Thailand seen as regional hub for nurses, accountants

[DavisH]

Your average Thai would never consider leaving the cultural peace and comfort of Thailand. In other words, they don't travel well. This is especially true if wherever they would go does not already have many Thais for them to latch onto. I mean even Yingluck took mama noodles with her to Europe.

Thais generally only really function in Thailand. They generally don't assimilate at all into other places.

That is true I know of several unhappy Thais overseas who might have a comparatively rich hubby but want to be back here and I think part of that is the rampant nationalism here which is not found to such an extent overseas (but exists in places of course). That 'belonging' and 'special' feeling leads to lack of assimilation.

Many can assimilate, but when you are taught you come from the best place on earth from a young age, why would you want to leave?

[tomwct]

I know a few Thai nurses, even ones who do surgery on farang on a daily basis but none of them can speak english.

Can you please explain why a doctor / nurse operating on a pateint knocked out cold ... needs to speak English?

Is speaking English a magic power that ensures a more favorable outcome?

Or is the real problem ... inside your head.

You see, you are in thier country, and if there is a language shortfall ... perhaps a mirror could solve the mystery for you.

Would it matter if you were in Berlin and the doctor did not speak English? Probably not ... take a moment and think about that ... would you?

By the way, I just recovered from a very seriuos operation at Chulalongkorn Hospital, and it could not have gone better, or handled more professionally. It was not lost on me that i was the only Farang patient in the 6 visits I made there, including surgury.

Yes ... being able to communicate in Thai does have perks ... and saved the 200% permium we pay at Sametivej for English speaking staff.

So for you it doesn't matter if the doctor/nurse can't speak english as long as you save 200% of the costs?

The costs don't matter for me at all, i have an insurance for that.

And if i want to tell the doctor/nurse something while i'm sick i want them to speak my native language or english even though i can speak several languages.

We have several German doctors in my homecountry and they speak our native language as well.

I was in a Thai hospital once and even the reception couldn't speak any english while they had to give medicines to the patients. So you better not have questions about the medicines because they can't communicate with their patients. Hence i saw a farang yelling to them because they couldn't answer his questions.

Phillipino nurses are even hired in Europe is what i heard, because they can speak english very well. Old patients still refuse to be nursed by them though, they want native speakers or nothing at all.

There are Filipino nurses in Britain , working in both public and private hospitals, there have been some problems with suspect qualifications but in general I understand they are welcome and needed because of shortages.

With Thailand's reputation for questionable education and qualifications plus fakes, copies etc I would think Thai nurses would have problems getting hired overseas and then comes the language situation.

We are talking about Thai's working in ASEAN Countries! What is the Common language for ASEAN? ENGLISH< ENGLISH< ENGLISH!

Thai's are Not Qualified. I Teach at a Large Well Known University! Thai's Do Not Speak English! & Yes, many are Passed when

they should have FAILED! An "A" is 80-100, "B" is 70-79, "C" is 60-69, and "D" is 50-59! Any other questions?

[smedly]

Thailand the Hub of attempting to be a Hub

keep saying it and someone might believe

In actual fact Thailand is a Hub for many things but you wouldn't want to brag about them

[kinmaew]

What has ultra right wing nationalism bought them? - please see below:

"However, most Thais do not like working overseas due to the lack of language skills and family concerns"

Continue as a CPA for USD 500 per month and enjoy the benefits of living "At home"

[ALLSEEINGEYE]

Thailand is the region hub of delusional politicians!!

There is zero chance that Thai nurses or accountants will ever work outside Thailand.

They can't speak English and with the new Gov directive of having Thai only English teachers, they never will learn the English in a form that anyone other than another Thai would understand.

I was chatting with a girl the other day. I asked her if she comes to Bkk sometimes.

She replied, "I ever go to Bkk". Which in this case meant she does go to Bkk I I asked her what her job was, "English teacher" she replied.

Hopeless!!!

[dageurreotype]

I know a few Thai nurses, even ones who do surgery on farang on a daily basis but none of them can speak english.

Can you please explain why a doctor / nurse operating on a pateint knocked out cold ... needs to speak English?

Is speaking English a magic power that ensures a more favorable outcome?

Or is the real problem ... inside your head.

You see, you are in thier country, and if there is a language shortfall ... perhaps a mirror could solve the mystery for you.

Would it matter if you were in Berlin and the doctor did not speak English? Probably not ... take a moment and think about that ... would you?

By the way, I just recovered from a very seriuos operation at Chulalongkorn Hospital, and it could not have gone better, or handled more professionally. It was not lost on me that i was the only Farang patient in the 6 visits I made there, including surgury.

Yes ... being able to communicate in Thai does have perks ... and saved the 200% permium we pay at Sametivej for English speaking staff.

When asking of the condition/prognosis of an unconscious friend or relative it is imperative the nurse speak English. Your post reminds me of just such a situation where I complained I was unable to determine the health of a friend in the local Bangkok Hospital and was haughtily informed by some jumped up little turd of a doctor 'We THAI! We sa-peak THAI!' I replied, 'And this is an International Hospital with International PRICES!'

You're spelling is atrocious BTW. You pissed?

[PaullyW]

Your average Thai would never consider leaving the cultural peace and comfort of Thailand. In other words, they don't travel well. This is especially true if wherever they would go does not already have many Thais for them to latch onto. I mean even Yingluck took mama noodles with her to Europe.

Thais generally only really function in Thailand. They generally don't assimilate at all into other places.

That is true I know of several unhappy Thais overseas who might have a comparatively rich hubby but want to be back here and I think part of that is the rampant nationalism here which is not found to such an extent overseas (but exists in places of course). That 'belonging' and 'special' feeling leads to lack of assimilation.

Many can assimilate, but when you are taught you come from the best place on earth from a young age, why would you want to leave?

I've seen the attitude from top to bottom. Rich Thai kids at University (undergrad and grad) who are among the only groups who make no effort to assimilate often because they fear the impact of outside judgement that does not at all match the inflated egos they build in Thailand. In Thailand the only thing that often matters is if your family has money. They quickly find out nobody gives a d@mn.

I've seen it at 'elite' companies in Thailand where allegedly world and educated people return from their trips to Paris and Munich and Berlin and London complaining that the food was 'not like Thai food na' and how the weather was 'not like Thailand na'. It's almost as if they take the trips solely so they can

1. say they did

2. post Public Facebook photos of themselves in tacky poses to let everyone know they went

--

There will undoubtedly be a handful of Thais who emigrate. But, they will be a very small number. Check statistics of countries by percentage of citizens working abroad. You will find that Thailand is extremely low on that list.

Thais, unlike their ethnically similar but culturally different Chinese, do not have any diaspora even in the immediate region much less outside of the region.

You don't find them in many places.

And, there are so many reasons. Some in short form:

1. Work is NOT fun. Unlike Thailand, vast majority of countries do not require fun/'sanuk' to be inserted into work.

2. Cultural rigidity/rules. Thais are generally not comfortable with life in countries where there are far more rules that are RULES that MUST be followed. Hence, for example, it is well known in Japan that Thais usually cannot live there. Almost all leave to return to Thailand where there is undoubtedly more freedom to do whatever the heck we want.

3. Socializing. Thais are generally not good at being alone or without the presence of other Thais. For any of you who work in Thai companies, ever noticed how there are almost always at least 2 people doing any task. Even guys goto the restroom together. They hate being alone.

4. Status. Thailand, despite being a middle income country with what is said to be a fairly large population of foreign-educated people, experiences almost 0 Brain Drain. Thais always come home to wield their foreign degree and be fawned over by the vast majority of poorly educated countrymen and women. They simply cannot leverage their relative status in other countries (and especially countries better off). And, having come from status-obsessed Thailand, having to leave it behind makes many of them feel extremely uncomfortable.

** Now, those thing I mentioned and many more are some of the very things that do make Thailand fairly unique and quite fun. So, they have both positive and negative consequences. But, let's be realistic. I would be incredibly surprised if there were significant numbers of skilled Thais leaving Thailand.

Edited December 16, 2015 by PaullyW

[NCC1701A]

Thai nurses are so beautiful in their nurses outfits. I go to Bangkok Hospital here in Hua Hin for no reason and just act like I am lost.

not sure about accountants.

[BKResort]

Amazing. The most incompetent people I faced here, were an accountant and a nurse. Just not lucky?

[MaiChai]

If ASEAN becomes like the eurozone it will be people migrating from the poor countries to the rich countries for better money. Think Poles and other east European nationals flooding western Europe countries like Uk, Germany, etc.

BTW daughter is studying accountancy in Thailand; father can run rings round her when it comes to Excel skills

Edited December 16, 2015 by MaiChai

[CantSpell]

Pretty sure they got the Hub of nurses sorted out already: just need to provide the proper attire to the Patong, Nana and Cowboys's girls...

Accounting....

"said Thailand could provide professionals from these two sectors to Asean as it has good, international standard education."

Director of faculty? Someone takes out his blind-foils please?

[DoctorB]

"The Kingdom has the highest number of accountant graduating every year, and there is a growing need for such professionals in other Asean countries.

Auditors were also much needed overseas and the testing standard of Certified Public Accountants in Thailand was close to international standard, she said."

Just to point out that, to achieve membership of any of the major internationally-accepted accountancy-bodies, one needs at least a few years of relevant experience too, a degree only takes you part-way towards proper qualification.

With that range of proper experience comes confidence, and the ability to speak out where one sees the need for it, something which Thai culture might find difficult in a newly-minted university-graduate ?

I didn't consider myself ready, to apply for my own ACMA-qualification, until four years after I'd passed their final exams, and while a degree in Accounting might have gained major exemptions, I don't think those would have included the higher-level exams which were then required.

But perhaps Thai accountants are different ?

Agreed. when I did the ACMA exams in the 80s a noticable number of candidates were from Malaysia and Singapore.

If you are recruiting for an international company and have to choose between a Thai with a local qualification "close to international standards" or one with a UK qualification, taken in English, which would you choose? Thailand...hub of unrealistic dreams more like.

[stickylies]

hub as in HUBris ?

Can someone PLEASE remove the word "hub" from the Thai vocabulary!!

it means valley, gorge ;-)

Edited December 16, 2015 by stickylies

[tso310]

Saudi in the 80s, most of the nurses were Filipinas. They have been recruited into the UK for a good 20 years and I've never met a bad one yet.

[bangon04]

"Pruet called on the Office of the Higher Education Commission and professional associations to focus on quality control ..."

A Thai government agency and "Quality Control" in the same sentence. Well, if you live long enough...

and "(Thai) ....Education Commission " and "Quality Control" in the same sentence. Maybe the Quality control is to make sure that the buffalo masses do not get too much quality in case they start asking too many questions.

"Control" is the key.

[bangon04]

Saudi in the 80s, most of the nurses were Filipinas. They have been recruited into the UK for a good 20 years and I've never met a bad one yet.

A lot of them trained / "qualified" as doctors in the Phils, but then found out that their diplomas were not worth the paper they were written on, so had to retrain a specialist nurses.

Nurses are still a shortage profession in the UK and there are visa preferential treatments available.

But speaking at least some English would b a requirement.

[JAG]

If ASEAN becomes like the eurozone it will be people migrating from the poor countries to the rich countries for better money. Think Poles and other east European nationals flooding western Europe countries like Uk, Germany, etc.

I think we have to face the fact that the concept of "free movement of labour", other than for the most basic manual unskilled work, is simply not going to happen here, whatever ASEAN may stipulate.

If there is a surplus of trained English speaking skilled people from places like the Philippines, then ASEAN countries outside Thailand will hire them in preference to non English speaking Thais. Thailand will never allow foreigners to compete freely for jobs in Thailand. It's dead in the water before it starts.

[torpedo1970]

"EXPERTS have suggested that Thailand become a hub"

Where do they find these people.....?

Been a while since we have heard the word HUB......

accountants?????

That is way beyond funny......

[skildpadden]

Students hoping to work overseas could also learn the language of the Asean nation they wanted to move to, he suggested.

Many of the nurses can't even speak English even after many years in school - especially many at the smaller private hospitals and public hospitals. What are the chance they now will master Bahasa, Vietnamese or Tagalog professionally? Will other AEC countries accept the Thai nursing qualifications, or will they need to do the nursing exam in the local language?

Pure guessing, but accountants would probably have the same problem as well.

It has been a while with a new "hub" - very refreshing.

[taony]

Has any hub ever come to pass?

[atyclb]

Thailand is the region hub of delusional politicians!!

There is zero chance that Thai nurses or accountants will ever work outside Thailand.

They can't speak English and with the new Gov directive of having Thai only English teachers, they never will learn the English in a form that anyone other than another Thai would understand.

I was chatting with a girl the other day. I asked her if she comes to Bkk sometimes.

She replied, "I ever go to Bkk". Which in this case meant she does go to Bkk I I asked her what her job was, "English teacher" she replied.

Hopeless!!!

in general correct but some notable exceptions exist. abac nursing program is in english and their grads should be able to pass english nursing exams and proficiency exams. the dean of nursing is a super nice woman that did a phd in chicago and has great english skills. i know at least 2 thai non abac grads that passed english nursing exams in developed countries.

[atyclb]

I know a few Thai nurses, even ones who do surgery on farang on a daily basis but none of them can speak english.

Can you please explain why a doctor / nurse operating on a pateint knocked out cold ... needs to speak English?

Is speaking English a magic power that ensures a more favorable outcome?

Or is the real problem ... inside your head.

You see, you are in thier country, and if there is a language shortfall ... perhaps a mirror could solve the mystery for you.

Would it matter if you were in Berlin and the doctor did not speak English? Probably not ... take a moment and think about that ... would you?

By the way, I just recovered from a very seriuos operation at Chulalongkorn Hospital, and it could not have gone better, or handled more professionally. It was not lost on me that i was the only Farang patient in the 6 visits I made there, including surgury.

Yes ... being able to communicate in Thai does have perks ... and saved the 200% permium we pay at Sametivej for English speaking staff.

you are correct as others have pointed out but this thread is about working in other countries where english is essential.

chula hospital is an academic teaching hospital and in reality should therefore have a disproportionately high % of good english language skilled staff. english is the international universal language for communication in medicine. likely the medical progress notes at chula are in english as they are at mahidol university hospitals.

[Snackbar]

There's a hub quota here of 3 hub declarations per annum. Suppose the hub alarm went off and they consulted the magic hat for an answer. That concludes this years hub quota.

There are similar quotas for any number of quirky public declarations. And the magic hat must be consulted.

Looking forward to next years fun and frivolity.

[Assurancetourix]

Can someone PLEASE remove the word "hub" from the Thai vocabulary!!

and also crackdown, please, please, please

[zaphod reborn]

Your average Thai would never consider leaving the cultural peace and comfort of Thailand. In other words, they don't travel well. This is especially true if wherever they would go does not already have many Thais for them to latch onto. I mean even Yingluck took mama noodles with her to Europe.

Thais generally only really function in Thailand. They generally don't assimilate at all into other places.

Over 200,000 Thais live in LA in Thai town. I know many Thais working in other Asian nations. I think their upbringing and educational brainwashing makes living abroad frightening, but some have a more global outlook that allows them to overcome that fear.

[Thian]

Your average Thai would never consider leaving the cultural peace and comfort of Thailand. In other words, they don't travel well. This is especially true if wherever they would go does not already have many Thais for them to latch onto. I mean even Yingluck took mama noodles with her to Europe.

Thais generally only really function in Thailand. They generally don't assimilate at all into other places.

That is true I know of several unhappy Thais overseas who might have a comparatively rich hubby but want to be back here and I think part of that is the rampant nationalism here which is not found to such an extent overseas (but exists in places of course). That 'belonging' and 'special' feeling leads to lack of assimilation.

Many can assimilate, but when you are taught you come from the best place on earth from a young age, why would you want to leave?

I've seen the attitude from top to bottom. Rich Thai kids at University (undergrad and grad) who are among the only groups who make no effort to assimilate often because they fear the impact of outside judgement that does not at all match the inflated egos they build in Thailand. In Thailand the only thing that often matters is if your family has money. They quickly find out nobody gives a d@mn.

I've seen it at 'elite' companies in Thailand where allegedly world and educated people return from their trips to Paris and Munich and Berlin and London complaining that the food was 'not like Thai food na' and how the weather was 'not like Thailand na'. It's almost as if they take the trips solely so they can

1. say they did

2. post Public Facebook photos of themselves in tacky poses to let everyone know they went

--

There will undoubtedly be a handful of Thais who emigrate. But, they will be a very small number. Check statistics of countries by percentage of citizens working abroad. You will find that Thailand is extremely low on that list.

Thais, unlike their ethnically similar but culturally different Chinese, do not have any diaspora even in the immediate region much less outside of the region.

You don't find them in many places.

And, there are so many reasons. Some in short form:

1. Work is NOT fun. Unlike Thailand, vast majority of countries do not require fun/'sanuk' to be inserted into work.

2. Cultural rigidity/rules. Thais are generally not comfortable with life in countries where there are far more rules that are RULES that MUST be followed. Hence, for example, it is well known in Japan that Thais usually cannot live there. Almost all leave to return to Thailand where there is undoubtedly more freedom to do whatever the heck we want.

3. Socializing. Thais are generally not good at being alone or without the presence of other Thais. For any of you who work in Thai companies, ever noticed how there are almost always at least 2 people doing any task. Even guys goto the restroom together. They hate being alone.

4. Status. Thailand, despite being a middle income country with what is said to be a fairly large population of foreign-educated people, experiences almost 0 Brain Drain. Thais always come home to wield their foreign degree and be fawned over by the vast majority of poorly educated countrymen and women. They simply cannot leverage their relative status in other countries (and especially countries better off). And, having come from status-obsessed Thailand, having to leave it behind makes many of them feel extremely uncomfortable.

** Now, those thing I mentioned and many more are some of the very things that do make Thailand fairly unique and quite fun. So, they have both positive and negative consequences. But, let's be realistic. I would be incredibly surprised if there were significant numbers of skilled Thais leaving Thailand.

I do know some very hi-so Thai men who studied and still work in the USA or Europe. But they have only Thai friends or spend all their freetime on Line with their other Thai friends.

Some have very good jobs and make much money. They never tell me anything good about their new homecountry's though, guess they don't have much fun there.

Only one of them can really speak good english, all others can't. Even after 10-20 years abroad they should all be able to speak good english, they work for multi-national companys.

[stickylies]

the thais in my country:

- massage parlours

- money laundering (through bars, massage parlours)

- laundering (period)

- thai restaurants

- (underpaid) au pair for rich jews

- cleaning

[MartinBangkok]

Hehe. We all know that the only thing Thailand is the hub off at present, and probably in the distant future, is the hub of Pussy. No wonder, it's the one and only thing in the land of smiles that holds good quality.

[MartinBangkok]

Sorry. Double post.

Edited December 16, 2015 by MartinBangkok

[lamyai3]

I know a few Thai nurses, even ones who do surgery on farang on a daily basis but none of them can speak english.

Can you please explain why a doctor / nurse operating on a pateint knocked out cold ... needs to speak English?

Is speaking English a magic power that ensures a more favorable outcome?

Or is the real problem ... inside your head.

You see, you are in thier country, and if there is a language shortfall ... perhaps a mirror could solve the mystery for you.

Would it matter if you were in Berlin and the doctor did not speak English? Probably not ... take a moment and think about that ... would you?

By the way, I just recovered from a very seriuos operation at Chulalongkorn Hospital, and it could not have gone better, or handled more professionally. It was not lost on me that i was the only Farang patient in the 6 visits I made there, including surgury.

Yes ... being able to communicate in Thai does have perks ... and saved the 200% permium we pay at Sametivej for English speaking staff.

So for you it doesn't matter if the doctor/nurse can't speak english as long as you save 200% of the costs?

The costs don't matter for me at all, i have an insurance for that.

And if i want to tell the doctor/nurse something while i'm sick i want them to speak my native language or english even though i can speak several languages.

We have several German doctors in my homecountry and they speak our native language as well.

I was in a Thai hospital once and even the reception couldn't speak any english while they had to give medicines to the patients. So you better not have questions about the medicines because they can't communicate with their patients. Hence i saw a farang yelling to them because they couldn't answer his questions.

Phillipino nurses are even hired in Europe is what i heard, because they can speak english very well. Old patients still refuse to be nursed by them though, they want native speakers or nothing at all.

There are Filipino nurses in Britain , working in both public and private hospitals, there have been some problems with suspect qualifications but in general I understand they are welcome and needed because of shortages.

With Thailand's reputation for questionable education and qualifications plus fakes, copies etc I would think Thai nurses would have problems getting hired overseas and then comes the language situation.

We are talking about Thai's working in ASEAN Countries! What is the Common language for ASEAN? ENGLISH< ENGLISH< ENGLISH!

Thai's are Not Qualified. I Teach at a Large Well Known University! Thai's Do Not Speak English! & Yes, many are Passed when

they should have FAILED! An "A" is 80-100, "B" is 70-79, "C" is 60-69, and "D" is 50-59! Any other questions?

Agree with your general sentiment, though all the excessive capitalisation and exclamation marks enfeeble your point a little, rather than strengthening it.

Edited December 16, 2015 by lamyai3