The Thai language and script

With nearly 66 million speakers, Central Thai is defined as the national language of Thailand. Central Thai and Bangkok Thai are thus the most widely used. Almost all Thais understand and use it. Since the Thai people originated in southern China, the Thai language bears resemblance to Chinese. Over time, it has been enriched with Khmer, Sanskrit, and Pali. Thailand has various living languages, depending on the origin and location of each ethnic group. In the northeastern region of the country, residents use Isaan Thai. In regions close to the border with Malaysia, over 6 million people speak Dambro. The Yuan Thais of the former Lanna Kingdom who live in the Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai regions communicate with each other in the Lanna language. In some areas of northern Thailand, certain ethnic groups also use Chinese. For the tourism sector, English is the official language for all those operating in this field. It is practiced at all tourist sites and is prominently displayed on signs, government offices, or even food packaging.

Learning Thai

With its sounds, intonations, and specific alphabet, the Thai language is very different from Western languages. It is a tonal and analytic language since it relies on five different tones that can radically change the meaning of a word. These tones include the neutral tone [˧], low tone [˨˩], high tone [˦˥], falling tone [˥˩], and rising tone [˩˦]. As it's always nice to be able to communicate or even just greet and thank in the local language, we've compiled a short list of words to know before traveling to Thailand.

Greetings

Hello = Sawat dii; How are you? = Sabaïde maï; Nice to meet you = Yin dee tee daï rou djak

Shopping

How much does it cost? = Raka tao raï; It's too expensive = paeng pai; Do you sell… = mii kai mai…

Wishes and feelings

I would like to go to… = Yak paï tee…; I would like = ao; I don't want = may ao; Very pretty = souaille mak; Thank you very much = khop khoune mak

Numbers

1 = Neung; 2 = Song; 3 = Saam; 4 = Sii; 5 = haa; 6 = hôk; 7 = djet; 8 = bèt; 9 = gaao; 10 = sip; 11 = sip ét; 20 = yi sip. In Thailand, men always end their sentences with the word "khrap" and women with "kha." These words signify politeness and respect. To greet a man, you would say "Sawat dii khrap" and "Sawat dii kha" to a woman. You would also say "Sabaydi may khrap" to ask "How are you?" to a man and "Sabaydi may kha" to a woman.

Thai script

The Thai script derives from the Khmer alphabet, which originates from the Pali alphabet. It has 44 consonants and 37 vowels, including diphthongs and triphthongs. It is written from left to right and lacks punctuation. What truly complicates Thai writing is that some words can be written together, and spaces are the only mark representing the end of a sentence. Capital letters are also not used. Grammatically, Thai does not have gender, number, or conjugation. Verbs remain unchanged regardless of tense, gender, or number. To differentiate tense, you would add the marker "lèo" after the verb to indicate the past and the marker "dja" before the verb for the future.

Transcription

There is no universal method for transcribing Thai into the Latin alphabet. Transcribing Thai script is nearly impossible. Everyone, from dictionary editors to tourist guides or brochure publishers, uses their own means and transcription system. To master writing, it's best to learn and master the Thai alphabet.