The Kingdom of Thailand had offered Pancho a multitude of new experiences. Although he had decided to describe the most striking in his memoirs, it may be difficult for the reader to relate without an understanding of the cultural background of the region and its people. Thus, in his highly enlightened opinion, Pancho deemed it necessary to give a short discourse on some facts and observations.
Firstly it is important to note, that the north eastern region of Thailand, Esarn, is ethnically and culturally different from the rest of Thailand. Esarn is the region in Thailand with the largest population. And this population is actually largely descendant from Laos. Pancho was not entirely clear on the dates (And a tad to lazy to research them) however the forefathers of the Esarn people were forcibly resettled from Laos to Thailand quite some time ago. This is observable in the Esarn dialect actually being almost identical to Lao, in other words, more Lao than Thai. In fact interestingly, the population of Esarn is far larger than that of Laos. Accordingly, it is important to note that Pancho’s experiences probably only account for the Esarn part of the Thai population. From Pancho’s initial experience Esarn people are far more rurally orientated. They know how to live off the land. For example, on a slaughtered cow very little would go to waste. Most of it would be eaten, including the UDDER and even the stomach lining. Esarn people know many herbs and plants that can be eaten and Pancho these were repeatedly pointed out by his advisor.
One thing Pancho had been told on his orientation was that Thais got bored quickly. As far as Pancho was concerned, from his experience the exact opposite was the case. He found himself getting incredibly bored at times while the people around him droned on and on. This could however also be due to the fact that he lived in the countryside.
Another noteworthy characteristic of the people of north eastern Thailand was their incredibly welcoming nature. They loved having a foreigner learn their ways and live together with them. Thus, as long as one held an open mind and was not disinclined to try out things that seemed completely otherworldly, one could lead a very easy and relaxed life.
There were a few things that Pancho had issues with during his stay however. The first was the relative low education level he found, especially when concerning international matters. People had very little comprehension of how other cultures could be different, including mentality and also environments. Pancho put this down to the countryside lifestyle but Thais were left quite unaware of the outside world. This was naturally highly evident when trying to teach English concepts or even trying to learn Thai. People who had had little contact with learning English had absolutely no conception of how language could involve a different way of thinking or even pronunciation. Thai and Lao being tonal languages, it was not understood that the tone would rise for questions in English or that meaning was conferred through tone in English by applying it to the whole sentence instead of individual words. In Pancho’s opinion it is mistakenly taught that Thai is a tonal language while English or western languages aren’t. While in Thai the meaning of an individual word may change with a different tone, in English it is the connotation of the sentence that changes with tone or what we normally call emphasis. For instance
“How are YOU?” implies something different to “How ARE you?” Understanding such differences and others such as the fact that western foreigners have trouble getting used to the tonal differences in words but not sentences makes a large difference when interacting with Thais. As an example, Piu who spoke good English would understand Pancho’ despite his initially often mixed up use of tones and pronunciation of words. Pinball in contrast would not even be able to guess out of the context what Pancho meant despite pronunciation only being slightly off. This could be very frustrating as the conversational partner would simply lack the capacity to imagine what Pancho could possibly mean. In contrast Pancho himself was highly adept at guessing meanings out of the context even when pronunciation was utterly off or descriptions incoherent. As a matter of fact, initially conversing with his host father was conducted with hands and feet and a wild array of guesses.
The general lack of imagination and also unknowing about foreign countries stemmed mainly from the culture and teaching methods. As Pancho had experienced before in Japan, people were not taught to think for themselves. Classes were taught in a head on approach where students were generally expected to just sit around and listen. Naturally this did not work at all with teaching languages as it requires a conscious effort by the learner to think and speak himself.
The situation was complex either way. To a certain extent the culture of Esarn probably had a large influence on things (supposedly ethnic Thais were lazier than the actually hardworking, mainly poor farmers of Esarn), at the same time the general Asian culture of education as well as the countryside life style had an effect on people. Books were hardly read, Pancho had actually only seen very few, TV was watched extensively, while the internet was primarily used to play games. Living in the Esarn countryside required a significant expenditure of energy. People had their jobs such as teachers but were often also farmers or helped their farming relatives in the growing and harvesting of rice. At the same time preparation of food involved a lot of time as fish or frogs would be caught or chicken would have to be slaughtered. In essence not much time or energy remained to expand the barriers of the mind.
An effect this lifestyle had that Pancho noticed quite early on was that the upper classes only had a few male students. Pancho was not clear on whether the students simply chose not to come to classes or whether they had dropped out, however either way this did not bode well for educational levels.
The effect that this cultural seclusion and educational barriers had were noticeable in some classes, where Pancho would repeatedly try to teach the students simple patterns of English language use and yet week after week students would not remember and have to learn everything anew. This was naturally frustrating as Pancho felt no eagerness to further invest time and energy when it was clearly wasted.
Thus Pancho’s experiences are hard to understand if one has not actually experienced the country and people personally. However not understanding how another culture’s brain and thinking method might be different is a valuable lesson to learn in itself. Many people, not only those of Esarn, fail to realize and understand this great difference.
Firstly it is important to note, that the north eastern region of Thailand, Esarn, is ethnically and culturally different from the rest of Thailand. Esarn is the region in Thailand with the largest population. And this population is actually largely descendant from Laos. Pancho was not entirely clear on the dates (And a tad to lazy to research them) however the forefathers of the Esarn people were forcibly resettled from Laos to Thailand quite some time ago. This is observable in the Esarn dialect actually being almost identical to Lao, in other words, more Lao than Thai. In fact interestingly, the population of Esarn is far larger than that of Laos. Accordingly, it is important to note that Pancho’s experiences probably only account for the Esarn part of the Thai population. From Pancho’s initial experience Esarn people are far more rurally orientated. They know how to live off the land. For example, on a slaughtered cow very little would go to waste. Most of it would be eaten, including the UDDER and even the stomach lining. Esarn people know many herbs and plants that can be eaten and Pancho these were repeatedly pointed out by his advisor.
One thing Pancho had been told on his orientation was that Thais got bored quickly. As far as Pancho was concerned, from his experience the exact opposite was the case. He found himself getting incredibly bored at times while the people around him droned on and on. This could however also be due to the fact that he lived in the countryside.
Another noteworthy characteristic of the people of north eastern Thailand was their incredibly welcoming nature. They loved having a foreigner learn their ways and live together with them. Thus, as long as one held an open mind and was not disinclined to try out things that seemed completely otherworldly, one could lead a very easy and relaxed life.
There were a few things that Pancho had issues with during his stay however. The first was the relative low education level he found, especially when concerning international matters. People had very little comprehension of how other cultures could be different, including mentality and also environments. Pancho put this down to the countryside lifestyle but Thais were left quite unaware of the outside world. This was naturally highly evident when trying to teach English concepts or even trying to learn Thai. People who had had little contact with learning English had absolutely no conception of how language could involve a different way of thinking or even pronunciation. Thai and Lao being tonal languages, it was not understood that the tone would rise for questions in English or that meaning was conferred through tone in English by applying it to the whole sentence instead of individual words. In Pancho’s opinion it is mistakenly taught that Thai is a tonal language while English or western languages aren’t. While in Thai the meaning of an individual word may change with a different tone, in English it is the connotation of the sentence that changes with tone or what we normally call emphasis. For instance
“How are YOU?” implies something different to “How ARE you?” Understanding such differences and others such as the fact that western foreigners have trouble getting used to the tonal differences in words but not sentences makes a large difference when interacting with Thais. As an example, Piu who spoke good English would understand Pancho’ despite his initially often mixed up use of tones and pronunciation of words. Pinball in contrast would not even be able to guess out of the context what Pancho meant despite pronunciation only being slightly off. This could be very frustrating as the conversational partner would simply lack the capacity to imagine what Pancho could possibly mean. In contrast Pancho himself was highly adept at guessing meanings out of the context even when pronunciation was utterly off or descriptions incoherent. As a matter of fact, initially conversing with his host father was conducted with hands and feet and a wild array of guesses.
The general lack of imagination and also unknowing about foreign countries stemmed mainly from the culture and teaching methods. As Pancho had experienced before in Japan, people were not taught to think for themselves. Classes were taught in a head on approach where students were generally expected to just sit around and listen. Naturally this did not work at all with teaching languages as it requires a conscious effort by the learner to think and speak himself.
The situation was complex either way. To a certain extent the culture of Esarn probably had a large influence on things (supposedly ethnic Thais were lazier than the actually hardworking, mainly poor farmers of Esarn), at the same time the general Asian culture of education as well as the countryside life style had an effect on people. Books were hardly read, Pancho had actually only seen very few, TV was watched extensively, while the internet was primarily used to play games. Living in the Esarn countryside required a significant expenditure of energy. People had their jobs such as teachers but were often also farmers or helped their farming relatives in the growing and harvesting of rice. At the same time preparation of food involved a lot of time as fish or frogs would be caught or chicken would have to be slaughtered. In essence not much time or energy remained to expand the barriers of the mind.
An effect this lifestyle had that Pancho noticed quite early on was that the upper classes only had a few male students. Pancho was not clear on whether the students simply chose not to come to classes or whether they had dropped out, however either way this did not bode well for educational levels.
The effect that this cultural seclusion and educational barriers had were noticeable in some classes, where Pancho would repeatedly try to teach the students simple patterns of English language use and yet week after week students would not remember and have to learn everything anew. This was naturally frustrating as Pancho felt no eagerness to further invest time and energy when it was clearly wasted.
Thus Pancho’s experiences are hard to understand if one has not actually experienced the country and people personally. However not understanding how another culture’s brain and thinking method might be different is a valuable lesson to learn in itself. Many people, not only those of Esarn, fail to realize and understand this great difference.
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