{"id":236,"date":"2010-12-12T06:59:48","date_gmt":"2010-12-12T06:59:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/thai\/?p=236"},"modified":"2010-12-05T02:06:39","modified_gmt":"2010-12-05T02:06:39","slug":"farang","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/thai\/farang\/","title":{"rendered":"Farang"},"content":{"rendered":"

The word farang, \u0e1d\u0e23\u0e31\u0e48\u0e07<\/strong>, specifically refers to the \u2018white foreigner\u2019. English doesn\u2019t have a good word for it, however it\u2019s the equivalent to the Spanish \u2018gringo\u2019 or the Japanese \u2018gaijin\u2019 (if you\u2019re familiar with either).<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a very charged, very controversial word. You can find forum threads that rant on for pages about what it means, or doesn\u2019t mean. I\u2019m quite positive that after reading this blog post, many of you will feel a strong urge to comment.<\/p>\n

Well, being a farang who speaks Thai well enough to understand the intricacies of the language, I\u2019m going to offer the definitive word on the F word.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with a bit of Thai history. Thais generally do not understand the concept of racism. They\u2019ve had no civil rights movements, and 95% of the country speaks Thai, looks Thai, and practices only Buddhism. Only in very recent times have some learned about the unfair prejudices they\u2019ve held over the southern Muslims, or the darker skinned Thais in Isaan. Historically, Thais had a period of strong racism against Chinese immigrants. But the Chinese are now fully integrated into Thai society, and Thais know little of their darker history.<\/p>\n

Now, I\u2019m not saying Thais are racist haters because they aren\u2019t, I\u2019m just saying it\u2019s not a concept that has crossed their minds. As such, they have not developed the cultural sensitivities and understandings you can find in the west, and especially in the US. They don\u2019t know that when they say \u2018look at that farang\u2019 that to us it feels like \u2018look at that white honky\u2019 . . . or that particular \u2018n\u2019 word which my own culture forbids me from repeating.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve explained to Thai friends\/family how in western culture calling people names that point out skin color or generally say \u2018you are not one of us\u2019 is rude and offending. They always seem a bit perplexed by this concept, but they respect my wishes and then refer to me by my name – not as \u2018the farang.\u2019<\/p>\n

Point being, decent Thai people won\u2019t use the word farang if they knew it could offend you.<\/p>\n

That said, there are Thais who aren\u2019t decent. I\u2019ve heard the word used negatively, and meant as an insult. They might do it because they are angry, or because they are unable to properly verbalize a political frustration, or because they\u2019ve seen too many sex-pats in Pattaya with 15 year old girls.<\/p>\n

You can also use the term more neutrally. Sometimes when I speak Thai, the word farang just seems to work best as a catch-all phrase for westerners in Thailand. I could say \u0e0a\u0e32\u0e27\u0e15\u0e48\u0e32\u0e07\u0e0a\u0e32\u0e15\u0e34 <\/strong>(people from other countries), which I occasionally hear from the more politically-correct Thais, but that doesn\u2019t roll off the tongue very easily.<\/p>\n

And I admit, I sometimes use the word when referring to farang I don\u2019t like, such as those moron farang that give the rest of us farang a bad name (fyi, that was an example of both negative and neutral word usage). I don\u2019t feel racist using a racist term describing my own race . . . it\u2019s even a bit funny to Thais when I (a farang) say something like \u2018\u0e40\u0e01\u0e25\u0e35\u0e22\u0e14\u0e1d\u0e23\u0e31\u0e48\u0e07\u0e27\u0e48\u0e30<\/strong>\u2019 as a joke, meaning \u2018I f\u2019in hate farang.\u2019<\/p>\n

There you have it, the definitive definition to the word farang. It can be a neutral word, an offensive word, or just a simple \u2018catch all\u2019 word because no other word fits best.<\/p>\n

And besides, maybe when you overheard the word, they were just talking about \u2018mak farang\u2019 (bubble gum), \u2018mun farang\u2019 (potatoes), or farangset (France).<\/p>\n

Make sure you turn on CC (closed captions) before watching. It\u2019s a very informative mockumentary:<\/p>\n