What Is The Biggest Misconception The Thai Have About You, Or Farangs?

[LivinLOS]

A lot of good it would do to give a bunch of Thais an English IQ test and then post the results.

Of course the tests would have been in Thai. For those that don't know, IQ tests your ability to reason and think, your ability to make abstract relationships, memory, mathematics, and intuition. They don't bloody ask you how plant rice, or how many home runs Hank Aaron hit on Tuedays. You can make an IQ test for any group in their language.

IQ measures your ability to cope and adapt to changing circumstances. How you think on your feet. Why wouldn't Som Chai's test results be as valid as Joe Sixpack's. Can't Somchai put a puzzle together?

Who gives a crap about puzzle-solving when life rotates around 2-3 cycles of plant/harvest with nothing to do in-between, except drink Sangsom and listen to Mor-Lam and living it up with friends and familiy? IQ tests measure something totally irrelevant to most of upcountry Thai culture. Why not measure "net personal happiness" instead? Tough to quantify for sure, but 100% germane here.

And I speak as someone who has lived too long in the machine, where things like abstract reasoning are important career-wise, but not a single abstract thought has ever brought me any happiness. And I envy my gf's family's lifestyle. Because all I do is work like a dog for dubious ends, like a condo and air-con.

Perhaps the lifestyle associated with "tham na" is one of the smartest lifestyle strategies for contentedness there is, all things considered.

Look this is simple.. Someone said it is a miss conception that westerners are smarter than Thais (and please lets not confuse facts with arrogance etc, it doesnt make high IQ people nicer, more fun, but it may give them better tools to deal with the world at large).. I and others have said this isn't a misconception. This isn't about measuring net personal happiness, or the ability to harvest rice, or how to have sanuk.

I would also say that IQ is never irrelevant no matter what community or society you live within, correlations with IQ and health, job performance, life expectancy, prison populations, etc are all well documented.

The best measure we have for intelligence is the IQ test. It measures (in localized testing) peoples intelligence. The score of 100 is the average for an adult westerner (there may or may not be slight variation between the sexes depending on what studies you follow). A score over 100 is above average and a score under is obviously below. A score lower than 70 is considered around the level to be suffering for mental retardation.

Thais score an average around low 90's, if you take into account the north alone they score lower in that region. Something like 8% of the entire population scores under 70 levels and that raises to over 16% if you count the north only. These are localized tests, conducted in Thai, for a Thai population.

Now with those facts, how can any sane person then say in generalized terms that westerners dont measure higher in intelligence testing than Thais on average ?? Its not ego, its not arrogance, its measures of genetic differences. Within any set of data there will always be people at the edges of the bell curve, I strongly suspect if there was available data for the Thai Chinese community within Thailand they would be above average for the general population also, hence their control of important industries like banking, media, etc.. These results are not up for debate, at least not at the levels we are debating them here.

Now lets get back to the popular misconceptions.. Apologies for dragging OT but when a point is demonstrably correct its hard to let people deny facts.

[BFD]

Misconception: That farang eyeballs are impervious to the spikes on the edges of umbrellas.

BFD!

[Steve2UK]

All Farangs are Deserving of Respect

This thankfully is becoming less common but going back 20 years when I first came to work in Thailand the level of respect that Thais showed to Foreigners (especially in the work place) was remarkable - and I would say something of a saddening thing to see. Back then it was common to witness Farang Slobs receiving and soon learning to demand respect, in the office, in the bank, in restaurants and shops. As I say thankfully this has become less common - and I have absolutely no doubt that this is due to increased exposure Thais have to the numerous Farang Slobs who get washed up in Thailand.

So - the demise of that little misconception to be replaced by Thais being able to discern a little more about Farangs and reserve their respect for when it is deserved is a good thing in my mind.

I don't have that length (20 years) of first-hand experience living here - so I have to defer to your assessment that the level of respect is less now than it was. That said, I 100% agree with your basic premise and I think there is still undiscriminating respect widely accorded to just about any Caucasian who makes it to these shores - however undeserved. We can all think of examples of people we see who in their own country wouldn't be given the time of day by their compatriots - yet here are treated as something special. Your point about these people "soon learning to demand respect" is (IMO) the more worrying aspect.

I used to try to discuss this with Thai friends, but I've pretty much given it up as a lost cause............. and maybe it's better left like that. I still form my views about any individual based on what I see and get to know of them as individuals - but that doesn't seem to be the Thai way.

It is of, course, actually out and out racist prejudice - just that it works to generate a positive attitude rather than the negative one that we usually associate with the term. But - the other side of that same racist coin is the widespread very negative attitude towards Indian visitors, for example.

Edited July 26, 2008 by Steve2UK

[OlRedEyes]

What are some of the misconceptions the thais have about you, or farangs in general?

Anything that you want to let it out your chest or care to clarify,….. just shove it here.

There you go, as someone said already. 'Farangs in general' . Till the Thai can drop that little misconception, they'll never understand an American, Italian, Frenchman or any of the vastly different cultures that they happily lump together to try and make life simple.

[Steve2UK]

Returning to the original question.............. difficult to say whether it's a misconception, but I'd say it's commonly held by Thai that we farang "think too much".

Of course, if more Thai read more ThaiVisa posts they'd likely change their view on that .

[dutchguest]

A lot of good it would do to give a bunch of Thais an English IQ test and then post the results.

Of course the tests would have been in Thai. For those that don't know, IQ tests your ability to reason and think, your ability to make abstract relationships, memory, mathematics, and intuition. They don't bloody ask you how plant rice, or how many home runs Hank Aaron hit on Tuedays. You can make an IQ test for any group in their language.

IQ measures your ability to cope and adapt to changing circumstances. How you think on your feet. Why wouldn't Som Chai's test results be as valid as Joe Sixpack's. Can't Somchai put a puzzle together?

Who gives a crap about puzzle-solving when life rotates around 2-3 cycles of plant/harvest with nothing to do in-between, except drink Sangsom and listen to Mor-Lam and living it up with friends and familiy? IQ tests measure something totally irrelevant to most of upcountry Thai culture. Why not measure "net personal happiness" instead? Tough to quantify for sure, but 100% germane here.

And I speak as someone who has lived too long in the machine, where things like abstract reasoning are important career-wise, but not a single abstract thought has ever brought me any happiness. And I envy my gf's family's lifestyle. Because all I do is work like a dog for dubious ends, like a condo and air-con.

Perhaps the lifestyle associated with "tham na" is one of the smartest lifestyle strategies for contentedness there is, all things considered.

Look this is simple.. Someone said it is a miss conception that westerners are smarter than Thais (and please lets not confuse facts with arrogance etc, it doesnt make high IQ people nicer, more fun, but it may give them better tools to deal with the world at large).. I and others have said this isn't a misconception. This isn't about measuring net personal happiness, or the ability to harvest rice, or how to have sanuk.

I would also say that IQ is never irrelevant no matter what community or society you live within, correlations with IQ and health, job performance, life expectancy, prison populations, etc are all well documented.

The best measure we have for intelligence is the IQ test. It measures (in localized testing) peoples intelligence. The score of 100 is the average for an adult westerner (there may or may not be slight variation between the sexes depending on what studies you follow). A score over 100 is above average and a score under is obviously below. A score lower than 70 is considered around the level to be suffering for mental retardation.

Thais score an average around low 90's, if you take into account the north alone they score lower in that region. Something like 8% of the entire population scores under 70 levels and that raises to over 16% if you count the north only. These are localized tests, conducted in Thai, for a Thai population.

Now with those facts, how can any sane person then say in generalized terms that westerners dont measure higher in intelligence testing than Thais on average ?? Its not ego, its not arrogance, its measures of genetic differences. Within any set of data there will always be people at the edges of the bell curve, I strongly suspect if there was available data for the Thai Chinese community within Thailand they would be above average for the general population also, hence their control of important industries like banking, media, etc.. These results are not up for debate, at least not at the levels we are debating them here.

Now lets get back to the popular misconceptions.. Apologies for dragging OT but when a point is demonstrably correct its hard to let people deny facts.

The western thinking and idea of progress is rather quantitative. The more producing, the more prosperity, the more IQ the better. And we can measure everything in straight numbers, so there is no denying.

Yet, this is a very restricted way of thinking. A way that leads to dead end. War, destroying nature etc.

There is also a more qualitative way of thinking, and this goes beyond the intelligence measured by the IQ-test. In this case we are talking of wisdom, which is not so easily tested and quantified in numbers. I think generally the Thais have a little bit more of this than the farangs.

[teacup]

It is my understanding that IQ test is meant to evaluate intelligence--the ability to figure things out, in ways of the critical thinking, rather than just being “a book smart“. But in order to take part in the test, it seems reading and writing are pretty much the prerequisites. And how “the one test” can possibly measure our overall intelligence, when many of us “usually” gain intelligence or be street smart through life experiences as we grow older, and who is to say that one has a low IQ just because they have different experiences in life?

[LivinLOS]

It is my understanding that IQ test is meant to evaluate intelligence--the ability to figure things out, in ways of the critical thinking, rather than just being “a book smart“. But in order to take part in the test, it seems reading and writing are pretty much the prerequisites. And how “the one test” can possibly measure our overall intelligence, when many of us “usually” gain intelligence or be street smart through life experiences as we grow older, and who is to say that one has a low IQ just because they have different experiences in life?

If someone cant read or write then its possible an IQ test could be administered verbally. Also as pointed out IQ testing is not measuring knowledge or life experience its measuring intelligence and ability to process, deduce, conclude, and solve, thats not the same as street smarts and situational awareness.

IQ tests often rely a lot on logic, deductive reasoning, pattern recognition, etc.. There isnt one IQ test but many, each with differing biases etc.. I tend to score lower on any test that includes anagrams, I am obviously not good with the re-arrangement / imaginative aspect, similarly languages are tough for me and I tend to not be a great speller. So yes tests have marginally differing results even within the same person depending on the test methodology but they are the best tool we have for quantification.

[teacup]

What are some of the misconceptions the thais have about you, or farangs in general?

Anything that you want to let it out your chest or care to clarify,….. just shove it here.

There you go, as someone said already. 'Farangs in general' . Till the Thai can drop that little misconception, they'll never understand an American, Italian, Frenchman or any of the vastly different cultures that they happily lump together to try and make life simple.

I don’t see how the thais in general can be able to distinguish the different in a nationality of one caucasian standing next to another caucasian, or caucasian similarity, ….unless you wear your flag on a sleeve or something.

As long as you’re not an asian, Indian, middle eastern, then most likely you will be grouped with “the farang “ generally, sorry.

Don’t take it as the name is so offensive or in derogatory in any ways, but we just don’t know what else to call you, if you don’t like to be referred as “a farang”. Unless you can come up with something different. Any suggestion? We can do a poll if you like.

Don’t worry it’s not that so important to us whether you’re a brit, yank, Italian, or Abanian,….and no need for us, thais, to pinpoint or be so specific when addressing you.

Unless….for example

We want to marry you for a passport, ……..or you want to open up a restaurant, then of course it will now be an importance of what nationality of the foods you’re serving.

If I want to eat the NewYork steak or the Maine Lobster, then I probably wouldn’t want to walk into the restaurant called “LondonFog Yappie”, wouldn't it?

[Huey]

Lets see, I get the following misconceptions every now and then

-That I maybe sold drugs

-That I am in the Military or was

-That I am only here to whore monger in Pattaya (heh been there done that, got the sweet memories )

-That I am from the Gulf, ie UAE or Kuwait...I get Dubai alot *shrug*....can't wait till I have Dubai Money ....and a 2nd passport from there that would rock !

-That I can play basketball... (not for my life, I suck at it. But I can box well enough)

-That I am some sort of Actor or Model or something (seriously my wife and I have been getting allot of that recently)

-That I can't speak ANY Thai.

[Huey]

These come up a lot with Thais:

1. Why do farangs only like dark skinned women? Thais think light skinned is beautiful and find farang tastes strange.

personally i dont think liking dark is strange but their tendency to choose dark and less than attractive girls is strange.

i surmise its a matter of economics that explains it all

ex. if i buy banana i want nice good yellow one, not one brown, black and yellow, but the good ones cost more!

Why should anyone take your definition of beauty as the norm? You sound rather full of yourself.

Ps keep taking the skin whitening creams if you think it helps, although the mercury in them may lead to further mental retardation lol

Yeah I think the retardation has already set it, comparing one's natural skin color to rotting fruit. If you like one color over another for attractiveness sake (Kinda narrow and peasant like IMHO) fine. But to say someone is ugly because they are dark or light ONLY, than you got real problems.

[Acomes2Siam]

A lot of good it would do to give a bunch of Thais an English IQ test and then post the results.

Of course the tests would have been in Thai. For those that don't know, IQ tests your ability to reason and think, your ability to make abstract relationships, memory, mathematics, and intuition. They don't bloody ask you how plant rice, or how many home runs Hank Aaron hit on Tuedays. You can make an IQ test for any group in their language.

IQ measures your ability to cope and adapt to changing circumstances. How you think on your feet. Why wouldn't Som Chai's test results be as valid as Joe Sixpack's. Can't Somchai put a puzzle together?

Who gives a crap about puzzle-solving when life rotates around 2-3 cycles of plant/harvest with nothing to do in-between, except drink Sangsom and listen to Mor-Lam and living it up with friends and familiy? IQ tests measure something totally irrelevant to most of upcountry Thai culture. Why not measure "net personal happiness" instead? Tough to quantify for sure, but 100% germane here.

And I speak as someone who has lived too long in the machine, where things like abstract reasoning are important career-wise, but not a single abstract thought has ever brought me any happiness. And I envy my gf's family's lifestyle. Because all I do is work like a dog for dubious ends, like a condo and air-con.

Perhaps the lifestyle associated with "tham na" is one of the smartest lifestyle strategies for contentedness there is, all things considered.

Look this is simple.. Someone said it is a miss conception that westerners are smarter than Thais (and please lets not confuse facts with arrogance etc, it doesnt make high IQ people nicer, more fun, but it may give them better tools to deal with the world at large).. I and others have said this isn't a misconception. This isn't about measuring net personal happiness, or the ability to harvest rice, or how to have sanuk.

I would also say that IQ is never irrelevant no matter what community or society you live within, correlations with IQ and health, job performance, life expectancy, prison populations, etc are all well documented.

The best measure we have for intelligence is the IQ test. It measures (in localized testing) peoples intelligence. The score of 100 is the average for an adult westerner (there may or may not be slight variation between the sexes depending on what studies you follow). A score over 100 is above average and a score under is obviously below. A score lower than 70 is considered around the level to be suffering for mental retardation.

Thais score an average around low 90's, if you take into account the north alone they score lower in that region. Something like 8% of the entire population scores under 70 levels and that raises to over 16% if you count the north only. These are localized tests, conducted in Thai, for a Thai population.

Now with those facts, how can any sane person then say in generalized terms that westerners dont measure higher in intelligence testing than Thais on average ?? Its not ego, its not arrogance, its measures of genetic differences. Within any set of data there will always be people at the edges of the bell curve, I strongly suspect if there was available data for the Thai Chinese community within Thailand they would be above average for the general population also, hence their control of important industries like banking, media, etc.. These results are not up for debate, at least not at the levels we are debating them here.

Now lets get back to the popular misconceptions.. Apologies for dragging OT but when a point is demonstrably correct its hard to let people deny facts.

The western thinking and idea of progress is rather quantitative. The more producing, the more prosperity, the more IQ the better. And we can measure everything in straight numbers, so there is no denying.

Yet, this is a very restricted way of thinking. A way that leads to dead end. War, destroying nature etc.

There is also a more qualitative way of thinking, and this goes beyond the intelligence measured by the IQ-test. In this case we are talking of wisdom, which is not so easily tested and quantified in numbers. I think generally the Thais have a little bit more of this than the farangs.

I am sure you mean well and perhaps your post is stating what is politically correct. however, it is not so. Livinginlos is perfectly correct and knows what he is talking about. Let's look at it like this - many - many many many researchers around the world have the study of intelligence (and what it means for us) as their profession and expertise. Therefore it never ceases to amaze me that people think they can just cook up some story that will show the flaw in conventional wisdom regarding intelligence and iq research. Your's is ""you cannot quantify intelligence" .. then as you keep writing you see that this is probably not going to work.. so the next idea is "wisdom - is something not easily tested and therefore Intelligence is meaningless".

Again - one wonders how you in three minutes could solve the riddle that so many extraordinary researchers have spent lifetimes on?

- Intelligence is important because it is what allows us to learn, to extrapolate and to be creative (among other things). It cannot say anything about whether someone can make a nice stew or whether someone knows the Thai alphabet or wheter someone knows Vivaldi's work. What it does tell us is how easily someone could learn all of these things given the right motivation to do so. So obviously knowledge and intelligence are not the same although they are strongly correlated. They are strongly correlated because intelligence makes it easier to learn, but they are not perfectly correlated because someone inteligent may not have interest in or opportunity to learn these things.

Intelligence is and has been scientifically shown plenty of times to be the best predictor of success in life. Of course intelligence is important and please don't insult our intelligence by trying to come up with some half-baked reason why it is not. It is, but it is far from the only thing that determines success in life (all else being equal): Motivation, luck, oppotunity etc. are all very important and can shape the lives of any individual. Remember we are talking averages, so there will be individuals that do better or worse than they should have if intelligence was all that mattered. Lastly, intelligence across borders and ethnicities is measured by so-called culture free tests. Again - some people think they have discovered something "Thai's obviously don't know who Abraham Lincoln is .. bla bla". Probably not, and this is why it is not measured like that. This example was not even a very good question for measuring g or IQ as it is better known.

Edited July 26, 2008 by Acomes2Siam

[sylviex]

Good topic, teacup.

Ideas about foreign women:

thais also think farang women have bigger chest size than them

This is, in fact, very interesting. Because that perception is there, quite a few Thai men do pay disproportionate attention to that feature of the anatomy. Regardless of whether the foreign woman's breasts are, in fact, particularly large, they are seen as large.

Same with whiteness. Even foreigners who don't have especially white skin are complimented and regarded as beautiful.

Similarly, some think we are all fat or fattish, regardless of actual size.

Same happens in reverse with foreign men's perceptions of Thai people.

I think it is the result of not being accustomed to physically different people and a good example of how our preconceptions alter the way we see reality.

Others ...

If we are "beautiful" it is our duty to reproduce.

We all want children.

We all want rich men as partners.

We take care of all household matters.

Women can't be as intelligent as men.

We must like shopping above all other activities.

We must choose the pink phone, not the blue one.

(I am veering off into ideas about gender roles, but it's an inseperable part of the experience for foreign women.)

We need to inspect all bills with a magnifying glass and be shown every step in the addition. (I always pretend to but never do other than roughly. Once I overheard an apparently impressed shop helper say " farang good at calculation" )

[dutchguest]

The western thinking and idea of progress is rather quantitative. The more producing, the more prosperity, the more IQ the better. And we can measure everything in straight numbers, so there is no denying.

Yet, this is a very restricted way of thinking. A way that leads to dead end. War, destroying nature etc.

There is also a more qualitative way of thinking, and this goes beyond the intelligence measured by the IQ-test. In this case we are talking of wisdom, which is not so easily tested and quantified in numbers. I think generally the Thais have a little bit more of this than the farangs.

I am sure you mean well and perhaps your post is stating what is politically correct. however, it is not so. Livinginlos is perfectly correct and knows what he is talking about. Let's look at it like this - many - many many many researchers around the world have the study of intelligence (and what it means for us) as their profession and expertise. Therefore it never ceases to amaze me that people think they can just cook up some story that will show the flaw in conventional wisdom regarding intelligence and iq research. Your's is ""you cannot quantify intelligence" .. then as you keep writing you see that this is probably not going to work.. so the next idea is "wisdom - is something not easily tested and therefore Intelligence is meaningless".

Again - one wonders how you in three minutes could solve the riddle that so many extraordinary researchers have spent lifetimes on?

- Intelligence is important because it is what allows us to learn, to extrapolate and to be creative (among other things). It cannot say anything about whether someone can make a nice stew or whether someone knows the Thai alphabet or wheter someone knows Vivaldi's work. What it does tell us is how easily someone could learn all of these things given the right motivation to do so. So obviously knowledge and intelligence are not the same although they are strongly correlated. They are strongly correlated because intelligence makes it easier to learn, but they are not perfectly correlated because someone inteligent may not have interest in or opportunity to learn these things.

Intelligence is and has been scientifically shown plenty of times to be the best predictor of success in life. Of course intelligence is important and please don't insult our intelligence by trying to come up with some half-baked reason why it is not. It is, but it is far from the only thing that determines success in life (all else being equal): Motivation, luck, oppotunity etc. are all very important and can shape the lives of any individual. Remember we are talking averages, so there will be individuals that do better or worse than they should have if intelligence was all that mattered. Lastly, intelligence across borders and ethnicities is measured by so-called culture free tests. Again - some people think they have discovered something "Thai's obviously don't know who Abraham Lincoln is .. bla bla". Probably not, and this is why it is not measured like that. This example was not even a very good question for measuring g or IQ as it is better known.

I repeat my opion that what is measured by IQ-tests and wisdom are two different things. If I read you well you do not deny that?

Why else so many highly intelligent people could act so stupid?

[jietjon]

I think the biggest misconception is that Farangs are all rich.

Many are on the bones of their azz and totally unsuitable for a partner for a decent Thai woman, or any other women.

Maybe these guys scrape by teaching English, when in their own countries they probably hauled bricks or stacked supermarket shelves.

Somebody has to do the menial work, Maigo, even in our "advanced" culture.

They're ordinary people, some are nice to know too.

The average farang brickie earns a wage that a Thai can only dream of - hence their misconception that we're all filthy rich.

Very true , a brickie on blighty walks away with around 1000 GBP, no bad for a menial job

[LivinLOS]

I don’t see how the thais in general can be able to distinguish the different in a nationality of one caucasian standing next to another caucasian, or caucasian similarity, ….unless you wear your flag on a sleeve or something.

Why not.. From basic physical (tall blond, Mediterranean, etc) I have a pretty good idea.. A couple of words from thier mouth and I would know 90% of the time.. Why should a Thai be unable to make these distinctions if they wanted to ??

I can generally pick up if a Thai is Southern, CM / CR, Isaan, etc.. Especially if theres some discussion and interaction, or if they are conforming to type.. Its the rural mid areas that get confusing. And thats working out regionality within one country.

I dont understand why you think a Thai is not capable of doing these things if they cared to.. I just guess they dont care to or are ignorant of our clues. The tailors on beach rd try to guess nationality as part of the sales pitch.

[Maigo6]

I think the biggest misconception is that Farangs are all rich.

Many are on the bones of their azz and totally unsuitable for a partner for a decent Thai woman, or any other women.

Maybe these guys scrape by teaching English, when in their own countries they probably hauled bricks or stacked supermarket shelves.

Somebody has to do the menial work, Maigo, even in our "advanced" culture.

They're ordinary people, some are nice to know too.

The average farang brickie earns a wage that a Thai can only dream of - hence their misconception that we're all filthy rich.

Very true , a brickie on blighty walks away with around 1000 GBP, no bad for a menial job

Hod Carriers taking home 1000 Pounds a week ? Gis a job pal.

I've been in UK a total of less than 4 months in 18 years, but that's some wage hike compared to what it was in 1990.

[cloudhopper]

LOL..

Nope. I have a PhD in Psychology and am a member of Mensa. I am mentioning this because you tried to restrict people discussing the IQ issue. IQ tests are age-corrected and this is a standard method for measuring intelligence. It is a perfectly valid and appropiate measure.

Would asian IQ's work? Of ocurse not. There is a huge difference between Asian IQ's depending on whether we are talking about Japanese, Chinese, Thais, Indonesians etc. It basically would make no sense to look at an overall IQ score for Asia.

Here are IQ scores for different countries and we can among other things see the huge variation within Asia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IQ_and_the_We...al_IQ_estimates

note to self - resign from Mensa

[LivinLOS]

I repeat my opion that what is measured by IQ-tests and wisdom are two different things. If I read you well you do not deny that?

Why else so many highly intelligent people could act so stupid?

It seems you dont read the posts people are bothering to write.. Wisdom could be also termed knowledge, as we keep saying IQ is not the same as knowledge, one is about remembering information, the other is about processing information. The knowledge to build something you have been shown or told versus the power to deduce yourself the best way to build it.

Creative thought requires IQ.. Rote learning is knowledge without the thought. Which one is popular here ??

[LivinLOS]

If we are "beautiful" it is our duty to reproduce.

We all want children.

We all want rich men as partners.

We take care of all household matters.

Women can't be as intelligent as men.

We must like shopping above all other activities.

We must choose the pink phone, not the blue one.

A good point.. I think gender roles are more divergent here than in the modern west, it would seem the society encourages these roles which come over in your experiences.

[LivinLOS]

I think the biggest misconception is that Farangs are all rich.

Many are on the bones of their azz and totally unsuitable for a partner for a decent Thai woman, or any other women.

Maybe these guys scrape by teaching English, when in their own countries they probably hauled bricks or stacked supermarket shelves.

Somebody has to do the menial work, Maigo, even in our "advanced" culture.

They're ordinary people, some are nice to know too.

The average farang brickie earns a wage that a Thai can only dream of - hence their misconception that we're all filthy rich.

Very true , a brickie on blighty walks away with around 1000 GBP, no bad for a menial job

Hod Carriers taking home 1000 Pounds a week ? Gis a job pal.

I've been in UK a total of less than 4 months in 18 years, but that's some wage hike compared to what it was in 1990.

A Hod carrier isnt a brickie.. and a good price work brickie should make that pre tax.. I used to pay more than that (much more in fact) 8 years ago.

[Sakeopete]

One BIG misconception that Thais have about many westeners is that Thais assume we have exactly the same value system. Eg: Being totally consumed in your own importance, giving little or no consideration to other peoples comfort or convenience, thinking that money is (after the immediate family) the most important thing in life, not having any concept that other cultures and traditions exist anywhere else in the world.

TBH I would think that is a common misconception about Thai's.

[emelie]

"...put 900 baht of fuel in the car, handed over 1000 baht note and got 900 baht change, drove off, yes he probably had it stopped from his salary, lost his job,and his wife divorced him!!"

i understand you were tempted, but did it ever cross your mind to go back and give the poor chap back his money? how can you sleep at nite?

[Theyreallrubbish]

I find that the Thais are unable to read the cues that allow us farang to quickly tell socio-economic status. Thus they tend to assume that all farang are the same as the socio-economic group they interact with most frequently.

Thus, although we farang can instantly tell the difference between a singa shirt, tattooed semi-skilled skinhead and a university educated professional worker, particularly after a minute or so of conversation, many Thais can't tell the difference.

So a bar girl from Pattaya assumes all farang are heavy drinking aggresive sex mongers and an investment banker assumes all farang are well-educated ambitious professionals.

I had this issue with an ex as she assumed that all farang were equally good and well behaved based on her limited experience of being with me and my friends (who were mostly university educated professionals) and she was unable to understand why I would tell her to be careful of certain farang she'd meet who would then surprise her by trying to involve her in illegal activities and borrow money.

She was perfectly able to judge Thais and their likelihood to be trustworthy, but was completely blind when it came to farang.

I know its not politically correct to stereotype people in classes, but we all know the reality of the situation and that socio-economic status and background is a predictor of certain patterns of behaviour with obvious exceptions.

So the Thais carry stereotypes about farang based on the majority of their existing experience with a limited ability to differentiate between different types of farang.

Lets not also forget the text books and comic books pushed out to the Thais that warn Thais that farang are dishonest, untrustworthy, and likely to sweet talk a women into bed then abandon her when pregnant. Some of these books are pretty shocking and aren't that far away from the anti-jew literature produced by the Nazis! Obviously, its the least well educated sectors of Thai society that swallow this propaganda the most.

[farang555]

nowhere did in say dark ,all dark is unattractive. many pretty dark skin thais.

many thais , and me, im not thai see the farang and the very unattractive dark girl all over the place. its no misconception, and i wasnt the first to say it. many farang dont mind dark, tough loooking and low income. just an observation.

[willy1957]

I think the biggest misconception is that Farangs are all rich.

Many are on the bones of their azz and totally unsuitable for a partner for a decent Thai woman, or any other women.

Maybe these guys scrape by teaching English, when in their own countries they probably hauled bricks or stacked supermarket shelves.

That is completely right, but the main difference is our lifestandard where a lot of Thai-ladys haven't got a clue.Even for jobs you mention you get payed at least 1000 euro in Belgium, at today's rate that is about 50000 baht. That is ten times the salary of what Thai people earn when they have lower level jobs. The point is they don't know, or some don't know that living in Belgium with 1000 euro in month is not easy, as you already pay easily 400 euro rent for an appartment. What left is enough to shop at the Aldi supermarket, a low price market.A car you can't even think of. What happens is that some tourists come with their vacation-money and make the lady's head going crazy, because mostly their are not honest about their real situation.That is one of the reasons why mixed marriages in Belgium know a divorce rate of 70 %. Untill they come over, they don't know that the life of a simple worker is rather hard. The real rich don't go to Thailand for a lady, because the rich can get(young) lady's wherever they want ,no matter how old they are or how they look.For those, and I know some of them, not really intrested in a Thai-lady just live in Thailand because with 700-800 euro you can really live well, for example you have no heathing costs in the winter, but when they teach it is mostly as a volunteer.It is also a matter of perception.To return to the " not easy life" with 1000 euro in month in Belgium, that is hard to imagine for familys who have to live with 4000 baht like I know them in Phrae.

[jietjon]

I think the biggest misconception is that Farangs are all rich.

Many are on the bones of their azz and totally unsuitable for a partner for a decent Thai woman, or any other women.

Maybe these guys scrape by teaching English, when in their own countries they probably hauled bricks or stacked supermarket shelves.

That is completely right, but the main difference is our lifestandard where a lot of Thai-ladys haven't got a clue.Even for jobs you mention you get payed at least 1000 euro in Belgium, at today's rate that is about 50000 baht. That is ten times the salary of what Thai people earn when they have lower level jobs. The point is they don't know, or some don't know that living in Belgium with 1000 euro in month is not easy, as you already pay easily 400 euro rent for an appartment. What left is enough to shop at the Aldi supermarket, a low price market.A car you can't even think of. What happens is that some tourists come with their vacation-money and make the lady's head going crazy, because mostly their are not honest about their real situation.That is one of the reasons why mixed marriages in Belgium know a divorce rate of 70 %. Untill they come over, they don't know that the life of a simple worker is rather hard. The real rich don't go to Thailand for a lady, because the rich can get(young) lady's wherever they want ,no matter how old they are or how they look.For those, and I know some of them, not really intrested in a Thai-lady just live in Thailand because with 700-800 euro you can really live well, for example you have no heathing costs in the winter, but when they teach it is mostly as a volunteer.It is also a matter of perception.To return to the " not easy life" with 1000 euro in month in Belgium, that is hard to imagine for familys who have to live with 4000 baht like I know them in Phrae.

Just out of curiosity, is it possible to live in Belguim for 1000 euro a month, bcos it certainly aint enough in Scotland ... and i thought we were Europes poorhouse?

[willy1957]

These come up a lot with Thais:

1. Why do farangs only like dark skinned women? Thais think light skinned is beautiful and find farang tastes strange.

2 We are all rich. Maybe this is a bit like the arabs in the UK in 1970s during the oil crisis when they suddenly became very rich and people thought they were all wealthy but naive etc

We like tanned or dark skin because in Europe there is a beach culture and have a tanned skin is a symbol for looking healthy and beautifull. In The Renaissance period, people also liked only white, because dark and tanned was the color of the farmers and the poor living on the streets, so they wanted to set them apart from them with a white skin, and I think that is also the reason why there is a White skin crazyness in Thailand. There are a lot of products from wellknown brands as Nivea to get a white skin, the opposite of what they sell here. The grass is always greener at the other side, because apart from the rich-poor contradiction, they like to look like Western people,wich you see on marketing posters from brands like Oil Of Olaz, Nivea and the like, mostly there European like ladys on the posters.For those who can afford they also like the Western haircuts and colors

[teacup]

I don’t see how the thais in general can be able to distinguish the different in a nationality of one caucasian standing next to another caucasian, or caucasian similarity, ….unless you wear your flag on a sleeve or something.

Why not.. From basic physical (tall blond, Mediterranean, etc) I have a pretty good idea.. A couple of words from thier mouth and I would know 90% of the time.. Why should a Thai be unable to make these distinctions if they wanted to ??

I can generally pick up if a Thai is Southern, CM / CR, Isaan, etc.. Especially if theres some discussion and interaction, or if they are conforming to type.. Its the rural mid areas that get confusing. And thats working out regionality within one country.

I dont understand why you think a Thai is not capable of doing these things if they cared to.. I just guess they dont care to or are ignorant of our clues. The tailors on beach rd try to guess nationality as part of the sales pitch.

Speaking to yourself, merehap?

You may be able to differentiate based on your education, or experiences.

And

In the tourist areas maybe, it should be their business to know, if you want them to, because you’re a pay customer and very displeased of how they are addressing you. If they don’t, then that’s their problem as I wouldn’t know why. But in my previous post, I was referring to the thais “as in general“, not in the tourist areas, bkk, or those more educated thais.

Btw: most tailor touts are not thai generally, Pakistani, Indian….may be - can't you tell the diff? . So you got to go and ask them the “why not“, yourself

Perhaps we should do another thread

“What give you the right as a foreigner in telling the thais what to do, or how to behave in a certain way toward you”.

But……

How many thais out there have exposed themselves to so many types of foreigner,…or care to,… or want to do that,… unless they know you personally. Most thais have nothing to do with the foreigners on daily, monthly, or even yearly basis, ……so they don’t give a hoot. And this is not an ignorance.

And…..How many farangs can tell the diff from a Philliphino, malaysian, and Indonesian, ......Or from Chinese and Taiwanese.

Also….Isn’t that why you put us in a one same group as “asian” back at your home country? Generally speaking, …."Oh well you all look “asian” to me".

Same same

So….don’t expect the thais to be any different

Even the thais, themselves, many times can’t even differentiate between what they know and what they don't - generally speaking of course.

Edited July 26, 2008 by teacup

[mangkorn]

Teacup: you said all Westerners should accept being called "farang" by Thais, okay. But in the US, how would you feel if everybody called you "Asian," or "Chinese," or "chink," or whatever?

I'm not being flippant. I think it's a fair question. No doubt most people there regard you as "Asian," but I am certain that they don't call you "Asian" in every single daily encounter. (Many would be terrified of being vilified as "racist" if they even mentioned your race in public.)

What I'd really like to know is: why do Thais always have to call someone farang when the situation does NOT call for it? There are countless daily examples of this. A farang walks into a shop, and an employee always says: "There's a farang here..." - instead of saying there's a customer/someone/person/man/woman. Why?

Or, people are blocking the sidewalk, and if somebody notices, they invariably say something to the effect of "move aside, because a farang wants to pass by..."

Why is it important to identify someone as a farang in such instances? Why is it even relevant?

It's not a farang, just a person walking down the sidewalk. What difference does race make in that case?

How would you feel if every time you walked into a shop in the US, people said: "Hey, there's an Asian here!" Or, on the street, "Here comes an Asian, let him pass by.."

I don't think I'm complaining, I simply do not understand why Thais insist on doing that?

It's ridiculous, really.

Edited July 26, 2008 by mangkorn