Expats fall in love with Thailand but not the language

News » Local News

Expats fall in love with Thailand but not the language

Published: 29/11/2009 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News

If you are an expatriate, Thailand is the best country to find love - however, it's also one of the hardest places for learning the local language.

Canada, Australia and Thailand are regarded by expatriates as the premier places in the world to live and love, according to the second annual expatriate experience survey by HSBC Bank International.

Canada has the best quality of life and is among the easiest places in the world to integrate with the local population, according to the survey of 3,146 people working in 30 different industries and 50 countries. Australia and Thailand come next on the list.

One in five expats has found love, with Thailand being the most likely place to fall in love followed by Germany and Brazil. Almost half of Thailand's expats say that they have found love.

Asia emerged as the place to go for making friends, with Thailand ranked first, followed by Vietnam, Hong Kong and Malaysia. More than half of the expats questioned in the survey - 58 per cent - have lived abroad for more than five years.

The top three countries for settling down are South Africa, Thailand and Canada, where expats have lived for more than five years.

The survey found that for expats, a higher income does not necessarily mean a better quality of life, said Alan Smith, head of international wealth management for HSBC.

Those earning less are also more likely to find love, with expats earning under US$60,000 (1.9 million baht) more likely to find love abroad than any other group. Similarly, expats over the age of 55 will have a greater chance of finding their life partner - one in four expats around the world aged 55 and over have found love or a life partner while living abroad.

Expats living in English-speaking countries have less trouble with language barriers, regardless of their origins. Learning the local language remains the biggest expat challenge of all.

While Thailand is seen as the easiest place to make friends, it is ranked 26th for ease of learning the local language.

For ease in finding a school, Thailand comes fourth; organising finances, 11th. For arranging healthcare, it is ranked second; finding somewhere to live, first. For setting up utilities, 9th; making local friends, 16th; and arranging accommodation, second.

Last year Germany, Canada and Spain were the top three countries deemed to have the best lifestyle for expats.

In another online survey, the British rated Thailand their No.1 holiday destination of 10 countries.

A total of 1,241 Britons responded to the survey, which polled 24,000 people around the world.

Thailand scooped 25% of British votes and the United States 11% but France came last, scoring a miserable 2%.

About the author

: Writer: Post Reporters; Position: Reporters

Keep this article in your social bookmark:

Latest stories in this category:

Share your thoughts

For more candid, lengthy, conversational and open discussion between one another, use our Forum

Report objectionable comments click here. Include: discussion #, commenter name, comment date / time as it looks on the page. Example: discussion 15: 09/01/2009 at 10:00 AM.

CK

Discussion 56 : 07/12/2009 at 12:36 AM56
Thai is a lot simpler than any European language I've ever come across. The fact that so many foreigners whine about how difficult it is says more about those people than it does about the language. I can read a Thai newspaper and have never had a single class, it comes pretty naturally if one isn't incredibly lazy and puts forth a little effort.
Pitta

Discussion 55 : 06/12/2009 at 07:00 PM55
Marchie - Most sensible post I have read concerning Thailand in the 2 years I have been here. Sound advice and pretty much sums up the way to get the best out of thailand.
Whatever

Discussion 54 : 04/12/2009 at 03:06 PM54
I know bare minimum and that's good enough for me. There's plenty other people who speak enough English to make up the gap. Its just not worth the time and effort for me to invest further effort. If the country was more welcoming to immigrants then sure, but since it's not I'm happy to stick with English every chance I can and not lose any sleep over it.
555

Discussion 53 : 03/12/2009 at 07:54 PM53
It is very real. I found love in Thailand I love her ,her cute and i love everything is Thai
Marchie

Discussion 52 : 03/12/2009 at 07:12 PM52
I work in Thailand as a teacher and you have to understand the Thai psyche. Yes, foreigners are seen as being richer that Thai's and often taken for a ride. The laws are also designed to make sure that foreigners have few rights in Thailand but sound attractive enough to make one want to think that one has some rights when in fact there are few. Such as foreigners only being able to own 49% of property. But there are ways around this. Don't buy property. And don't buy land. The house apparently is meant to be able to registered in a foreigners name but whether this is done or not is another story and someone somewhere is eyeing foreigners to be a cash cow. I even know foreigners who have been here for 15 years and been ripped off. And they can speak fairly fluent Thai. I can speak a little. I can count. I can get around. And I can at least ask where are you? When are you coming and can tell the time, says days of the week etc... and a few other basics. The tone of Thai I find hard and sometimes people say they cannot understand me.

But also there are too many farangs who meet their darling in the wrong place. You aren't going to find love in the bar. It just won't happen. You can take the girl out of the bar but not the bar out of the girl. I'll give you some pointers. When you marry, know you marry the family. Often anyway. If a big age gap between them know they are after your money. They are not there for your balding white head and pot belly. They are in it for the money and the familt has kind of lost respect in the local community because they know they are gold digging. Don't go for a girl who is not working. There are many single women over the age of 35 who are loyal and don't want your money and don't want to get married either. Too many foreigners meet their sweetheart at Nana, Patpong, Soi Cowboy and Pattaya and expect to find love. There is no love there. They are only into the money. When the money stops they leave. Look on the Internet. Find someone decent. And try with her the same you would with a western woman.

Oh, about the snipe that the only men who come to Thailand are the one's who cannot find a western woman. This is the only way western woman can jutify to themselves that western men are more attraced to Asian and Thai women. In truth in many western cities and countries the men outnumber the women and so they have most of the power and the power to pick and choose. In Thailand it is in the reverse. There are more women than men and so men hold the power. Simple fact of numbers. But western women have had it so good for so long that when they come to Thailand they are beside themselves that western men hardly give them the time fo day and have to find a away to justify it saying all Thai women are hoookers. In truth honest Asian women are more loyal, try harder at the relationship and value the relationship more than their western counterparts. In Korea western women call it the Korean curve. A man who was given a 6 (out of 10) on the USA was catapaulted to a 8 or 9 in Korea. Western women have had it so good for so long they do not know quite what to do when they come to Thailand. Asian women look after themselves more, are trimmer, sexier and more beautiful than western women in mine and many western men's eyes.

Real expats on foreign expat salaries are in demand eevrywhere because of the power of their income but they always pay more, stay in exclusive apartments, sometimes what we get aid montly is the cost of their rent. And so Expat teachers working here are forced to understand the culture more, we teach in Thai, we learn Thai in the classroom, we interact with Thai's and we understand them better. And we are mostly respected for it if we are loyal and try at our jobs. Most expats who do not work here or open a business or the foregn expats with foreign salaries rarely fit in the way we are forced to. Also foreign teachers salaries are relatively well paid comparative to Thai salaries although the work is often demanding and tough going to be honest.

The solution is don't buy unless you are sure. Don't be forced into something you don't want to. Keep most of your money overseas if you can. Double and triple check before you do anything and avoid the young girls. They want your money. Go for someone older and more mature and who is working and get someone who really loves you and yes, you can find real love or someone who really cares about you. I know. I have found it and so have most of my friend teachers working here. Also try not to be too sceptical because that can also work against you but keep your eyes open. No shortage of people who want to rip you off and treat foreigners with double standards. And yes learn Thai. Even buy a computer programme to help you or go to lessons. It will help you immeasurably. Also try to understand Thai culture. Sometimes you just have to bite your tongue no matter your point of view.
Curly

Discussion 51 : 02/12/2009 at 01:08 AM51
@NPB

Reading and writing Thai really isn't that hard. Just keep practicing and the consonant groups and tones come easily. Be thankful that the written language resembles other European languages in that each symbol (letter) represents a sound, as opposed to Japanese or Mandarin in which a symbol represents a group of sounds or a whole word. Thai doesn't make you read right to left or up and down either; left to right, just like English.
Mythslayer

Discussion 50 : 01/12/2009 at 02:13 PM50
If you want to find real warmth and friendliness and you want the secirity you deserve after investing your time, money and energy in a foreign land, go to Malaysia and join their MM2H (My Malaysia 2nd Home) programme.

Thailand will never offer this and is in fact making staying here for expats more difficult by the day so you can draw your own conclusions as to whether Thailand welcomes us. Malaysia certainly does - they even give you a silver Malaysian ID card!
NPB

Discussion 49 : 01/12/2009 at 11:53 AM49
The thing is, the Thai system is hard not only for foreigners, but even for Thais. The difficulty of mastering Thai writing is so great that it detracts from other topics in school and even prevents a large part of the population from participating in written debate since they look uneducated when they do not write well enough. Sometimes, given the Thai hierarchical structures and tradition of 'following the leader', I even dare to think that the system is purposely difficult in order to support traditional social hierarchies. I'm not saying that the system should be scrapped, but it could certainly be made easier with a few minor changes. When even university graduates are unsure of their writing skills, as is often the case if they are presented with any subject than their area of expertise, that is a clear sign that the system is pretty challenging.

Making Thai writing easier:
1. Scrap all duplicates of same sound consonants.
2. Scrap classes of consonants.
3. Use tonemarks to always indicate the same tone (no consonant classes), so thak Mai Eek always indicates low tone etc.

The Thai motivations for keeping a writing system that requires memorization of individual words is that they wish to preserve written traces of word origin. This should be left to linguistics scholars. It is not important for tha average person to know if a word comes from 'Original Thai', Khmer, or Pali Sanskrit (by way of Khmer).

For those of you who wish to argue that English is not logical in writing & pronunciation either, this is true. However, the fact that English spelling and pronunciation is confused is no reason not to improve Thai. In fact, English is the most illogical language in Europe when it comes to spelling and pronunciation. It is not representative of other Indo European languages, which tend to have very consistent rules of spelling and pronunciation. Thus, keep English out of any responses to this.

I know that the changes above are unlikely to be taken seriously since I am an expat. The assumption is often that you have to be Thai to understand anything about this country. However, Thais would be loath to suggest improvements on their language (as they are loath to improve traditional spelling of Thai sounds with Latin letters) out of respect for their predecessors, so if an expat doesn't make some suggestions, none will be made.
Joe America

Discussion 48 : 01/12/2009 at 12:58 AM48
Canada???? Brrrrr to cold for me eh. USA is the best try the southern states we have a bunch of Thais and Vitemanese here too.
Andrew

Discussion 47 : 30/11/2009 at 08:14 PM47
I have travelled and lived in many countries and would say Australia is the cleaniest, most developed and nicest country of all...and I am sure all those who have been would agree..

1 2 3 4 5 6 Next Last

Name (required)
E-Mail (will not be published) (required)
Choose your avatar
Your comment
Valid code (required)
As a courtesy to our readers, please use proper punctuation and correct spelling.

Expats fall in love with Thailand but not the language