I faced a number of difficulties communicating in Thailand as many of the locals were not fluent in English and I did not know Thai language in the initial days. I had less difficulty at work as many spoke English. However, I had to really talks very slowly to be understood appropriately.

I was assigned to recruit some locals for the Toyata project. I contacted local Recruitment Services and tried to get people. On every call, I had a huge challenge from the very first line of speech. The conversation began with me making my name known and soon I devised a mechanism for the same. I would say, “My name is PARTHA. P for Paris, A for America, R for Russia, T for Thailand, H for Hong Kong, A for America”. This also would not work sometime. So, I changed it to “My name is PARTHA. P for Pattaya, A for Ayutthaya, R for Rayong, T for Thailand, H for Hua Hin, A for Ayutthaya”. This worked better.

One day I called the offices of Ernst & Young and introduced myself in the usual way. Prompt came a reply “My name is LILY. L for Lily, I for Indigo, L for Lily, Y for Yellow”.

The railway station in Hua Hin, Thailand, is remarkable for its architecture. On the foreground – the Royal pavilion. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)