Linguistic realities

Mingalar par! (Burmese for 'Hello!).'How the heck are you? Fill your coffee mug with some perky arabica and snack on a virtual muffin or Burmese hsa nwin ma kin, (small cake of crumbly semolina flour with coconut milk, ghee and raisins). Here's a quick look at the Burmese language and how it is being introduced more and more in Thailand.

With an ever-increasing Burmese population in the area — and in anticipation of the Asean Economic Community — one school has added Myanmar’s language to its curriculum

With indecipherable squiggles on the whiteboard, July Premprecha, a Burmese language teacher, wrote a few simple greetings to her class. Although it is only halfway into the first term with Burmese in the curriculum, the Thai students of Pichairattanakarn School in Ranong province can already respond to simple questions with ease.

Above and beyond symbolic gestures such as putting up the Asean countries’ flags or national flowers on bulletin boards, the school has recently added the Burmese language to its curriculum, in part to prepare for the Asean Economic Community, but also to accommodate the social reality of this small province, which sits on the Andaman coast, overlooking Myanmar.

In Ranong, as in other town such as Tak and Samut Sakhon, an increasing Burmese population had led to the springing up of communities of the country’s people. The Burmese were mostly migrant workers in the past, but since Myanmar opened its borders, more and more business investors have made their way into Thailand. Last week, a striking piece of news emerged concerning Yasa, the 12-year-old son of Myanmar migrant labourers who outperformed his Thai peers to win a Thai language handwriting competition. But the traffic of linguistic skills seems to be one-way — despite the Asean buzz, Burmese language classes in Thai schools are rare.

Pichairattanakarn School’s vice-principal Dr Sureerat Phuttanatien said she has heard of a few schools that teach the language, but Pichairattanakarn is one of the first to officially add the subject to its curriculum.

“This has become a necessity,” Sureerat, who supervises the school’s academic affairs, said. “Myanmar has opened itself up to the world and they are getting a lot of interest from the international community. Ten years ago in Ranong, Burmese people were only labourers, but now they are business owners and investors. They can speak Thai and understand us, yet we don’t understand and cannot respond in their language at all. This is really a disadvantage.”

The project is part of the Ministry of Education’s plan for schools across the country to teach students a third language, in addition to Thai and English. Krasaesin Plongmanee, an official of the Ministry of Education’s Bureau of Academic Affairs and Educational Standards, said Burmese classes are still uncommon in school curriculums nationwide.

“In most cases, schools near borders — those in Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Tak, Kanchanaburi — teach regional languages, such as Mon, Hmong and Karen. They are in the curriculum primarily to help students who speak these languages to learn and better understand the Thai language.”

There are a few learning centres for Burmese people in Ranong province. After visiting one of them, Sureerat was stunned by how committed and eager its staff was to educate and improve their students.

“The centre is huge and better than Thai Prathom-level schools in many aspects. Burmese kids are learning English and Thai along with their own language. They are very serious about educating the children from an early age. Their Thai handwriting is even more beautiful than that of Thai kids,” she said.

Hey...I am struggling to decipher the Thai language. Whoa! Burmese just boggles the old brain even more than Thai does...and that's a whole lot, let me tell you!

See ya, eh!

Bob