When I was teaching at a language school in Siam Square five years ago, one of my students was a brain surgeon. Out of curiosity, on our last lesson together, I asked him what his monthly income was. He became very excited and proudly exclaimed, “Oh! I make 30,000 - 35,000 baht a month! Much money!!“ I was stunned and thought he was kidding me, but his voice was straight. I wasn’t sure he was serious until I taught another doctor - a female - a couple of months later. She confirmed the amount when I posed the question to her. She too, exuded a bit of pride in her voice when she told me. At that time, I was earning around 40,000 baht a month teaching at a government school along with the language school.
I also had a Thai friend who worked at the Carrefour in Onnut. He was a cashier. His monthly salary was 5000 baht a month. His wife ran a grilled meat stand but she never told me what she made. I assume it wasn’t very much.
Nobody is forcing you to stay here. If you can earn a better standard of living at home, why are you here? If you want to enjoy the luxuries of the West—and no one has ever died from not getting enough Starbucks, KFC, or McAnything—you need to pay. If you must live like a Westerner get a credit card and start running it up. Like everyone back home told me, “If you don’t like it, leave!“
It sounds like your poor mental state could be from a nutrition deficient diet—you may want to cut way down on your corporate food consumption.
It never fails to amaze me when someone decides to take (waste?) the time to write out a poorly thought out article on something as broad as this subject.
This fellow presents a scathing opinion piece, rambling (by his own account in his last sentence) about something that irks him, and presenting so-called facts, which are extremely relative to say the least, in a fragmented wont.
The statement that irks him, “You’ll be earning four times the salary of a local Thai,“ is certainly very true in many, many instances here in Thailand. However, it is also as he points out, false in certain situations and in many areas of Thailand.
This subject is way too broad to even bother to write about. Saying “Local Thai” when trying to exact a comparison of Thai income versus a foreign teacher’s income is apples to oranges…a fallacious comparison.
-Jeeem-
Before I present my arguments regarding this post, I would like to add that I am usually a lurker and a passive one at that. But this particular post and comments from Pauly from Sydney pushed me to write this response.
First, the average Thai income is between 10,000 to 20,000 THB for governement officials. Trust me on this, I know people and I will explain later on why I know what I know.
Second, Pauly knows nothing of the Thai culture. The basic conversation courses are preprogrammed and everyone really does talk like robot. I have learned Spanish in school and then moved to Texas. While living in Texas I learned more Spanish from my Mexican friends than I ever did in school because when I attempt to speak Spanish I really did sound like a damn Robot. Go figure…...
Third, sure a foreign teacher will be more productive. Hence Thais hire farangs to teach it. However, Pauly is wrong saying he needed to reprogram the teaching methods because Thai teachers are just a waste of time. But wait, can Pauly translate his English to Thai so that his student can understand it? I think not. Thai teachers are only meant to teach the students basic and only basic English. Farangs are there to ensure they move up from that level. It is not damaging but merely less advanced than what a Farang can do.
Lastly I will explain my credibility; I am a Thai person who moved to the States as a young boy. Luckily, my parents forced me to speak and read Thai at home and because of that I am now a certified Thai translater for the DOD. I cannot disclose my job or title but I am fluent in both English and Thai. I have family in Thailand and most of them work for the government so I know exactly what their salaries are (far less than 30,000 THB) although not as much as four times less but it is significantly less.
Please do your homework and stop the ignorant comments.
Hello.. every body.. I am a Thai working for government in Bangkok. My English is fairy poor. I would like to explain about salary in Thailand for your information.
Starting with people who have bachelor degree working in government school or any government agency, when they first enter they will get about 10300 bath a month including their living allowance money. Then they will get pay rise every year about 4-6 % deepening on their performance. If they work for 10 year they will get about 25,000 B a month for basic salary excluding other allowance. The other allowance I taking about is that if they work for 6 years they will be qualify to get ranging allowance for 3500 B a month. If they work for 8 years they will be qualify to get 11000 B amont as a professional qualification. They will get much more allowance if they apply to get more qualification. But if they are executive level they will get much more allowance. The highest salary that they could get will be about 65000 B plus 25000 B allowances. That salary is only for general government working a person.
By dokrak, Thailand on 2010-06-03