Thailand and Philippines | Differences and Similarities

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Thailand

The Philippines and Thailand share cordial relationships with each other. These are more like the twin countries and share many cultural and language differences. Both countries, the Republic of the Philippines and the Kingdom of Thailand established diplomatic relationships with Thailand on June 14, 1949. There are many similarities in the culture of both countries and the way these people speak their languages. Filipino and Thai languages are often taken and spoken about in parallel. 

The Kingdom of Thailand is located at the heart of mainland southeast Asia which is also named Indochina, this country comes with a tropical climate, has lush rainforests, and covers its northern hills as well as the fertile plains in the country. Most of the Thai people live in its rural and farming regions and around 45% of them reside in the urban areas surrounding Bangkok.

The Republic of the Philippines exists in the western pacific ocean consisting of around 7640 islands. This country has a humid tropical maritime climate. The summers are hot and dry from March to May, and the rainy season starts in June and stays until November. For the rest of the year, the weather is quite pleasant and cool. Dividing the Philippines geographically is the large northern island of Luzon and Mindanao to the south with the Visayan archipelago in the center. 

The Filipinos consist of diverse ethnicities and with the largest being in Luzon the Cebuanos, Hiligaynons, and Bisaya in Visayas and Mindanao. Tagalog which is often confused with Filipino too is the primary and native language of the country. However, the ethnicities in the country have their different dialects depending on the mutually intelligible to various degrees. Many times the people inside the country have to seek Filipino translation services to understand the nuances and dialect better. Professional translation services hence are evident for effective communication.

About 80% of the Filipino people are roman catholic. Islam is the largest minority religion in the country that stays within Mindanao. Also Philipino is a democratic country.

Geography

The biggest difference between the Thailand and Philippines is a geographical distinction. It is the former land that connects to Mainland Southeast Asia where as the Philippines is a maritime nation.

Thailand is quite large in area size as compared to the Philippines. Its area size is 513, 120 km2. On the contrary, the Philippines has the world’s fifth largest coastline and Thailand has far smaller than barely 3219 km coast.

Climate changes

Both these countries experience tropical rainforests, tropical savannahs, and tropical monsoon climates. Also, there is usually high humidity and abundant rainfall in the wet seasons which are hallmarks of both countries. However, the significant difference is between the rainforest climate in the Philippines and the tropical savannah in Thailand.

Official language

Thailand’s official language is none other than Thai which is also called Siamese or simply Thai and it has 20 million speakers. Also, there are around 71 languages that are spoken in the country. The companies and businesses that seek to target the Thai market have to hire professional translation services to understand the audiences as well as to make audiences understand their products.

Other than Thai other national languages include Isan, Northern Thai, and Southern Thai.

The official language is Filipino. You could need professional filipino translation services in case you are in the Philippines for studies or business purposes.

Also, it is important to note that Filipino is a standardized variant of Tagalog and it serves as the country’s lingua franca. Although other languages such as

  • Cebuano has 21 million speakers
  • Ilocano has 7.7 million
  • Hiligaynon has 7 million speakers

All these languages have a similar influence in the regional sphere.

Religion

The religion that the Philippines serves our Christianity. As per the reports, around 83% of Filipino are roman catholic, and 9% of these fall in the protestant minority.

Also, 5-6% of Filipinos are Muslim. Moreover, a few of the population practice few other religions and many of them are atheists.

Buddhism is practiced in Thailand as the main religion. 93% of them are Buddhists and the largest minority is 5%. Also, 1% of the citizens are Christians.  If you are in Thailand for religious study it is important that you hire thai translation services to ensure that you understand all the religions well and can contribute to the findings accordingly.

Cuisine

Thai food mainly depends on herbs and fresh ingredients. The food in Thailand is much spicier than its Filipino counterpart. Most of the dishes in Thailand include a balanced mix of sour, sweet, spicy, salty, and umami. Thai cuisine is world-famous. A few of the dishes are really great such as Pad Thai stir, Tom Yum Goong spicy, shrimp soup, and fried noodles.

Other popular Thai food includes Pad Kra Pao basil stir fry and som tam in street food, green papaya salad, and khao man Gai chicken rice. Moreover, Thai people are also bigger consumers of fresh and raw seafood.

Filipino cuisine is also very rich in flavors and popular for the sharp influence of the significant Spanish, Chinese, and American cuisine. Most of the food is prepared with vinegar, soy sauce, chillis, and hot spices are the main ingredients. Filipino people have a sweeter flavor palette.

Conclusion

Thailand and the Philippines are often compared with each other on the basis of language, culture, and other similar connections. The official language of Thailand is Thai whereas Filipino is spoken in the Philipines as a professional language. Buddhism is the main religion in Thailand whereas the majority of the people in the Philipines are Roman Catholic. The food in Thailand is spicier as compared to the Philippines.

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