Language and Communication in Thailand

Thailand boasts a modern communications infrastructure. The postal service is efficient, as is the telephone network, and the country is one of the leading use,rs in Asia of cell phones and the Internet. Many businesses, government departments, media organizations, and academic institutions have well-organized Web sites in both Thai and English. Internet cafes are becoming common, and most hotels and businesses have fax facilities.

Media

Thailand has two English-language daily newspapers, the Bangkok Post and The Nation, and a few provincial towns now boast English- language weeklies. There are several TV channels, both state and private, broadcasting in Thai, but you can get an English soundtrack to some programs by tuning in to certain radio stations. English-language TV programs are also beamed in by satellite and most hotels have facilities for receiving them. The BBC World Service, Voice of America, and Australian Broadcasting Corporation broadcasts can be heard on shortwave radios. By Asian standards the Thai press is relatively free to express its own opinions and recent government attempts to muzzle it have been unsuccessful. Broadcasting tends to toe the government line; TV stations are either owned by the government or the current Prime Minister's family! However, a good communications infrastructure is no guarantee of trouble-free communication. This chapter offers advice on how to interact successfully with Thais.

English in Thailand

A few decades ago, although English was taught in schools, most Thais had few opportunities to practice their oral skills unless they went to study abroad. They learned to write it and read it, but not to speak it. In the 1960s English received a boost with the arrival of large numbers of Westerners, notably the American military, which had bases in Thailand and used Thailand as an R & R (rest and recreation) center for soldiers fighting in Vietnam. English received a further boost as Thailand became a popular tourist destination and a regional center for commerce and international organizations. Another significant factor is the growing number of foreign residents. Nowadays in Bangkok and the major tourist spots English is widely spoken, along with other foreign languages, to a lesser extent. However, some of the English you come across is fairly rudimentary and not always comprehensible. In the more rural areas- upcountry," as Thais refer to it-English ceases to be a lingua franca. It is not a second language in the same way as it is in Malaysia, India, and Singapore, or as French used to be in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.

She loves flower arranging and spends a lot of time with her children creating flower presses and collections. Her father was a farmer from Chiang Mai and she grew up in the country with a love of nature and the environment. At heart she is also a bit of a party girl and loves to go out clubbing in Pattaya, Thailand.

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