The Sino-Tibetan family of languages covers East and Southeast Asia. There are
four branches: Daic (formerly called Zhuang-dong, and before that Tai -- note spelling
difference for distinguishing this branch from the language Thai), Sinitic, Tibeto-Burman,
and Miao-Yao. Thai is the best-known language belonging to the Daic branch. The Sinitic
branch includes all the Chinese languags and dialects, many of which are mutually
unintelligible, but by resorting to writing Chinese characters in the hand, the speakers
are generally able to understand one another. The Tibeto-Burman branch includes
Tibetan and Burmese, plus many other lesser-known languages. Miao and Yao
comprise the Miao-Yao branch.
