What is the official language of Thailand?

Thai is the official language of Thailand. It is the principal language of government, education, national media, and public life, and its standard form is based largely on Central Thai usage.

Thai belongs to the Kra-Dai language family and is closely related to Lao and several other languages spoken across mainland Southeast Asia. It is written using the Thai script, which developed historically from the Khmer script. Thai is tonal, meaning that differences in pitch can change the meaning of a syllable even when its consonants and vowels are otherwise similar.

Thailand is linguistically diverse, so “official language” does not mean Thai is the only language spoken there. Isan, a Lao-related variety, is widespread in the northeast; Malay is important in the far south; and communities also speak Chinese languages and numerous Indigenous or regional languages. Lao, Khmer, and Vietnamese are neighboring or regional languages, but none is Thailand’s official language.