Every morning, just before eight o' clock, the whole school gathers in lines in front of the Thai flag and the national anthem is played over the tannoy as children of the infant school sing the song. It is quite catchy and I could easily make up new words for it. But this is the literal translation:-
Thailand is the unity of Thai blood and body,
The whole country belongs to the Thai people,
Maintaining thus far for the Thai,
All Thais intend to unite together,
Thais love peace, but do not fear to fight,
They will never let anyone threaten their independence,
They will sacrifice every drop of their blood to contribute to the nation,
Will serve their country with pride and prestige-full of victory.
Chai Yo (Cheers)
When the anthem is finished, the children turn sideways or turn around to acknowledge their schoolmates with the traditional Thai greeting - palms together and head bowed. And of course I know you would love to here the anthem in Thai so here it is:-
Bravo! Huzzah! And other patriotic expressions!
ReplyDeleteWow, that pledge requires a lot of personal blood and sacrifice. Our pledge of allegiance in the U.S. is pretty bland in comparison.
ReplyDeleteHiya YP! Goodness me - new job pressures seem to have done for my blogging career but what is this when I pop in to see how you're doing? Teaching on Thailand no less!
ReplyDeleteWow! Exciting stuff,and I shall make that time to pop in here to see how it's all going. Enjoy!
erhh=that was me - Cobbler Jane btw...didn't expect the e-mail address to appear there!
ReplyDeleteSuch national-anthem-type patriotism always seems to have a large chunk of wanting-to-fight-everyone-else in it and I don't like it.
ReplyDeleteStill, at least the tune's more fun than our dreary God Save the Queen. I love Britain's countryside and some of its people - but I just hate blind patriotism in any form.
RHYMES Perhaps you could learn to play the Thai national anthem on your organ and teach your enthralled congregation how to sing it?
ReplyDeleteJAN B. In England we don't go in for these patriotic pledges, morning anthems and flag raising.
JANE THE COBBLER Nice to see you have been released early from the sanatorium, open prison or where ever it was you were being held! You have been a very naughty blogger haven't you! No posts for ages.
DAPHNE I respect your view. The words are quite aggressive aren't they but in my opinion there's essentially nothing wrong with demonstrating commitment to and pride in one's country. I am proud to be English but even prouder to be from Yorkshire. Hoist the white rose flag! Let's sing our anthem...
Oh we are lads and lasses from Yorkshire fair
You'll find us here , you'll find us there.
London's nancies we despise
For all are demons in disguise.
Yorkshire's where the rose is budding
So let us raise the Yorkshire pudding!