Culture tips - Thailand Video Transcripts
Video 1 Transcript
Be respectful to your elders. Be respectful to people in general, but definitely be respectful to your elders and understand what is defined as respectful, right? So in Thai culture, the head is the most sacred with the with the top of the head being the most most sacred, and it just kind of decreases in sacredness on the way down. So touching somebody's head, disrespectful. Putting your foot to somebody's head, very disrespectful. So just keep that in mind, and that applies to images as well. So if you drop a coin or something or some money, don't step on it because it has the image of the king on there. Stuff like that. Just be respectful.
Video 2 Transcript
Thai culture is really centered on the elderly in their life, like the older members of your family, and they, in Thai culture, deserve a lot of respect. So, I mean, it's even ingrained into the language that if you refer to someone as older, it's a title of respect. So, just be prepared to really, like, show respect to your leaders, and especially those who are older than you.
Video 3 Transcript
Be aware of where your head and your feet are. In regards to respect, the head is the most respectful thing, so respect other people's head and face, the space around their face, and don't throw things over the heads or in front of their faces. And then as you go down to the feet, be aware of where you put your feet, what you're stepping over, don't step over things, go walk around things. And another thing is, probably combined with this crazy story, I was in a mall going to the restroom, and the women will just go in and clean the restroom while the men are going to the bathroom, so there's a little bit less respect for where you can go to the restroom, less privacy. You still have privacy, but just less. So, something to get used to.
Video 4 Transcript
There's a lot you can read on the internet about Thailand, Myanmar, Laos. There's some obvious ones like don't point the bottom of your foot at people and what have you, but I think one of the most important things to remember with culture is that we're all humans and we share a lot more similarities than we do differences. And if you're just observant, if you just try and pay attention to what people say and how people act in any given situation, you'll probably, you'll be fine. Just being carefully observant and not making assumptions, not assuming that either A, everyone in town will act the same as each other or as the internet describes them or B, that everyone thinks the same way that you do because neither of those are true and every person is unique and I think that's important to remember.
Video 5 Transcript
The head is really sacred, so you don't touch someone else's head, especially if they're older than you. The feet are really dirty, so you never point with your feet. You never do anything with feet because Thai people hate it. As far as culture, it's just pretty much just like being really respectful, especially of older people, adults, and just elderly people, and just showing respect and just being really nice to just show how grateful you are to be in their country.
Video 6 Transcript
The ceiling is really low to the ground, so if you are six foot or taller, just be ready to spend most of your time bent in half because sometimes the ceiling is literally like 5'9", 5'8", and everyone else in there is like five foot to five foot five, so just be aware of that.
Video 7 Transcript
Learning about the culture of the people in Southeast Asia is really important, because especially if you're from a western country like myself, it can be really different. And lots of people will think in ways that you won't necessarily expect. One big thing that I found in both Thailand and Myanmar is a sense of obligation to others. They really want to help other people, and they don't want to make other people feel bad. Sometimes to the point that they won't want to say no to your face.
Video 8 Transcript
Always be very careful about respect, especially respect towards your elders. When you're speaking, it's very important to use the polite word at the end of the sentence, either the ka or ka, and then also it's very important not to stand or sit higher than your elders. It's important to bow or y them when you first contact them, when you first talk to them, or walk into a room with people older than you. It's also important that you don't throw things over people's heads, because the head is the highest part of the body, so it's very disrespectful to touch people's heads or throw things over their heads. And then in the opposite respect, the foot is the lowest part of the body, so don't point your foot at people or kick people, or don't cross your legs and have your foot up and facing someone.
Video 9 Transcript
They respect their families so much, and they really want the best for their families, and so you see that they're always with their families, and a lot of people stay with their families for a long time. I think another culture tip that's really important is probably that you make sure that you bow to people, especially if they're older than you. It's a sign of like respect and everything, and it's really important that we do that because I've had many instances where I kind of forget, and it's kind of, it's not like shaking a hand, but it kind of is in some instances where you meet the person, and if you don't like bow to them and say svetlikav, it's a little awkward, and they don't think you're as respectful. So for sure, for people that are older than you, it's really important to do that.
