Which is a harder language to pick up: Portuguese vs. Thai?

[peggygee]

I think it depends upon why you would want to learn either one. If it's to facilitate visiting either Thailand or Brazil, consider that English is widely spoken in Thailand but not in Brazil. You can pick up key phrases pretty easily probably in both languages.

Portuguese, while related to Spanish, is quite distinct (and in some ways closer to Italian than Spanish). Portuguese also has 4000 irregular verbs (but how many do you need?).

Thai, unlike Chinese, is alphabetic, but like Chinese is tonal, so the same word can mean quite different things depending on the intonation. Also, in Thai, gender is determined by the person speaking, so that where a woman would say "Sawasdee kha" (hello), a man would say "Sawasdee khrap" (note: there seems to be no standard transliteration, so the same words are often transliterated into English differently: sawasdee, sawatdee, sawadee, etc.).

I would say Portugese for it's relationship to Spanish and Italian,as
outlined by Ecstatic. It would also be a more useful and widely spoken
lanquage than Thai.

Thai is very hard, different alphabet, hard for most Westerners,
and basically spoken only in Thailand. Wheras Portugese would
be useful in Brazil, Portugal and you could even be understood
in some Spanish speaking countries.

[Ecstatic]

Portuguese is also very close to Italian in many ways, Peggy, which is partly reflected in how many Brazilian girls travel to Milano to ply their trade.

Thai is a beautiful language, very musical, but over the past couple of years I've only managed to learn a few basic phrases. It's very difficult, especially as it's a wholly different language family, and there are no cognates between English and Thai (excepting some English words and phrases which have been recently adopted by the Thai). Also, along with the tonality of the language, there's the fact that Thai do not have some phonemes that are common in English, such as /s/ at the end of a word: "ice" becomes "eye" as in "eye tea."

Sabai, sabai.

[TomSelis]

Rosetta Stone works beautifully. I'm sure you can pick up Thai or Portugese versions.

I've been playing around with the Portugese version for the last month. It works like this:

It's basically four programs rolled into one. They show you four sets of pictures. It starts off pretty easy. It'll show a boy, a girl, a cat and a dog. Then it'll say "Um Cachorro" (A dog). You pick the right picture it goes to the next word. "Uma Menina" and so on.

There's a speaking part, where you need a mic, that gauges your pronounciation. It says the word "Um rapaz" then you say it. It's easy early on, but later lessons where you have to repeat full sentences, will get you tounge tied.

I haven't messed with the writing parts. But it's very intuitive to use.

If you speak Spanish, it's very similar, but some words are different, the similarities make it easier to pick up. The differences make it a little difficult.

I've heard Thai is difficult for the reasons stated above. I'd stick with the Portugese.

[Quinn]

Good stuff. I’m interested in hearing what anyone else has experienced with Rosetta Stone as I have been thinking about picking a copy for a while now (German). Unfortunately, I’m one of those people who has trouble picking up languages and can use every bit of help he can get. Seriously, I’m probably the only person on the planet who had to struggle learning Spanish (verb conjugations were a real pain in the ass)

-Quinn

[TomSelis]

No, verb conjugations are hard! The pictures and the person speaking definitely help though. The only problem sometimes is, you have look really hard at the pictures to choose the right one.

I was thinking about picking up the German or French pack after I finish with the Portugese one.

[BeardedOne]

I don't see why those other countries can't learn just learn American.

What, like "Jeetchet?" and "Nojew?". Or maybe "Fuggedaboudit". E knows about "Westawoostah" and similar road directions.

How about the infamous Thai/English exchange, "Ruin Sorbese": "Um...OK...I'd like coffee, and bacon..." to which the reply was "Jewanbubbatoeswiddat?".

I'd like to pick up a little Portugese if for no other reason than to know what Bruna Tavares is saying when she...well...you know.

[Ecstatic]

What, like "Jeetchet?" and "Nojew?". Or maybe "Fuggedaboudit". E knows about "Westawoostah" and similar road directions.

There's nothing worth bothering about westawoostah, excepting Amherst, Northampton, and Tanglewood. There ain't no culture west of the Hudson or south of Lunguyland Sound, as they say....

There's also "pahk your cah in Hahvahd Yahd," and you say the /h/ in Waltham but stay the /h/ in Stoneham. Then again, my home state is Maine, but "you can't get theah from heah."

How about the infamous Thai/English exchange, "Ruin Sorbese": "Um...OK...I'd like coffee, and bacon..." to which the reply was "Jewanbubbatoeswiddat?".

What you want to hear a Thai girl say to you, in a soft and sultry voice: Joop chan teut ("Kiss me) or Chan yahk ja rooam rak gap teu ("I want to make love to you").

[BeardedOne]

What you want to hear a Thai girl say to you, in a soft and sultry voice: Joop chan teut ("Kiss me) or Chan yahk ja rooam rak gap teu ("I want to make love to you").

The only Thai I've known close enough to talk to was Somtow and he was bizzy inventing a language of his own: Co-Cack-A-La = Popular softdrink and La-Dig-Guh-Duh-Va = Activist socialite riding nude on horseback.

[Ecstatic]

The only Thai I've known close enough to talk to was Somtow and he was bizzy inventing a language of his own: Co-Cack-A-La = Popular softdrink and La-Dig-Guh-Duh-Va = Activist socialite riding nude on horseback.

I think I'm beginning to understand after all these years where the song Ina-gadda-da-vida came from....