After 17 years living in Thailand and running a successful business here, I made a HUGE decision these last weeks and joined a Thai language business referral club here in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand.
Why? Covid19 has seriously changed the immediate business environment and the 40+ million annual non-Thai tourists we have normally relied on for 15 years ARE NOT HERE. It's a needs-must scenario. Thai people are very Chinese in the way they prefer only to do business with people they know and trust, and so I am leveling up my Thai business connections. With our traditional western target customers in Covid freefall and unlikely to be traveling anywhere until late 2021 at this rate, a shift of strategy is required. Urgently.
I'm fairly fluent in common street-level Thai, more than enough for my day to day with my Thai staff who speak ZERO English, for shopping, immigration and the like. I've even once been asked to be an official translator in court for a western friend who had to testify when there were no court translators available. It was an amusing episode, to say the least, and I was HORRIFIED to learn from the Police Prosecutor, 5 mins before the case convened, that the swearing in was mandated by law to be done in Thai Royal Language, which is about as close to my day to day Thai as Russian is to Swahili. The judge, my police sergeant friend and I had a good giggle afterwards about the karaoke-style props that were hastily procured by the innovative and pragmatic court stenographer during a rapidly-called court recess. 😆 Needless to say the Thai Royal version of the personal singular pronoun ข้าพเจ้า Ka-pa-jao (I) is forever imprinted in my brain. 😆
But there I was, at 7.30am this week, at a full day seminar about THAI business networking, which, it must be said, is worlds apart from the way western people do business.
How fortuitous that my top matched the hotel decor so well. No, I don't own a black blazer 🤣
It made me squirm when I heard, more than once, the Presenter reassure the other 49 Thai seminar participants that I DO mostly understand them, that I DON'T bite and they shouldn't be afraid to try to talk to me. Much nervous laughter followed but yes, I could TELL that people were a bit unnerved to have someone in their group who was not "one of them".
Thai people are not exactly comfortable with foreigners being on the same level as them. They are used to us being customers and investors who come and go in tsunami like fashion, fairly anonymously - commodities, if you will - but definitely no one whose feelings or personal-business issues need considering long term, as one might consider friends or family.
This new level of connection is a game changer for them, as much as it is for me.
What I have learned these last weeks through one to one meetings and discussions, is actually that Thai people are very nervous (and somewhat ashamed) of their poor English language skills and the hurdles that are set by their government for those of us non-Thai people who live here.
A full day of classroom-style seminar, in Thai, as the only non-Thai in the room? It was exhausting. My brain had to work SO FREAKIN' HARD cos they spoke at the speed of light, using colloquial and unfamiliar business and conceptual vocabulary. Clearly I have some advanced Thai language lessons in my near future!
But in the one-to-one social media chatter, I discovered the REAL language of business in Thailand: STICKERS!
Having spent roughly USD $6 on a sticker upgrade in my phone, it's suddenly all so much easier. 🤣 I suddenly have a new appreciation for the ingenuity of Egyptian pictographs and hieroglyphics. 🤣
I've been reflecting these past weeks about some of the lies about globalization - about how connected we supposedly are. I'm learning that there is NO connection when you jet into a westernized part of the city for your 3 month holiday and speak Tinglish with your trained pre-conditioned tour guide or shop keeper who speaks 231 English language tourist phrases only. It's just fake. I AM seeing that globalization really begins to happen when people meet as equals, across a board room table, and have to tussle through the challenges of language and belief to help each other begin to thrive. You have to KNOW and CARE about the other person to begin to work as equals.
Loving that the lack of government support forces us to move together for our mutual survival and growth, and makes all this possible!! So good!!
In the strangest of ways, I feel like my Thai Business Networking group is arguably fostering more global harmony, understanding and economic growth than the United Nations and the World Trade Organisation combined.
I am learning so much about the delightful young Thai business owners I am meeting, who break all stereotypes (ok most LOL) and who have so much goodwill to help me learn the language and culture of Thai business. It IS like learning Russian.
Sidenote: English is NOT my first language and, even at university in Australia I was officially categorized as NESB (Non English Speaking Background) and required to take remedial grammar, reading and writing classes.
So much to learn as we cross the bridges toward each other. So much growth and community to be found when we allow ourselves to be vulnerable and to publicly make stupid language usage errors. So much abundance,connection and growth in this great melting pot of humanity.
มีความสุขและเรียนรู้ 😍
If you're in Hive and wanting to work on your various languages, check out @whatamIdoing's Hive Language Exchange - lots of assistance and support to be found there!
Get Your FREE Hive Account
Visit our online store here
Join The Best Natural Health Community on Hive
Wow! Quite an exciting seminar and interesting venture!
Good luck.
It's a life's work to learn Thai well! 🤣 Is time we STOP dividing Thailand into "thai" and "farang" and started to support one another - language is a beginning point.
!ENGAGE 15
#POSH
A huge hug 🤗 and a little bit of !BEER 🍻 from @amico!
Un caro abbraccio 🤗 e un po' di BEER 🍻 da @amico!
View or trade
BEER.Hey @artemislives, here is a little bit of
BEERfrom @amico for you. Enjoy it!Learn how to earn FREE BEER each day by staking your
BEER.