Even though Thai and Chinese belong to the same group, Sino-Tibetan languages, they are quite different. However, that isn't an obstacle for Chinese speakers to learn this language with little effort. Both Thai and Chinese are tonal languages. Thai has five tones while Chinese has four.
The Thai language may be easy to learn for Chinese speakers because of the similar tones that help them understand faster, but it seems hard for English speakers to learn. If a learner wants to take a class to learn Thai, I always recommend starting with writing lessons.
Korean and Japanese might be the easiest languages for a native Chinese speaker to learn. While Korean and Japanese belong to a different language family from Chinese, centuries of cultural exchange have filled Korean and Japanese with Chinese vocabulary, in fact, 60% of Korean vocabulary has Chinese roots.
English is taught in Chinese schools, so most Mandarin speakers are familiar with English and the Latin script that makes up the English alphabet. Languages that don't use a Latin script, though, tend to give Mandarin speakers the most trouble. Arabic is a language most Mandarin speakers will find challenging.
Tones appear to be pretty similar
They're both tonal languages, but they're not in the same language family, despite what linguists tended to believe some 15 years ago. 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.
Lao and Thai languages are very similar to each other. In fact, the two languages are linguistically similar, though their writing script varies a bit. Thai is the native language of Thailand and is spoken in minority in Cambodia.
So here, it is time to talk about the Thai dialect closest to the Lao language. Thai-Isan people say there are only slight differences between these two languages. However, the Lao language is not only similar to the Isan language but also shares many similar words with northern Thai.
Cantonese – Most Difficult Language Overall
Some people debate whether Cantonese deserves recognition as a language in its own right or a dialect of Chinese. Either way, Cantonese poses plenty of problems for students, even if they already speak Mandarin! But why is Cantonese harder than Mandarin for English speakers?
Given its long history and the isolation of the region in which it is spoken, Wenzhounese is so unusual in its phonology that it has the reputation of being the least comprehensible dialect for an average Mandarin speaker.
Linguists classify all varieties of Chinese as part of the Sino-Tibetan language family, together with Burmese, Tibetan and many other languages spoken in the Himalayas and the Southeast Asian Massif.
The Japanese language is one of the most popular and beautiful languages in Asia. It is an ancient language of Asia. It is a very musical language.
Thai will get easier as learners progress. Most of the challenges will exist in the beginning - tone, unfamiliar sounds, and reading. However, once a learner begins to acquire these, the language gets easier. Korean, on the other hand, will become more difficult for learners.
Indonesian is the easiest Asian language since its writing system is based on the Latin alphabet. However, the Cyrillic script is used for several other Asian languages. It is due to the fact that both Indonesian vocabulary and sentence or grammatical structure are pretty simple.
Chinese is harder to learn in depth, but Thai is harder at the beginning. Because the difficulties of Chinese are in its written language and its large vocabulary, while the difficulty of Thai is in its pronunciation.
Thai is considered a difficult language for English speakers to learn because it has significant linguistic differences. For example, Thai is a tonal language and uses a different writing system. But this doesn't mean that learning Thai is impossible.
Thai And Chinese Culture
Although, both Thai and Chinese peoples seem to be similar in culture, tradition, and religion. Today, nearly all ethnic Chinese in Thailand speak Thai, but only elderly Chinese immigrants still speak their native varieties of Chinese. The assimilation of Thai-Chinese was rapid.
As a mentor for learning English in China, there have been many students that I have encountered that have difficulty pronouncing words such as “the”, “Vietnam”, “that”, “vet”, and “world”. This problem arises from the fact that Mandarin (and their dialects) do not have words that include the sounds “th”, “v” and “rl”.
floccinaucinihilipilification in Traditional Chinese - Cambridge.
Generally speaking, we might assert that Korean is easier for an English speaker to learn than Mandarin Chinese. But this is very relative. In fact, the US Foreign Service Institute assigns Mandarin Chinese and Korean the same level of difficulty. Both languages are in “Category Four”.
Japanese is slightly easier to learn. But, Chinese is much more widely spoken. Both languages have their pros and cons. Ultimately whichever language pulls on your heartstrings the most is the winner.
Meanwhile, Korean grammar is likely the hardest, while tones in Mandarin are notoriously difficult for native English speakers to hear, and Japanese is the fastest spoken language in the world at over 7 syllables per second.
Vietnamese is easier than Thai. The use of the Latin alphabet is easier to learn and start reading. The pronunciation and grammar are similar and take an equal amount of time to learn. The Thai alphabet has a more significant learning curve and therefore takes longer.
Thai is one of the world's most beautiful languages. The phrases and sounds are so melodic you'll love to practice. Thai letters look mysterious yet smooth and aesthetically pretty. It is a tonal language, meaning your tone can change the word's meaning and the vowels and consonants.
Ultimately, Thai is not much more difficult than other languages. There are some areas that can prove hard as we have just mentioned, but with perseverance and dedication, you can learn. Taking time to practice consistently is key.