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Thai Language

The Thai language is the national and official language of Thailand. This language belongs to the Tai-Kadai language family. It is usually the mother tongue of the Thai people. The number of Thai people in Thailand is estimated to be 67,448,120 by July 2013 (Central Intelligence Agency, 2013).

 

According to the Thai Section of the University of Hong Kong (2013), there are 44 consonants and 32 vowels in written Thai. Similar to Cantonese, there are 5 tones in Thai, which are low, mid, falling, high and rising. If we make a mistake in the tone, the meaning can be completely different!

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Having look at the map on the right, you may think Thailand and Laos are geographically close. However, the relationship between Thai and Laos is more than that.



The Thai language is mutually intelligible with Lao, which means Lao people can understand the Thais even though the Lao did not really learn Thai before. Having said that, it is found that Lao speakers have more exposure to the Thai language, so they appear to understand Thai better than the vice versa.

​Do you know how to count in Thai?​
Learn how to count 1 - 10 from our Thai professor!​

How to greet in Thai?

For man, say "Sawasdee Krab"
For woman, say Sawasdee Ka"

Thank you for learning Thai with us
                     "Kop Khun"

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