Why Do We Farangs Say ' Farang ' ?

[kevin99]

Why do we farang's say farang ? Wht not just say foreigner ? becuase farang is a thai word from the thai language but its seems ok to just say one thai word in a full english language sentence. I hear so many expats like my self who cant speak any thai or if any very bad ( yes admit it we are to lazy to learn the language ! ). But why do i hear so many foreigners expats in thailand talking a full english sentence and then just putting the word 'khap' at the end of it ?? or farang in the middle of it ? or eg, i hear this one a alot a foreigner says to his thai girlfriend ' i love you mak mak '. why dont we either learn to speak thai to a good level or just leave it alone ?

I find my self doing it sometimes ! then if i hear my self and think, i just think what am i saying !

Does anyone else think this is quite funny ? or is it just me ? haha....... ' maybe i am just a baa farang ' !!!!

make any sence ?

[britmaveric]

Kevin99 is a baba bobo farang!!!

[Jingthing]

The most dangerous part is going back to an English speaking country and saying crap to everything, could get punched out for that ...

[Thongkorn]

My me falang Chan Thai koben cabb ,chan pud Thai di nitnoy, chan rackter , Cha kitten ker

Not falang I Thai Thankyou I speak a little Thai , I love you , I miss you, I think

[473geo]

My me falang Chan Thai koben cabb ,chan pud Thai di nitnoy, chan rackter , Cha kitten ker

Not falang I Thai Thankyou I speak a little Thai , I love you , I miss you, I think

Yep understand exactly what you mean Kevin..... ........but doesn't really bother me.

Edited September 12, 2009 by 473geo

[cobra]

Thaiglish to be exact, a cursory effort to appear that one is trying to assimilate, respect for the native tongue, etc,

What's amusing is listening to two white guys talking to each other incorporating common pharsing though it's still in English and thinking they're really going native, ie, same, same, no have, how mut you pay .....

[majorpacman]

another question, why is farang white?, there is completely nothing white about them. My printer paper is more then them. This is a stupid topic. Human being like to label sh*t get over it.

[koheesti]

Why do we farang's say farang ? Wht not just say foreigner ? becuase farang is a thai word from the thai language but its seems ok to just say one thai word in a full english language sentence. I hear so many expats like my self who cant speak any thai or if any very bad ( yes admit it we are to lazy to learn the language ! ). But why do i hear so many foreigners expats in thailand talking a full english sentence and then just putting the word 'khap' at the end of it ?? or farang in the middle of it ? or eg, i hear this one a alot a foreigner says to his thai girlfriend ' i love you mak mak '. why dont we either learn to speak thai to a good level or just leave it alone ?

I find my self doing it sometimes ! then if i hear my self and think, i just think what am i saying !

Does anyone else think this is quite funny ? or is it just me ? haha....... ' maybe i am just a baa farang ' !!!!

make any sence ?

Do you mean to say that you think people should speak only one language at a time and only if they speak it well? And not to incorporate words from other languages? I'm sure you realize that all languages include many words taken from other languages. When I lived in Estonia a Russian friend and myself would sometimes use English, Russian and Estonian words in one sentence - and neither of us speak Estonian.

Anyway, I use "farang" because it's easier. To me, Thais are foreigners so to use the term "foreigner" just doesn't always do the trick.

[KhaoNiaw]

At least one edition of the Grolier Dictionary (an English dictionary) has included 'farang' as an entry. They aimed to reflect English in use in Asia (or maybe just SEA, can't recall) in addition to the standard database.

Edited September 13, 2009 by KhaoNiaw

[krading]

When I first started coming to Thaland 'farung' was probably the first Thai word I learned and it was the only word I could pick out while listening to Thais rattling on together. It's rather like hearing your name mentioned across the room at a noisy party.

I had no qualms about using the word then, how can you hope to learn a language if you won't use it? It goes so nicely with other words I was soon to learn such as 'farung kii nok' and 'farung kii neow'.

[brzy]

Thai isnt that hard to pick up and learn, so there is little excuse to not "put pasat thai nit noy" .

[carmine]

I don't refer to myself as ferang. I don't like the term. I would prefer that Thais took the time to refer to me by my nationality. I find the generalization pig ignorant and don't respond to it. It actually makes me cringe to see foreigners refer to themselves by this term.

[Mark Wolfe]

I always use "foreigner" unless the listener cannot understand that word, then I have to use "farang."

[toptuan]

Thaiglish has some interesting adherents.

I am acquainted with a female professor from Chulalongkorn with a Ph.D. in English. She's highly respected in her field and is highly visible in academia, the business community, and government (Ministry of Education).

Her English is flawless--EXCEPT for the 'na ka' she adds at the end of every third or fourth sentence.

[KhaoNiaw]

Her English is flawless--EXCEPT for the 'na ka' she adds at the end of every third or fourth sentence.

I have colleagues with perfect English who do that in their emails too. I don't see it as a flaw though - just part of their English, with nothing directly available to them for this function in English.

Grolier also included 'ka/kha' and 'krap/khrap', though, unlike 'farang', obviously they wouldn't be used by non-Thais.

Edited September 13, 2009 by KhaoNiaw

[NHJ]

i always use the word foreigner and never farang, this word "falang" sounds like an insult for us who learned it's impolite to classify someone by his look or appearance, i'm not a native english speaker but i try to build my sentences with correct words and grammar.

this should be learned at school and promoted by the ministry of education in the next crackdown, when you talk about someone use "khao" with rising tone wich means he or she instead of farang.

[toptuan]

Her English is flawless--EXCEPT for the 'na ka' she adds at the end of every third or fourth sentence.

I don't see it as a flaw though - just part of their English, with nothing directly available to them for this function in English.

How about the American "huh?" or the Canadian "eh?"

[PoorSucker]

My me falang Chan Thai koben cabb ,chan pud Thai di nitnoy, chan rackter , Cha kitten ker

Not falang I Thai Thankyou I speak a little Thai , I love you , I miss you, I think

Ok, Thongkorn

Now we know you are female.

So instead of Khrap you should use Khaa.

Chan= I (female)

[KhaoNiaw]

Her English is flawless--EXCEPT for the 'na ka' she adds at the end of every third or fourth sentence.

I don't see it as a flaw though - just part of their English, with nothing directly available to them for this function in English.

How about the American "huh?" or the Canadian "eh?"

They don't carry any of 'na ka' at all.

[OxfordWill]

we must all do our own little bit. Right now my crusade is about informing as many thais as I can that separate cultures to Thai culture exist. Its a tought job but someone has to do it............................

[Jingthing]

I dropped by one of my regular local Thai food places yesterday. I always tip (not the kind of place where people do) as I am a regular and I want to be welcome. So this lady who I only know by face not name says to me who she only knows by face not name says HELLO FARANG! It made me cringe. Now I realize she was not intending to be rude, but what is going on in her head that she just can't leave it at HELLO?

Edited September 13, 2009 by Jingthing

[thaitaco]

Why do we farang's say farang ? Wht not just say foreigner ? becuase farang is a thai word from the thai language but its seems ok to just say one thai word in a full english language sentence. I hear so many expats like my self who cant speak any thai or if any very bad ( yes admit it we are to lazy to learn the language ! ). But why do i hear so many foreigners expats in thailand talking a full english sentence and then just putting the word 'khap' at the end of it ?? or farang in the middle of it ? or eg, i hear this one a alot a foreigner says to his thai girlfriend ' i love you mak mak '. why dont we either learn to speak thai to a good level or just leave it alone ?

I find my self doing it sometimes ! then if i hear my self and think, i just think what am i saying !

Does anyone else think this is quite funny ? or is it just me ? haha....... ' maybe i am just a baa farang ' !!!!

make any sence ?

1) because they say it, therefore knowing it and using it IS "knowing the Thai language better";

2) it is not their version of "foreigner"...yes, you should learn the Thai language better

[thaitaco]

Thaiglish to be exact, a cursory effort to appear that one is trying to assimilate, respect for the native tongue, etc,

What's amusing is listening to two white guys talking to each other incorporating common pharsing though it's still in English and thinking they're really going native, ie, same, same, no have, how mut you pay .....

indeed...maybe it was the beer too!

[Thongkorn]

My me falang Chan Thai koben cabb ,chan pud Thai di nitnoy, chan rackter , Cha kitten ker

Not falang I Thai Thankyou I speak a little Thai , I love you , I miss you, I think

Ok, Thongkorn

Now we know you are female.

So instead of Khrap you should use Khaa.

Chan= I (femThank youOKThinkingale)

well spotted . it was only done tong in cheek

[kosh]

My me falang Chan Thai koben cabb ,chan pud Thai di nitnoy, chan rackter , Cha kitten ker

Not falang I Thai Thankyou I speak a little Thai , I love you , I miss you, I think

Ok, Thongkorn

Now we know you are female.

So instead of Khrap you should use Khaa.

Chan= I (femThank youOKThinkingale)

well spotted . it was only done tong in cheek

This thread must be translated .... (also english joke, we are not all english native...)

I need to increase my thai vocabulary....(3 words at the moment....falang (l not r), sawadee and ting tong )

BTW, how many thai can read thai written in western character?

[NHJ]

BTW, how many thai can read thai written in western character?

unless they are trained to, not a single of them.

[kevin99]

Just to asnwer and say about some of your posts on my topic.

there is no such thing as thaiglish ! thailand is no where near like singapore and singlish . In singapore people do speak the english language most of them very very well.

to the 'jingthing' you was talking about when he go into a resturant and how you want to be welcome there but they say to you hello farang. I am sorry but welcome to thailand as a ' farang ' you will never be welcome by thai people unless you with have a thai wife or you speaning alot of money in that place but even then you will only be weclome becuase of them things and not yourself.

Can any guys here really say and belive they are welcome by thai people or they have real thai friends ?

[PeaceBlondie]

Causasians living in Thailand whose racial identity most closely resembles Europeans. CLITWRIMCRE. In short, we're clits. Wrinkly clits.

[smallprawn]

Just to asnwer and say about some of your posts on my topic.

there is no such thing as thaiglish ! thailand is no where near like singapore and singlish . In singapore people do speak the english language most of them very very well.

to the 'jingthing' you was talking about when he go into a resturant and how you want to be welcome there but they say to you hello farang. I am sorry but welcome to thailand as a ' farang ' you will never be welcome by thai people unless you with have a thai wife or you speaning alot of money in that place but even then you will only be weclome becuase of them things and not yourself.

Can any guys here really say and belive they are welcome by thai people or they have real thai friends ?

Why do we Farangs say Farang? Maybe your answer lies in your question?

The question might read as ... Why do people from a global mix of various nations foreign to Thailand refer to themselves as Farang?.. because its easier.

Its a collective and understood noun. Such words are common place in English, French... etc.

Previous posts have mentioned the fact that language is only a tool used to enhance communication. Because words from one language are borrowed, accepted and understood by another, they begin to be used in everyday conversation. This is not surprising..... Maybe this is how languages evolve?

As if this thread isnt uncomfortable enough alread and in answer to the question of ''Can anyone say they feel welcomed by Thai people''. I would say yes they can. My family are Thai and they have never made me fell anything other than welcome.

In the mean time I am about to open another bottle wine and reflect on why other ,faceless, peoples ignorance tugs at me so much.

While its not your fault, i already i blame you for tomorrows hangover. .

[Scott]

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