Comparing Two Languages: Chinese & Thai (Part 1)

Similarities

Both Chinese and Thai are tonal languages. However, Chinese and Thai do not belong to the same language family. Thai belongs to the Kra-Dai language family and has 5 tones. Mandarin is related to the Sino-Tibetan language family, and the Chinese uses 4 tones. This means that both languages include words that may have a different meaning when pronounced differently. For example, the diagram on the left indicates five different Thai words (pronounced “Baa”). The diagram on the right indicates four different Chinese words. Both diagrams indicate how changing the tone affects the meaning of the word. 

Thai is my mother tongue. My parents taught me how to read and write Thai and I grew up only speaking Thai in my household. However, my younger self was not a linguistic prodigy, which meant I made mistakes while learning. According to my parents, I had a habit of mixing up the 3rd tone and the 5th tone when I was young. In Thailand, it is a form of courtesy to greet a female that is around your mom’s age as “Aunt” or “Auntie.” Unfortunately, this meant that I went around calling strangers “dad” whenever I greeted them. 

Sources:

https://www.1stopasia.com/blog/similarities-between-thai-and-mandarin/#:~:text=They’re%20both%20tonal%20 languages,the%20Chinese%20uses%204%20tones.

https://www.writtenchinese.com/lowdown-6-types-of-chinese-characters/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/chinese/real_chinese/mini_guides/characters/characters_howmany.shtml#:~:text=How%20many%20characters%20are%20there,able%20to%20read%20a%20newspaper.