While the official Thai language is widely spoken throughout Thailand, many Thais also speak and understand English, though more so in Bangkok and the major tourist areas.
Thai language, also called Siamese, the standard spoken and literary language of Thailand, belonging to the Tai language family of Southeast Asia.
They're both tonal languages, but they're not in the same language family, despite what linguists tended to believe some 15 years ago. Thai belongs to the Kra-Dai language family and has 5 tones. Mandarin is related to the Sino-Tibetan language family, and the Chinese uses 4 tones.
What are the top 5 languages spoken in Thailand? Thailand is a Southeast Asian country with over 68 million people. The official language of Thailand is Thai, but there are many other languages spoken throughout the country. The top 5 languages spoken in Thailand are Thai, Burmese, Lao, Khmer, and Chinese.
Lao and Thai languages are very similar to each other. In fact, the two languages are linguistically similar, though their writing script varies a bit. Thai is the native language of Thailand and is spoken in minority in Cambodia.
English is a commonly spoken language in Thailand, especially in major cities and tourist areas. While many Thais may not be fluent in English, they are often able to hold basic conversations.
Some people also think that Khmer is related to the two languages. However, Thai and Vietnamese have no direct connection at all. They belong to different language families and are spoken in different parts of the world. They also have different writing systems.
11 to 14 percent of Thailand's population are considered ethnic Chinese. The Thai linguist Theraphan Luangthongkum claims the share of those having at least partial Chinese ancestry allegedly at about 40 percent of the Thai population without any proof.
Thai is considered a difficult language for English speakers to learn because it has significant linguistic differences. For example, Thai is a tonal language and uses a different writing system.
Although the Thai language isn't considered to be one of the easiest languages to learn for English speakers, that doesn't mean it's impossible. Many aspects make Thai a difficult language to learn, but if you are dedicated and you practice daily, it can also be really easy.
Chinese is harder to learn in depth, but Thai is harder at the beginning. Because the difficulties of Chinese are in its written language and its large vocabulary, while the difficulty of Thai is in its pronunciation.
Across multiple sources, Mandarin Chinese is the number one language listed as the most challenging to learn. The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center puts Mandarin in Category IV, which is the list of the most difficult languages to learn for English speakers.
Thai is the official language in Thailand and is spoken in 2 other countries as monther tongue by a part of the population. The Thai language (native name: ไทย) has its roots in the Tai–Kadai language family. As a percentage of the total population, the largest share of around 53 percent is in Thailand.
With 42 consonants, the Thai alphabet has many more than it needs: there are four different ways to write 's' and six for 't'. This abundance of letters reflects the Indian origin of the alphabet and the very different sound system for which it was originally designed.
Buddhism is the largest religion in Thailand, practiced by over 94% of the population. The Thai Constitution does not indicate any state religion, but promotes Buddhism, while guaranteeing religious freedom for all Thai citizens.
The people of Thailand are called Thais, which can refer both to the citizens of Thailand and ethnic Thais, who are related to ethnic Lao in Laos. There are over 67 million people in Thailand (estimated 2012).
One similarity between Thai and Korean is that both are written from left to right. This is the same writing direction as we are used to in English. But not all languages are like this: Arabic, Hebrew and Persian for example are written from right to left.
In fact, more than half of Thai is similar to Lao in terms of vocabulary, grammar, vowel sounds, and intonation.
Vietnamese is easier than Thai. The use of the Latin alphabet is easier to learn and start reading. The pronunciation and grammar are similar and take an equal amount of time to learn. The Thai alphabet has a more significant learning curve and therefore takes longer.
| Thai Dining Etiquette. One fact that comes as a surprise to those that are not familiar with Thai culture is that Thai people generally use forks and spoons instead of chopsticks. This is contrary to what you would expect considering the ubiquity of chopsticks among East Asian countries.
While the official Thai language is widely spoken throughout Thailand, many Thais also speak and understand English, though more so in Bangkok and the major tourist areas.
1. English (1,452 million speakers) According to Ethnologue, English is the most-spoken language in the world including native and non-native speakers. Like Latin or Greek at the time, English has become the world's common language.