The three deep southern provinces are a multilingual region. Thai is the main language of public life, used in administration, commerce and education. A large part of the population, however, speak a dialect of Malay as their mother tongue. This dialect is often called Yawi, after the Arabic script it is written with. The Malay language was previously only written with this script but both Malaysia and Indonesia have since switched to the Latin alphabet and Yawi (or Jawi) script is no longer widely used outside of southern Thailand.
The Yawi dialect is very difficult for speakers of standard Malay (Malaysian or Indonesian) to understand. Similarly the local dialect of Thai is quite distinct from Thai as spoken in Bangkok, although the difference is not as great. Chinese is also spoken by the Chinese minority.
Because of its dominance in the public sphere, many young Malays are more fluent in Thai than they are in Malay (especially in the cities). A Thai speaker should have no problems communicating with anybody from the Deep South. Those who speak neither Malay or Thai may run into some problems as English is not well understood. Most people know some words, though, and the children study English in school. With a good sense of humor, patience and some imagination communication should work out though, and quite often an English speaker will be found nearby more than willing to show off some of his or her skills.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Southern Gulf Coast
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Southern Gulf Coast - updated May 2024
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