Thailand Culture: What’s Behind All Those Thai Smiles?

Thai culture brings a whole new meaning to the old adage “A smile is worth a thousand words.” In Western cultures smiling represents many positive emotions such as happiness, pleasure, greeting or affirmation of a task well done. In the culture of Thailand perhaps a thousand words is too narrow a description for the expression known as smiling. Thailand is known as the “Land of Smiles” and this phrase is often used to entice visitors to this magic and very diverse land.

Although the Thai culture is perceived as friendly and outgoing, the traveler will find that due to modernization and western influence, the legendary “Thai Smile” is not so prevalent in the large cities. You will most certainly receive a smile right back when greeting a Thai just as anywhere on the planet. To learn what the legend means you would have to get into the more rural areas of the country and spend some time where this unique form of communication is still practiced daily.

In the Thai culture smiles are varied and distinctive each with their own name. For example the Yim yaw would be the smug “I told you so” smile. When you approach it this way it seems this is a form of facial expression that isn’t confined to the country of Thailand. If a Thai person should bump into you or trip you accidentally, you might get a smile of embarrassment, not to be confused with pleasure in causing you discomfort. Much as Americans need to learn certain appropriate social interactions when visiting a foreign country, the Thais would probably do well to be briefed on the possibility of misinterpretation of smiling before traveling to parts of the western world.

The smile is referred to as “yim” in the Thai culture and can be expressed in such a way that it can mean just about anything. Thais feel that a smile is about the most diverse and useful form of social communication. So the next time you are feeling sad, mad, frustrated or simply bored just lift your head up, square your shoulders and smile! You will feel better and you have the people of Thailand to thank for that. If any one want's to send in any photos of a Thai Smile then please do so and I will put them on the site.