thailand koh samui holiday

 

Thai language, known mainly for Bangkok Thai, Central Thai or Siamese dialects, is the native language of around 65 million people.

Thai language derives from the Tai Kadai language family that is said to have its origins in southern China. The Tai Kadai language group includes, among others, Jiamao, Yerong, Gelao, Buyang and other languages, and may be linked to the Austronesian and Sino Tibetan languages.

Besides Standard Thai (i.e. Central Thai or Siamese dialects), there are many other dialects spoken both inside and outside the regions of Thailand. However, the commonly spoken dialect is central Thai, which is employed in the educational institutions.

Thai language is rendered in writing with the help of the Thai alphabet, which has its roots in the Khmer alphabet, an alphabet that resembles the Brahmic script - consequently with Indic influences. The Thai alphabet is also linked to the Lao alphabet, and the Laotians can easily understand the Thai writings.

Standard Thai language is an analytic language, which is quite challenging for learners that are not acquainted with any of the Tai Kadai languages. The words order in Thai is Subject - Verb - Object, and most commonly the subject is not employed.

One particularity of this tonal and analytic language is the fact that the adverbs and adjectives are one and the same and the nouns have no gender and no articles. Particles are commonly used in the Thai language, but they cannot be translated in most of the cases.

As for the Thai vocabulary, there are preponderantly monosyllabic words. The borrowed terms come mainly form Sanskrit, Pali, Chinese and more recently English.

It must be noted that there are also several other languages spoken in Thailand, languages which are unrelated to Thai language. These languages are used by the ethnic minority called the hill tribes people.

Nora Zavalczki is a linguist with Lingo24 Translation Services, a company that provides high quality language translation services. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nora_Zavalczki