What Are the Isan and Thai Languages Like?
The Isan Bible translation uses the official Thai script and spelling rules; however, the words are genuine Isan and expressed in the Isan vernacular with consideration for specialized vocabulary. This makes it easy for any literate Isan person to read the Isan Bible with a very high degree of comprehension with little or no introductory practice. (The adult literacy rate in Isan is purported to be over 75%) Thai script has consonants and vowels and reads from left to right just like English, but unlike English it contains no punctuation marks or spaces between words, which instead are used to denote clause and sentence breaks (see text below). The Thai alphabet is comprised of 44 consonants, 26 vowels, and 4 tone markers, which form many highly specialized spellings. Vowels are positioned above, below, before, or behind initial consonants with tone markers stacked on top, over initial consonants. It might also be noted that all languages are different and unique. Thai and Isan are two
