1. My Journal
June 11, 2011
Today, I am leaving my home in Virginia and moving thousands of miles
away to Thailand- a country that speaks a different language than I do and has a
different culture than I am accustomed to. This is my senior year and was supposed
to be the “perfect” year. Instead, I am forced to become accustomed to not being able
to communicate with people in Thailand, being laughed at because I do not correctly
speak the Thai language, and being talked about behind my back in Thai.
July 27, 2011
I have now lived in Thailand for over a month now, and living here has not
been as hard as I thought. Yes, I have been laughed at by Thai people and have not
been able to communicate with many of them, but my attitude has changed toward
the Thai culture and language from disdain to curiosity. My experience with Thai
people has made me wonder if Thai culture is related to the Thai language or vice
versa. One instance that caused me to ask this question was my summer work at the
Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Science (AFRIMS). At AFRIMS, I had to
work with Thai people who spoke little or broken English. In order to communicate
and work effectively with these people I had to learn nit noy (meaning “a little” in
Thai) Thai and combine it with the English words that my coworkers knew.As I
practiced the language, conversed with the Thai people, and got to know their life
style, my assumption that there was a correlation between their culture and
language was strengthened immensely.I observed that the Thai language does not
contain any verb tenses and that the Thai people I worked with put little importance

2. on punctuality. Using these observations I reasoned that. there must be a connection
between the Thai culture not emphasizing the importance of time and their
language having one verb tense. Either their language having one tense causes their
culture not to stress punctuality, or their culture not emphasizing punctuality causes
their language to have one tense. Still, I cannot decide whether the Thai language
affects their culture or if it is the other way around.
August 15, 2011
Today, I started school at the International School of Bangkok. It was the first time I
have ever attended an international school. When I came to school, I was surprised
by how many different languages were spoken and by how many students were
fluent in at least two languages. In America, most students struggled to learn an
additional language in class and very few were completely fluent in another
language. Also in America, many people criticized or shunned people who spoke a
different language than English. At this international school, things are different.
People are actually proud of their bilingualism and everyone accepts it; in fact, it is
encouraged to know more than one language here. This difference in the attitude
toward languages and the number of languages spoken at the International School
of Bangkok has slightly altered my way of thinking and understanding. I wonder if
my hearing and communicating in a variety of languages affects my global identity
and presence in this greater community?
August 31, 2011

3. Today, my family was having a dinner-table discussion about our experience
in Thailand. In this discussion, we talked about the Thai people, especially how they
lived, how they spoke, and the difficulties that their way of life and speaking caused
us. As we were conversing, my younger brother butted in and asked if the Thai way
of living and way of speaking were related because they both caused our family
obstacles. Although his reason was false, he made a good point and got the rest of
my family thinking. My dad stated that culture must affect language because
languages were developed specifically to communicate a certain community’s ideals,
culture, and thinking. On the other hand, my mom argued that language must affect
culture because usually if people no longer speak their native tongue they will lose
majority of their cultural heritage and practices. Weighing both of these arguments
in this discussion, I have concluded that language affects culture and that culture
affects language. My thinking is as follows-if the English language becomes extinct
and American citizens speak another language then the American heritage and
culture would significantly change. On the other hand, if American culture were
different, then American English would be completely different as well. An example
of this can be seen in the contrast between the language/culture of America and
England. Although America’s culture is closely related to English culture, they are
slightly different. The difference in culture is evident in the difference between
English spoken in Britain and that spoken in America.
September 15, 2011

4. Today, a conversation between two of my friends spoken partly in French and partly
in English reminded me of my experience at AFRIMs when I had to communicate in
both English and Thai. As I was pondering this experience, I remembered that I had
learned a term in my language and literature class called code switching that
meanscommunicating by mixing two languages.The topic of code switching has
spurned within me the question of whether the use of language affects a person’s
identity; I have finally reached a conclusion. I believe that my move to Thailand and
acclimation with Thai has affected my identity. My use of code switching at my job at
AFRIMS and communicating in Thai has changed who I am. There are parts of my
identity, like being an American, that will not change nor do I want them to change,
but there are aspects of my identity that will change as my global perspective
increases. Coming to Thailand and becoming immersed in its culture and language
has increased my viewing optic of the world and has helped me to better
understand my presence in it, thus changing my identity.