Thai is spoken by roughly 25 million people living in Thailand,
where it is the official language. Small pockets of Thai speakers
can also be found in the Midway Islands, Singapore and the United
States.1
Thai belongs to the Tai Language family, which incorporates many
languages of Southeast Asia. According to the Encyclopædia
Britannica, standard modern Thai is based on the dialect of Bangkok
and the areas surrounding the city.2 However, this
particular form of spoken Thai does not dominate the rest of the
country as a result of its use in the national media and official
functions; other dialects are still quite entrenched. The
Encyclopædia Britannica divides up the dialects of Thailand in this
way:
- Northeastern (Ubon Ratchathani, Khon Kaen), which are similar to dialects spoken in Laos.
- Northern (Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai)
- Southern (Songkhla, Nakhon Si Thammarat).3
Over its history, modern Thai has borrowed a great deal of words
from other language (with the oldest loan words coming from
Chinese). Thai has also incorporated words from such languages as
Pali, Sanskrit, Khmer (Cambodia's official language), 16th Century
Portuguese, Austronesian and most recently English.4
Below are some brief but important facts about the country of
Thailand and its people.
Capital: Bangkok
Currency: Baht (THB)
Government Type: Constitutional monarchy
Population: 64,865,523
Internet Country Code: .th
Internet Hosts: 103,700 (2003)
Internet Users: 6,031,300 (2003)
For additional demographic information on Thailand and its
people, please see the following link:
For information on The Thai Writing System, please
see our Quick
Facts Library
1 "Thai: a language of Thailand" Ethnologue.com
[Accessed December 15, 2004]
2 "Thai language" Encyclopædia Britannica from
Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service.
[Accessed December 16, 2004]
3 "Thai language" Encyclopædia Britannica from
Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service.
[Accessed December 16, 2004]
4 "Thai language" Encyclopædia Britannica from
Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service.
[Accessed December 16, 2004]
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