Are Highly Paid Expats Less Interested In Local Culture?

[Huey]

"Are Highly Paid Expats Less Interested In Local Culture?"

Ah ... another thread about relativities and generalities.

Highly paid is a relative term. What is a lot to some could be a pittance to others. Local culture is also a relative term. Local culture could be hi-so dinner parties, hangin' out in Soi Cowboy saloons, or simple living in a small country village.

Is it?

Is 600K baht per month + 150K for house + car and driver + international school + 1st class health + 2 biz class return tixs "relative"?

Give me a break.

The "research" should also point that "highly paid expats" do not immerse in local daily life and culture:

- they can never be seen riding in the tray of pick up trucks or baht buses or on motorbikes;

- their wives never run a food stall in the street

- they eat less somtum than anybody else

- they don't know what mekong and laokhao are

- they don't drink beer with ice

What <deleted> life do they live then on that high money?

A good one.

Though it don't mean that we don't get involved in Thai Culture. Maybe not ISSAN culture but definitely Thai culture. It's just that most of the Thais we encounter spaek English, and want to speak English too us, thus we don't often get a chance to practice Thai beyond the basics.

[dave9988]

but is that the real Thailand?

[qualtrough]

I worked for a European MNC in BKK between 95-2000. At the time there were some 20-30 expats working in the various branches and in various capacities. When I say expat I mean Expat as in full on package, house, driver, etc. I was a local hire at the top end of the scale, which at the time exceeded some expat packages at other companies. It was a good gig. At any rate, there was only one other expat other than myself who was proficient in Thai, and unlike yours truly he could not read or write the language. Like me, he was married to a Thai and had lived here for some time. Some of these expats had been with the company in Thailand more than a dozen years. I then obtained a full expat package with them and worked at their Manila branch for two years. About a dozen expats there, none could speak the local language. Now, of course that is a slightly different situation as English is pretty universal in Manila, but it gave me an insight into why the majority of expats may not pick up the language. First, expats may be on a short term commitment to that country, being rotated elsewhere from time to time. Or, they may never know when they may have to pick up sticks. For both those reasons there is little reason to pick up a local language that they may never have cause to use again. Second, as expats they generally are surrounded by local employees who speak their language fluently, and they will more often than not be dealing with customers/clients who speak their language (if it is English). Third, when you are on an expat package you could just as well be living anywhere in the world. Your company places you in a nice housing estate, your driver takes you to and from work, your kids go to an international school, you shop at the finest places, etc. There is almost a disincentive to getting really close to the culture. Most of your peer group in the native country will also not be so representative of most natives as they will have been educated overseas, etc. Their lifestyles and way of thinking are in many ways closer to those of their expat counterparts than to their own countrymen. Fourth, an expat in, say, a French or Spanish speaking country has an additional incentive to learn those languages as they are spoken in dozens of countries throughout the world. Central Thai is not even spoken everywhere within Thailand, not to mention outside the country. Fifth, and finally, many expats are so busy with their work that they have little time or inclination to learn the language in depth.

All those reasons make it perfectly understandable why many or most expats do not learn Thai beyond the basics. It is certainly nothing to feel superior about if you have been lucky enough to have learned the language.

I am now back in Thailand and spend time every week near the headquarters of two MNCs that employ a very large number of expats. From time to time they have overheard me speaking Thai and always express amazement. It is no fault of theirs that they do not know the language as most of them fit in group 1 above, serving only short stints here, or moving back and forth between regional offices for projects, etc. As for the situation in Thailand, some people just find Thai too daunting. For example, at the MNC I worked at there was one extremely sharp man who had first worked for the company in BKK in 1954. Over the years he had probably spent 20 years here, and was married to a Thai, with kids. He spoke four European languages fluently: Two from his native country, English, and Portuguese that he learned while stationed in Brazil. When I asked him how it was that he never attempted Thai he told me that he just found Asian languages too difficult!

[MJo]

but is that the real Thailand?

I would say that when you interact with any thai national in thailand it indeed is "real" thai culture. Rich and poor thais has their own culture yes, but both are thai afterall ? Also culture in south is different than up north but both are thai.

Some reason english teachers and backpackers usually have the need to boost their egos considering themselfs to be the only one who know "real" thai culture. For me it's all the same thai culture and doesn't matter if you get into village life in the boonies or hi-so party culture in Bangkok. Both are different but still thai culture for me...

[think_too_mut]

but is that the real Thailand?

Real Thailand voted and supports Thaksin.

PAD are 30,000 people, if that, and we see what we have. Where is "real Thailand"?

[wamberal]

I am now back in Thailand and spend time every week near the headquarters of two MNCs that employ a very large number of expats. From time to time they have overheard me speaking Thai and always express amazement. It is no fault of theirs that they do not know the language as most of them fit in group 1 above, serving only short stints here, or moving back and forth between regional offices for projects, etc. As for the situation in Thailand, some people just find Thai too daunting. For example, at the MNC I worked at there was one extremely sharp man who had first worked for the company in BKK in 1954. Over the years he had probably spent 20 years here, and was married to a Thai, with kids. He spoke four European languages fluently: Two from his native country, English, and Portuguese that he learned while stationed in Brazil. When I asked him how it was that he never attempted Thai he told me that he just found Asian languages too difficult!

The use of tones is, of course, what makes some Asian languages difficult. I lived and worked in Hong Kong for about 10 years, and Thailand for almost four. I am far better at Thai than I ever was in Cantonese (not very good in either case of course).

I would guess that a bigger proportion of expat types in Hong Kong speak Cantonese, because for many years Government and quasi-government jobs encouraged, and then required, proficiency in the local dialect. And a lot of those chaps stayed on, or moved into the private sector.

Cantonese is diabolically difficult, and the locals are far less forgiving of mangled attempts at their lingo in Hong Kong than the locals are in Thailand.