CultureShock! Thailand , livre ebook

MarshallCavendishM - Robert Cooper

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231 pages

English

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CultureShock! Thailand provides a valuable crash course on the who's who, and the whats and hows of the country, guiding readers through a wide range of topics for day-to-day living including how to interact with the local people and fit into Thai society. Discover when and how to wai as well as how to use the bathroom upcountry. Pick up useful information for settling in like where to stay, study and play and find out more about the Thai language and how to conduct business the Thai way. Full of humour and practical tips.

Sujets

Tailandia

Thailand

Thaïlande

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Publié par	MarshallCavendishM
Date de parution	01 août 2009
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9789814408981
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0520€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Introduction

Religion plays a significant role in the everyday life of the Thais, particularly in the rural provinces, and monks are held in high esteem

Contents First Impressions Fast Facts Resource Guide Culture Quiz Further Reading More Cultureshock! Apps

Since the first edition of CultureShock! Thailand was published in 1982, Thailand has leapt forward economically. Change is evident everywhere: the excellent communication network throughout the country, the rapid construction of shopping centres, offices and condominiums in Bangkok, the introduction of the latest technologies and the industrialisation of the eastern seaboard. CultureShock! Thailand went through six editions during this period, each requiring substantive revision, as, to an extent that had never happened before, East met West in modernising Thailand.
During the quarter-century in which CultureShock! Thailand has become a standard text for foreigners coming to live and work in Thailand, rapid growth was becoming an accepted and expected part of Thai life. A whole generation of Thais grew up thinking that every day in every way, things would get better and better. But in 1997, the bubble burst. The economy almost fell apart, but Thai society did not totter with it. In some ways, traditional life was reinforced by the Thai response to an economic miracle that had seemed to promise them everything, before kicking them in the teeth, and in some cases, back where they came from. Those in need looked to relatives and friends for help, found solace in Buddhism and appealed to the spirits to intervene in their destiny.
Economic woes called a halt to the headlong rush into a brave new world, but did not reverse gains made in such things as education and democracy. Highways had been constructed, ports modernised, telecommunications revolutionised. Such benefits of social change or modernisation have been retained and strengthened through the leaner years, bringing us today to a time when Thailand is once more taking a leading economic and social role in the region but a more reflective role than that of the 1980s and 1990s, a role built on a more solid base.
In revising this book substantively for this 2005 edition, I have given much thought to the double-edged sword of modernisation and change, and have decided that the Thai personality, which is really what this book is about, has learnt a few hard lessons related to the ups and downs of modern life, but that, not so deep down inside, the average Thai has not changed that much. Thus, the book has been revised much in the way that Thais have accepted change in their own culture by a process of addition. This is not to belittle the changes that have taken place. Life expectancy is way up along with education, medical services rank among the best in the region if not the world and almost every home has electricity, a fridge, TV, water and sanitation. The achievements over the past couple of decades are enormous. That the Thais retain their traditional charms and smiles is perhaps the most amazing of these many achievements.
This is a book about Thailand and the Thais. It is written in English for a mostly non-Thai audience. The revision has been substantive. The non-Thai arriving in Thailand today is in a very different situation to his counterpart a quarter of a century ago. He is far more likely to find much that can help him through those early, difficult but exciting times. The last thing I want is to guide a ‘reluctant expat’ into a culture bubble, so along with the very significant new information on settling in, I include the many innovations that can help the newcomer come to terms quickly with Thai friends and colleagues. Most visitors to Thailand staying any length of time will read more than one book on the country and the people, but this book should be a good start, setting them on the way to a degree of integration without unnecessary shock from a culture which is different to their own but a culture which, if they give it a chance, will welcome them in, as far as they want to come in and have the required attributes for entry, one of which is a smile. I wish the reader success in Thailand and peace of mind.
- Robert Cooper, July 2005

First Impressions

A woman in Chiang Mai

Contents Disgust and Rapture A Child Again Reaction Removing the Barriers Learning Culture Counting the Costs

Thailand

‘All generalisations are dangerous even this one.’
Kukrit Promoj, ex-prime minister of Thailand and leading Thai author.
Non-Thais are an odd lot. Ask those who have been here what they think of Thailand and you will find that this amazing country is both ugly and beautiful, calming and infuriating, noisy and quiet, cheap and expensive, violent and passive, funny and sad. As to the Thais as individuals, visitors’ first impressions are a mass of contradictions. Thais are friendly, everybody agrees with that. But some see this friendliness as covering a xenophobia according to this view, the Thai smile simply hides the hate and fear the Thai feels towards you, the visitor. To some, the Thais are generous and hospitable; to others, Thais are the ultimate in avaricious scheming, their motive in every action being to empty the wallets of any foreign visitor. To some, the Thais are honest and ultimately tolerant; to others the Thais lie all the time and resort quickly to violence when attacked by jealousy. Will the real Thai please stand up? If you have never suffered from culture shock, Thailand is a great place to start.
Any human being, plucked from the world in which he functions and feels secure and plopped down into a culture as different as the Thai, is certain to have a few strange first impressions. Some people cry, others walk around with a broad grin on their dazed faces. Some love Thailand, some hate it and many both love it and hate it. Few remain indifferent. These feelings are the essence of culture shock. I would like to say that these are only first impressions: give things time and your second and third impressions will make sense of it all. I would like to say that. But one thing I can say with confidence is that Thailand is not a boring country. Don’t rush into the Thais or Thailand, take things easy at first, play it cool. Do not trust your first impressions. Try to enjoy them. They are by nature spontaneous. They are also, to a large extent, superficial. They are, in some way, uniquely yours. You will, of course, never have them again.
Culture is a particular way of doing things. All people everywhere eat, talk, play, work and think; but not all people eat the same thing the same way, talk the same language, play the same games, do the same work or think the same thoughts. All people have families, places to live, tools, weapons and clothing; but not all people recognise the same boundaries to the family, live in the same type of place, use the same tools and weapons and wear the same clothes.
During your first-impression period, your senses are trying to adapt to new stimuli. You may think that everybody loves you, everybody finds you beautiful and interesting. Or you might become aware that your behaviour, which for years you had thought of as correct, polite and friendly, can be interpreted or misinterpreted as odd, rude and even hostile. Or you might feel both of these states. Those important first impressions will be gathered during a period in which your experience of life so far does not fully relate to life around you. Thailand will, if you allow it to do so, make your life more complete. First impressions, like love and hate, can be likened to temporary madness. You might well veer between the wonder of it all and the most depressing feelings you’ve ever had in your life. You will not be left indifferent. Enjoy your trip.

Disgust and Rapture

The initial impact of Thailand and Thai culture is likely to make the transplanted visitor very conscious of himself and the world he left behind. He will try to translate what he sees, hears, smells and feels into concepts with which he is familiar. When he is unable to make an adequate translation, he becomes confused, cannot function properly, and might veer wildly between love and hate for his new surroundings. It is at this point that the transplant is most at risk. This is the period when the transplant experiences CULTURE SHOCK. At the risk of simplicity, I feel all transplants experience something of two contradictory feelings: disgust and rapture.
The Disgusted
Some people feel culture shock in the popular, literal sense of the term. They are shocked and disgusted by the world in which they find themselves. Having made it through the glass doors at the modern airport and been ushered into an air-con limo that carried them in comfort along a fast and safe super highway to their bargain of a lovely hotel room, they are eager to experience their new world and they take a step outside the familiar and comfortable.
The chances are they step onto a pavement a bit different from the one back home. Here, pavements are for selling things on, riding motor-bikes on and placing deadly holes to keep your eyes glued to where your feet are going. If, as is likely, your hotel is in a tourist area, you might get the treatment most likely to turn any new arrival off of Thailand. "Hey you, where you go, you wan tuk-tuk/boom-boom?" The tuk-tuk has no meter, the taxi driver doesn’t want to go where you want him to go, the buses are impossibly overcrowded and their routes inscrutable.
If you have the luck to be on a skytrain route, have a strong heart and no disability, you will find reasonable familiarity a