Please answer truthfully

Answer e-mail or answer the phone. It sounds obvious, but it’s more the exception than the rule. If the phone number for a Thai company works (and that’s a big “if”), then a person should answer the phone. If that person does not speak English, then it is hoped someone nearby can speak the language.

Listen to the questions the client asks, and try as best as possible to answer the questions. If not understood, it’s okay to mention that. Often, a question as simple as “Do you speak English?” is met with a long silence and/or darting in to another room by the Thai person who is being asked the question.  

Return calls or e-mail. Even when Thais speak or write to other Thais, there are often misunderstandings. Additionally, there are often long conversations on topics that might only need one or two sentences to conclude. Even after those long drawn-out ten- to 40-minute conversations, it’s likely that nothing will be resolved.  

So, if even Thais don’t understand fellow Thais, imagine how much more difficult it is for a foreigner to get understood by a Thai. Besides language barriers, it becomes more challenging when phone connections are unclear or cut off, or when people don’t answer calls or don’t call back, or when one of the parties chooses to not communicate at all. 

Foreigners would rather hear “No thanks” or “I don’t understand” or “Sorry, we don’t have that service or that product” than be kept in the dark, ignored or given cloudy excuses. Get to the point. Often a question can be answered with a yes or a no. But rarely in Thailand, where things are often overly complicated, or avoided, or the response is tailored to what one thinks the questioner wants to hear, rather than the plain truth.

Kip Keino

Ban Nam Lat