Everyone who visits Thailand must have felt the language barrier. The Arabs, Europeans and Asians seem to be struggling to get their message through. With their literacy rate well above 90 percent there are few who can communicate in English the lingua Franca.
There is a flip side to this whole scenario. It is amazing how these people respect and take pride in their language. If you say 'hello' or 'hi' at shops or at a hospital or on the road side even you are never responded in English the response is always in their native language.
All products have got Thai language on them, if you buy a local SIM the entire message from your service provider is in Thai language even for tourist SIMs. The cash receipts of point of sale systems are again in their native language. Their channels of news and entertainment are all based on their native language, cartoons even are aired in Thai language. Though being a tourist attraction one can see a lot of foreigners around still they prefer their native language over English.
One wonders how things are back home in Pakistan. We often find people telling the young ones to use Arabic or Urdu counterparts for the words 'thank you' and 'hello'. But the common trend goes against it, here in Thailand I have spent more than a month and never heard a hello or Thank you from anyone in English they use their own language. As a result the tourists pretty quickly learn basic Thai greeting pronounced something like 'swadika'.
Perhaps they have not been ruled by the British! Perhaps we need some time to gain mental freedom!
