Mixed Race Thai People

[Teacher Robert]

First off, I told my daughter, who is Thai American, age 8, that she is NOT half anything, she is DOUBLE! The luk krueng label is thoughtless at best and possibly demeaning. The pensive look on my daughter's face when she heard this made me realize just what a big conceptual realignment that framing the situation this way made for her self-image. Secondly, we are in the process of getting ready to go back to California and we will definitely be bringing books on Thai language to continue teaching her in her mother tongue. My wife and I have backgrounds in linguistics and language education and there is zero reason to pause Thai in favor of English. Sorry to gainsay my Canadian compatriot (I'm half Canadian and hold dual citizenship myself. NB the nomenclature "dual") but kids are innate linguists and if exposed to a language any time before puberty they can become fluent without an accent so there's no need to "pause" your child's education while abroad, for any other parents looking for advice here.  My wife and I are already packing Thai instructional materials specifically so our kiddo won't fall behind while we are in the states. Would you advise an ambidextrous athlete to only exercise with one arm or another in the hopes of conferring some hypothetical future advantage in a game they might play?

Like anywhere, Thailand has opportunities and pitfalls and being Thai culturally and linguistically is the best way to avoid the pitfalls and capitalize on the advantages. Tell your kids they're double, not half, and watch them wrap their heads around that. 

[richard_smith237]

4 hours ago, bignok said:

I ate buffalo the other day.

Isn't that called autosarcophagy ???  

[LaosLover]

I thought "I ate Buffalo" was a euphemism for being bi.

[Hanaguma]

7 hours ago, Teacher Robert said:

First off, I told my daughter, who is Thai American, age 8, that she is NOT half anything, she is DOUBLE! The luk krueng label is thoughtless at best and possibly demeaning. The pensive look on my daughter's face when she heard this made me realize just what a big conceptual realignment that framing the situation this way made for her self-image. Secondly, we are in the process of getting ready to go back to California and we will definitely be bringing books on Thai language to continue teaching her in her mother tongue. My wife and I have backgrounds in linguistics and language education and there is zero reason to pause Thai in favor of English. Sorry to gainsay my Canadian compatriot (I'm half Canadian and hold dual citizenship myself. NB the nomenclature "dual") but kids are innate linguists and if exposed to a language any time before puberty they can become fluent without an accent so there's no need to "pause" your child's education while abroad, for any other parents looking for advice here.  My wife and I are already packing Thai instructional materials specifically so our kiddo won't fall behind while we are in the states. Would you advise an ambidextrous athlete to only exercise with one arm or another in the hopes of conferring some hypothetical future advantage in a game they might play?

Like anywhere, Thailand has opportunities and pitfalls and being Thai culturally and linguistically is the best way to avoid the pitfalls and capitalize on the advantages. Tell your kids they're double, not half, and watch them wrap their heads around that. 

My son was in a similar situation.  He was born in Canada but we moved to Japan when he was 3 (my wife is Japanese).

 

We followed the 'MLaH' approach to language- speaking the Minority Language at  Home (in our case,  English). It worked out well because he got enough Japanese language support at school,  with friends,  etc. And English at home from his parents.  

 

Oh, and he calls himself a "hybrid ", not half or double. A hybrid has 2 systems  (like a hybrid car), and deploys the best one depending on the situation. 

[bignok]

5 hours ago, LaosLover said:

I thought "I ate Buffalo" was a euphemism for being bi.

They sold buffalo at a bus station. Tasted like beef jerky. They didnt say whether the beast was straight or not.

[bignok]

6 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

Isn't that called autosarcophagy ???  

I don't know. What do you eat? Lentils and zero alcohol beer I guess.

[richard_smith237]

1 hour ago, bignok said:

7 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

Isn't that called autosarcophagy ???  

I don't know. What do you eat? Lentils and zero alcohol beer I guess.

Its of no surprise at all that you didn't get it...   

[bignok]

1 minute ago, richard_smith237 said:

Its of no surprise at all that you didn't get it...   

Get what? That you are very pompous? Already knew. You are insecure so you try to make yourself feel better by getting on your high horse.

[richard_smith237]

3 minutes ago, bignok said:

7 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

Its of no surprise at all that you didn't get it...   

Get what? That you are very pompous? Already knew. You are insecure so you try to make yourself feel better by getting on your high horse.

Yup.. you are no way near clever enough to understand the comment... 

 

Buffalo is indeed quite apt.

 

Keep on going trying to get a rise out of everyone... you're one of the most entertaining fools on this forum... 'in a laugh at and shake your head at the stupidity' kind of way !!!...  

 

 

[Happy Howard]

My wife (Thai) & I  ( Australian) have two sons, neither look Thai. Our eldest, 9 yo, attends Maryvit School in Pattaya & has not trouble with other children at school.

Many Thai people want touch our 2 you when we go out, supposedly for good luck.

[GinBoy2]

On 9/11/2023 at 7:24 PM, nikmar said:

no idea really. After he s 18 he can make his own decisions, my job is to support him the best I can. He could also hate it. the one toime ive taken him to the uK, I made sure to show him the bad as well. Life in a bedsit in a northern english winter will be no fun for him.

My son was born in Singapore, but we moved to Thailand as he entered middle school.

 

He didn't have the best of experiences in Thai high school, and he was pretty insistent that as soon as he could he was flexing his US passport, and high tailed it to college in the US as soon as he could.

 

He knew what he was getting into, unlike a lot of Luk Keungs, he's visited his Grandparents in California almost every summer since he was a small boy.

 

He ended up going to Chicago he's Mom's alma mater and never looked back.

 

Ended up following my eldest daughter after graduation to live in Denver.

 

I knew the game was up, when he told Mom there was no way he was coming back to Thailand, and of course Momma Bear was gonna follow her boy.

 

I think as a kinda 'exotic' looking young man he seemed to do pretty well with the ladies, and eventually he's now married, to my delight with a wonderful latina wife and now grandchild.

 

Not sure how it would have worked out for him if he had stayed in Thailand, but I think his options expanded when he moved to the US

[KannikaP]

On 9/12/2023 at 10:10 AM, stoner said:

he also speaks english with no accent. something very valuable here.

Does he not have a Canadian accent?

[GinBoy2]

18 minutes ago, KannikaP said:

Does he not have a Canadian accent?

My wife grew up in Chicago as a teenager, I'm a Californian.

 

Our son definitely channels Mom

 

Can't wean him off 'Pop' to 'Soda'

[stoner]

43 minutes ago, KannikaP said:

Does he not have a Canadian accent?

somewhat yes. i meant compared to other thai who learn english here they always have that thai english accent.