From: tai@starbird.WPI.EDU (Lisa Taikitsadaporn)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.thai
Subject: Re: an explanation from me
Date: 10 Oct 1992 05:12:15 GMT
Organization: Worcester Polytechnic Institute
NNTP-Posting-Host: starbird.wpi.edu
Summary: a followup on Khun Teerawat's and Mr. Laurence's posts

In article <9210100352.AA00965@emunix.emich.edu> teera@emunix.emich.edu (Teerawat Pawittranon) writes:
>> at all wrong with it even when it is directed at me.  For a farang in
>> Thailand it is often extremely frustrating that the Thai people simply will
>> not be open about what they think, frequently saying only what they 
>> imagine the respondent wants them to say.  This makes many farang-Thai
>> exchanges very polite, but there are often terrible suspicions on both sides.
>
>Yes, but isn't this the problem one would face when one try to communicate
>with another person who is from a different culture?  Being an international
>person as you have said, I would think this kind of thing would be just a
>peice of cake for you to overcome.  

	Cross-cultural communication has always been a barrier that those 
involved in international exchanges of ideas must deal with and over come.
As a Thai, as an international student in the US, as a student who graduated
from an international high school, and as the chairperson of the International
Student Council at WPI, cross-cultural communication is not something that is
easily over come, based on my own experience.  I understand the frustrations
Mr. Laurence is talking about, but you have to realize that we do not all 
communicate the same way.  Our cultural background, the way we think has to 
quite a lot to do with the way we communicate.  One should try to understand
the culture which the person one is communicating with is from.

	I have been lucky enough to have interacted with people from many 
ethnic backgrounds.  At first it was frustrating when misunderstanding and
miscommunication occurs, but what is the point of lashing out on a person
when we are all working together and trying to get things done?  Should 
we not try to understand one another more and be more open-minded about our
cultural differences?  This world is becoming a much smaller place with the
advancement in technology, transportation and telecommunications.  We all, I
am pretty sure, will at one point or another have to deal with people of 
different cultures (as we are right now) who think and communicate in 
different manner then you or I do.  Tolerance and open-mindedness are keys
(though not the only ones) in breaking down this cultural barrier.


>If I understood you correctly, I think I would have difficulty in communicating
>with you as well (to the level of your expectation).  I have never been on
>the other side (in your shoes) before, so I do not know why you have felt
>suspicions on your part when conversing with Thais?  (Have you felt like 
>this when you communicate with people from other cultures?)  I must say that
>I have not felt suspicions on others from different culture what I talked to
>them (except when the situations and circumstances were as such ....
>*suspicious* in nature themselves).  May be you should explain a little more
>about the suspicions you have felt? 

	Yes...I would like to hear what you, Mr. Laurence, felt was 
"suspicious" behavior.


>> I have always maintained that these suspicions are frequently unjustified, and
>> that there exists the possibility of much greater understanding when it
>> is discovered that most differences arise from the method of expressing
>> opinions rather than anything more fundamental.  I believe that I have partly 

	I agree with you here Mr. Laurence.  Methods of expressing opinions
used in different cultures are different.  However, the personality and
attitude of the person expressing those opinions also plays a major part.


>> succeeded in producing Atypical farang-Thai exchanges which have been much
>> more useful and honest than the usual sort.
>
>Yes, you have succeeded in doing so.  But it also have generated exchanges
>which are unaccepatble for most of readers (IMO).
>
>> 
>> Finally, I don't want to give the impression that I have been experimenting
>> with this group, as I have not.  All the opinions and observations I have
>> given are truthful, and if they have sometimes been contradictory or aggressive
>> that is because the other's viewpoint has particularly upset me.
>> 
>
>You should be upset on those *name calling* viewpoints and rightly so.
>However, controversial viewpoints posted by others or you should be viewed
>as good food for the mind (as one poster suggested).  Hopefully we will
>benefit from what we have read in this sct in the past few weeks.  At least
>it should make us understand humankind better.  (useful just like you have
>said).
>
>owen,

	From my observations from other newsgroups, flaming equates to 
"name calling."  Let us not confuse the "definition" of this term as most
of us know it with what Mr. Laurence defines as flaming: "...heated
discussions..." of controversial topics.  That to me is debate.

	I hope we have all learned a lesson from this episode.

L. Taikitsadaporn