An Accent on Accuracy

The highest quality translations, brisk turnaround schedules, competitive rates, and sharing of our knowledge, are all requisites for ALT‘s success. The complete and accurate translation of your company’s communications is vital to your success. That’s why ALT is obsessed with providing the best translators for YOUR project. High-quality translations are the product of a highly talented and experienced translation team with expertise in your industry. ALT puts all the pieces together to make it happen.

Why choose us for English to Thai or  Thai to English Translation?

Advanced Language Translation’s Professional Thai translation services utilize only native speakers to ensure quality and precision translations for your target audience. With Thai in particular, a deep understanding of Thai culture, as well as the language, is needed for translation to be successful. Special attention must also be paid to the gender of the intended speaker and intended audience and the way thai is typeset.

When doing business in Thailand, professional, human translation is a must. Do not expect to close a business deal or impress your clients with questionable translation. Only through human translation, edited and customized to your target audience, can your meaning be honestly conveyed and your audience not be offended.

We are proud of our excellent reputation for reliable and high quality Thai to English and English to Thai translation services. We have assembled teams of translators from around the world, with an array of skills and specialties and can custom fit the knowledge and strengths of our teams to your specific projects. To demonstrate our commitment to quality and our dedication to our clients, we offer free consultations and provide an industry leading 180-day warranty on translation!

We provide quick and easy custom quotes for your Thai translation and localization needs.

Need to get the “gist” of Thai?

Although professional translation is highly recommended for any business, legal or sincere correspondence in Thai, sometimes it may be ok to use machine translation (via software or the internet) to get the gist of an e-mail or web page. By no means is machine translation an acceptable substitute for professional translation—the technology is not there yet. But it is great for quickly getting the general idea of an article, e-mail, or web site.

Interesting Facts about the Thai Language

The Thai language is spoken by over 48 million people, most of whom live within Thailand. Thai is also spoken in the northern areas of Laos and Vietnam and the southern provinces of China, which border these areas. Thailand has numerous minority ethnic groups that use other languages (e.g. Lao, Shan, and Miao—each having its own script). Linguistically, Thai is related to languages spoken in eastern Burma, northern Vietnam, Yunnan, and Laos. Thai has four major dialects that correspond to the central (Bangkok), southern, northern and northeastern (Lao) regions. The central or “Bangkok” dialect is what is taught at schools and used by the media.

History of the Thai Language

It is theorized that the Thai language originated in the border region of modern-day Vietnam and China. The written language was introduced in 1283 by King Ramkamhaeng, the Third Sukothai Period king. It has changed little since its introduction and is based on Sanskrit, Pali and other Indian concepts. Many Mon and Khmer words were adopted into the language.

Written Language

The Thai alphabet consists of 44 consonants. There are no independent vowels in the alphabet. Each consonant when written independently is pronounced with an “o”. In order to employ other vowels, each consonant is written with a vowel symbol—markings that appear as a small superscript or subscript following a consonant or as strokes before and/or after a consonant.

— “go”, first consonant in the Thai alphabet
— “gaw”, conjunction meaning “also, too”
— “gai”, chicken

Thai Language Statistics

• Approximately 80% of Thailand’s 60 million people speak Thai.
• Spoken predominantly in Thailand and in parts of northern Laos and Vietnam. Also
  spoken in Chinese provinces bordering Laos and Vietnam.
• Thailand boasts a 96% literacy rate.

Translation and Localization Issues with Thai

Advanced Language Translation Inc has extensive experience with commercial and technical translations from English to Thai and from Thai into English. We have also extensive experience in typesetting Thai content. Here are some of the common issues with English to Thai translation that we have learned:

• Thai translation can expand up to approximately 10% in size from English, so original document layouts will need to expand as well to accommodate this additional text.
• Vertically, Thai requires approximately 10% more line height, so tightly formatted
  pages may need to be redesigned.
• Thai requires special care during typesetting due to its specialized script.
  Currently, applications that can utilize Unicode fonts offer the greatest flexibility.
• For larger documents that have simply page layout, MS Word is the best option.

Thai Language Vital Information

Speaking Population: approximately 48 Million
Where Spoken: Thailand
Writing Systems: 44 consonant alphabet utilizing vowel symbols
Code Pages:
10021         MAC – Thai
20838         IBM EBCDIC – Thai
874              ANSI/OEM – Thai
Unicode Supported: Yes
Common Phrases: (phonetic pronunciations in parentheses)
Hello: (sa wat dee krap, spoken by a male), (sa wat dee ka, spoken by a female)
Good-bye: (laa)
Thank you: (krap, polite form spoken by a male), (kaa, polite form spokem by a female)
Good Luck:  (khaaw hai chohk dee)