Thai Society

 Meeting & Greeting

• The ‘wai’ is the traditional form of greeting, given by the person of lower status to the person of higher status.
  
• The wai is the common form of greeting and adheres to strict rules of protocol.
• Raising both hands, palms joined with the fingers pointing upwards as if in prayer, lightly touching the body somewhere between the chest and the forehead, is the standard form.
• The wai is both a sign of respect as well as a greeting. Respect and courtesy are demonstrated by the height at which the hands are held and how low the head comes down to meet the thumbs of both hands.
• The wai may be made while sitting, walking, or standing.
• The person who is junior in age or status is the first one to offer the wai.
• The senior person returns the wai, generally with their hands raised to somewhere around their chest.
• If a junior person is standing and wants to wai a senior person who is seated, the junior person will stoop or bow their head while making the wai.
  
  
  
• If there is a great social distance between two people, the wai will not be returned.
• If invited to a Thai home, then allow your host and hostess to introduce you to the other guests. 
• This enables other guests to understand your status relative to their own, and thus know who performs the wai and how low the head should be bowed.

Communication style

• Close friends may be tactile with one another and it’s not unusual to see friends of the same sex often hold hands with one another.
• Hand gestures may be used to enhance speech but it’s important that the actions are calm and never aggressive.
• Thais are gentle people and are likely to be offended and upset by aggressive speech or mannerisms. ‘Face’ is important to Thais and it is important that you do nothing to affect someone’s ‘face’ – if you need to say something of a critical nature then ensure that you do so in private
• Thais are ‘indirect’ communicators and, as such are unlikely to directly say anything that may hurt or offend you. Instead, they may use vague responses or try to change the subject. Although this may appear to be indecisiveness on their part, efforts should be made to try and interpret their true feelings.
  
  
  
• Personal Space - When speaking to strangers Thais maintain a distance barrier of approximately one meter.  This distance is lessened when speaking to close acquaintances. Although it is polite to retain eye contact during a conversation, it is expected that those in subordinate positions will bow their head during interactions with those of a revered rank in a demonstration of respect.
  

Gift Giving

• If invited to a Thai's home, a gift is not expected, although it will be appreciated
• Gifts should be wrapped attractively, since appearance matters. Bows and ribbons add to the sense of festivity.
  
• Appropriate gifts are flowers, good quality chocolates or fruit.
• Do not give marigolds or carnations, as they are associated with funerals.
• Try to avoid wrapping a gift in green, black or blue as these are used at funerals and in mourning.
• Gold and yellow are considered royal colours, so they make good wrapping paper.
• Only use red wrapping paper if giving a gift to a Chinese Thai.
• Gifts are not opened when received.
• Money is the usual gift for weddings and ordination parties.