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Thai Culture
Thailand's culture is about more than music and paintings. It arises
from a complex system of mutual respect and politeness that binds the
country's people together.
Of course, the vast majority (approx 95%) of Thais are Buddhists.
Although there are many Malay decent Muslims in the south, and even hill
tribe (Karen) in the north and western Burmese border area. The
traditional Thai greeting is the "wai" (like putting your hands together
to pray, but higher and lowering your head). And all Thai's love their
King and find any detrimental action or word against either him, or
their religion particularly offensive, even provocative. So you should
always pay utmost respect to both.
Thai culture is based on respect for seniority, whether in terms of age,
status or wealth. However, monks receive absolute deference and it is
common to see healthy young monks sitting on buses while elderly
passengers stand. Seniority has different forms: younger people respect
elders, the poor look up to the rich, and common citizens defer to
politicians and high ranking military personnel. Seniority in years is
sometimes unclear, so Thais often ask a person’s age. With seniority
established, the older person may address the younger as nong, and the
younger person may address the older as pii.
A traditional greeting is the wai, made by pressing the fingers and
palms together at chest level while slightly bowing the head. The wai
serves several functions: saying hello, showing respect to a senior and
asking forgiveness. A wai is always returned, unless it is from a child.
Keeping calm is important, and outward displays of anger are unwelcome.
People generally overlook minor misdeeds, and even major offences are
dealt with as discreetly as possible. Patience is a virtue.
A Few tips:
Smile. Thais smile for all occasions: To say hello or thank you, to
apologize, to make a request, to smooth over bad feelings. And even
because they're happy.
Dress modestly. Thais now understand that Americans may show up in
shorts and tank tops in public, but would never do so themselves.
Wearing long pants, and clean, neat clothes, will gain you an extra
measure of respect.
Don't wai unless you know what you're doing. The wai — the slight bow
with fingertips touching in front of one's face or chest — is a
greeting, and a way of showing respect or thanks. But it's more
complicated than that. If you return a wai to someone of much lower
social status you may well cause both yourself and them embarrassment.
in most cases a westerner can just smile instead of doing a wai.
Show respect for religion, for the Buddha, and for monks. Don’t wear
shorts or tank tops to a temple. It's considered improper for women to
touch a monk. Don't arrange a comical pose of yourself with a Buddha;
tourists have been arrested for such offenses.
Do not touch anyone on the head, a spot which is considered sacred.
Do not point your feet at anyone. (It’s easy to do so unthinkingly when
you sit cross-legged in a chair, or sit on the floor.) Feet, located at
the opposite end of the body from the head, have an opposite status.
Don't use your feet for anything except walking, and keep those feet off
the furniture. (If you're studying to become a Thai kick-boxer, you need
a more exhaustive website.)
Do speak quietly and gesture softly. Loud voices, calling attention to
yourself, pointing at people or things, throwing things, and making big
hand gestures, all seem graceless to the Thai sensibility. In the U.S.,
making a scene might get results. Here, it gets you avoided.
Do not lose your cool. At times, everything will move more slowly than
you think it should. To show irritation or frustration will only make
things worse.
Language
Thai is the national language of Thailand, spoken by around eighty
percent of the sixty million residents of the South-East Asian country.
Thai spoken language is believed to have originated in the area which is
now the border between Vietnam and China
The written Thai Language was introduced by the third Sukothai period
king, Ramkamhaeng, in 1283. This writing system has undergone little
change since its introduction, so inscriptions from the Sukothai era can
be read by modern Thai readers. The writing was based on Pali, Sanskrit,
and Indian concept.
Within Thailand, there are four major dialects, corresponding to the
southern, northern ("Yuan"), northeastern (close to Lao language), and
central regions of the country; the latter is called Central Thai or
Bangkok Thai and is taught in all schools, is used for most television
broadcasts, and is widely understood in all regions. Nowadays, English
is also taught in all public schools.
Thai is tonal, unlike English. This means that each word has a certain
pitch characteristic with which it must be spoken to be properly
understood. The Thai language uses five tones, called mid, low, high,
rising, and falling.
The grammar of the Thai language is considerably simpler than grammar in
Western languages, and for many students, this makes up for the
additional difficulty of tones.
Many westerners do not make time to learn written Thai, focusing instead
only on speaking. If this is the way you proceed ensure that you start
you learning from an accredited source so that the pronunciation you
start to learn is the correct one.
Thai is a great language to learn and you will fine that the Thai people
will smile and give you great respect for taking the time to learn even
a few simple sentences.Handy Phrases
The phrases below will help you on your initial visit to Thailand, you
will be surprised at the response you will get for having taken the
effort to learn a few simple Thai words and phrases
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