Scientifically Proven: The Good Farang

She’s a fast worker. The results of Thammasat University’s Khun Nat’s survey – if Farang is an F-Word – are in already. If you haven’t read her outlining paper do so here. You’re a Westerner and hate to be called “farang”? But what, as we’re about to find out, if “a vast majority of the Thai surveyees have a positive attitude toward farang characters which are friendly, easy-going, open, punctual, smart, well-mannered, well-off and well-being”?

Nat surveyed Thammasat foreign professors, staff of the United Nations, foreign friends and furthermore dozens of “jai dee” readers of absolutely Bangkok.com took part. Nat calls the results “surprising”: ”Surprisingly, the result turns out that a majority (…) 54% of the surveyees think that farang is just a Thai pronoun used to call the Westerners and 26% believe that the term is offensive.”

Nevertheless, a few surveyees from those 54% still do not like to be called farang whenever the Thais use the term in front of them and they also believe that the educated will not use this term. At this point I would also like to thank the many regulars of absolutely who took part in the survey, appreciate! And a special thank to Nat for sharing her work with us.

By Nat, Senior at Thammasat University, Faculty of Liberal Arts

The survey also carries out the opposite point of view from Eggmeng in the question of which term they would like the Thais to call them as 44% say that it is fine for them to be called farang as they are used to it and do not feel offended toward the term. An Italian surveyee explains it as follow:

“I don’t see the offensive nature of this word. When I lived in Namibia there was a word for the foreign white people. In Spanish, there is a word for northern European-looking people. If I understand correctly farang is the translation of “French,” but eventually the use of this word expanded to embrace in general French-looking people. It is not the most sensitive way of addressing people but as if it often the case, it is made with a smile and politely, I don’t mind it.”

Another 39% prefer to be called by their names or Caucasian and 17% believe that kon tang chad is the polite word to refer to them. According to an American surveyee

“kon tang chad is a proper word. farang is a name of a fruit, which is eaten. It implies that I’m in Thailand to be eaten and taken advantage of.”

However, for most of the Thais, farang seems to be just a common term used to specify the Westerners. The farang questionnaires which have been done by 100 Thammasat University students clearly ensure the common Thais perspective toward the term farang as almost all of the surveyees use farang in order to call foreigners who are tall and white and have blue or green eyes with blonde or brown hair while only a few use kon tang chad when they refer to foreign professors.

Apart from using the term to categorize the Westerners by their physiological appearances, a vast majority of the Thai surveyees have a positive attitude toward farang characters which are friendly, easy-going, open, punctual, smart, well-mannered, well-off and well-being.

The survey also shows the Thais’ lack of realization that the pronoun farang can sometimes be offensive in some contexts such as calling a male Westerner farang in front of him after he has already introduced himself since 94% of the Thai surveyees feel that farang is just a common word used to refer to Westerners, not the offensive one. Moreover, 68% think that the Westerners whom they call farang would not feel offended. Perhaps, the reason is concerned with the enculturation process. According to Duangkamon, who summarizes the writing of Robert Janosik (1991) about four different types of cultural approaches, the second type, Culture as a Matter of Shared basic Values, describes the influence of people’s thinking.

This approach believes that thinking precedes doing and one’s thinking comes from its own cultural background. Consequently, values and attitudes of a certain culture are focused since it is believed that communication patterns and styles are derived from these variables (Duangkamon, p. 10). In this case, Thai people learn from adults the way they call Westerners farang since they were children so that they think farang is acceptable to be used in every situation. Afterward, they follow what they believe in. The reason that has thickened this thinking possibly comes from the lack of education because there is no cross cultural course in Thai compulsory education. Primary and high school students have never learned to be aware of intercultural communication until they are in university.

Still, in university if students are not interested in the subject they do not have to register for the course. Then, they will never learn to be flexible in any intercultural communication unless they have a chance to live abroad. Hence, the educational system seems to play an essential role on this issue as 89% of the Western survayees say that they have never over generalized the Oriental Asians in their countries Chinese because of their personal background and knowledge. An Australian surveyee says:

“I was made aware via our educational system at a very young age that Asians in my country come from different countries and that their origin should be respected.”

One question in the farang questionnaire for the Thais which is made to see the possibility of changing their attitude can be translated as follow: “If the Westerners do not like the Thais to call them farang because it is a racist and offensive term and make them feel outsider, will you continue using it? Why?” The result is nearly equal as 59% of the Thai surveyees say that they will not use the term farang anymore because they do not want to break the good relationship between the Westerners and the Thais. On the other hand, 41% confirm that they will continue using the term farang as it has been used this way for a long time and seems hard to change their familiarity with the common usage.

The reason that the latter group ignore to realize the racism could possibly be relevant to ethnocentrism since the Thais use their own standard to measure or judge that the Westerners would not feel offended when they are called farang. Some surveyees say that it is not wrong for them to feel outsider since we are really different. Writing in 1994, Triandis commented that “Every individual is ethnocentric, but the degrees vary. It is natural to consider one’s own culture as the standard against which to judge others.” (Triandis, p.249).

Being independent is likely to deepen this thinking. As Leo summarizes:

“Thailand is the only Southeast Asian country that has never been colonized by foreign powers and this may be one of the main reasons why Thai culture remains strongly original and intact. Though Thailand has opened its door to foreign investors and foreign tourists in recent years, its culture is still very original and change is very much resisted.” (Leo, preface)

Furthermore, Thailand is not a multicultural country like America or England. The ethnic groups in Thailand can be separated as 75% Thai, Chinese 14%, other 11%. Accordingly, racism seems not to be a big issue among Thai people as we have never called for racial equality and the discrimination is rarely seen in Thailand. For instance, in America, “I have a dream,” a touchable public speech of Martin Luther King, Jr. which was delivered on August 28th, 1963, seems to be the most notable and unforgettable speech among the Americans resulted in the awareness of diversity. Yet, for the Thais, the diversity does not play an important role in everyday’s life. Thus, this could be another reason for their ignorance.

Finally, the last two questions are made to point out that most of the Thais are quite careless of racist issue as 61% feel neutral if they are called Chinese when they live aboard. Some of them say that it is fine to categorize them as Chinese because they both look similar while some feel that the word is not offensive. The last question is a supposed situation which can be interpreted in English as: “Suppose that you live aboard and local people call you Chinese. Then, you explain to them that you come from Thailand.

Still, the people call you Chinese as it is a term that they use to call every Asian in their country, will you feel offended? Why?” The result clearly emphasizes the ignorance of Thai people toward racism because only 41% feel offended while 24% do not and 35% neutral. Some people from the last two groups believe that they do not care which word people use to call them as it is not important.

To conclude, one might say that the term farang, itself, does not have a negative meaning, but the way that some Thais convey it turns the meaning of the word into the opposite side. However, it is possible that a vast majority of Thais may not realize how offended the foreigners would feel as it is involved in the enculturation process, education system and ethnocentrism. Conversely, some may realize but ignore it since Thailand is not a multicultural society and racism is not a big issue among Thai people. It seems hard to make the Thais, living in their own country understand the opposite meaning of the term farang, regardless the great effort to explain from the non-Thai. Possibly, the way of acculturation is the most important in this situation. As Anthony Robbins states:

“To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others.” (thinkexist.com)

References

Anthony, Robbins. Communication Quotes.

Boyes, Jon and S.Piraban. Acknowledgements. A Life Apart. 1992.

Thailand Board of Investment. Demographics.

Duangkamon Punyasirikul. Theory of Message Reception and Processing. 2006.

Leo, Anne. Preface. Thais say it best when they say nothing at all. 2007.

Martin Luther King, Jr. I Have a Dream. American Rhetoric, Top 100 Speches.

Triandis, Harry C. Culture and Social Behavior. 1994.

Welty, Roger. Understanding Your Hosts. The Thai and I, Thai Culture and Society. 2005.

EG 411 (Intercultural Communication)
Faculty of Liberal Arts, Thammasat University
Bangkok, Thailand
October, 2009




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October 12, 2009 | Filed Under Being Farang, Culture Shock, Society, Survey / Poll, The Thai Mind 

Comments

9 Responses to “Scientifically Proven: The Good Farang”

  1. Farang or not to farang on October 12th, 2009 11.08 am

    The word farang has fairly ancient roots because it is rooted in Sanskrit and much of Thai language comes from Pali and Sanskrit. In Hindi, I think the word for White foreigner is ferengi (like the Star Trek characters), though it is probably a little dated now.

    I think a good analogy is the word Yankee. It all depends of the tone and use. Yankee in itself is a neutral word.

    Non-Americans don’t understand that Yankee doesn’t describe all Americans, only Americans from the Northeast. Californians are not Yankees. Hawaiians are not Yankees. And Southerners are definitely not Yankees.

    But many non-Americans describe all Americans as Yankees. This is the same type of blanket yet harmless ignorance when Thais lump all Europeans together as farang. The word becomes sort of an epithet when used with a nasty tone.

    So, in the final analysis, farang is both neutral and an epithet in the same way that jek (Chinese) and khaek (Indian) are neutral and used as racial epithets.

  2. 'Pong on October 12th, 2009 2.34 pm

    This is a very interesting result either the outcome is. I have never heard anyone used farang intended as f-word. Clearly, there is a perception disguise here. I’d love to see a further survey where we could dig deep into the demographic as well.

  3. MongerSEA on October 12th, 2009 8.13 pm

    “… most of the Thais are quite careless of racist issue as 61% feel neutral if they are called Chinese when they live aboard. Some of them say that it is fine to categorize them as Chinese because they both look similar while some feel that the word is not offensive.”

    Might it simply be that since the Chinese quite effectively colonized the Thai merchant and political classes, that a statistically disproportionate percentage of Thais with the wealth to travel abroad actually have a Chinese heritage and a desensitizing effect is at work?

    One suspects that if you reframed the question of misidentifying Thais abroad as Malaysians, Laotians or Cambodians rather than Chinese, one would get greatly different outcome.

  4. whoopla on October 13th, 2009 4.52 am

    … if you reframed the question of misidentifying Thais abroad …

    from Mr. Monger kinda sums up this argument.

  5. Talen on October 13th, 2009 11.02 am

    Excellent article and some very interesting results. I have to wonder about the people that would prefer to be called Caucasian though.

    I think the word for the most part is used in a non offensive way but there will always be those occasions where it is meant offensively.

    I do agree though that farang should be used indirectly not when the farang is around. While the Thai family all call me by name the extended family still point at me and ask if the farang is hungry.

  6. Thailandblog.nl on October 21st, 2009 7.58 pm

    Many expats don’t like the word farang. It doesn’t matter for me. If they now my name, I don not accept the word farang, that is not polite.

  7. Catherine on October 22nd, 2009 4.01 pm

    41% confirm that they will continue using the term farang as it has been used this way for a long time and seems hard to change their familiarity with the common usage.

    If Westerners are not in agreement that farang is a derogatory word, then I can see why some Thais would not be fussed enough to make a change.

    I have not been on the (negative) receiving end of farang (yet). Most any words can be turned into cuss words. In turn, you can use cuss words as terms of endearment. So in some cases, is clearly down to the intentions (good/bad/indifferent). But in others, ignorance.

    We have also been talking about this subject on WLT. The conversation is rather interesting as Rikker shared even more thoughts on the possible history.

  8. MongerSEA on October 23rd, 2009 2.09 pm

    Catherine, to digress into etymologies is disingenuous and irrelevant. But since everything seems to be relative in your paradigm (and I pity you for that) I’ll play along and ask if I can get your endorsement of a plan to refer to Thais as “slopes” 41% of the time? Most Thais wouldn’t care, most English-speakers in Thailand wouldn’t be fussed, the word has an innocent meaning, and there is a historical precedent …

  9. Catherine on October 23rd, 2009 3.23 pm

    MongerSEA, your snarly retort was a surprise so I googled “MongerSEA.” Seems that slamming people in the comments is a hobby of yours, so I will leave you to it.

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