What languages are spoken in Thailand percentages?
More than 85 percent speak a dialect of Thai and share a common culture. This core population includes the central Thai (36 percent of the population), Thai-Lao (32 percent), northern Thai (8 percent), and southern Thai (8 percent).
What are the top 3 languages spoken in Thailand?
Languages in Thailand with more than 1 million speakers according to Ethnologue
| Language | Code | Speakers |
|---|---|---|
| Central Thai | mbf | 20.2 million |
| Northeastern Thai | tts | 15.0 million |
| Northern Thai | nod | 6.0 million |
| Southern Thai | sou | 4.5 million |
What language is mostly spoken in Thailand?
official Thai language
While the official Thai language is widely spoken throughout Thailand, many Thais also speak and understand English, though more so in Bangkok and the major tourist areas.
Do Thai speak Chinese?
Language. Today, nearly all ethnic Chinese in Thailand speak Thai exclusively. Only elderly Chinese immigrants still speak their native varieties of Chinese. In the 2000 census, 231,350 people identified themselves as speakers of a variant of Chinese (Teochew, Hokkien, Hainanese, Cantonese, or Hakka).
Do most Thai speak English?
The main language spoken in Thailand is Thai. English is the most common second language, and many Thais have studied some level of English either at school or through practice with foreign friends.
How many different languages are there in Thailand?
The Thai language has close to 20 different dialects. Some of these are so different that linguists characterize them as separate languages on the Tai language branch whereas, in Thailand, they’re most often referred to as “other forms of Thai”.
Which is the largest minority language in Thailand?
The position of all minority languages, including the largest, i.e., the Lao-based Isan in the Northeast and Kham muang in the North, is precarious given that they are not well supported in Thailand’s language education policy. In the far south, Yawi, a dialect of Malay, is the primary community language of the Malay Muslims.
When did Thai become the national language of Thailand?
The curriculum introduced by the 1999 National Education Act, which introduced 12 years of free education, emphasized Thai as being the national language. The 2008 Basic Education Core Curriculum prioritises Thai, although it also mentions ‘dialects’ and ‘local languages’, i.e., ethnic minority languages.
Why is Lao not a first language in Thailand?
People stating such a language as a first language, including Lao, are allocated to ‘Thai’. This explains the disparity between the three tables in this section. For instance, self-reporting as Lao has been prohibited, due to the prohibition of the Lao ethnonym in the context of describing Thai citizens, for approximately one hundred years.