Khun John Is Preposterous?

[WorriedNoodle]

In that weekly blog by a certain Kiwi he mentions foreigners referring to themselves as Khun <whatever their name is> would sound preposterous to a Thai and that only Thais should be addressed with the Khun.

Is he right? I have never heard of such a thing before. Opinions welcome, on this particular point and not the blog in general.

[rgs2001uk]

Havent read the article, dont read his blog.

Here goes, someone asks your name, just say your first name, no need for khun.

Formal situations and introductions, I am introducing you to two of my friends, I would introduce them to you as khun x and khun y.

Informal, I would introduce as pee x and pee y.

Sit in a hospital or some public place and you will hear over the tannoy, khun x please report to admin, for example.

Formal situation, telephone goes, someone asks to speak to khun x, I just reply speaking, if they ask who is speaking I just say my name, not khun + my name.

Formal/informal situation, someone asks my name, I never hear anyone say khun x, Thai or farang.

From what I have observed this tends to be something TEFLr or other low level farangs do to try and improve their status/image.

[WorriedNoodle]

Thanks, that kind of makes sense. Yes I don't think I have ever made the mistake of saying my own name as Khun X but Thai's or other foreigners have addressed me as Khun X.

One place I have seen foreigners refer to themselves as Khun X is when signing off an email? Is that acceptable behavior?

[mallyrd]

All of my Thai staff refer to me as Khun ???. My Managing Director and my Project Director both call me Khun ???. I don't see anything odd in it at all.

[brewsterbudgen]

All of my Thai staff refer to me as Khun ???. My Managing Director and my Project Director both call me Khun ???. I don't see anything odd in it at all.

Are your MD and Project Director Thai? His point is about farangs calling other farangs Khun .....

[harrry]

In the West you do not answer the phone and say it is Mr John West when asked your name you say John West. The other person adds the honorific Mr when referring to you. It is the same here.

[rgs2001uk]

All of my Thai staff refer to me as Khun ???. My Managing Director and my Project Director both call me Khun ???. I don't see anything odd in it at all.

Ah workplace, probably a formal situation.

Anyway, from what I have heard by listening to Thais talking, simply put, you can and may well be referred to as khun x, but you dont refer to yourself as khun x.

The above refers to farang and Thai.

[CWMcMurray]

In the West you do not answer the phone and say it is Mr John West when asked your name you say John West. The other person adds the honorific Mr when referring to you. It is the same here.

Yeah, what he said...

It is very common for Thais to add the honorific 'Khun' when addressing even foreigners... This happens all the time

especially in professional settings

If another foreigner was to address me using Khun I wouldn't think any less of them... It is just the local equivalent of 'Mr'

Why should I feel slighted or less of the person if they chose to use local standards for politeness rather than western standards of politeness...

As long as they are making the effort to be polite, that is enough.

Sent from my iPhone using ThaiVisa app

[JetsetBkk]

All of my Thai staff refer to me as Khun ???. My Managing Director and my Project Director both call me Khun ???. I don't see anything odd in it at all.

Are your MD and Project Director Thai? His point is about farangs calling other farangs Khun .....

I think his point is a farang calling himself 'khun', not calling another farang 'khun'.

[harrry]

Every time I see this topic I cannot help thinking about villagefarang. My wife always refers to him as Khun John. I am sure he would not refer to himself this way in introducing himself. He would introduce himself as John. Why do some people try to make Thai hard for themselves.

Some of his posts though are preposterous maybe.

Edited March 12, 2013 by harrry

[Naam]

In the West you do not answer the phone and say it is Mr John West when asked your name you say John West. The other person adds the honorific Mr when referring to you. It is the same here.

i have heard Americans a zillion times saying "my name is Mr. Bill, Buck, Hank or Joe Whatever.

[Barabbas]

It's not preposterous, it's plain strange for somebody to introduce oneself as "Khun XXX". The K word doesn't come for free, one has to earn it to be addressed like this. For more or less English speaking Thais they would use Mr. if the person (foreigner) they talk to doesn't speak Thai, or use Khun if the other side does have good enough (by the speaker's standards) understanding of Thai language and customs.

Bottomline:

John - Morning, Moo! (goes into the office)

Somchai - Moo, is Khun John here yet?

Moo - Yes, Khun Somchai.

Somchai - OK (goes into the same office) Morning, Khun John! This is Khun Somkid!

John - Hello Khun Somkid, I am John.

Somkid - Nice to meet you, Khun John!

Edited March 12, 2013 by Barabbas

[DavidHouston]

Seems to me that the title "คุณ" (Khun) is a whole lot less jarring than the "มิสเตอร์" (มิซ-สิ-เต้อร์ - Mis-sa-ter) one so often hears.

[WorriedNoodle]

All of my Thai staff refer to me as Khun ???. My Managing Director and my Project Director both call me Khun ???. I don't see anything odd in it at all.

Are your MD and Project Director Thai? His point is about farangs calling other farangs Khun .....

I think his point is a farang calling himself 'khun', not calling another farang 'khun'.

Yes, my question relates to myself as a foreigner calling myself Khun XXX? I don;t think I have ever spoke of myself as Khun XXX but I may have been guilty of this in signing off on an email to a Thai in the past for work or business. So am I preposterous?! Just curious and and welcome feedback?!

[Kilgore Trout]

In that weekly blog by a certain Kiwi he mentions foreigners referring to themselves as Khun <whatever their name is> would sound preposterous to a Thai and that only Thais should be addressed with the Khun.

Is he right? I have never heard of such a thing before. Opinions welcome, on this particular point and not the blog in general.

Is it wrong to call an asian Mr or Ms in England? Should they not call themselves that because their skin is yellow?

[TommoPhysicist]

Khun ?????

Everyone calls me 'Ai Tommo', guess I get some extra respect.

[T_Dog]

Khun ?????

Everyone calls me 'Ai Tommo', guess I get some extra respect.

Certainly better than Eee Tommo!

[Johpa]

Although it is common to hear Thais refers to themselves in the third person, I can't recall anyone referring to themselves as khun + <name>.. But I spend almost all my time in rural areas up north where there is far less formality than in the city. I did on occasion refer to myself as achaan + <name> speaking to students when I was teaching in a local college years ago. And I often refer to myself as khun lung when talking to people one generation or two younger than myself, or just lung in less formal settings. When some formality is required, I would always use the first person pronoun phom although I am now old enough to be older than most people I would meet in a formal situation, usually bureaucrats, and referring to myself as khun lung is the polite way to ask them to show me some respect and consideration.

[rgs2001uk]

Seems to me that the title "คุณ" (Khun) is a whole lot less jarring than the "มิสเตอร์" (มิซ-สิ-เต้อร์ - Mis-sa-ter) one so often hears.

Brilliant observation, usually the domain of TEFLrs or other such low status people, a bit like Ajarn X, when the brutal reality is, they are nothing more than a kruu X.

I could never imagine myself refering to myself as either mis sa ter or Khun, my mrs would give me shit.

I have never heard my mrs refer to herself as khun x.

[mad mary]

In the West you do not answer the phone and say it is Mr John West when asked your name you say John West. The other person adds the honorific Mr when referring to you. It is the same here.

And you are in on all the privy calls received,in the west?

Edit

Just out of spite the next call I get I'm gonna answer "Mr John West speaking,"

Edited March 12, 2013 by mad mary

[Johpa]

In the West you do not answer the phone and say it is Mr John West when asked your name you say John West. The other person adds the honorific Mr when referring to you. It is the same here.

Actuallly in the public school settings in the US you can sometime hear teachers refer to themselves on the phone as Mr. Smith in the same way you might hear a doctor answer as Dr. Jones.

[brewsterbudgen]

All of my Thai staff refer to me as Khun ???. My Managing Director and my Project Director both call me Khun ???. I don't see anything odd in it at all.

Are your MD and Project Director Thai? His point is about farangs calling other farangs Khun .....

I think his point is a farang calling himself 'khun', not calling another farang 'khun'.

You're right. And to do so is preposterous!

[harrry]

In the West you do not answer the phone and say it is Mr John West when asked your name you say John West. The other person adds the honorific Mr when referring to you. It is the same here.

Actuallly in the public school settings in the US you can sometime hear teachers refer to themselves on the phone as Mr. Smith in the same way you might hear a doctor answer as Dr. Jones.

Note that in both cases you quote you use the surname. We are refereing to people using Mr when the Forename is included.

[Kilgore Trout]

All of my Thai staff refer to me as Khun ???. My Managing Director and my Project Director both call me Khun ???. I don't see anything odd in it at all.

Are your MD and Project Director Thai? His point is about farangs calling other farangs Khun .....

I think his point is a farang calling himself 'khun', not calling another farang 'khun'.

You're right. And to do so is preposterous!

Yes, just like orientals calling themselves Mr. or Ms. in the west, preposterous right?

But the main thing is, you are not Thai. In this case it does not matter what you say or think. All that matters is how the Thais perceive it.

Why don't you ask a Thai person if THEY think it is preposterous and accept what they say. Seeing as most of them I've worked with will call a foreigner "Khun so and so" AND would put up no objection to a foreigner introducing himself as "khun so and so" I think you know what the answer would be; it does NOT offend them.

Otherwise I would call you a colonial who wishes to impose his will on a society he deems incapable of making their own decisions or knowing what is right.

Edited March 13, 2013 by Kilgore Trout

[katana]

My understanding was that the KHUN title has to be 'earned' and it's for other people to decide whether to preface your name with it, not you.

[ChaiLor]

All of my Thai staff refer to me as Khun ???. My Managing Director and my Project Director both call me Khun ???. I don't see anything odd in it at all.

Are your MD and Project Director Thai? His point is about farangs calling other farangs Khun .....

Sorry, I must correct you, his point had nothing to do with other farangs being called Khun, it had nothing to do with anyone addressing anyone as Khun, the point he was making was it sounds ridiculous to a Thai for someone to refer to themselves as; Khun (insert name), as Khun is used in a similar way that westerners use the word sir, if someone asked you your name and you told them to call you sir, that would sound preposterous and totally self aggrandising, unless you're a real sir who was knighted by the Queen if England.

[brewsterbudgen]

All of my Thai staff refer to me as Khun ???. My Managing Director and my Project Director both call me Khun ???. I don't see anything odd in it at all.

Are your MD and Project Director Thai? His point is about farangs calling other farangs Khun .....

Sorry, I must correct you, his point had nothing to do with other farangs being called Khun, it had nothing to do with anyone addressing anyone as Khun, the point he was making was it sounds ridiculous to a Thai for someone to refer to themselves as; Khun (insert name), as Khun is used in a similar way that westerners use the word sir, if someone asked you your name and you told them to call you sir, that would sound preposterous and totally self aggrandising, unless you're a real sir who was knighted by the Queen if England.

Yes; I've just re-read Stickman's piece,

[Murf]

I always refer to myself as Khun T... Sorry... I mean Khunt.