Page turners: Survey reveals shift in Thai reading habits

[webfact]

 

A recent survey by the Publishers and Booksellers Association of Thailand (PUBAT) and Chulalongkorn University revealed that Thai people spend nearly two hours per day reading, contradicting the long-held belief that Thais read less than eight lines of text a year.

 

Despite widespread belief, there is no solid evidence to support the notion that Thai residents rarely read books and even read less than eight lines of text per year. However, this misconception has persisted within Thai society for years and has been brought up multiple times in discussions on education in Thailand.

 

Previous surveys attempted to debunk this myth and the latest study by PUBAT and Chulalongkorn University further confirms the increasing reading habits among Thai people.

PUBAT Secretary Theeranai Sotthipintha reported on April 8 that PUBAT and Chulalongkorn University surveyed Thai reading habits and book purchasing behaviours in 2024. The survey was conducted in February with 2,550 participants aged between 12 and 50 years old.

Theeranai clarified that the survey found Thai people spend 113 minutes, or nearly two hours, reading each day, with 45% of respondents reading daily.

 

The survey also highlighted reading preferences among different age groups. Those aged 12-19 primarily read textbooks and exam guides, while those in the 30-39 and 40-49 age favoured self-improvement books, and people over 50 tended to read books related to health,

 

Printed books remained the preferred format, although e-books were favoured by those over 50 due to the ability to adjust text size.

 

In addition, the recent 12-day Thai Book Fair, which concluded on April 8, saw 1.3 million Thai and foreign visitors, marking a 10% increase from the previous year. The fair generated sales exceeding 400 million baht.

 

PUBAT President Suwit Rungwattanapaibun noted that this was the 52nd book fair in Thailand and the largest in ASEAN.

 

He expressed plans to expand the fair to other areas in response to its continuous growth, predicting that its success would significantly boost the Thai book market’s value to 1.7 billion baht this year.

 

by Petch Petpailin

Photo via Facebook/ Thai Book Fair

 

Source: The Thaiger 2024-04-12

 

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[ezzra]

Thai people and reading books, here an oxymoron for you if i ever heard of one...

[dinsdale]

[mikebell]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

the increasing reading habits among Thai people.

FACE book.

[bkk6060]

They certainly don't seem to know much about current events or world history.

[mudcat]

I have always maintained that the reading material that Thai people are most interested in are menus.

[MarkBR]

The OH reads a Buddhist astrology book

[mfd101]

And then there are millions of mostly older Thais who have never read (or written) a single word in their lives (I live amongst them).

 

And there are those - like one of my SILs - who can read fluently and has 'been to university' but there's not a single book in her little house. But of course her 2 children have mobile phones to which they are glued 24/7.

[BritManToo]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Despite widespread belief, there is no solid evidence to support the notion that Thai residents rarely read books and even read less than eight lines of text

I've never seen a Thai reading a book!

[bob smith]

all I ever see them do is playing phone.

 

I haven’t seen a Thai sat reading a book for years.

 

much love!

BOB.

[mfd101]

I always visit one or other of the Kinokuniyas when I'm in BKK and there are always Thais browsing there. But that's scarcely representative of the broader Thai population.

[herfiehandbag]

2 minutes ago, mfd101 said:

I always visit one or other of the Kinokuniyas when I'm in BKK and there are always Thais browsing there. But that's scarcely representative of the broader Thai population.

There always seem to be plenty of Thais browsing in bookshops - mostly judging by dress the more middle class.

 

But then, compared to the UK, how many British people regularly read books? Probably a very small number.

I read a lot, always have done so. I buy second hand books off the internet and have them shipped to Thailand. But I must confess I am the only falang I know who does so!

[StayinThailand2much]

So the survey found out that, thanks to students reading their assigned textbooks, reading "on average" isn't doing so badly... That's like saying each New Zealander has 5 sheep and 2 cows grazing at home in the front-yard, or that each and every Thai has bank deposits of 255,000 baht (all deposits divided by 70 million)...

[zyphodb]

9 minutes ago, herfiehandbag said:

There always seem to be plenty of Thais browsing in bookshops - mostly judging by dress the more middle class.

 

But then, compared to the UK, how many British people regularly read books? Probably a very small number.

I read a lot, always have done so. I buy second hand books off the internet and have them shipped to Thailand. But I must confess I am the only falang I know who does so!

 

I'm sure a lot of us expats read a lot, but I think that most of us have transitioned to digital books and readers these days. much easier in Thailand...

[mfd101]

38 minutes ago, herfiehandbag said:

There always seem to be plenty of Thais browsing in bookshops - mostly judging by dress the more middle class.

 

But then, compared to the UK, how many British people regularly read books? Probably a very small number.

I read a lot, always have done so. I buy second hand books off the internet and have them shipped to Thailand. But I must confess I am the only falang I know who does so!

I mostly just buy Kindles these days (unless in Bangers).

[petedk]

Uhm I know a Thai girl who studies at an international school where they have to read a lot of text books and novels in English. The students receive them as PDFs and this particular girl immediately uses Google translate. She never reads the novels , but only downloads summaries from the Internet and somehow manages to pass all her exams.

 

So I guess her statistics show that she reads 12 - 15 books each semester, where in fact she only skims the downloaded summaries.

 

To be fair though, I have noticed that 1 or 2 (not more) students at university read books, whereas 20 years ago that number would have been 0.

[watthong]

44 minutes ago, mfd101 said:

I always visit one or other of the Kinokuniyas when I'm in BKK and there are always Thais browsing there. But that's scarcely representative of the broader Thai population.

I'm sure some of the university educated Thais would love to have access to English books too - places to browse, affordable prices -  but here is the reality on the ground:

 

The one Kinokuniyas in Siam square has reduced its English-language stock considerably, making room for, you guess right, Chinese-language materials. I no longer go there.

Asia Books are now mostly children toy/stationary stores.

The Annual BKK Book Fair (see photo) as far as English-language books go, have 99 per cent junk, the kind you'll find in US charity shops.

 

(And yes, I have to ship over loads of second hand books also. Heavy shipping charges, but  I don't read books on tablets. There's nothing like the feel of a good paperback in one's hands.)

[mfd101]

31 minutes ago, watthong said:

The one Kinokuniyas in Siam square has reduced its English-language stock considerably

Yes, I have noticed that over the last 2 or 3 years.

[Tropicalevo]

44 minutes ago, watthong said:

(And yes, I have to ship over loads of second hand books also. Heavy shipping charges, but  I don't read books on tablets. There's nothing like the feel of a good paperback in one's hands.)

I used to have the same thoughts but a friend bought me a Kindle.

Now I read both the Kindle and books.

Problem is, when I press on the word in a book, I do not see the dictionary definition.

I do love that on the Kindle and they take up much less space in my bag when travelling. 100's of books for reading 'on the go'.

Tablets - the 'print' quality is not so good.

[watthong]

11 minutes ago, mfd101 said:

Yes, I have noticed that over the last 2 or 3 years.

 My recommendation is Dasa Books (used books) near Prom Pong BTS. Impressive inventory even carries Spanish books. Friendly prices. They update their inventory database daily on their website. The idea is you call them ahead of time f you see something you want, then ask them to hold it for you.  If that works (I have never tried) it would be great for out of town visitors. Oh, they also buy back books.

[mfd101]

15 minutes ago, watthong said:

 My recommendation is Dasa Books (used books) near Prom Pong BTS. Impressive inventory even carries Spanish books. Friendly prices. They update their inventory database daily on their website. The idea is you call them ahead of time f you see something you want, then ask them to hold it for you.  If that works (I have never tried) it would be great for out of town visitors. Oh, they also buy back books.

Thanks. I've made a note & will try it out. (I'm trying teaching myself Spanish - reading only - by having both the Eng & the Sp versions of Spanish novels to read together eg Pérez-Reverte)

[BritManToo]

1 hour ago, herfiehandbag said:

I read a lot, always have done so. I buy second hand books off the internet and have them shipped to Thailand. But I must confess I am the only falang I know who does so!

That's because the rest of us have ereaders and download every book free from Z library.

[watthong]

2 hours ago, herfiehandbag said:

I buy second hand books off the internet and have them shipped to Thailand. But I must confess I am the only falang I know who does so!

 

You're not alone. Same here:  I have to ship over loads of second hand books also. Heavy shipping charges, but  I don't read books on tablets. There's nothing like the feel of a good paperback in one's hands, or a slab of a coffeetable book that weighs 8lbs. 

Btw, if you're in BKK check out my Dasa Books recommendation earlier.

[hotchilli]

9 hours ago, webfact said:

A recent survey by the Publishers and Booksellers Association of Thailand (PUBAT) and Chulalongkorn University revealed that Thai people spend nearly two hours per day reading, contradicting the long-held belief that Thais read less than eight lines of text a year.

 

[eumenades]

20 hours ago, watthong said:

 My recommendation is Dasa Books (used books) near Prom Pong BTS. Impressive inventory even carries Spanish books. Friendly prices. They update their inventory database daily on their website. The idea is you call them ahead of time f you see something you want, then ask them to hold it for you.  If that works (I have never tried) it would be great for out of town visitors. Oh, they also buy back books.

 

Yes. Dasa is terrific and a major source for much of my reading.

[eumenades]

23 hours ago, bkk6060 said:

They certainly don't seem to know much about current events or world history.

 

Yes. I worry about this quite often. Putin could press the button and many would not know why. I spend a lot of time explaining world history to my wife, but i sometimes think it just does not interest her. And so, I turn to the historical movies.

[watthong]

5 hours ago, eumenades said:

I spend a lot of time explaining world history to my wife, but i sometimes think it just does not interest her. And so, I turn to the historical movies.

 

World history interests my Thai partner mightily... However, when it comes to watching "historical movies" - most of these depicting wars - there's still a lot of hitting the pause button to explain things to him. Thais have no idea whatsoever what living in war time might entail (curfew, food ration, checkpoints, bomb raid bunkers, etc.) And so I turn to the shark-attack movies...

[eumenades]

On 4/12/2024 at 4:54 AM, ezzra said:

Thai people and reading books, here an oxymoron for you if i ever heard of one...

 

Anyone visiting Kino can see dozens of Thais browsing well-informed titles. It might be their only chance to get to know 'non-wonderful' history. Incidentally, sales of Orwell's 1984 skyrocketed in Russia, post-prohibition, and many are saying it could contribute to Putin's downfall. Here's hoping!

[BangkokReady]

On 4/12/2024 at 4:34 AM, webfact said:

Theeranai clarified that the survey found Thai people spend 113 minutes, or nearly two hours, reading each day, with 45% of respondents reading daily.

 

The survey also highlighted reading preferences among different age groups. Those aged 12-19 primarily read textbooks and exam guides, while those in the 30-39 and 40-49 age favoured self-improvement books, and people over 50 tended to read books related to health,

 

Should students reading textbooks really be included?  Is it self-reported?  "I spend ten hours a day reading textbooks for school/university" seems like it doesn't really reflect "Thai reading habits", since they have to read those books, and might not really be giving them a thorough read or spending the whole time reading.

 

You could have five people, one of whom is a student, and four might do no reading at all, but it averages out at each reading for two hours a day.  Including students skews the figures massively.  I'd like to see the same stats but without a group whose job is basically to read textbooks all day.

[Goat]

On 4/12/2024 at 8:27 AM, BritManToo said:

I've never seen a Thai reading a book!

Obviously you have never been to a book shop in Thailand. They lounge around in the isles reading books for free.