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Wai – a Thai air hostress
greeting customers.
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Last Monday, I had a
chance to do role-playing. I was invited for dinner with people from different
countries. Each person had to represent their own culture. For example, when
greeting the host, others used a handshake, while I did the wai (pronounced [wâːj], a Thai greeting similar to
Namaste). The dinner displayed intercultural communication among those from
different backgrounds.
The role-play reminded
me of my first year in Singapore when I had problems adapting to a new
environment where I could not wai. Therefore, this post will tell you about
intercultural communication through my own situation and illustrate how this
affected my communication.
Wai is one of the most
beautiful cultures in Thailand. It is used in many occasions such as greetings,
receiving blessings, and so on. It is important in Thailand for showing respect
as Thai people highly value seniority. Every time people meet a senior, they
must wai; otherwise, they will be considered rude.
I, being from
Thailand, always respect my seniors. Whenever I meet a teacher, I wai. Moreover,
I do not call a teacher by his name but by his title “Ajarn” (which means
teacher.)
However, the world has
a wide variety of cultures. When I came to Singapore, I found a lot of cultural
differences. Although Singapore has so many cultures, wai is not among them. Should
I wai in Singapore, I will look weird. Moreover, seniority in Singapore is not
as strong as that in Thailand. I do not have to greet teachers so formally
anymore and I can call teachers by their names.
Some may think that my
life became easier as some societal rules are lifted. Nevertheless, this new
culture completely confuses me. I could not greet teachers or others by using
wai. It makes me curious as to what I should do instead. Should I wave hands,
bow, or …? Not knowing what to do, I was irritated and could not communicate
well with teachers, especially during my first semester. I felt so uncomfortable
approaching them since I did not know how I should greet them, or how I should
show respect to them and I was also afraid of being rude unconsciously.
Above is one example of
intercultural communication. There are still a lot more as the world has so
many different cultures. We should respect the culture of the place we live in.
Take Ronald McDonald as an example. He wais people in Thailand!
Visit my Facebook.
Hi Jae,
ReplyDeleteThat was an interesting post which includes a clear description of your feelings about the dilemmas that you had due to an intercultural difference. I can understand the difficulties that you face when adapting to a different culture. I faced a similar problem regarding the issue of seniority when I took up my first temp job after graduating from JC, although my experience was less tricky than the one you had. Throughout my education, I was being taught that adults and children are of different levels and hence we have to address adults respectfully. In schools, we would address our teachers or other staffs with the salutation Mr, Mrs or Ms. For most other occasions, we would address them as uncles and aunties. When I started my temp job, I continued to address everyone at my workplace as Mr or Ms (followed by their name) because all my colleagues there were older than me. However I came to realize that it was actually a norm to call people by their name at a workplace, even if they are much older than me. Just like you, I had some difficulties adjusting to the working culture initially. Nonetheless, I feel that if we have decided to stay on in the new environment, we have to accept the norms in its culture and practice them.
Having been here for more than a year, I believe that you are quite familiar with the culture in Singapore now. I hope that you will be able to overcome this intercultural difference in no time and enjoy your university life in NUS! You can do it!!
Hi Jestina,
DeleteThanks for your concern. Now I enjoy my life in NUS a lot :)) and also thanks for making me have clear understandings on your culture :D I have always thought that before tertiary education, the Singaporean also address their teacher using teacher's name.
At the beginning, I feel a little bit weird in this new environment but now I think that it is the good idea that teachers here are very friendly to student, which allows students to make more interactions with them.
Hi Jae
ReplyDeleteYes, Wai definitely is one of the most beautiful culture traits in Thailand. I also like the picture of Ronald McDonald doing Namaste at the end of your post, very interesting!!
This is a detailed post where you first explained practice of bowing in Thailand and then elaborated how it lead to dilemma for you in Singapore, where cultural practices do not include Wai as part of it. Well done!!
Your sharing on addressing seniors by name has also reminded me of my working experience when I used to call my 60 year olds colleague by name without paying much thoughts on it. Thanks for sharing this so that I could somehow have a picture on how the working etiquette is in Thailand!!
Hi Heather,
DeleteI am happy that you find wai is beautiful and thank you for your comment.
Since you have talked about your workplace, I would like to share about Thai workplace. In Thailand, seniority is important and relationship among Thai people is similar to that in the family. When we work, we have to call seniors by using "P" (which means elder brother or sister), followed by their names. I also use this word when I address my Thai seniors (and some people who do not know the meaning think that I am talking about 'pee'!)
In your case, where do you work? You did not work in Vietnam, right? The reason I assumed this because, from my understanding, seniority is also important in Vietnam as my Vietnamese friend told me that there were many pronouns and verbs varying among those with different status.
Hi Jae,
ReplyDeleteThank you for such an expressive post. I could actually sense your frustration as I read your post, and I hope that you are coping better now! It is very interesting that having less conduct requirements actually made things more difficult for you. I think it is because cultural norms such as the wai provides a structure for greeting based upon societal expectations, and that leaves less room for second guessing.
The main difficulty now stems from the fact that you no longer know what others (especially seniors) expects from you. This is an issue not just for foreigners such as yourself but also for us Singaporeans as we find ourselves living in an increasingly westernized Singapore!
When I was younger, I had to address all my elder cousins by their names, followed by a 'korkor' or 'jiejie' (which means brother and sister in mandarin respectively). However, as I grow up, the formality boundary between us slowly dissolved and I found it awkward to address them by 'korkor' or 'jiejie'. In fact now, my cousins and I couldn't care less about such formality. However, I recalled an incident where I simply addressed an elder cousin by his name and was chided by my mother for being rude.
So not to worry, you are not alone in this! Also, here are some sentences that can be improved upon:
I, who am from Thailand, always respect my seniors.
--> I, being from Thailand, always respect my seniors.
I can call teachers by name
--> I can call teachers by their name
could not communicate well with teachers especially during my first semester
--> could not communicate well with teachers, especially during my first semester
Hi Simin,
DeleteThank you for such a useful comment. I will make a correction after finishing writing this comment.
You are right that the main difficulty is that I do not know what I am supposed to do in the new environment. I solved the problem by observing others and asking.
After observing a lot, I have broken through cultural barriers which impede my communication. Nowadays, I can approach teachers and discuss with them, which is very helpful as I can learn more! :))
Regarding your example, I also have to call my cousin by "Ah hia" or "Ah Je" (Teo Chew words mean elder brother and elder sister respectively) followed by his/her own name. However, what is different from your case is that should we call each other without using these kinship terms, both sides will feel awkward.
Anyway, I am happy that we can share our point of views. :))
This is a most interesting post, Jae. While it doesn't surprise me that there are different traits in different places, and that the "wai" is really specific to Buddhist societies such as Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and so forth, what is fascinating is your description of feeling at a loss for what to do when you couldn't "wai." The obvious interpretation of that is that when you were initially removed from your cultural comfort zone, you were unclear as to what the norm was for greeting superiors---thus your confusion.
ReplyDeleteYou've overcome that challenge. What advice might you give to a young Thai coming to Singapore for the first time?
In any case, thank you again, Jae, for a very good effort.
Hi Brad,
DeleteIn my opinion, I will tell my junior to continue respecting their own teachers and seniors as it is the beautiful culture. When I talk to my Thai seniors, and Thai Professors, I still use 'wai' and add title 'P' and 'Ajarn' before seniors' and teachers' names respectively.
However, when talking to teachers who are not Thai, we should not use 'wai' as they will not understand what we are trying to do. What my juniors can do is to lower their formality towards teachers but still pay respect to them. Moreover, I need to tell them that what they are going to do is not considered rude so that they will feel more comfortable.
Ramon,
ReplyDeleteI think you have garnered a lot of interesting feedback and there is nothing much I can add to it.
I would just want to say that the Ronald McDonald doing a 'wai' is something new and interesting for me.
Best Wishes,
Aditi
Thank you Aditi,
DeleteI am happy that you like Ronald McDonald. :) Another interesting thing is that not only does McDonald make Ronald do "wai" but it also provides fast food in Thai style like spicy chicken using Thai spice. (It is so delicious that it makes me miss my home while I am typing this comment!)
Hi Jae. Good effort on this blogpost! It is very interesting reading about how you show respect to the teachers by doing this “wai”. It is always hard to connect with new cultures, but I think you have ended up in a great country. It is so open minded, because of the multicultural. People are not judging you from where you are coming from and because you have a different culture. The people understand and accept it in another way, than if you would end up in another country which is more one culture based.
ReplyDeleteHi Johanna,
DeleteThank you for your comment Johanna. :) I agree with you. Nowadays, there is not as much race discrimination as in the past. We can share our own culture proudly and others will respect us. The world is growing in a good way.
Hi Jae,
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to know that foreign students had a tough time adapting to the culture of Singapore. I always thought that Singapore being a multiracial country, will have a culture that foreigners can adapt to easily. Good to see that now you have adapted well to the Singapore culture
Hi Wei Song,
DeleteIndeed. Singapore is a multicultural country. This is also a reason why I chose to study at Singapore. I want to prepare for the cultural barrier that I may have to face in the future.