How Finn think about Asian, especially Thai nowadays?

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007
Posts: 632
Joined: Wed Sep 02, 2009 3:01 pm

Re: How Finn think about Asian, especially Thai nowadays?

Post by 007 » Tue Sep 06, 2016 2:40 pm

roger_roger wrote:
007 wrote:Wow really roger? Is that your personal experience? Based on hearsays? I am not sure whether your post deals esp. with Thai or you had somalis or kurds in mind when you wrote that. i can agree to an extent that certain nationalities are seen through default glasses; however, it also seems like your post speaks about all those brown and black people married to Finns.
Thai, Somali, Malay or Kurd a foreigner is foreigner in Finland and there is different magnifying glass through which they are looked upon.
007 wrote:My own experience is that Finns are really curious about exotic cultures. They also love explaining Finnish cultures including foods, nature, weather, religions etc. to foreigners.
Everyone does that, I haven't yet met a person in this world who is not interested to know or learn about different cultures, food and people from different countries/continents, or share the knowledge of their culture, Finns are no exemptions, period.
007 wrote:No one knows what others think and feel towards in-laws foreigners but at least it's not so overtly visible.
It'd be if you learn to know about it.
007 wrote:I am an asian guy, been with my wife for nearly a decade and been to a number of family gatherings.....I have never experienced "apparant" social exclusion nor heard of others facing such exclusion.
when you are IN, you are already IN, exclusion happens before you are IN and you'd never even know you were not IN. There's a secret way to do it.

I can give you an example of earlier this year, my son joined a new school and has a best friend (Ville) in his school he plays with most of the time, I have seen the kid who is normal kid of his age. Once while going to pick him up I received a letter in his box addressing Illari's Isan ja Aiti (Illari being my son's name). It was invitation letter to Ville's birthday and both parents were invited and to inform if we are coming. Next day I called them to inform only one parent is coming with Illari to the birthday. As I have 3 kids and if both parents go to birthday it doesn't make sense to leave small ones at home. At that point I came to know that Ville's parents were Finnish. Her mother with whom I talked came to know I was not Finnish although my son's name sounds like Finnish. Maybe they thought we were Finnish couple as the Kid's name is like Finnish.

After few days I received a text message from Ville's mother that she forgot the count of the people she was inviting and the party hall can only occupy such amount of people due to some Finnish rules. She was asking, if its okey to drop Illari to the birthday and pick him up after the birthday as Ville really would like to have Illari around his birthday. I had to do it just for my son or else they'd see the middle finger. I went to drop him and while going to pick him up the kids were playing so I had to get inside the room to pull him out. There were around 10-12 kids and 14 15 people all together in that big hall, even the sofas were half empty where I was told like there wouldn't be much standing space. I looked around and greeted everyone who came in front of me with moro or morjens and all of them were Finns. You'd not get trophy for guessing why we were the ones to be asked politely not to come.

I doubt we'd even be invited at first if my son's name was not Illari and they didn't know his last name, ha ha ha.

My point is that just being married to a foreigner does not automatically get you off the guess list contrary to what you seem to have claimed in your other post. Unless there's chemistry problems, I don't see it happening in most of the cases. Each to his own.

See I am from a country where we used to have a visible caste discrimination and I in fact underwent a great deal of discrimination (mostly perceived discrimination) in my locality because well... my family was an outsider to that community. Without going into details, I just say that we always had (I am sure my parents still have ) this grudge against our neighbors and people in that locality, and whenever a conflict be it a kids-related or any day-to-day stuffs like water distribution etc arose, we get this notion that we were being discriminated because we are of different caste. I've had enough of those paranoids now... so, my threshold for perceived discrimination is really high as a grown-up... that I don't pull racism or ethical discrimination cards whenever I am in unfair situation.

It's sad when people are excluded and discriminated because of their ethnic backgrounds/skin of colors etc. but I always give a benefit of doubts to others as long as it's not a blatant racism/ethnic discrimination. !"#¤% happens to everyone... just because I am a foreigner.. does not mean that whenever !"#¤% happens, it's because I am a foreigner.


“Go where you are celebrated – not tolerated."
"Aina, kun opit uuden sanan, opettele samalla sen monikko!"

Re: How Finn think about Asian, especially Thai nowadays?

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Finn_Jo
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Sep 12, 2016 9:24 pm

Re: How Finn think about Asian, especially Thai nowadays?

Post by Finn_Jo » Mon Sep 12, 2016 11:58 pm

mesnowflakez wrote:I've been dating a Finn for almost 2 years. And yes I am Thai, currently doing my master's in Europe. So, I visit Finland quite often.

Just get to the point, how most Finn think about Asian in general and regarding bad reputation of Thai?

Somehow I don't feel like I am accepted there in the way that Finn look at me even I am well-educated. My Finn bf also feels ashamed to tell his friends that I am Thai. I just feel really bad about it but partly understand him. Any idea how to solve this would help me a lot. Thanks!
Please remember that Finland was the first country ever to have a female president. The problem is not with Thai women, but with the men dating a Thai and not acting normally. We DO hate men who subdue women and if he acts like ashamed (thinking people already judge him of something) we easily think he's guilty...so he's "pissing to his own feet", like we say here, if he's not proud and open about you dating.

Thai's and Finns are both very nationalistic, and due the polar opposite style in behavior and values, this is no easy match. Respecting and understanding each other's culture is the key. Especially the understanding part...there is a reason why Finns are showing emotions to the point and hate fate smiles (we know you have bad nicknames for western people). In the past people of the North could not survive this harsh land and winter without teamwork and honesty. Thai's on the other hand are the people of summer. We easily think you won't survive here - being like pretty butterflies adoring carved fruits when the winter comes... but if you show respect and understanding towards Nordic culture and work, then you will be well received.

Cheers and good luck!

Upphew
Posts: 10748
Joined: Tue Apr 08, 2008 10:55 pm
Location: Lappeenranta

Re: How Finn think about Asian, especially Thai nowadays?

Post by Upphew » Tue Sep 13, 2016 12:02 pm

Finn_Jo wrote:Please remember that Finland was the first country ever to have a female president.
Not first at all. Argentina, Bolivia, Iceland, Malta, Guinea-Bissau, Philippines, Haiti, Nicaragua, Ireland, Burundi, Sri Lanka, Ecuador, Ireland again, Guyana, Latvia and Panama beat us ;)
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