Frustration Help!

[TdlitNorn]

when outside thailand, most people think i'm referring to "taiwan" when i'm obviously saying "thailand"

they have no idea that the two countries are different from each other..

why are some people so ignorant? should i instead be saying "siam" instead of "thailand"?

why are most westerners ignorant to the differences between thailand and taiwan?

Edited April 29, 2008 by TdlitNorn

[bingobongo]

when outside thailand, most people think i'm referring to "taiwan" when i'm obviously saying "thailand"

they have no idea that the two countries are different from each other..

why are some people so ignorant? should i instead be saying "siam" instead of "thailand"?

why are most westerners ignorant to the differences between thailand and taiwan?

because taiwan is more important than thailand on the global stage

if china invades taiwan then the rest of the world will be worried, if samak gets overthrown nobody outside of LOS will even blink

[jstumbo]

They aren't the same?

And all this time I have been worried about China attacking if Thailand declared independence.

They are both far away places in Asia that they really know nothing about and the name sounds similar. If they have never been to Asia or care about Asia, then they probably would not have any idea.

Edited April 29, 2008 by jstumbo

[sbk]

I just tell the few people who are confused that Thailand is the home of Thai food and that Taiwan is Chinese. Most people figure it out at that point. Quite funny really, in a sad sort of way

[LooseCannon]

Fairly common Thailand - Taiwan

But even more common Australia - Austria

These sort of mistakes are usually made by people that are fairly inward looking, rarely travel etc.

Ignorance is bliss - sometimes I correct them, other times I don't bother, depends on their personality/attitude.

Some people need to be left in ignorance.

[bendix]

I suspect that when the OP talks about being "outside Thailand" he actually means 'when he's back home in the US'.

Nuff said.

[longball53098]

I don't know about all westerners but many of those from the USA are "geographically challenged"! Ask many people where Hawaii is located? Or, if its a state of the union and you will get a blank stare,,,,,,,,,,so how in the world would they know the difference between Taiwan and Thailand? Unless someone has a reason to know its just one of those things that is not important in their life.

I have seen people shown a map of the USA with nothing but the outline of the US border and asked to point to where they live and where many well known places are on the map and they have no clue. Give the same task related to places in the world and it gets even worse,,,,,,,,,,,most people live in "their" own little world and don't really care about the name of a place or where it is unless they plan to go there or know someone there they have no interest in where a place is located.

[bendix]

In fairness to our geographically challenged American chums, the new breed of bull-necked Brits aren't much better. I'm half convinced that half of the great unwashed who end up on two week package tours to Pattaya are convinced the next beach around the bay is Benidorm or Marbella.

[froggshw]

LOL....verry funny Bendix.....made me smile....

that just says a lot about your opinion of the tourists going to Pattaya

Froggs

[TEFLMike]

In fairness to our geographically challenged American chums, the new breed of bull-necked Brits aren't much better. I'm half convinced that half of the great unwashed who end up on two week package tours to Pattaya are convinced the next beach around the bay is Benidorm or Marbella.

I agree. It was bad enough when Package Holidays commenced. Many times we heard people in the UK saying, 'I am going to Magorca for 2 weeks'. The reply would be 'It is a silent 'J' in Majorca, when are you going to Majorca?' They would reply 'The last week in une and the first week in uly'.

[HowardJohnson]

From the Amazing Race:

Host: Congratulations! You have won a trip for 2 to Taiwan!

Contestant: (Looking slightly confused) Wow! Thats amazing!

Host: What do you think about that eh?

Contestant: Well, I don't know anything about the country but I have some Thai friends so maybe I can ask them about it.

Host: Errr, right.

Cut to commercial....

[jonniebkk]

In fairness to our geographically challenged American chums, the new breed of bull-necked Brits aren't much better.

I still get calls from my American relatives to see if I am safe anytime there is an eathquake or typhoon in the news that hits Taiwan

Then they want to know if all the people go around with bare feet, the women half-naked, and every guy has 100 wives...just like the The King and I. I have stopped explaining that people actually wear clothes now, we have Starbucks, and most men have cut-down to 2-3 women only.

[brackmagic]

I think most people are generally ignorant of things that don't interest them. I have travelled extensivelly in Latin America and SE Asia and through my research have developed a good sense of the geography of those areas. If I were presented with a blank map of Africa I would be able to put a pin in South Africa, and maybe stand a good chance at hitting Egypt, Lybia and Morrocco but no more because the area holds no interest to me and I have no intention of visiting there. For the Taiwan Thailand crowd this probably applies to them to an extent.

[RY12]

Don't call it Siam! that's too modern for us Americans. Try 'Farther India', the 400 year old name the explorers used. that's about how updated our textbooks are

[zaza]

when outside thailand, most people think i'm referring to "taiwan" when i'm obviously saying "thailand"

they have no idea that the two countries are different from each other..

why are some people so ignorant? should i instead be saying "siam" instead of "thailand"?

why are most westerners ignorant to the differences between thailand and taiwan?

Although,I won't feel frustrated from anything alike because there are more issues that worthy for frustration, but I will add my 1 baht/1 NT$ opinion( I don't know which one is the Thai currency )

This happens alot all over the world with the similar countries' names like:

Iran- Iraq

Holland -Poland

Uruguay-Paraguay

Australia - Austria

[lawling]

when outside thailand, most people think i'm referring to "taiwan" when i'm obviously saying "thailand"

they have no idea that the two countries are different from each other..

why are some people so ignorant? should i instead be saying "siam" instead of "thailand"?

why are most westerners ignorant to the differences between thailand and taiwan?

Although,I won't feel frustrated from anything alike because there are more issues that worthy for frustration, but I will add my 1 baht/1 NT$ opinion( I don't know which one is the Thai currency )

This happens alot all over the world with the similar countries' names like:

Iran- Iraq

Holland -Poland

Uruguay-Paraguay

Australia - Austria

And if you are a Thai, even one with a reasonable education: Ireland - Iceland.

[Rimmer]

Had exactly the same when I lived in Singapore, everyone thought that is part of Hong Kong.

[LaoPo]

In fairness to our geographically challenged American chums, the new breed of bull-necked Brits aren't much better. I'm half convinced that half of the great unwashed who end up on two week package tours to Pattaya are convinced the next beach around the bay is Benidorm or Marbella.

Agree.

To be fair I think that if you put a blind geographical map -with borders though- of any of the continents, apart from Oz of course...thats easy , 90% of the people wouldn't have a clue where a certain country is on the same map.

Maybe even higher than 90%...

Would be interesting to have a university in BKK do a test and put a large blind map of Asia in a shopping mall and let the average Thai point WHERE the various Asian countries are...

To do the same with a map of Europe would be good laugh

But, I have to be fair as this was done many times before in Europe too with Europeans.....people just don't have a clue and are either dumb/uneducated or not interested or a combination of both.

LaoPo

[Sakeopete]

I think Europeans should fair better at geography compared to Americans because they travel overseas a lot more. In all fairness to to Americans they don't need to travel outside the USA because they have everything. Every climate you could want all in the same country plus some of the most exciting holiday destinations in the world. I work in Scotland and can't blame the Scott's for wanting to escape that miserable weather, I'm guessing other Europeans are in the same boat.

[macb]

Maybe we should be learning to pronounce Thailand as Thaiwand, my sense of humour becomes me mmmmmm

[LaoPo]

I think Europeans should fair better at geography compared to Americans because they travel overseas a lot more. In all fairness to to Americans they don't need to travel outside the USA because they have everything.

Correct. More than 70% of the Americans do not possess a passport which says a lot.

So, not even 90 million Americans have ever traveled outside the US which is a low number in comparison with Europeans but of course EU countries are a lot smaller and therefore a passport was/is needed to travel abroad.

The advantage for EU travelers was/is that they 'sniffed' and learned a lot about different cultures and languages not just in Europe.

LaoPo

[bendix]

I think there are certain nationalities that are less geographically savvy than others. Those countries tend to be relatively nationalistic and intrinsically inward-looking. I would certainly put both the US and Thailand in that category - perhaps because of their relative histories.

Other countries (who have actually engaged in world activities) are more knowledgeable.

Look at France for example. Most of its population would know where various countries are because they've been invaded by just about every army in the world, including Lesotho, Haiti and East Timor.

[LinkPopularity]

when outside thailand, most people think i'm referring to "taiwan" when i'm obviously saying "thailand"

they have no idea that the two countries are different from each other..

why are some people so ignorant? should i instead be saying "siam" instead of "thailand"?

why are most westerners ignorant to the differences between thailand and taiwan?

why do you think that "most people" are from the USA?

all the others know the difference very well !!

[sweetchariot]

Words fail me

[Patsycat]

I'm fluent in Swedish... oh and Swiss...

Edited April 30, 2008 by Patsycat

[RoyalOrchid]

When I went to Hong Kong once and then flue to Bangkok some time after that, one of my relatives told everybody that I've been to BangKong, she still thinks that this is the name of capital of Thailand....

[RoyalOrchid]

when outside thailand, most people think i'm referring to "taiwan" when i'm obviously saying "thailand"

they have no idea that the two countries are different from each other..

why are some people so ignorant? should i instead be saying "siam" instead of "thailand"?

why are most westerners ignorant to the differences between thailand and taiwan?

why do you think that "most people" are from the USA?

all the others know the difference very well !!

"All the others" you mean from UK?