Opinion Russian Teacher to Thais: Drop ‘Farang’ if 'Ni Hao' Offends

[Hakuna Matata]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

A Russian language teacher in Thailand has sparked debate with his call for Thais to reconsider using the word “farang” for foreigners

 

Oh, those silly young Russians!

 

 

[Cameroni]

6 minutes ago, ThailandGuy said:

It depends on the intonation how they pronounce "

 

Actually it depends on whom they are speaking with.

 

If to a French person, obviously it is spot on and they can't complain, the Franks were the original French after all.

 

if  to a person from the North European countries it could potentially be taken as insulting, as they are from one of the superior northern countries.

 

If to an East European, obviously it is a huge compliment., same with Albanians, Greeks, and the Latin countries.

 

If to a British person, obviously it's highly offensive.

 

If to an American, it doesn't really matter because they wouldn't understand it most likely anyway.

 

We need to be more sensitive to the underlying issues when interpreting whether an offensive insult did or did not take place.

[kuzmabruk]

6 hours ago, BangkokReady said:

 

Quite.  It isn't inherently racist, but if you called a Thai friend who you knew well and whose name you knew "Asian guy", it would instantly be offensive.

 

It's referring to someone you know as " the foreigner", or using it in a negative way, i.e. suggesting that foreigners are bad, that is clearly racist.

 

If someone said "I saw a farang in the town today, he was very tall", I don't think anyone would have an issue with it.  If your father in law, who you have known for years, says to your wife, "What is that farang doing today", it is obviously offensive.

Get a nickname and you will have no problem.  I got one in 1997 and have never been called farang by anyone I know. 

[dontlikeit]

I have to disagree with this teacher,  the biggest difference is that "Ni Hao" is Mandarin and not Thai. And unlike "farang", no matter how many years later or origin, it will still be Mandarin and not Thai. 

 

I'm Chinese-American and there have been plenty of time when random people in the US would make random sounds to me, making fun of me, knowing full well the random sounds is not Mandarin. Yes, context and who says it also makes a lot of difference. For example, if the person is a good friend, it's can be a good tease and joke; but not when it's a person I don't know. (If you're curious, I did think it was funny when The Rock did it many years back.)

 

Anyways, I think for a Thai to hear someone say "ni hao" is the same thing. 

 

I know most "farang" tourist can't tell Asians apart, also true visa versa, but still, speaking Mandarin just because someone is Asian can definitely feel offensive if one is not Chinese. I'm sure the Russian teacher have felt offended when people assumed he is American just because he is a white.

[jvs]

5 hours ago, Yagoda said:

Pumpwee Falang

What does this mean?

[Naamblar2014]

4 hours ago, MalcolmB said:

เช้าอพาร์ทเมนท์

 

How is that?

 ผิดก็ต้อง เช่าอพาร์ทเม้นท์

[Hardcastle P]

If we used the equivalent in the uk about a Thai we would face prosecution,think about it?

[impulse]

52 minutes ago, Surasak said:

Back when? How long ago was it a joke? It's been that long, I've forgotten! There is so much Woke nonsense about now, its difficult to keep up.

 

I remember when we couldn't wait for a family get together to try out the Pollock (Polak?)  jokes we'd just heard.  And to hear the new ones from my Polack uncle.  He was hilarious.

 

We were kids and every ethnic joke was new to us.  None of them were shared to demean anyone.

 

 

[Red Forever]

5 hours ago, JonnyF said:

Nicknames for different races are only offensive when white people do it.

 

Everyone knows that.  

There you go again “Eraser” Jonny , shoehorning your oh so subtle racism into an interesting discussion. 

[Freddy42OZ]

5 hours ago, Cameroni said:

Quite a lot. You're in Thailand, so you should greet people in Thai, not some Chinese, Korean or Japanese. Your work colleagues probably think you're a bit of a dick behind your back.

 

Imagine if you greeted your British work colleagues with "Guten Tag", that would get you fired in some City offices.

 

it's not about "heritage issues", it's about respecting the country you live in.

 

Do you never use any other languages in Thailand other than Thai? 

I'm a Brit, when I'm talking with people I know we greet each other in all sorts of languages and ways. 

I might decide I want to say Bonjour to people, or maybe greet them with 'Jo San' (Good morning in Cantonese). 
I choose words I know my friends will understand. I studied French, Latin, Spanish and Ancient Greek at school and I have friends from more countries than I can remember, which means I've picked up a few words and even sentences in lots of languages.

Most of us know how to say hello etc in multiple languages, why do we have to limit ourselves to using our own language, or saying it in Thai if we speak to a Thai person?   Why can't we say hello in French to a Thai person, or say hello in Italian, Chinese, German, Russian?  

Regular Thais probably don't get enough exposure to lots of other languages, so they don't understand hello in multiple languages, but that is their problem not ours.  

[Hardcastle P]

If we used the equivalent in the uk about a Thai we would face prosecution,think about it?

[impulse]

1 hour ago, Jonathan Swift said:

So the world is defined by you as the lefties vs you (and your kind). That is the real problem. Stυpid people who can't understand the world around them who are unable to define that great big baffling world  except through simplifying it into an impossibly one dimensional construct. You see and think in only one dimension while the rest of us live in 3 dimensions, including your enemies the lefties. There is simply no way for you and those like you to even function without your construct full of malice and bigotry. 

 

Except for the other real problem which is your willful and insensitive  ignorance of the meaning and realities of racism and bigotry, and of the suffering of those ethnic groups. . In the past we (including me) laughed at those jokes because we didn't understand how painful and derogatory it was to the people those terms referred to. Most of us eventually grew up to be responsible, respectful, and compassionate individuals and in so doing we learned why those things have no place in modern society. It makes me sad when I see someone like you stuck in a neanderthal world of 100 years ago. Sad for you because you will never know what it's like to be an evolved person who has chosen to grow rather than live forever in a cave of ignorance, and sad for the people around you near and far who have to take in your poison.

 

Strange.  I'm enjoying life, including off color jokes. 
 

The lefty screamers that take offense at everything, not so much.

 

[BangkokReady]

13 minutes ago, dontlikeit said:

I have to disagree with this teacher,  the biggest difference is that "Ni Hao" is Mandarin and not Thai. And unlike "farang", no matter how many years later or origin, it will still be Mandarin and not Thai. 

 

Perhaps he means, "If the Thais expect foreigners to be racially sensitive towards them, then Thais should be racially sensitive towards foreigners"?

[petedk]

6 hours ago, bubblegum said:

I live in Soi Farang according to the delivery people 😆

 

Yep and I live in Baan Farang according to the locals.

[petedk]

8 minutes ago, Freddy42OZ said:

 

Do you never use any other languages in Thailand other than Thai? 

I'm a Brit, when I'm talking with people I know we greet each other in all sorts of languages and ways. 

I might decide I want to say Bonjour to people, or maybe greet them with 'Jo San' (Good morning in Cantonese). 
I choose words I know my friends will understand. I studied French, Latin, Spanish and Ancient Greek at school and I have friends from more countries than I can remember, which means I've picked up a few words and even sentences in lots of languages.

Most of us know how to say hello etc in multiple languages, why do we have to limit ourselves to using our own language, or saying it in Thai if we speak to a Thai person?   Why can't we say hello in French to a Thai person, or say hello in Italian, Chinese, German, Russian?  

Regular Thais probably don't get enough exposure to lots of other languages, so they don't understand hello in multiple languages, but that is their problem not ours.  

 

Many of my friends (English and American) often say "Ciao" when we part. It ihas almost become the norm.

[murto]

5 hours ago, impulse said:

It's normal to joke about one's nationality??? If you're friends, maybe. But that's not what this is. ...and context suggests this is not an expression of love

+1

 

I don't think the average outsider realizes just how tolerant the average American is.  I always figure that's the way it is around the world.  But it's not.

 

 

[murto]

6 minutes ago, BangkokReady said:

 

Perhaps he means, "If the Thais expect foreigners to be racially sensitive towards them, then Thais should be racially sensitive towards foreigners"?

CORRECT!

[Packer]

40 minutes ago, BangkokReady said:

Just give the example

 

I did. Earlier in the thread. 🙂 

 

That both your English and Thais levels are seriously lacking is no slight on me. 🙂 

[Cameroni]

12 minutes ago, Freddy42OZ said:

 

Do you never use any other languages in Thailand other than Thai? 

I'm a Brit, when I'm talking with people I know we greet each other in all sorts of languages and ways. 

I might decide I want to say Bonjour to people, or maybe greet them with 'Jo San' (Good morning in Cantonese). 
I choose words I know my friends will understand. I studied French, Latin, Spanish and Ancient Greek at school and I have friends from more countries than I can remember, which means I've picked up a few words and even sentences in lots of languages.

Most of us know how to say hello etc in multiple languages, why do we have to limit ourselves to using our own language, or saying it in Thai if we speak to a Thai person?   Why can't we say hello in French to a Thai person, or say hello in Italian, Chinese, German, Russian?  

Regular Thais probably don't get enough exposure to lots of other languages, so they don't understand hello in multiple languages, but that is their problem not ours.  

 

You greet people in Thailand with "Jo San"? Do you do this in Brtain too? I guess not because you'd get smacked in the mouth. You seem to be one of these people who just because they're in Thailand think they can do anything they want, wear no shirt on the street and no underpants, greet people with "Jo San". Well, normal rules of social intercourse still apply, and if you walk around with no shirt, no underpants and greet people with "Hey man, Jo San", people WILL look at you strange.

 

Say hello in Russian or Chinese or German to a Thai person?  What are you, taking the pxxx now?

[1FinickyOne]

7 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

if Thai people talk about foreigners it is always farang.

So, my wife goes into the village on market day. She comes home and tells me there was a farang in the market. [a rare sighting] - - what exactly should she have said ? 

 

If it was someone she knew, she would have told me, "I saw Khun Bob." 

[1FinickyOne]

31 minutes ago, petedk said:

Many of my friends (English and American) often say "Ciao" when we part

Are they rather pretentious people? 

[Cameroni]

I just spoke to a Thai girl, she told me when Thai people say "Farang" they get very excited in a good way, want to touch you and talk to you. 

 

So it's like a compliment.

[1FinickyOne]

54 minutes ago, jvs said:

What does this mean?

fat, round, overweight... 

[NightSky]

donot worry my old comrad ruskki..

 

..same same but different!

 

😏

[Screaming]

Most Thai's that I talk to do not consider Russians to be Farangs. They are something else altogether on the level of Indians, so they say.

[wwest5829]

Just reflecting on our returning from visiting Rimping at the Kad Farang shopping area and that NiHao, as I was taught in Shanghai is simply “hello” in English. The only slight I could think of is purposely implying that the Thai was Chinese … but I can’t get to “fascist” from that … I could understand in you knew a Canadian and purposely called him an American (let’s leave off the all in the Americas are American).

[roo860]

45 minutes ago, Cameroni said:

I just spoke to a Thai girl, she told me when Thai people say "Farang" they get very excited in a good way, want to touch you and talk to you. 

 

So it's like a compliment.

That's absolutely correct, I've just been to my local 7/11 for a cheese toastie, the two ladyboys that work in there were all over me, I kept thinking, please don't get an erection, and then one of them actually did!!😘

[murto]

8 hours ago, StandardIssue said:

You know if you act like a "farang" than you will be called one. I've had many Thai friends over the years and one of the things I've learned is that they really respect an expat who's made an attempt to honor Thai culture. For example.

How many expats or long stay foreigners take the time to:

1) Learn the language

2) Learn how to properly Wai when addressing a Thai person

3) learn to temper their voice when speaking to a Thai person or have a conflict with a Thai person.

4) Learn to not engage in Kissing or embracing a Thai woman as you would in the west when out in public.

 

the list goes on...

 

All my Thai friends and acquaintances call me by my first name or Khun when I am their senior. They Wai to me when seeing them.

 

Even when out shopping I make a very concerted effort to honor Thai culture when speaking with Thai citizens.

CORRECT!

[newbee2022]

6 hours ago, Patong2021 said:

the term farang may be more specific to certain  social groups

Yes, that's my experience too. The higher the education the more respect you will get and give.👍

[blaze master]

8 hours ago, BangkokReady said:

 

Quite.  It isn't inherently racist, but if you called a Thai friend who you knew well and whose name you knew "Asian guy", it would instantly be offensive.

 

It's like in canada if every time I saw an Asian guy I then blurted out

 

Asian

Asian

Asian

Asian

Asian

Asian

Asian

Asian

 

Ya.