Young Buffalo Fighting
Posted by Stuart at 03:29 PM on November 18, 2003Apparently, sometimes the most interesting prose comes when the writer is not using his or her native language.
I spent the entire day grading labs from my computer class. Some of the labs required the students to write a little bit about themselves -- using the computer of course. It didn't really matter so much what they wrote, but that they were able to write in Word and upload the file to their Yahoo Briefcase, for example.
As I read through Word docs, text files, and HTML files (200 of each), I found a few gems that give an interesting insight into some of my students. For example, several students talk highly about themselves:
"I'm handsome and smart"
But they often had different things to say about their friends: "She is quite fat, long hair and very pale skin... she looks like a big ice or iceberg in polar. She is a good friend and clever. She looks like a talking Dict(ionary) of my group bcoz she know many vocabulary a lot in her brain." Another friend was described this way: "He has man body but inside his mind is a little girl. He is a good friend and friendly he help me about assignment when im sick."
Whereas I would never call a friend "fat" or "little girl in a man body", I guess it is ok to do it in Thailand as long as you add a few compliments as well!
Another student said: "My favorite subject is IIT 201(it's about computer) and its very funny, not serious." That's my class. I think it's supposed to be a compliment.
Finally, since metaphors represent the writer's view of the world and personal biases, perhaps they are the most telling. My personal favorite metaphor today is this one:
"My hobby is playing football in the swamp like young buffalo fighting."
Paints a vivid picture, doesn't it?
Personally, I don't think your students intended to write some bad things about their friends. First of all, it's not offensive at all in Thailand when you say your friend's fat. Sometimes it actually is a compliment. You might hear your Thai friend saying 'Hey, you look fatter.' It means you look great. Saying 'fat' means 'healthy' for Thai people when thin=don't have anything to eat, poor, or sick, sort of.
And 'a little girl in a man body'? I'm not sure about this, but from the context it might mean he's kind and gentle. These are 'little girl' characteristics I guess.
I think that's the reason why many westerners are sometimes offended by Thais speaking English. We tend to think in Thai and say it out in English without knowing it is offensive in western culture. Have you heard a joke about Thai guy calling Thai chilli out loud in market in America? :)
Kaii -- you are absolutely right. I think that the girl writing about her large female friend and her gay male friend meant no harm towards her friends. They are her friends and she was just calling it as she sees it.
My point (that I didn't really make, but I will make now) is that in general, it seems to me that Thai people are much less "politically-correct" than what I am used to from Americans. In America, it is very rude to call someone fat. It is also very rude to say "Hey Foreigner!" to every one who looks different than you... but I hear farang, farang all the time in Thailand.
Another example is one that is shouted at me in English all the time in Thailand: "Hey you! Where you go?!" In American culture, it's rude to call someone "Hey you!" not to mention that where I am going is nobody's business. But in Thailand, the word for you (khun) is used much more often and also means "Mister", and bai nai (Where are you going?) is used as a greeting. (Simiar to "What's up?" in the US.) So everytime I hear it, I have to remind myself that the speaker is just being friendly.
Of course it goes the other way too. More than once my Thai friends have said that they don't like it when farang speak Thai language because they sound very rude (since they haven't learned enough words yet).
So... I was merely relaying the fact that even through the drudgery of grading 600 documents, there were a few rays of light that made me smile :)
P.S. Excuse my French (where did _that_ idiom come from?!) but for those of you who don't speak Thai, the joke about Thai chilis is that the literal translation in English for chili (prik kii noo) is "Rat Shit Pepper". (Hence, the phrase on the back cover of my English Lonely Planet Thailand "Hotter than a Rat Shit Pepper".)
Stuart, do u really think that u r American now? I do believe that u r real Thai now. Show me ur thai ID card now, hehe:)
I think that it's just a case of Engrish, heh. Sometimes the meaning gets distorted when translating between Thai and English, kind of like what Kai said up there. And yeah, like the Chinese, for Thais it's actually considered complimentary to be called "fat".... well, maybe for the older peeps, but definitely not for the newer generation. ;)
"Khun, Khun" in Thai is also the polite way to call out to someone whose name you don't know, such as in the case of an airport customs inspector calling to an arriving passenger. I try to tell anybody and everybody I can that it is NOT the same thing as "You, you"!
hey I just have a question is "khun" used to address a she or a he ? or for both ... Im not a thai but im also asian Im a filipina .. .. here we
address someone who we dont know "ale" if its female and "mama" "manong" if its male
Hmm... not sure about that last one. I don't think I have heard of a female equivalent of "khun", so I guess it works for male or female.
Hey Stuart, Good stuff. For some similar, check out www.engrish.com. I know what it is like trying to speak outside of Mother English. I get laughed at regularly. Some stuff does not translate and when you try to do so, it gets pretty funny.