Pre-trip Projections /ก่อน/

The main issue that my group will be looking at is how to attain and preserve the delicate balance between heritage preservation and modernisation. This is a problem that every country faces, but it is especially prominent an issue in Thailand’s cultural hub. Chiang Mai is a city that has been left relatively untouched by modernization, but is increasingly feeling the pressure of having to catch up with the rest of the world.

This is an interesting contention, because I feel that the conflict between the old and the new is not just a national issue, but a personal one as well. The struggle to stay connected to one’s roots in the midst of such a fast-paced world is definitely a problem many of us can relate to. I believe that our cultural roots form an important part of our identity and determine our values. Our heritage grounds us and forms the basis of how we perceive our world. It allows us to stay true to ourselves when we may be swept up in superficiality and meaningless endeavors.

This trip would allow me to look at the issue of heritage preservation from another angle: not just in the context of the Chinese in Singapore, where concern for Chinese heritage is declining steadily, but from another culture and country entirely. The unfortunate trend of Singaporean Chinese losing interest in their own heritage and language is one that I feel strongly about. Engaging in extensive research about the threat Thai heritage is facing would open my eyes to the different aspects of the problem, and perhaps enlighten me about the similarities with the situation in Singapore as well. Observing how different cultures deal with similar problems is an invaluable skill as I would learn to adopt new mindsets towards the same issue. This would enhance my critical thinking ability immensely. Personally, having the opportunity to find out more about heritage preservation means a lot to me as well, since it is an issue that I care deeply about.

As a linguistics student, this is an exciting trip as I will be exposed to a language that is completely foreign to me. Thai is, like Chinese, a tonal language. However, the phonetic system, orthography and morphology of the language are vastly different from that of Chinese and English. One of my professors mentioned in class that as long as you know 200 words of any language, you can communicate in that language. I wanted to challenge myself by applying this and learning 200 Thai words, but the sheer number of alphabets proved to be too daunting for me. (There are twice as many consonants and vowels in Thai as there are in English! In addition to the difficulty in memorising and recognising the symbols, this also makes Thai a language that is tricky to pronounce.) Being immersed in the language for a week would allow me to fully appreciate the beauty and complexity of the Thai language. Beyond that, I hope that I will be inspired to pick up the language. Being able to understand first-hand about how the language works would also help me to internalize what I have learnt in class about the basics of language, such as its vowel systems and morphology. Furthermore, this trip would grant me the opportunity to explore language in different social contexts, which is a field I am interested in. The social implications of some features of Thai which are absent in the languages I am familiar with, such as the gendered polite particles “krap” and “ka”, would make for engaging observatory work.

To me, learning new things is always a good thing and it is one of the prominent goals of my university education. I want to experience new things, meet new people, and broaden my world view. I enjoy traveling a lot, but it is often too easy for overseas experiences to fall into the stifling mould of nothing more than Instagram pictures and visiting tourist attractions. I do not want to travel as a tourist. I want to go beyond my circumstances and my understanding of the world to see the world through other people’s eyes. This trip especially would help me to do that because we will be working in close contact with locals and talking about something that is deeply personal and close to their heart: their culture.

I look forward to a memorable learning journey steeped in cultural enrichment and inter-personal growth. I am all set to start the new year with what could be the best experience of my freshman year yet!