I frequently write wedding speeches for ceremonies that take place abroad, and have just done one for an English father of the groom whose son was marrying a Thai girl in Thailand. Of the three hundred guests I was told that only about half a dozen spoke English. “Isn’t this a bit of a problem” I asked “as I can’t provide a Thai translation?”. “Not really” was the reply – “they will understand bits of it – specially if you can get in a mention of a few of the British things everyone knows in Thailand.” I did my best, but it’s not easy to base a wedding speech on Harry Potter, Mr Bean and Manchester United! Fortunately Thailand is rightly known as the Land of Smiles and I think most of the guests just smiled politely throughout!
Comments