pattaya127 Posted July 3, 2002 Report Share Posted July 3, 2002 Here's one for GTG, 007 and jasmine and the crazy expats who watch thai TV long enough to know. I am just of the opinion that common thais, farmers, the little people are rarely given great spots on TV, let alone give their opinion on some subjects. I stand to be corrected, so what do you think? and what kind of shows represent the common people other than stereotypical "thai soaps" servants, and Issan slapstick comics. thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whosyourdaddy Posted July 3, 2002 Report Share Posted July 3, 2002 Yes.. Even on the game shows you will recognize only the young thai pop stars.. No ordinary people. Of the game shows back home, ordinary joes would be able to get on the show and play.. But here it is only young good looking white skin people.. HMMM> Think they are rigged? They are thinking of having a thai drama with rich upper class and hill tribe people living in the same house and videotaping day to day events.. Now that would be exciting to watch the chemistry between the groups Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 3, 2002 Report Share Posted July 3, 2002 On a slightly different note, whilst doing a paper for my degree last year I came across an article that mentioned the fact that billboard and radio advertising in Thailand is now using regional dialects to push products. Previously there was a prohibition on the use of anything but standard Bangkok Thai dialect for publc domain use. While TV may be full of simpleton stereotypes of upcountry folk, at least there is a greater recognition of their culture today than there was ten years ago. If anyone is interested I can see if I can dig the article up. Cheers Jaga Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 3, 2002 Report Share Posted July 3, 2002 on ITV news and some of the channel 11 documentaries you can see the live of the other half. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 3, 2002 Report Share Posted July 3, 2002 you touch on a big problem there. very difficult to succeed in the schoolsystem for non central thais, as the language in school is still central thai. lots of northern or easarn folks never heard or spoke central thai before they entered school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pattaya127 Posted July 4, 2002 Author Report Share Posted July 4, 2002 that billboard and radio advertising in Thailand is now using regional dialects to push products --------------------------------------------- Not sure it's a recognition of minorities more than a correct marketing ploy to sell products to people who have access to the mores and goods of consumerism with some buying powet they might not have before (even if it's on credit). IMO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StoneSoup Posted July 4, 2002 Report Share Posted July 4, 2002 This doesn't sound right to me - at least for most non-central Thai's under about 30 years old (or whenever electricity reached their villages). As has already been noted, all Thai TV has traditionally been presented in "standard" Thai. All writing in textbooks is "standard" Thai. So children are exposed to standard Thai all their lives. The obvious difference between Thai and Lao (I'm not sure about Khmer) in common diction is the pronunciation of the Thai equivalents to "R" vs "L" (there is no "R" sound in Laotian). That is a "telltale" in sorting out who is who on the ground, but it is not a big obstacle to academic study in standard Thai language. What is true is that public primary school in bumscrub Isaarn is more like organized day care - because teachers wages there are low, and high-quality teachers stay closer to the money in Central Thailand. And - I have noticed that books and bookstores are extremely scarce in deep backwoods Thailand. Without books and reading, academic excellence is pretty difficult to cultivate. But the pure diction/elocution aspect itself is not a big issue - much, much less of an issue than, for example, the dialects of Chinese. My 40-something Mukdahan wife is barely literate for social reasons - she left school after 4th grade to work the fields. He village life is conducted 100% in Lao. But she can communicate verbally with any Thais, with very little problem. And electricity didn't reach her village until about 19 or 20 years ago. On the other hand, in China, I have been with a well-educated Chinese business associate who spoke both Cantonese and Mandarin, and he would go down a line of 12 taxis trying to communicate with thedrivers, and wouldn't get in a taxi until he reached #7 or #8, because that was the first driver with whom he could reasonably communicate. Similar things recurred many times, throughout SE China - the drivers were typically from Mongolia or something. What is also true is that 80-year old villagers who have rarely left the village have a lot of trouble communicating in standard Thai - but they still tell stories of 30 years back, when the King visited their Amphur, and spoke to them all in their local dialect. This was astounding to them - I also understand that this practice by the King went a long way toward killing the "snob class" disdain for Isaarn dialects - at least in its most extreme forms. Stone Soup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 4, 2002 Report Share Posted July 4, 2002 khmer is a completely different language. lao and the northern dialects are is closely related to central thai, but still different languages. but you also got karen, akha and other various hilltribes with tibetan languages. you are right, it is not such a problem anymore in most parts in isarn and the north, more in the tribal areas. unfortunately the king is not anymore fit enough to walk around the country. his famous walks did a lot of good, especially when he visited also the communist camps during the insurgency. [Removed potentially troublesome line - KS] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 4, 2002 Report Share Posted July 4, 2002 Pattaya, I totally concur with this analysis, the almighty baht would be the driving factor. What is interesting though is the central government's apparrent relaxation of its previous policy to propogate the standard Thai dialect as an instrument of national unity. I largely think that the changed security climate in the region has a bit to do with it. Prior to the end of the cold war, national cohesion was seen as paramount in preventing the spread of communism. With the threat of external and internal menace gone, the impetus for such cohesion is lessenned. Your economic analysis also fits with the neo-liberal outlook that has persisted since Choonhaven, the so-called suvanaphum (golden land) that seeks peace and stability through economic activity. Sorry, I am getting way off topic, but this is my passion! Cheers, Jaga Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 4, 2002 Report Share Posted July 4, 2002 Flyzonzewall, Even harder for Hill Tribe kids who have scant access to education as it is. I have done alot of research into mainly Hmong tribes and found that their very existence seems to be a thorn in the side of the Thai government. I supposing denying them an education in their own language is just another means of dispossession. Cheers Jaga Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.