"Spoken Thai is soft and musical, and the script
is graceful . If you learn to read it, you will be alternately praised and doubted by
your fellow westerners, but appreciated by Thais, many of whom speak passable English,
especially in Bangkok.
The script, of south Indian derivation, is beautiful,
featuring graceful loops and rounded characters, and the lilt of Thai is easier on the ear
than the sing-song of Mandarin, Cantonese, or the staccato syllables of Japanese. At first
listen, you will not realize even if someone is angrily scolding you in Thai because the
smiles and tones convey a kinder sound than the meaning of the utterance."
|Thai is the national language of
Thailand, spoken by around eighty percent of the population of the South-East Asian
There are four major Thai dialects,
corresponding to the southern, the northeastern, and the central regions of the country;
the latter is called Central Thai or Bangkok Thai which is taught in all
schools, and it is widely understood in all regions. A few minor Thai dialects are Phuan
and Lue, spoken by small populations.
The four primary dialects of Thai should not be confused with
four different "languages" used by Thais in different social circumstances. For
example, certain words are used only by Thai royalty, creating a royal language. There are
also languages used for religious figures, polite everyday interactions, and gruff or
Within Thailand, small ethnic minority groups account for
around sixty languages which are not considered related to Thai.
You may also
BYKI is a software program to learn Thai words and phrases.
An audio-only language program to learn spoken Thai
A software based language learning system which teaches Thai through