Why is the Thai language considered so difficult to learn?

@Av *********

if you find it easy, that’s great. The majority of people don’t.

@Terry *******

u wanna google my books? Avalon giuliano.....random house published author.....and internet writing is not the same as books.....I don't care when I'm on the internet trolling people who can't get a tonal language.....like come on, u can't learn Thai...it's easy peasy

@Av *********

so your y and o keys are broken?

@Terry *******

*u're

@Terry *******

I speak 3 languages and had a keyboard error ..oh u got me....and yes I speak Thai....not that hard if Thai people actually like u and want to talk to u

@Av *********

you seem to be lazy at learning English.

@Nick ***********

Yeah, nothing like denying your confidence after practicing some phrases, then trying them out on the missus only to have her collapse on the floor in fits of laughter...

@Diego ********

then there’s Australian... 555

@Henning *********

I disagree. I’ve studied five foreign languages and found Japanese the easiest. The others were western languages. I will agree that if one spoke other tonal languages, certainly learning Thai would be easier. That’s different than “culture” though. That’s a matter of having developed the ear and the tongue for it.

@Angela ****

and if one is hard of hearing? Your comment is quite dismissive. I don’t like people complaining about other people’s languages, but ableist comments are not the proper response.

@Danny ******

they do. 'Ja' is will - future, which is very easy to use in Thai. Gamlang - similar to present continuous. Laew is similar to past simple in use.

Maa as in 'bpi nai maa' where have you been? - similar to present perfect in use....

But it's basically only those 4 or 5 equivalent tenses and a lot of contextual language.

@Ray ********

Glai and glai for two things that mean the total opposite really irks me when I am trying to establish distances. Sitting in a restaurant ordering food and not having the waiter understand 'kaou' is another pet hate.

@Ray ********

reminds me of French. 🤣

@Steve ******

Learn to read and all will be revealed.

@Brown *******

you forgot “Nam Keng”… Come on now, a life without ice here would be unbearable.

@James *************

yea but not every word is like that. I can think of a few where there are 4 different tones for the same "word", but that doesn't happen often.

@Steve ******

were, we're, where

@Steve ******

and westerners even mess them up 😆 🤣 😂

Right (opposite to left AND wrong), write, rite, wright.

@Steve ******

I've been pronouncing they're incorrectly all these years...

@Steve ******

where

Wear

Were

@Marty ********

Study English enough and you'll understand Thai doesn't make sense! Doh!

@Marty ********

On freeways you pay tolls. You park in the driveway and drive on a parkway. Shipments go by truck. Cargo goes by ship. We live close together in APARTments. a-LIE'ns dont exist. The forbidden fruit was Apple. Apple Tablets like Pharmacueticals probably have harmful side affects.

@Terry *******

No, they certainly won't.

That's the problem with a tonal language. If you don't use the right tone for a word (and there are five different (possible) tones for each word in Thai, whether the tone has an actual meaning or not), the word you're using (or think you're using, ) will have a total different meaning from the one you intended to, OR no meaning at all cause the specific tone you used for this word has no existing meaning.

I've had three consecutive years of Thai language classes in a proper school here in Phuket. (for the context of what I'm saying).

@Terry *******

not necessarily. I was once in Tesco looking for honey. I asked someone working there and because I didn’t use exactly the right tone (you have to widen the mouth) she had no idea what I was asking.

@Frank *********

The fact that they have different tones makes them different words, not the same word

555 So hilarious. Thank you 😁

@Paul *******

no they don't

@Paul *******

Any Thai I've met agrees Thai is very difficult to learn.