Thai Greeting

Thai greeting or "Wai" in Thai is a basic manner that Thai people use in daily life. "Wai" is to press palms together (like when you prey) and bow slightly. Thai people 'wai' for paying respect to others. The more you respect the other person, the more you bow and the higher your palms held in relation to your face. We use 'wai' to greet, to thank and to apologize. While greeting, people usually say 'hello', 'goodbye', 'sorry' or what so ever at the same time.

Tips: The most popular word spoken when greeting is 'sa-wat-dee', which means 'well-being' or 'hello' in English.

Warning: When someone 'wai', we should acknowledge a salute to honor the answer to prevent misconduct or make people ashamed to show respect.

Experience: When I first came to the US, I felt very awkward to check hands instead of 'wai'. I felt like it's so 'American'. Also, I felt so weird to touch strangers, especially opposite-sex people, for the first time. Now I still feel a little bit 'not myself' but I'm trying to get used to. :))

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Today's site suggested: http://tipsonlearningthai.blogspot.com/ - A blog all about learning Thai, ways of improving your thai language skills, and more.

About Myself

I'm Thai. I was born in Bangkok and has been raised by a quite conservative family. So many times I have found situations that I'm a conservative person more than my Thai friends. What's more, right now I'm studying in the United States and have met so many foreign people. Sometimes there are difficulties on cultural differences. I realized that foreigners often don't understand some Thai culture and feel a little awkward. On the other hand, it's quite hard for us, Thai people who live in foreign countries, to adapt the ways we were taught to be for the whole life. I'm proud to be Thai and I love my culture. Therefore, I create this blog, "prapaynee", in order to let people all around the world know better about Thai culture and understand why we are what we are. It's always good to learn something, right?

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PS. For Thai people who wish to go abroad, you can learn how to react to foreigners in some situations through my stories that I met by myself. For foreigners who want to learn Thai culture, you are very welcomed. For foreigners who date with Thais, well...good luck. :)

prapaynee

Prapaynee (pronounced 'pra-pay-nee') means "tradition" in Thai. This blog will tell you everything about "prapaynee"; Thai culture, values, society, family, religion, custom and whatever you want to know.