Is Thai Really Harder to Learn Than English?

Is learning Thai really that hard?

Sure, if you approach it the same way you’d tackle your native language.

Absolutely, if you insist on translating every word, line by line.

Think of it this way: why do kids seem to pick up languages so effortlessly? For starters, they don’t obsess over grammar or “perfect” sentences. They’re not weighed down by their mother tongue or afraid of looking silly.

Making mistakes (lots and lots of them) is how humans learn. It’s the engine that drives fluency. Consider English: Is it inherently easier than Thai? Not really. It just feels more “straightforward” to native speakers. It’s not tonal, after all.

But English has its own quirks. Take “ough” for example:

Hiccough (sounds like “up”)

Cough (sounds like “off”)

Rough (sounds like “uff”)

Dough (sounds like “oe”)

Plough (sounds like “ow”)

Through (sounds like “oo”)

And those mysterious Thai tones? They’re not so foreign. In fact, we use them all the time in English, just without explicit symbols.

For instance, the word “why” can carry all five Thai tones:

Mid Tone: “Why oh whhyyyyy…” (nagging)

Low Tone: “Why, that’s not very nice, is it?” (disapproval)

Falling Tone: “WHY!!! Tell me why you did that.” (anger)

High Tone: “Whhhyyy(??!!) are you hiding this from me?” (accusation)

Rising Tone: “Whyyy? It’s not like I did anything wrong.” (guilt)

Learning Thai isn’t as impossible as it seems. The trick is not to get tangled up in how it “should” compare to your native language. Don’t sweat the “whys” and “hows” too much.

Every language has its peculiarities. That’s why, at Duke Language School, we focus on speaking first. Think of it as learning like a kid – speak before you read. Our first three levels are all about building natural conversation skills. Only later, in level four, do we introduce the Thai alphabet.

Want to see what we’re all about? Check out this review by Tod Daniels at WomenLearnThai: Thai Language School Review – Duke Language School.

Tod is a well-known Thai school reviewer who’s not affiliated with us or any other school. We didn’t pay him for this glowing review. He just went undercover as a student and told it like it is.