Is farang a racist term?

As you have opined a contrary point of view,(and thus continued the off-topic foray) I thought I'd just quickly correct you.  The British were indeed a stronger presence in Thailand in the late colonial period anyway, than any other European power. This was primarily because of two things - the relative closeness of the Chakri dynasty monarchs such as Rama IV and V - Mongkut & Chulalongkorn, and the British royal family (Rama V visited the British royal Court on at least one occasion and was apparently quite taken with Victoria and Albert, enjoyed and absorbed the milieu he experienced and as a result adopted many of the British court's habits and apparatus , including formal European dress and cutlery to name but two) and the 'Bowring Treaty' which granted the British ambassador and his consulate greater powers within the country, aligned them with the then government and the monarchy, and thus served to really further British interests and control in Thailand, especially the north - https://thesiamsociety.org/wp-content/u … ershe.pdf.

Read for yourselves.

On the topic at hand, I always read (and thought it seemed reasonable) that 'farang' was a modified version of 'francais', which makes sense as the Thai's neighbours to the east had after all been occupied and colonised by the French for many years, stretching back to the early 19th century. It does also happen to be used, as at the slang term at least, for Guava - a fruit with a white flesh, this is perhaps comparable to people using 'egg plant' as a generic slur for Black people??

On the point of whether it is REALLY a racist term, I'd agree with an earlier comment, that as with most language it really depends on the intent behind it. Although, it would seem to me that using a catch-all term to denote somebody of 'white' heritage is while not necessarily 'racist', it IS undoubtedly lazy and ignorant. I challenge anyone to mount a reasonable argument otherwise. If we whiteys used the term 'oriental' (now very out of vogue and practically hate-speech in the hypersensitive West) or another similarly indiscriminate term to describe billions of culturally and ethnically divergent Asian people, then we would undoubtedly be labelled a bigot for it. When the boot is on the other foot, it doesn't seem to matter though, funny that.

I always feel, personally, that farang is indeed a lazy and ignorant term, but more often than not it's benign and said without ill-feeling towards the recipient. Thai society has only very recently modernised and the majority of Thais have never left their own land nor have they had any real knowledge or very much interest in outside cultures, especially those as far afield as Europe. To use such a term in Thai culture is in no way considered racist or probably even bigoted, but again, it is not really the Thais place to determine this. I think, in time, new generations in Thailand will probably deem this term antiquated and unfit for purpose, as the country continues to open up and become less conservative, traditionalist and nationalistic. Once these societal shifts have occurred, I feel that using terms such as farang (even if meant without malice or prejudice) will be viewed as a preserve of the past, just as certain bigoted and clearly ignorant terminology is in the West today. But I may be wrong.

Hey you Farang! I'll never forget when your wife and you bet the shi_e out of our Somtham making
cultural experience where we've lost face, just because of you.

              We deserved the first prize, not you guys.

To understand Thais thinking, it's good to understand Thai. When I met my wife and she couldn't speak English and my Thai was as bad as my Chinese, some Thais wanted me to stay with one of their friend, a woman with a hair salon down in Prachuap Khiri Khan.

       When somebody was asking where I was, my wife said: " Mann bai Bangsaphan.". Mann means a thing, so I was so piss+d off that I sent her away and soon realised what a mistake it was.

When I found out that Thai women in general call their husbands Mann ( if the guy isn't there) just to look better, I called her and begged her to come back.

    When the same guys then drove the car to pick my wife up, the one was asking the other: " Mann bai nai, ka?" The other one then answered: " Mann bai Krung Thep."

    That was proof enough for me to understand that they wanted me to fall in love with the divorced woman from the hair salon and Mann is definitely a derogatory word.

Unfortunately, very often used in Thailand. Please stop being angry when people call you Farang, their education is as bad as their PM.

         Trans, greetings from Siket.

Fair point. My wife calls our children (mun) from time to time. As a Thai speaker (pretty well, but not fluent) I understand their casual and laconic use of their own language/grammar.

Just because they're generally poorly educated, doesn't particularly excuse everything away, it does however explain much of it.

And...you misunderstand me, I'm not actually pissed off with them. I like Thais (by and large) they're warm, friendly and well meaning. Keep themselves to themselves, are generally quite polite and respectful and have a good sense of community and fraternity etc. I have many good things to say about them. But as I said, in days to come, I think they'll understand the use of the term farang (among others) is not particularly useful or intelligent.

Fred wrote:

Transam wrote:

Fred wrote:

After a good review of the thread, I will stay with my conclusion it is a racist term, but I still don't care.
My brief, and not especially nice time in Thailand (Except the far south - That rocks), allowed me to  realise the thing was screw me for as much cash as possible (In a non-prostitute sort of way), but treat me great whilst doing so.

It is not a racist term, it is just farangs don't like it. Farangs should get over it, my Thai family and friends often use the word, but guess what, they think this farang , me, is better than them, I tell them that is not the case....

If Farangs don't like it, it's definitely a racist term, even if it isn't intended to be - or maybe it is by very definition.
However, I really don't care as I won't be visiting Thailand again unless it's for work (or a trip into the glorious south).

Probably a good idea in your case, but most of us who have lived in Thailand for many years know what you don't know about the words use...

Thais have been calling white foreigners 'farung' for about 360 years. It's not going to change anytime soon, it's too ingrained in their culture and rhetoric. Thais refer to things by color quite a bit. To them it is not racist to just express what they see as an observable fact. Caucasians are white-skinned, therefore, the term farung comes because of the color of the inside of guavas. Relatively speaking Caucasians have a better term than most. Africans are called คนผิวดำ, literally meaning black-skinned people. Arabs are called Kaak khao or white-skinned Middle Easterners, Indians and Pakistanis are called Kaak dum or black-skinned Middle Easterners.

I would recommend to let it bounce off of you and not take it seriously. It will serve you better over here. Thais like to laugh, so when they call me farung, I will joke with them. "Farung! Where is the farung?" They usually look perplexed and just point at me. "I would just say, I'm Thai from Chiang-Rai". Or I will say, "คุณชอบกินฝรั่งไหม?" "Do you like eating guavas?" and they laugh and say, 'yes'. Or just return the rhetoric on them, when they call me 'ฝรั่ง', 'guava'; I will call them 'มะขาม', 'tamarind'; they usually say "Oh no! I don't want to be that color. I would rather be your color."

You have to know how to respond to them. They are good people, for the most part, and need some practice in understanding them and how to respond to them. People can often choose what offends them. If you go through life being offended by everything your life will be more miserable and not better. That is my advice and experience being here since 1993.

I used to work in Thailand, in Songkhla/Hat Yai in the south with Union Oil
Thailand and also in Phitsanoluk with Shell Petroleum over a number of years. Apart from that spent umpteen holidays in Pattaya, Bangkok and Phuket and especially many stays in Bangkok during stopovers when I worked in India.

I totally agree with the above poster. Who the heck cares what the locals call foreigners, they've been calling them "farang" forever so why feel offended? I don't see it as an insult at all. It's just a nickname that has stuck.

In Hong Kong they call us "gwailo" and in Indonesia they call us "buleh" and in Malaysia "mat salleh". Since foreigners came over and colonized many of these Asian countries then who could blame them for giving us nicknames? What would you prefer? "Great white god"? "White boss man"? Come on, I think it is perfectly fine for Asians to have less than pleasing names for us foreigners.

And think about all the racist names that westerners have for Asians? I can think of plenty as I am sure you all can.

About ten years ago in Kuala Lumpur, a group of three Malay teenagers shouted out "F*** You, mat salleh!" when I was walking through a mall carpark with two of my grown up kids. Obviously some people bear a grudge or perhaps are jealous of some foreigners but that was a rare experience. I chased them and they ran off anyway.

I say that since we are being allowed to live in these Asian countries then just don't take such nicknames too seriously. We are guests in their countries so just be grateful for that.

It’s not what you call me that’s important, it’s how you treat me that matters most...

“Farang”, the Thai word to describe white foreigners, is not a word loaded with intent to harm.  People with black skin are often called farang dam, which means "black farang". The word farang is a neutral word, so there is no need to feel insulted if someone calls you this, or describe you as such one.

Let's ask another question to make it easier to understand that it's ( the word Farang) not intended to hurt anybody of us.

    Some people in the UK call all Asians "Pakis". Would you like to hear that if you're there on a holiday with your Thai wife?

    Or people in other European countries who think that all Thai women are from a bar can call them ^*$^)(%)^*(_^&*(_*_?

I've been living here now for 20 years and I do not have a problem if people, usually uneducated ones, call me a Farang.

    I do not understand why so many here have the feeling that it's such a bad word. When they start to call you a Kwai, then you know it's time to move on.

I truly get sick and tired of people calling ANYTHING racist. I mean if you aren't using derogatory speech against an entire group IT AINT RACIST. Stop attaching racism to everything in daily life. The world doesn't revolve around racism. Get on with your life and if you hear someone use a term you don't like, walk away and don't talk to that person. Cheeesh

I totally agree! There are so many snowflakes/woke people out there, picking at anything they find, Brits are British,  yanks are Americans,  Aussies call us pommies, farang is not a nasty term, its just a term they use for foreigners...

I'd like to give an example of what racism in this country can look like.

       It just happened at a good primary school in Isaan, The grade two and three students had a kind of a "seminar" in the meeting hall of our school.

   What supposed to be a Solar Power Energy lesson started with the finest art of racism against all white and coloured people.

A guest speaker had chosen to use images that were so racist that I almost stood up and left.

It began with a white guy standing at the tank of a car, obviously peeing into the tank. But that wasn't all.

Then you could see a pair of locked Flip Flops ( with a  padlock) and shortly after that scene you could see a white homeless man with his dog somewhere in a Western country, begging for money.

But that wasn't all. Then there's a coloured man with a cell/mobile phone strapped to his head, I can only guess, showing how stupid we all are.

( Perhaps only those who can't afford it to buy an iPhone XY- 555555?)

Then she continued with images of starving African kids and adults, a man who drank the pee of a cow and it even got a lot worse.

Then she had the brilliant idea to show a couple of half-dead and starving African people on the right and an image of wealthy and chubby white people at a shopping mall, it looked like on in the US on the left side.

The whole wording of her was, that the white people are so fat because they take the food away from the poor coloured skinny ones.
Of course, did she never hear of people who are directly involved in helping developing countries to get back on their feet? Of course, none of them is a Thai. No bashing intended, just a fact.

They seem to live in their world and are not interested in other countries'  problems.

Of course, was nothing shown about drug-addicted Thais or people who kill others because they didn't stop when they wanted them to.

No rapist teachers, nor those who beat the shi+e out of little kids because they believe their hair is too long. No, why would they show what's well known all around the globe?

   What I had to watch was the absolute nightmare of racism towards white and coloured people coming from a wannabe "educated" woman who must have thought it's fun to show such scary photos to little kids.

Next time, when anybody gets upset when somebody calls them a Farang, please think about my words here.

   I agree with other posters here that people should stop whining when they hear farang and feel hurt. It's how they have learnt to call us and that's okay.

And if you believe that racism is against us only, please learn the language and listen to some people when they talk about people from Laos, Cambodia, or Mynamar.

Every wealthy family has a few "employees" from any of these countries and they are nothing else than modern slaves without any rights.

  Yes, Thailand, or better saying, some people here are racist, but that's something you can find in all countries around the world.

If you want to buy some Swastikas from WWII, please don't try to find them in Germany, fly to the US.

But who are we to call others racist when some of us call all Asians Pakis?

And that includes anybodys' Asian wife, no matter if she's from Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, or the Philippines.

I prefer to be called a Farang by people who do not know me, to be honest.

   Have a good day, and should anybody call you a "Baksida", then you have all reasons to call them whatever you want.