. Suspending the stereotypical ideals of Thais and their reading proclivities. 

 

I suspect that most outside observers have extremely limited exposure and experience as such applies to the generalizations regarding Thais acuity of reading whatever. 

[BangkokReady]

1 hour ago, Neeranam said:

I think you could forget the Thai here, all people. 

Whataboutism.

 

1 hour ago, Neeranam said:

This highlights the social class of the Thais you hang out with. 

Ad-hom.

 

1 hour ago, Neeranam said:

Go down the RBSC and you'll see many reading, there's even a reading room there. 

What is RBSC?  Royal Bangkok Sports Club comes up when I Google the initialism with "Thailand".

 

What would that even prove?  That a few very wealthy high-class Thai people read?  That actually supports the comment you are trying to disagree with, rather than disputing it.

 

When people generalise about "Thai people", they aren't thinking of the hiso minority.  Hence they are always labelled as such when they are the topic of discussion.

[djayz]

Although I don't believe a single word of these "facts", I have to admit that there used to be one very old, rather Chinese looking, woman in our village who sat out side everyday reading a paperback. Don't know the language, but it was endearing to see somebody reading. Unfortunately, she has passed away, but I did enjoy seeing her sit at the front of her house.

I used to be an avid reader in my younger days, but for the life of me I don't know why I lost interest in reading as I got older. Time restraints, perhaps? 

[Neeranam]

26 minutes ago, BangkokReady said:

Whataboutism.

?

 

It seems that many have found a new word when they can't refute what has been said. 

[Neeranam]

1 minute ago, djayz said:

Don't know the language

Which country was it in?

[BangkokReady]

8 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

?

It's been around for a while.  You can look it up if you aren't aware of its meaning.

 

8 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

It seems that many have found a new word when they can't refute what has been said.

Quite the opposite.  As I said, look it up.

[Neeranam]

2 minutes ago, BangkokReady said:

It's been around for a while.  You can look it up if you aren't aware of its meaning.

 

Quite the opposite.  As I said, look it up.

What has this word got to do with what I quoted?

 

[zzaa09]

47 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

?

 

It seems that many have found a new word when they can't refute what has been said. 

Or usually blinded by by deeper cultural centrism. Sure is the case here...

[mikebell]

15 hours ago, Nsp64 said:

Think about what you just said there !

 

I have thought about what you said.  I am bemused.

[jacko45k]

14 hours ago, BangkokReady said:

What is RBSC?  Royal Bangkok Sports Club comes up when I Google the initialism with "Thailand".

I thought it was a bank in the UK and was wondering why it was full of Thais reading books!

[herfiehandbag]

15 hours ago, zzaa09 said:

I suspect that most outside observers have extremely limited exposure and experience as such applies to the generalizations regarding Thais acuity of reading whatever. 

Jolly impressive collection of long words. What does it mean?

[djayz]

18 hours ago, Neeranam said:

Which country was it in?

Thailand. Why, what difference does that make? I live in Thailand, but read in English and German only. My partner, who also lives here, is Thai and she reads in Thai and English. My partner's brother in law is Thai, but he only reads English language literature.