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All About
The Top Five Reasons to Study Thai

1 Grammar Points 2
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Grammar Points
The Focus of This Lesson Is the Top Five Reasons You Should Study Thai.
Background of the Thai Language: Linguistics

1. Early Thai settlers broadened their own Chinese-influenced, tonal, monosyllabic language by
borrowing and adapting certain Mon and Khmer words. Later, the Thais absorbed polysyllabic
Sanskrit (the classical language of Hindu India) and Pali words as Brahmanism and Theravada
Buddhism asserted their shaping influences.

2. Thailand's national language is Thai. One hundred percent of the country's population of sixty-five
million speaks Thai. People nationwide speak standard Thai, with regional dialects differing widely
from north to south and east to west.

3. King Ramakamhaeng of the Sukhothai Era in 1283 first introduced the written Thai language. The
writing was based on the Sanskrit alphabet with a heavy influence of the old Khmer script.

4. The Thai alphabet uses forty-four consonants and fifteen basic vowel characters. These are
horizontally placed, left to right, with no intervening spaces to form syllables, words, and sentences.
2 5. There are five tones in the Thai language: mid, low, falling, high, and rising. The use of tones in
Thai is lexical. Each word has a certain pitch characteristic, which the speaker must use to be
understood correctly.

6. Thai grammar is considerably simpler than grammar in Western languages. Basically, words are not
modified or conjugated for tenses, declensions, plurals, genders, or subject-verb agreement. Thai does
not use articles such as "a," "an," or "the." Word order is subject-verb-object (the same as English).
The most difficult parts of learning the language are intonation (five tones) and writing (forty-four
consonants and fifteen basic vowel characters).

About Thailand

The Kingdom of Thailand is situated in the heart of Southeast Asia. Bangkok is the capital city.
Thailand is sometimes called "The Land of Smiles" because Thai people characteristically are happy
and smiling.

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Consistent with the previous census (in year 2000), 94.7 percent of the population is Buddhist.
Muslims are the second-largest religious group in Thailand, with 4.6 percent of the population.

Where Thai Is Spoken

Thai is the main language spoken by approximately fifty million people or about eighty-five percent of
the population, as well as by small groups of people in the United States, the United Arab Emirates,
and Singapore. Additionally, the Thai language and the Lao language are highly related because they
share the same roots: possibly seventy percent of the words are the same. Therefore, if you can speak
Thai, you can somewhat communicate with Laotians.

Why Thai Is Important

So why should you learn Thai? Here are some of the top reasons!

5. English is a mandatory subject in school. However, the number of fluent speakers is comparatively
low, especially outside the cities. Therefore, if you plan to work, do business, travel, or settle down in
Thailand, it is a good idea to learn some Thai language. Thai people are very kind especially if you can
speak Thai.

4. Thailand's cost of living is cheap (compared to the cost of living in America and European
countries). If you are retired and want to live modestly, welcome to Thailand! For young travelers, you
3 can spend some time in Thailand teaching or whatever for the experience.

3. You will learn more than just a language. Learning Thai will give you great insight into the world of
Thai culture that you just can't get any other way. By learning how the language works, you'll learn
more about how the culture works.

2. Thai grammar is very easy and simple! Thai people are very kind especially if you can speak Thai.

1. It's fun! Thai culture, martial arts, food, and traveling rock!

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