The people of Burma are kind hearted, polite, hospitable and pride themselves on proper etiquette. Burmese culture is very hierarchical therefore as a teacher and foreigner you have a high level of social status and receive formal respect from your students and colleagues. Elders and others of a higher status, such as monks, should be addressed and treated with courtesy.
Burma’s population is approximately 55 million with ethnic Burmans (68%), forming the majority. The Shan (9%), the Karen (7%), the Arakanese (Rakhine) (5%) and the Mon (2%) comprise the largest indigenous ethnic groups in Burma. The government officially recognizes 135 different indigenous ethnic groups however this number does not include a number of groups that have been deliberately marginalized, such as the Kuki and the Rohingya. Chinese (3%) and Indians (2%) are the largest non-indigenous groups.
Burmese is the most widely spoken language with approximately 32 million native speakers. Ethnic groups have managed to retain 107 individual languages and dialects despite the government’s attempts at ‘Burmanization’. Some of the most prominent are Shan, various Karen, Karenni and Chin languages, Arakanese, Kachin, Mon and Palaung. English is a legacy of the country’s colonial past and is spoken in some areas, especially those frequented by tourists. An estimated 89% of Burma’s population practices Buddhism. Other religions – Christianity (4%), Islam (4%) and Animism (1%) – are less prevalent although Christian and Muslim groups claim the government significantly underestimates their number of followers.