Why Do Thais Know So Little About The Geography Of China And India?

[chickenslegs]

Show a map of the world to most Thai's and ask them to point out where the UK is. 9 times out of 10 they will point to a large land mass and even not believe you when you point to the tiny Island West of France.

I don't believe you either!

[eefoo]

Show a map of the world to most Thai's and ask them to point out where the UK is. 9 times out of 10 they will point to a large land mass and even not believe you when you point to the tiny Island West of France.

I don't believe you either!

I see both your points. Fact is though if you go due west from anywhere on the French coast between Abbeville and Dunkirk, the next little island you will hit would be some part of the UK.

What was someone saying about not knowing geography?

[mgjackson69]

Go to USA and ask someone in New Jersey where Nebraska or Missouri is

[Naam]

Show a map of the world to most Thai's and ask them to point out where the UK is. 9 times out of 10 they will point to a large land mass and even not believe you when you point to the tiny Island West of France.

Having said that, ask most people who are not from the UK to point to the English flag and the vast majority of the time they will point to the Union Jack. Oh, and yes Wales is a country.

Most bizarre of all (For me), is that I seem to have met alot of Americans who are adamant that the Statue of Liberty is "American architecture".

hmmm... who would believe you? i don't

[Groongthep]

Most bizarre of all (For me), is that I seem to have met alot of Americans who are adamant that the Statue of Liberty is "American architecture".

Really? I don't know of any American who wasn't taught that the Statue of Liberty was a gift from France. It's taught in grade school history in just about every school.

[imaneggspurt]

Just got in from an afternoon out,.picked up a huge piece of iron in a tyre and it went straight down, we were outside a motorbike repair shop, my wife asked him the soi number so that we could give the address to the tyre shop,and he had to go up the road to the sign to give it to us, this is 100 per cent true, ..geography of china and india !, id say start with naklua and sattahip first !

Edited September 14, 2008 by imaneggspurt

[Scott]

Sadly, the true test about geography (and history, I might add) comes when you are talking with students. And here it is very sad how little they know. Adults often have long ago forgotten all the trivia that is no longer very relevant to their day-to-day life. The world is quite a bit smaller than it was 50 years ago and the distance between the US and Thailand is more relevant today than they were then.

We are much more interconnected. We have international news and they often show a map--including the weather map. Somewhere along the line it should start sinking in, but probably won't.

Thai people tend to think that everything here is different than anywhere else. I often hear about Thai dogs (vs. other dogs), Thai cats, etc. etc. God, these animals basic instinct isn't different anywhere you go.

[tw25rw]

the bigger the country, the grater the ignorance....

how many of you know slovenia?

It's in Czechoslovenia.

[Sabum]

<deleted> is a slovenia?

[TheWalkingMan]

I used to teach in a private language school at the weekends here in Bangkok. Most of the kids were from fairly wealthy families and many went to private schools. Whenever we did anything related to world geography I would be able to spin the globe, stop it and then ask a kid to find Thailand. There were several occasions when the kid would have to give up after 2-3 minutes. I'm sorry but you can dress that up whoever you like about not needing to know about the outside world but being unable to find your own country on the world map is just pathetic.

You really cannot candy coat something like this... Especially if they have gone to private schools... How the heck could you not find your own country on a map??

Maybe it comes down to the people just thinking that the only things important are the things in their immediate vicinity and anything past 50 meters from their normal paths is not necessary.

TheWalkingMan

[petitechevre]

Yes geography is pretty much useless for everyone..

The thing is.. learning where the big countries are in the world, takes only a retard.. or better.

News: World map

schools: Maps everywhere.

Dictionary: maps

Offices all over thailand(travel, inssurance etc etc): maps

+ they teach it in school..

imo.. lots of countries have average inteligence. and many others like USA and thailand have massive stupidity+massive cleverness.

xcept its not distributed evenly.

Which is why those countries(see usa+thai and prob others) score so low in iq scoring compared to the rest of the educated world.

You have a lot of poverty, where not so clever people reproduce a ton more than clever people and keep the stupidity rolling by making sure their kids are as dumb as they are by not being able to offer them proper education. (issan+ghetto's)

Other leftish countries, people reproduce evenly and even the kid with bad genes will havee a very good education offering him all the chances to be average.

i can't see a kid coming off 2 americans living on social security in a ghetto ever being average unless he was born defective w/ a genius brain and got scholarships his whole life.. or was mad for learning and reading books all day from 5yo.

reading about thai's very very low IQ:

http://www.gnxp.com/blog/2005/08/thailand-...us-about-iq.php

http://tariqnelson.com/2006/07/21/thailand...iq-in-children/

[sleir]

I just tested my gf (bachelor degree from Chiang Mai Uni) by asking her about neighbouring countries of Thailand.

She first replied Laos, Burma, Cambodia.. when I asked for more she added Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Phillipines and China.

It seems she misunderstood the concept of neighbouring country, but the answer was pretty ok I think.

I then asked her where these countries are relative to Thailand (east, west, north, south).. she gave me a wrong answer for Burma, the rest was correct, she said she actually meant west.. but well, still ok ;-)

I asked her via msn so I don't know if she cheated by asking her friends or googled. But many answers came quite rapidly and she claimed it was too easy.

Furthermore, I asked her what continent a country belongs to: Brazil correct, Canada wrong (S America), Austria correct, Angola wrong, Portugal correct, Libya correct.

Overall, rather good, the same seems to apply for her family on her mothers side, they are, despite being rather poor fairly well educated and interested.

Her uncle/new father often asks me about Switzerland and foreigners opinion about specific thai topics including politics and culture.

Seems like the uneducated poor from the North who don't support PAD aren't that stupid after all eh ! ^^

[MidoriApple]

Why do Thais know so little about the geography of China and India, if these countries exerted a strong influence on Thai culture? What percentage of Thai people know a lot about the geography of other countries?

Where do you live? How many Thais do you know? How long have you been here?

... to judge that Thais know just a little of things, places outside our country...

Just 4 years ago, I was asked if my country has television... or we ride elephant to school...

I was asked in Guildford, UK....

how can i say... nothing... I only smiled...

[bonobo]

Why do Thais know so little about the geography of China and India, if these countries exerted a strong influence on Thai culture? What percentage of Thai people know a lot about the geography of other countries?

Where do you live? How many Thais do you know? How long have you been here?

... to judge that Thais know just a little of things, places outside our country...

Just 4 years ago, I was asked if my country has television... or we ride elephant to school...

I was asked in Guildford, UK....

how can i say... nothing... I only smiled...

MidoriApple,

I am not Thai bashing by any means. My best friends are Thai, and the fact that I live here should attest to the high regard I hold the country and its people.

But I have observed that Thais, as a whole, are not very conversant with not only world geaography, but Thai geopgraphy as well. Most of my friends are in the upper social echelons, well-educated and world travelers. My friends have what I would consider a basic grasp of world geography with regards to locations, but not with demographics, history, or politics. But even their knowledge of Thai geography is weak. None of my friends, for example, know the population of Bangkok, nor do they know how far it is to Chiang Mai, Udon Thani, or anywhere else beyond a 100 km ring around Bangkok. My other, Thai-educated friends are much weaker in geography.

I have discussed this with my friends, and we have tried to figure it out. One thing makes some sense. When you ask someone from Udon how far away is Bangkok, the answer is always "8 hours." Well, most Thais in Udon have to take the bus to Bangkok, so it really doesn't matter how many km it is, it is the amount of time it takes to get there which has relevancy. As far as populations and such, Thais just don't seem to attach the same importance to numbers as do Americans, Germans, Brits, and many other cultures. So the size of populations just isn't interesting or relevant other than simply "large" or "small."

But undoubtedly, there are many things that most Thais know or understand that people from other countries do not. I don't have a good example from Thailand right now, but one example often used is how the Inuit look down upon the Russians, Canadians, Danish, and Americans for not undertstanding the simple differences in snow. While much of Frank Boas' initial claims as to the huge number of Inuit words for snow has been since discreditd as an urban myth, there never-the-less are about 15 Inuit words for various types of snow. Hence, it is not hard to conjecture that the average Inuit has a much greater understanding of snow than a typical American or Russian.

Yes, I have had people in the US and Europe think Taiwan when I say Thailand. And I have had people ask me if they speak Chinese in Thailand. But overall, to do think the average European, North American, or Japanese has a better grasp of geography than does the average Thai. And people from some countries, such as the Philippines and Mexico, seem to have even a better grasp than the average American or European.

Edited September 14, 2008 by bonobo

[AmeriThai]

I don't know why so many posters feel Thais have no idea about the geography where they live. Ask any Thai lady where to buy gold, they can lead you the nearest shop by instinct. It's amazing!

[JohnBanPrang]

Who cares where Bhutan or Bhukina Faso is.

Another western superiority complex.

No wonder Farang are getting more & more unliked in Thailand.

Always think they know better.

Always think they are more smart.

[bonobo]

Who cares where Bhutan or Bhukina Faso is.

Another western superiority complex.

No wonder Farang are getting more & more unliked in Thailand.

Always think they know better.

Always think they are more smart.

If you don't care where either Bhutan or Burkina Faso is, well, then obviously geography is not important to you. So be it. But that hardly is the same as attesting that this is a western superiority complex. Not to pick nits, but the Japanese have done the best in recent world-wide geography studies, and last time I looked at a map, Japan was not part of the "western" world. Other counrties doing well have been China, South Korea, and the Phillipines.

But to go back to your post, I don't think anyone is trying to prove superiority through this. This is a simple obersvation which has aroused curiousity. And I really doubt that knowing or not knowing geography has really anything to do with Thais either liking or disliking farangs.

Personally, though, I think that knowledge is good, and ignorance is bad (when put on such a simplistic scale). Knowledge is wide, and it is not limited to geography. To dimsiss any lack of knowledge as unimportant is an attitude which I frankly don't understand. And while you may not care about Burkina Faso, I certainly do, and so do about 13,000,000 people who live there.

[bendix]

Whenever I read threads like this it strikes me that it says more about the posters than those they are pouring scorn on. Perhaps it's a reflection on the type of Thais your mixing with . .

Mrs B and other Thai's I know have a very good grasp of the world, but then again I didnt find them in Nana Plaza bars.

On the subject of geographic ignorance, I see it's being reported that the likely future Vice President of the USA only got her first passport six months ago, curiously for a claimed visit to Alaskan troops in Iraq which it appears was never actually undertaken.

[petitechevre]

Whenever I read threads like this it strikes me that it says more about the posters than those they are pouring scorn on. Perhaps it's a reflection on the type of Thais your mixing with . .

Mrs B and other Thai's I know have a very good grasp of the world, but then again I didnt find them in Nana Plaza bars.

On the subject of geographic ignorance, I see it's being reported that the likely future Vice President of the USA only got her first passport six months ago, curiously for a claimed visit to Alaskan troops in Iraq which it appears was never actually undertaken.

Are you completely mentally deficient?

The whole thread isnt about thai geo bashing.. its about american and thai geography bashing because they both fail a it.. hard.

and please, American are completely screwed in politics, most of them know it.. they have no hope in fixing it with all the stupid steps you have to take a simple law.. i mean they couldnt even fix a proven rigged election 8 years ago..

[JohnBanPrang]

Who cares where Bhutan or Bhukina Faso is.

Another western superiority complex.

No wonder Farang are getting more & more unliked in Thailand.

Always think they know better.

Always think they are more smart.

If you don't care where either Bhutan or Burkina Faso is, well, then obviously geography is not important to you. So be it. But that hardly is the same as attesting that this is a western superiority complex. Not to pick nits, but the Japanese have done the best in recent world-wide geography studies, and last time I looked at a map, Japan was not part of the "western" world. Other counrties doing well have been China, South Korea, and the Phillipines.

But to go back to your post, I don't think anyone is trying to prove superiority through this. This is a simple obersvation which has aroused curiousity. And I really doubt that knowing or not knowing geography has really anything to do with Thais either liking or disliking farangs.

Personally, though, I think that knowledge is good, and ignorance is bad (when put on such a simplistic scale). Knowledge is wide, and it is not limited to geography. To dimsiss any lack of knowledge as unimportant is an attitude which I frankly don't understand. And while you may not care about Burkina Faso, I certainly do, and so do about 13,000,000 people who live there.

Then read some of the previous threds.

To me it sounds like some people see Thais like stupid

AND how many people from Bhukina Faso know where you come from?

Knowledge is good.

But who is the judge to tell what knowledge is best?

Please help me.

[bonobo]

Then read some of the previous threds.

To me it sounds like some people see Thais like stupid

AND how many people from Bhukina Faso know where you come from?

Knowledge is good.

But who is the judge to tell what knowledge is best?

Please help me.

I wouldn't begin to try and decide what knowledge is "best." For a fisherman off the coast of Africa, a thorough knowledge of piscan behaviour as well a local weather patterns would seem pretty important in helping that fisherman feed his family. Knowing what sort of government exists in Mongolia would not have as important an immediate impact to him. For a businessman in China, however, understanding the Mongolian government might make him or her more successful in supplying products to that country.

However, perhaps that fisherman has a curiousity about exotic lands, and perhaps that businessman is fascinated by marine biology. Then learning about Mongolia or about African fish would be valued simply for the sake of knowledge.

Relative "importance" of knowledge depends on the person in question. But regardless, knowledge is "good," and ignorance is "bad," in my humble opinion. And whether the people living in Burkina Faso know much about my own nation or not, I still want to know all I can about them, how they live, what they think.

I doubt that people really think Thais are stupid. I would assert that anyone thinking that falls pretty far over on the stupid scale his or herself. Rather, in trying to understand Thai culture, it is curious that these things, which are deemed important in other cultures, are not deemed so important here. It has nothing to do with right or wrong, smart or stupid.

[kartman]

I used to teach in a private language school at the weekends here in Bangkok. Most of the kids were from fairly wealthy families and many went to private schools. Whenever we did anything related to world geography I would be able to spin the globe, stop it and then ask a kid to find Thailand. There were several occasions when the kid would have to give up after 2-3 minutes. I'm sorry but you can dress that up whoever you like about not needing to know about the outside world but being unable to find your own country on the world map is just pathetic.

I also expect if you showed them a blank outline map of Thailand and said this is Thailand where is Bangkok you would draw a "blank".

[phaethon]

When I was traveling in Ecuador with a friend from England, and he was asked where he was from, more than once an Ecuadorean responded with 'What part of the USA is England in?'

Tell them that, like Thailand, it's part of Hawaii - prove it by showing them the Hawaian state flag:

[kartman]

<deleted> is a slovenia?

Comes out of a male eastern europeons mouth when he sees a sexy girl!

[endure]

I used to teach in a private language school at the weekends here in Bangkok. Most of the kids were from fairly wealthy families and many went to private schools. Whenever we did anything related to world geography I would be able to spin the globe, stop it and then ask a kid to find Thailand. There were several occasions when the kid would have to give up after 2-3 minutes. I'm sorry but you can dress that up whoever you like about not needing to know about the outside world but being unable to find your own country on the world map is just pathetic.

I also expect if you showed them a blank outline map of Thailand and said this is Thailand where is Bangkok you would draw a "blank".

I suspect that's true of more countries than Thailand.

[sibeymai]

Who needs to know anything about geography ? Isn't that what pilots are for ?

[JohnBanPrang]

Then read some of the previous threds.

To me it sounds like some people see Thais like stupid

AND how many people from Bhukina Faso know where you come from?

Knowledge is good.

But who is the judge to tell what knowledge is best?

Please help me.

I wouldn't begin to try and decide what knowledge is "best." For a fisherman off the coast of Africa, a thorough knowledge of piscan behaviour as well a local weather patterns would seem pretty important in helping that fisherman feed his family. Knowing what sort of government exists in Mongolia would not have as important an immediate impact to him. For a businessman in China, however, understanding the Mongolian government might make him or her more successful in supplying products to that country.

However, perhaps that fisherman has a curiousity about exotic lands, and perhaps that businessman is fascinated by marine biology. Then learning about Mongolia or about African fish would be valued simply for the sake of knowledge.

Relative "importance" of knowledge depends on the person in question. But regardless, knowledge is "good," and ignorance is "bad," in my humble opinion. And whether the people living in Burkina Faso know much about my own nation or not, I still want to know all I can about them, how they live, what they think.

I doubt that people really think Thais are stupid. I would assert that anyone thinking that falls pretty far over on the stupid scale his or herself. Rather, in trying to understand Thai culture, it is curious that these things, which are deemed important in other cultures, are not deemed so important here. It has nothing to do with right or wrong, smart or stupid.

What about reading about the Lord Buddha?

If guests

living in Thailand try and read the "Four Noble Truths" and

the "Noble Eightfold Path" .Easy reading as it is translated into many languages.

Maybe it can you an idear of what is important to many Thai and Buddhists.

And it is not geography or who the Beattles where.

[IMA_FARANG]

Why do Thais know so little about the geography of China and India, if these countries exerted a strong influence on Thai culture? What percentage of Thai people know a lot about the geography of other countries?

Depends on their education and how much they read. My Thai girlfriend used to read Thai magazines that had articles about different countries around the world. Her knowledge of geography was better or equal to most "farangs' I have met in Thailand.

As in most countries around the world the knowledge of other countries varies. I worked with a British man in Saudi Arabia who didn't understand where Thailand was when I told him I was going on vacation to Thailand. I explained it was in Southeast Asia north of Singapore (thinking he might know about Singapore and how it was siezed by the Japanese from the British at the beginning of WWII). He had now idea where Singapore was. I mentioned the Bridge on the River Kwai (thinking maybe he saw the movie) and would get the connection with Thailand. No luck. Eventually I got him to understand by mentioning China. He said he didn't know there were other small countries near China, but he was willing to accept that. Then he made a comment about China that just blew my mind. He said he had a Sony stereo. Apparently he believed Sony was a Chinese company. "Clever blokes those little Japanese fellows",he said, speaking about "those Chinese blokes" that worked for Sony.

True story.

Edited September 14, 2008 by IMA_FARANG

[PeaceBlondie]

I can list over 40 countries of Europe - just did it, and I know I left some out. I only learned Slovenia from a friend recently. I am American, did not go to private schools until age 18. Most Americans know all 50 states, but not provinces of Canda or the 33 states of Mexico (I can name almost all). The capital of Burkina Faso rhymes with woogadoogoo. I think Timbuktu is in Mali or Malawi.

Like us, Thais do not need to know these things. My friend is a Thai geography teacher, quite inquisitive, but when we met she did not know things about temperate zone seasons, long summer days, and climates. She did not need to know.

I met a Thai who did not know that the area south of Maracaibo has mysterious flashing lights at night. Did you? What's the name of the odd rain area from which Victoria falls plummets? What foreign island lies north of northwestern Venezuela?

[JohnBanPrang]

I can list over 40 countries of Europe - just did it, and I know I left some out. I only learned Slovenia from a friend recently. I am American, did not go to private schools until age 18. Most Americans know all 50 states, but not provinces of Canda or the 33 states of Mexico (I can name almost all). The capital of Burkina Faso rhymes with woogadoogoo. I think Timbuktu is in Mali or Malawi.

Like us, Thais do not need to know these things. My friend is a Thai geography teacher, quite inquisitive, but when we met she did not know things about temperate zone seasons, long summer days, and climates. She did not need to know.

I met a Thai who did not know that the area south of Maracaibo has mysterious flashing lights at night. Did you? What's the name of the odd rain area from which Victoria falls plummets? What foreign island lies north of northwestern Venezuela?

Peace Blondie

Thank you.

Very good answer.

Who can judge who?