Yes, I know it's an odd comparison but both languages could be considered rather difficult for a native English speaker. Which language provides more difficulty for an English speaker though?
Which Is Tougher: Thai or Russian?
Thai. It's completely unrelated to English, it's tonal which is very difficult for English speakers to master, the phonology is slightly more difficult than Russian (as far as I can tell). Furthermore, the Thai alphabet is much more difficult than the Russian alphabet for an English speaker.
Russian, although apparently and for most practical purposes quite far from English, still shares many, many aspects common in Indo-European languages. It is only a little more difficult than German, and anyone with knowledge of both a Germanic (with cases) and a Romance language should have little difficulty moving to Russian. As for Thai, I haven't the faintest notion of its difficulty.
Are you trying to find out if there are any "spies" here? For native speakers of English (without relatives who speak a tonal Asian language), I would say that Thai may be more difficult.
Russian: You have to learn a new script, but at least some of the letters look similar and if you know the Greek alphabet even more of them will look familiar. Heck, if you ever went to that big toy store with the giraffe, you probably already recognize "Ya". Okay, the last part is a joke, it's just a backwards "R", I hope. It's an Indo-European language and that's a big advantage for English speakers, not to mention cognates, borrowings from other IE languages, and plenty of materials for autodi-uh, people learning on their own.
Thai. Again you have to learn the script, but it's pleasant-looking. Can the native English speaker learn tones? Some people who are very smart still have a LOT of trouble even with Mandarin (which only has four tones); Thai has five, I think.
Both languages are pleasant enough to hear, but this depends on the speaker. What materials will you use for Thai? I'm very curious about that. It's not like you can go into any store in the US and find loads of material.
If you are going to live in Thailand, go on business to Thailand often, or marry a Thai-learn Thai.
If not, and Russian is the only other course, learn Russian. A lot of people know Russian even if they don't want to speak it to you and you'll get a good base to learn or figure out some other Slavic languages.
Russian: You have to learn a new script, but at least some of the letters look similar and if you know the Greek alphabet even more of them will look familiar. Heck, if you ever went to that big toy store with the giraffe, you probably already recognize "Ya". Okay, the last part is a joke, it's just a backwards "R", I hope. It's an Indo-European language and that's a big advantage for English speakers, not to mention cognates, borrowings from other IE languages, and plenty of materials for autodi-uh, people learning on their own.
Thai. Again you have to learn the script, but it's pleasant-looking. Can the native English speaker learn tones? Some people who are very smart still have a LOT of trouble even with Mandarin (which only has four tones); Thai has five, I think.
Both languages are pleasant enough to hear, but this depends on the speaker. What materials will you use for Thai? I'm very curious about that. It's not like you can go into any store in the US and find loads of material.
If you are going to live in Thailand, go on business to Thailand often, or marry a Thai-learn Thai.
If not, and Russian is the only other course, learn Russian. A lot of people know Russian even if they don't want to speak it to you and you'll get a good base to learn or figure out some other Slavic languages.
K.T., actually Thai would be pretty useful in my town where there are a few Thai grocery stores. I speak a little Thai but am far from fluent.
No doubt Russian is much tougher than Thai, on the aspect of alphabet, both Russian and Thai are harder than Latin alphabet, or "hiragana & katakana" for our Chinese, but on the aspect of grammar, together with pronunciation, Russian is absolutely much difficult to learn than Thai, just from the point of view of a Chinese.
correction:
...Russian is absolutely much more difficult to learn than Thai, ...
...Russian is absolutely much more difficult to learn than Thai, ...
Chinese, I said for a "native English speaker," not a Chinese speaker. Obviously, Thai wouldn't be too difficult for you since you understand tones already. Jeez, did you even read my original message?
To Asie,
Sorry, I didn't read your post carefully, but I think, for an English speaker, Russian is unlikely to be much easier than Thai due to its grammar difficulties, at least, Russian is much tougher than German in terms of 6 cases and Cyrillic alphabet for English speakers.
Sorry, I didn't read your post carefully, but I think, for an English speaker, Russian is unlikely to be much easier than Thai due to its grammar difficulties, at least, Russian is much tougher than German in terms of 6 cases and Cyrillic alphabet for English speakers.
Chinese:
The concept of cases come fairly naturally to English speakers and are not overly complicated, it's just a matter of memorisation. The number of cases is irrelevant. Having 2 extra cases compared to German does not mean it is fundamentally harder, again it's just a matter of memorisation, and not all cases are used in equal maesure. As for the Cyrillic alphabet, it takes about 2 hours to learn it. I don't know how long the Thai alphabet takes to learn, but it has around 60 letters whereas the Cyrillic one has 33.
The concept of cases come fairly naturally to English speakers and are not overly complicated, it's just a matter of memorisation. The number of cases is irrelevant. Having 2 extra cases compared to German does not mean it is fundamentally harder, again it's just a matter of memorisation, and not all cases are used in equal maesure. As for the Cyrillic alphabet, it takes about 2 hours to learn it. I don't know how long the Thai alphabet takes to learn, but it has around 60 letters whereas the Cyrillic one has 33.
FYI, Thai has 44 consonants, and I dont know how many vowels. The grammar itself is simple. But because it's so simple, it actually causes confusion when speaking. So learning to speak the correc Thai would be harder.
"K.T., actually Thai would be pretty useful in my town where there are a few Thai grocery stores. I speak a little Thai but am far from fluent"
Are you able to buy language books there? In my area (without going to the internet), there aren't many resources for Thai. I have some basic, and poor resources, but not enough to learn more than basics. I'm not against Thai, per se, I've been to Thailand, enjoy Thai food...
Yappari-as expected you have special circumstances. The people from Thailand in my area actually speak another language (probably because they are refugees.)
Are you able to buy language books there? In my area (without going to the internet), there aren't many resources for Thai. I have some basic, and poor resources, but not enough to learn more than basics. I'm not against Thai, per se, I've been to Thailand, enjoy Thai food...
Yappari-as expected you have special circumstances. The people from Thailand in my area actually speak another language (probably because they are refugees.)
K.T., I actually have a language program that has been helping me quite a bit with Thai language skills. Besides that, I also know some people who can speak Thai and would be able to help correct my pronunciation and tones.
I know that my situation is more helpful than most people's situations, and I'd suggest those people actually going to Thailand to learn the language. It's always best to go learn a language where it's most spoken.
I know that my situation is more helpful than most people's situations, and I'd suggest those people actually going to Thailand to learn the language. It's always best to go learn a language where it's most spoken.
That's interesting. If it's not in the works/without copyright, could you share the name of the program? Would it be fair to say that Thai is the language for you then, if the tones are not an issue?
I essentially agree that it's best to go to the country, but this is a luxury for so many people (even language majors), and for people like me (out of school), I can only go overseas occasionally.
Wish you the best!
I essentially agree that it's best to go to the country, but this is a luxury for so many people (even language majors), and for people like me (out of school), I can only go overseas occasionally.
Wish you the best!
K.T., I am using a program that also teaches other Asian languages such as Japanese, Mandarin, Filipino, etc. It's by no means a complete learning program for Thai itself, but I found this program fun, fairly easy and a good stepping stone into learning the language.
BTW, I was already learning Thai before I asked my OP so I wasn't asking whether I should learn Russian or Thai. I was simply asking others here which language they find most challenging.
I already speak Lao (I'm a native) so that's why I found Thai fairly easy: because Lao and Thai are part of the same language family and are for a certain extent, mutually intelligible.
Anyway, here's the link to the software:
http://www.amazon.com/Instant-Immersion-Asia-Deployment-Pack/dp/B0006B07LA/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=software&qid=1228798810&sr=1-6
BTW, I was already learning Thai before I asked my OP so I wasn't asking whether I should learn Russian or Thai. I was simply asking others here which language they find most challenging.
I already speak Lao (I'm a native) so that's why I found Thai fairly easy: because Lao and Thai are part of the same language family and are for a certain extent, mutually intelligible.
Anyway, here's the link to the software:
http://www.amazon.com/Instant-Immersion-Asia-Deployment-Pack/dp/B0006B07LA/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=software&qid=1228798810&sr=1-6