Book Review: Thai for Beginners

A must for all Managers and Farang workers is to learn the basics of the language. It is a great way of getting into the community and will certainly help a lot with your work at hand. The best resource for me was Khun Banjawan Poomsam Becker: Thai For Beginners. It is a great introduction to the language and will really help if you get to practice in the work place.

Book Review: Working With the Thais

By Henry Holmes and Suchada Tangtongtavy

This book is a really good read for new arrivals, and like me people who have been here for a while, to Thailand. Aimed at the Farang manager it covers some of the key scenarios you will encounter in the work place.

It is equally useful for expats who will be asked to attend weddings, funerals and house blessings to name but a few cultural situations that you might attend.

What is a Farang??

A Farang is the name given to foreigners of Western Europe origin. This extends to include Americans, Australians and New Zealanders.

The Thai word for France is farang-seet. The French have a lot of history in this part of the world, French Indochina, and despite Thailand never being governed by the French a lot of influence from Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia means that this is the most likely source for the term.

Interesting to know: the Portugese were intimately involved with Myanmar (Burma) and actually introduced the chili to the region. How popular would Thai food have been otherwise?

Getting Started

It's not that I'm a procrastinator it's just that I often find myself in another place with little time as the job gets me away.

I have made a commitment to myself that I will plan to get started on this blog and see where it takes me.

I aim to share my learnings, perceptions and experiences of working with my Thai friends and colleagues in the hope that when other people like me are given the chance to manage a team or work as part of a team of Thais this will help.

The main input from me is some idea of what I am like and [generally] what many Farangs are like to help the Thai's understand me/us a bit better as well.


Please bear in mind that what follows are based on my experiences and generalizations.

Who are they?

Farangs! they're here now and there are more and more of us across Thai society.

Why do they come? why do they do what they do?

Having lived and worked in Thailand for almost four years and been through the highs and lows of working for, with and amongst the Thais I have been through what I guess is a reasonably typical socialization process that I call the Elation Curve:


You arrive on a high, new country, new people, new language; it's a challenge and you're usually on your own.

Your company has sent you here because you're good at what you do and they want you to try and repeat that success in their Asia Pacific region and their Thailand operation.