EN: Business Trip Abroad
In December I am going to visit Taiwan for one week, maybe Hongkong for two or three days and Thailand for about two weeks. At last I will be at home at christmas eve. If I can find some free WLANs I will tell you about the things happened.
In Taiwan I will visit some business partners and try to gain some new ;-). Maybe I will sell wine to Taiwan and China in the next years. Well let's see what happens.
In Hongkong is also a potential new client. Depending on the financiell situation and the interest of this client I will visit him or not.
And in Thailand, my girlfriend is waiting for me :)
See you...
EN: Cultural misunderstandings
Well, lets imagine you are on journey through Asia. Please keep in your mind that you better ...
- Never criticise! If you really have to let somebody know about his mistake, say it in a inaroundabout way, never beside other people and allways very gentle. To "lose the face" is the very worst ever can happen in Asians people life. They will remember it their whole life.
- Look cultivated! Asians are living in a hierarchical command structure. Everbody has hes well known place in this structure. Of course they are trying to raising up, but often (nearly ever) they just pretend it by looking more cultivated then they are. If you (from the rich Europe/US) looking sleazy... well, lets say you are not interesting any more.
- Never copy Asian behaviour! You are not Asian and if you are trying to copy they behaviour, it can only look funny to them. Do you like to look funny? So if you would like to be more integrated, just smile, be gentle, be polite and you will see, everthing is great.
After a lot of phoning with my new girlfriend from Thailand and the decision that in the next month I am going to visit her, I just asked myself: "Well, if I am near the end of the world where no one knows to speak German nor English, how to order another cup of coffee without asking my girlfriend?"
So I surfed the web and found the mentioned (German) webpage with a lot of impressions about the Thai culture and language. It 's a good starting point for German speaking people interested in Thai in general.
But what about my Thai? Well, until yet (3 days of learning) I noticed a lot about sentence structure (very easy), declination and conjugation (there is no!) and times (simple). On the other hand it is quite difficult to speak. As example the word "khaa". Depending on the way you speak, it means 1)hang, 2) trade, 3) kill or 4) leg. Thais don't speak, they singing the language. And this is quite difficult for a native european.
- So first at all, buy a CD with some words spoken by native Thai (e.g. "Thailaendischer Schnellkurs")
- Get a feeling about the language (try the book "Kauderwelsch Band 19")
- Start learning some simple words and sentences (How are you? Nice, thank you. And you?...)
- Try to rebuild these sentences with other words (You may need a dictionary :-) )
Well, that's a good start. Maybe next week you can try to write a little bit?
EN: Blog it!
Hello family, friends, .. well, lets say anybody :-). This is my new weblog. Furthermore i will inform you about the things happened to my life. I guess I will talk a lot about Asia, esp.Thailand, different cultures and languages. Please do not hesitate to write any comments.
See you
