Thais Reading Books ?

[pautai]

its getting very rare to see a thai reading a book .

you used to see girls reading comics but that seems to have fallen off

now they just fiddle around with a phone !

they all get info from the TV !

[Boatabike]

I see Thais reading books often.

Well at least the book is open, and the eye movement gives the impression that they are in fact reading. They may be faking it of course, and are actually under cover agent of the toxin task force trying to catch me using an illegally smuggled sim card. But i think they are just reading a book.

[edd]

My wife is an avid reader, OK its not High Tec. Stuff but she enjoys what she likes.

While I am happy reading a technical manual she likes romantic fiction.

It has to be in Thai, she can read English but for reading pleasure and ease it’s Thai.

Most of her friends are the same.

[Khun Ngo]

The last two that I meet who confessed to the sin of reading books were both taxi

drivers. One of which didn't even try to hide the evidence and blatantly placed the

source of wisdom right onto the dashboard.

[penelope]

its getting very rare to see a thai reading a book .

you used to see girls reading comics but that seems to have fallen off

now they just fiddle around with a phone !

they all get info from the TV !

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

My wife is a John Grisham junky.Must have every book he has written. And she just finished that Da Vinci Code book. She doesn't really read a lot of Thai literature, although there are a few titles hanging around the house.

[buadhai]

My GF reads all the time. She just finished one of the Lemony Snicket "Series of Unfortunate Events" books (in English) and is also studying what seems to me to be a rather advanced English Grammar book.

Her daughter, age 10, is constantly reading comics which she rents every other day. Much to grandma's distress. I think it's great if in lieu of TV.

[Sarpedon]

There is hardly any reading culture in Thailand. I know people around my age (29) who have never picked up a novel and during their education, have never been encouraged to do so outside of their text books.

Even reading comics or magzines is a good thing since it encourages a culture of reading and books from a young age. These days its all about mobile phones, game consoles and Thai soap opera or gameshows.

[pedro01]

its getting very rare to see a thai reading a book .

you used to see girls reading comics but that seems to have fallen off

now they just fiddle around with a phone !

they all get info from the TV !

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

WOW - Here we have the results of an exhaustive study.

Thais no longer read books - NONE of them !! The ALL watch television.

"You used to see girls reading comics" - pautai - what kind of girls are you associating with here ?

- pre-teens ?

- teens ?

- adults ?

I have never seen my 32 year old wife read a comic but for sure she reads books. I also know a lot of Thais that read English-language books.

I guess they must have been overlooked in your research...

[astral]

I remember interviewing a Thai university graduate.

In his CV he listed reading as a hobby so I asked what sort of books

he liked to read. The answer was "Comics".

Not the best way to impress a prospective employer.

[Sarpedon]

You see many Thai's reading comics, from teens to adults...on the skytrain and in any of bangkok's libraries.

[Rags]

There is hardly any reading culture in Thailand. I know people around my age (29) who have never picked up a novel and during their education, have never been encouraged to do so outside of their text books.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

About a year or so ago I bought my wife a Thai translation of one of the Harry Potter books (not classic literature I know, but she had liked the movie!). I was amazed to find out afterwards that she had not read a book since school, and had never thought about buying books for pleasure/entertainment.

Anyway it only took one chapter to get her hooked, and since then she reads a book most nights before bed, and is working her way through the complete series.

Now the only problem is what book to get next, and trying to get her to turn the light off at night!!

Rags

[bkkmadness]

I'd say all over the west as well, there is a lot less kids reading books now as well, because of tv, games consoles, computers etc.

Wouldn't some of us be better to leave a bit of time of this forum and pick up a good book once in a while?

[Jai Dee]

My teeruk usually buys at least 3 magaizines a week... all are read thoroughly from cover to cover.

I know that she does actually read the content and not only look at the pictures (like I do) because sometimes she'll try out a new recipe, or try a line on me that she's read in the romance section of the Thai version of Cleo.

[stumonster]

Wouldn't some of us be better to leave a bit of time of this forum and pick up a good book once in a while?

I have been reading alot of books on my pocketPC since I have been on this sea journey I am doing at the moment. it is very easy to turn on and start reading and is much smaller in size than a book.

regretably I read two dan brown books - digital fortress and da vinci smeg - attrocious fodder .

the ease of downloading books onto my axim has had me reading alot more often , when I was in thailand during march I was reading on the bus, in a taxi - plus I just plug the headphones in and listen to some music at the same time.

reading is an essential tool for people to learn comprehension.

[pautai]

there are very few if any thai language book outlets . or libraries .

true there are now bookazine shops at Tesco and Big C but i have never seen a bookshop outside BKK of the kind that might be doing a roaring trade !

supplying local bookworms and bibliophiles .

Worst of all right in the heart of Uni area -MBK does not have one single bookshop ! it did have one some years back but it closed .

So none of the worlds literature is being read by thais . apart from harry squatter that is.

So all those Uni dolls in tight skirts at MBK must be airheads !! shock horror !!

Thais are good with food ,drink ,shagging ,, but no food for the brain ,what a sorry state of affairs .

Nothing to exercise the mind .

[buadhai]

there are very few if any thai language book outlets

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

This is just not true. Even here in Korat there are a number of book stores. Klang Plaza has two, including a B2S which is always full of people and has a nice coffee shop inside which is also often full of readers.

There are several Se Ed outlets, including two at The Mall, both of which are so jammed it's hard to get through the aisles.

Not far from Chumpol Gate there is a book rental place that is a prime source for comics. Granted, comics are not great literature, but if they get people into a reading habit then good on them.

[siamesekitty]

Was going to post something similar though worded a bit differently

Yes Thailand does have quite a few bookstores, but lacks good public libraries. A bookworm would have to set aside a budget if he/she were to satisfy an appetite for books, whereas in the more developed countries you could just stroll over to your local library and borrow some.

There are many comic rental shops, it's a good business because the comics themselves are cheap, and they are rented out for 10% of the price. Get 10 people and you've covered the cost of the book!

By the way, I practiced reading Thai through comics. Really helps, as you become familiar with some frequently used vocab as well as its usage. Great for learning pronouns (on an informal level, that is)

[RamdomChances]

Are there many Thai language "novels" ? I've never really seen any and most Thais dont have the language skills to read a book and fully understand it in English. My wife reads "comics", magazines, travel books and the odd ref book. Never seen her read a novel though.

[~G~]

GF reads "nangsue joking", both comic and other. Especially likes the Lao language comic books.

[siamesekitty]

Are there many Thai language "novels" ? I've never really seen any and most Thais dont have the language skills to read a book and fully understand it in English. My wife reads "comics", magazines, travel books and the odd ref book. Never seen her read a novel though.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'm not an expert on Thai literature, but from what I've seen, many of the novels sold are translations of English-language novels. There are some Thai-language novels out there as well, but I don't think they have a huge following, at least until some of these are turned into Thai TV soap operas

Thai literature might be perceived as "boring", I suppose.

[chuchok]

the missus is a book worm! All Thai, but every bloody week a "new" book appears.At one stage she was reading so much it started to piss me off.I confronted her with it and she gave me the hairy eyeball incredulous look and said to me "You have to feed the brain!"

I nealy fell off my chair laughing...it was all in the look.

[RamdomChances]

I've seen books with their english titles but writen in Thai, these look really thin are they direct translations or just a "summary" of the book ?

[siamesekitty]

I've seen books with their english titles but writen in Thai, these look really thin are they direct translations or just a "summary" of the book ?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Err, not sure, will check it out next time I'm in a bookstore!

If they're extremely thin they might be summaries (to help out the students?) but if there's not much of a difference it might just be that the translations use less space. Thai and English text are rarely exactly the same length.

[aletta]

You wont catch anyone reading a book in rural Isaan.

Comics yes

magazines yes

Edited April 23, 2005 by aletta

[pautai]

You wont catch anyone reading a book in rural Isaan.

Comics yes

magazines yes

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

they do have a lot of spare time on their hands too , but they like to chillout and play cards , hi-lo , drafts , pick their noses , slug on a whiskey or maybe drop by a brothel for a quick look and sing a kareoki song or 2 .

you wont see anybody reading Salinger , Orwell or Hemmingway

[RamdomChances]

they do have a lot of spare time on their hands too , but they like to chillout and play cards , hi-lo , drafts , pick their noses , slug on a whiskey or maybe drop by a brothel for a quick look and sing a kareoki song or 2

If I had the money to live like that I dont think it pick up a book either

[Nordlys]

One of my biggest surprises in Thailand is that nobody seems to know the diary of Anne Frank, let alone read it (even though there is an Thai-translated version of it). I'm not even from western country but it's a reading you grow up with when you are kid, that it literally takes a retarded person not to know of her diary. I thought the book has a universal message and I used to think it is read in any countries of any culture and religion except a country with little freedom of expression like Burma or North Korea, but I haven't come across a single Thai who even knows the name Anne Frank. I was shocked when I found out my wife didn't know, then later found not even my Chula graduated friends nor a Thai BOI sraff living in Germany (who's fluent in German) knew of her and her famous diary. Ask your Thai friend, wife, GF, or whoever it is around you. I bet s/he doesn't know.

[Oleg_Rus]

Also, nobody reads "Crime and punishment", "War and Peace", "Gulag Archipelago" ... btw, who is Anne Frank ?

cheers

[richb2004]

My wife reads a lot of celebrity gossip magazines. She often buys a few a day and they never take more than half an hour to read cover to cover. They are absolute trash. She occasionally reads an actual book which will normally be about a Thai person that has experience the incredible world outside Thailand. Otherwise the book will be about some one who has made a lot of money or made it as a TV star. I always complain about this and encourage her to read real books. She asked me recently to pick something out for her. The selection of recognizable books was slim but I settled on a Fredrick Forsyth collection of short stories. That was about two months ago. She has read five pages and countless trash magazines in between!! Should I be bothered? Probably not, but it does frustrate me. Many of the Thai books widely available seem to be either about Buddhism or past kings as far as I can see, plus a few translations of American best sellers. I have never seen any books on world history or popular science in the shops I have visited. I have seen plenty of books about astrology but non about astronomy. If people can’t read the books how are they ever going to learn such things, I certainly don’t see to many educational programs on Thai TV.

I work in the Middle East and North Africa and find that the locals there are perplexed when they see me reading a book. Any spare time that they might have for reading they use for sleeping (or praying! ).

I think that this is an important difference between the developed world and the developing world. We have an interest in a wide range of topics and subject and access to the appropriate books. Unfortunately those who need the information to catch up do not have it available to them.

I also find that many hobbies are looked at as eccentricities here in Thailand. I think many Thais are to busy trying to live and don't have time or the inclination for anything other than the essentials.

Alternatively I could be completely wrong. There may be many intelligent books that I have over looked and Thais could be reading in their own homes.

As for the question 'who is Ann Frank'? I was told by a long time resident of Thailand with two kids in school that the schools here teach little in the way of history and that they certainly teach nothing about any wars including WWI, WWII, Vietnam or the Korean War. I don’t know how true this is, but it’s a sad thing if it is. I can quite imagine it being true.

[Nordlys]

Also, nobody reads "Crime and punishment", "War and Peace", "Gulag Archipelago" ... btw, who is Anne Frank ?

cheers

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

From your selection of books and your handle name I am assuming you are Russian and they don't teach about Anne Frank in Russia? Assuming Russians to be very anti-Nazi I thought Russians would know Anne Frank too but I guess it's not as universal as I thought...

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...450208?v=glance

I know crime and punishment and war and peace (actually have it but never read it lol), but not Gulag Archipelago...