FarhanisahD Panara-agThai culture and customsThailandis unique inSoutheast Asia in that the country has never been adependency of another nation.The roots of the traditions and cultures of Thailand liefirmly withinthefamilystructureandtheBuddhistreligion. The young are taught to pay respect to theirparents, elders, teachers and Buddhist monks.Once Buddhism spread throughout Thailand the wator temple became the centre of village life. t was theplace where people received education, attendedceremoniesandheldfeastsandfestivals. Thewatand the Buddhist religion still play very important rolesintheday!to!daylifeof thevast ma"orityof Thaistoday andit is for this reasonthat thepeopleofThailand are some of the most respectful andcourteous people you are ever likely to meet.Though many of the customs may seem strange to aforeigner it#s always worth remembering that you arein someone else$s country and are ambassadors fromyour own, so although you may not get it right everytime, an effort to understand and respect local cultureand customs will certainly be appreciated.Thai ReligionBuddhism is the prevailing religion of Thailand. About%& percent of all Thais are Buddhist, and the countryhas appro'imately (),*** Buddhist temples and(+*,*** Buddhist priests. ,early all Buddhist men inThailandenter a-at .monasteryor temple/ for atleast a few days or months during their lifetime.0uslims, thema"orityof whomliveinthearea"ustnorth of 0alaysia, constitute appro'imately + percentof thepopulation, andthecountryalsohas somesmall 1hristian and 2indu communities.3isitors should dress neatly in all religious shrines andtemplesandshould neverenterwithoutshirts,or inshorts, hot pants or other unsuitable attire. t isacceptabletowearshoeswhenwalkingaroundthecompoundof aBuddhist temple, but not insidethechapel wheretheprincipal Buddhaimageis kept.4ach Buddha image, large or small, ruined or not, isregarded as a sacred ob"ect. ,ever climb onto one totake a photograph or do anything that might indicate alack of respect.Buddhist monks are forbidden to touch or be touchedby a woman, or to accept anything from the hand ofone. f a woman has to give anything to a monk, shefirst handsit toaman, whothenpresentsit tothemonk.A monkisnotallowed to touch money, so ifa manwishes to give money to a monk, he must place it inthe alms bowl or pouch.The Thai languageThe Thai language, or 5hasa Thai, basically consistsof monosyllable words, whose meanings arecomplete by themselves. ts alphabet was created by6ing 7amkhamhaeng the 8reat in (9): by modellingit on the ancient ndian alphabets of Sanskrit and 5alithrough the medium of the old 6hmer characters.Afterahistoryof over;**years, the Thai alphabettoday comprises ++ letters .including 9 obsoleteones/, representing 9* consonant phonemes, and (&vowel signs, denoting 99 vowels, diphthongs andtriphthongs.As Thai is a tonal language with five different tones, itoften confuses foreigners who are unused to this kindof language.