<div dir="ltr"><h1>Thailand's new language policy helps enhance cultural democracy</h1>
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<div class="">The Nation<br> <span>November 18, 2013 1:00 am</span> </div>
<h2>The Asia-Pacific region
is known for its linguistic diversity, thanks to the different tongues
used in countries such as Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar,
Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and East Timor. However, Thailand has
not been included in this list given its near universal use of standard
Thai nationwide.</h2>
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Mahidol University professor and researcher Suwilai Premsrirat said:
"Thailand thinks of itself as being essentially monolingual."<br><br>
Yet, if one were to ask someone at the Education Ministry about the
number of languages spoken in Thailand, the answer would probably be 10.
Obviously, the person asked must be thinking of the different versions
of Thai spoken in the four regions, several Chinese dialects as well as
the ethnic languages in the North and West, such as Hmong and Karen. <br><br>
In reality though, Thailand is far more linguistically diverse than
commonly thought. In the 1990s, Mahidol University, with support from
the Culture Ministry, undertook a language-mapping project showing where
approximately 70 different languages were spoken in Thailand. The map,
which can be found at <a href="http://www.ethnologue.com/map/TH_n">www.ethnologue.com/map/TH_n</a>, shows 69 different
languages being spoken in Thailand, not including Chinese dialects such
as Teochiew, Hokkien, Hainanese, to name a few. <br><br>
At present, up to 15 ethnic languages, including as Bisu, Mpi, Saek,
Kasong and Chong, are believed to be endangered, while tongues spoken in
border areas such as Mon, Pattani Malay and Khmer Sung (northern Khmer)
are also being forgotten. Even strong regional dialects such as those
spoken in the North, South and Northeast are fast becoming "Thai-ised". <br><br>
Thailand, which is at the crossroads of Southeast Asia, has had a rich
history of interaction between diverse cultures and languages. For
instance, inscriptions from the 8th century found in Chantaburi were
written in Sanskrit and Khmer and at the time of the Ayutthaya Kingdom,
all royal documents were routinely translated into four languages. <br><br>
During the visionary King Chulalongkorn's reign, Thailand - then Siam -
moved from a temple-based Buddhist education system to a modern,
secular one. The centralised structure resulting from that reform gave
birth to a more standardised Thai. This was also part of a move to unify
and modernise Siam. <br><br>
Though the status of Thai as the national language is assumed in
practice - particularly in the government, education and the mass media -
an explicit policy supporting this is minimal. State Convention 9,
promulgated on June 24, 1940, declared Thai as the national language.
However, neither the 1997 nor the 2007 Constitution mention a national
language. <br><br>
On February 7, 2010, then-PM<a href="http://www.nationmultimedia.com/search/?keyword=+Abhisit+Vejjajiva+" class="" target="_blank"> Abhisit Vejjajiva </a>approved
the implementation of a new national-language policy drafted by the
Royal Institute of Thailand, which has also been approved by the
incumbent Prime Minister<a href="http://www.nationmultimedia.com/search/?keyword=+Yingluck+" class="" target="_blank"> Yingluck </a>Shinawatra.
This new policy reiterates the status of Thai as the national language,
declaring that every citizen should be fluent in it so as to enhance
national unity and communication. The policy also calls for increased
focus on English and Chinese, as well as the languages of neighbouring
countries. <br><br>
More significantly, though, the policy also declares Thailand's diverse
ethnic languages as "national treasures" and supports the right of
getting ethnic tongues integrated into the school curriculum, thus
bringing Thailand into compliance with several important United Nations
human-rights declarations. The new policy states: "It is the policy of
the government to promote bilingual or multilingual education for the
youth of ethnic groups whose mother tongue is different from the
national language [Thai], as well as those from other countries who
enter Thailand seeking employment."<br><br>
This new policy is also reflective of the essence of cultural
democracy. Thailand, with its low fertility rate, will need to
accommodate workers and their children from the region and ensure that
they are able to retain their mother tongue as well as learn Thai. <br><br>
Unesco has been advocating the teaching of mother tongues in early
primary education since 1953. There is much empirical evidence from
across the globe indicating that when children start school in their
mother tongue, as the language of instruction and initial literacy, they
tend to like school more and perform better. Based on this, they can
later make a successful transition into the standard language of the
country such as Thai and then into an international language such as
English. <br><br>
Also, orthographies (studies of alphabets) for languages with no script
can be developed into Thai, which will help facilitate an easier
transition from the mother tongue to Thai. <br><br>
An implementation plan is being developed by a committee, chaired by
Deputy Prime Minister Phongthep Thepkanjana, comprising representatives
from the Royal Institute as well as key ministries. <br><br>
Education Minister<a href="http://www.nationmultimedia.com/search/?keyword=+Chaturon+Chaisang+" class="" target="_blank"> Chaturon Chaisang </a>also seems committed to make this new policy a reality and has taken concrete steps to facilitate its implementation.<br>
<br>
In addition to the new national language policy, there are other
encouraging moves toward greater cultural democracy in Thailand. Mahidol
University, for instance, has set up a Research Institute for Languages
and Cultures of Asia, with Suwilai doing extensive research on the
preservation of cultural and linguistic diversity.<br><br>
Also in 2012, the College of Local Development at Khon Kaen University
received a grant of about 500,000 euros (Bt21 million) from the European
Union to promote the use and preservation of the Isaan language.<br><br>
Clearly a more culturally democratic Thailand will be better prepared
to meet the diverse cultural and linguistic challenges during the era of
the<a href="http://www.nationmultimedia.com/search/?keyword=+Asean+" class="" target="_blank"> Asean </a>Economic Community, once it kicks off in 2015. <br><br>
_ Prof Gerald W Fry, from the University of Minnesota's College of
Education and Human Development, can be contacted at <a href="mailto:gwf@umn.edu">gwf@umn.edu</a>. <br><br>
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