File:Shan script with the orthographic rules of Thai script.png

English: The Shan script is considerably simpler than those of other Tai languages, such as Thai, Lao, and Tai Tham. Due to its recent reforms, Shan orthography lacks the historical spelling complexities found in Thai, giving it a more streamlined, straightforward structure. Unlike Thai, which categorizes consonants into high, mid, and low classes to indicate tonal distinctions, Shan does not use these classes and follows a more direct approach to tone. It also does not include traditional tonal markers like Mai Ek (่) and Mai Tho (้), which Old Thai originally used to represent tones inherited from Proto-Tai. Instead, Shan employs simpler, more phonetic tone-marking rules that make it accessible and easy to read.

If Shan were to adopt Thai’s orthographic rules, it would likely become more complex to read. However, this added complexity could enhance comprehension across Tai languages by aligning Shan more closely with Thai and other Tai languages. Such a shift could help readers recognize word meanings based on shared linguistic features, making the Shan script a bridge for understanding related Tai languages.

List of additional elements (some are Shan letters already used for loanwords, while others are borrowed from Burmese script) ၷ = ค (low class) ꧠ = ฅ, ฆ (low class) ဇ = ช (low class) ၹ = ซ (low class) ဒ = ท (low class) ဗ = พ (low class) ꧤ = ภ (low class) ဟ = ห (high class) ငှ = หง- (high class) ၺှ = หญ- (high class) ၼှ = หน- (high class) မှ = หม- (high class) ဢျ = อย- (middle class) ႑ = ่ (Mai Ek) ႒ = ้ (Mai Tho)

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Shan Language

Shan script ၵူၼ်းၵူႈၵေႃႉၼႆႉၵိူတ်ႇမႃးၼႂ်းတၢင်းဢၼ်မီးၵုင်ႇသရေႇလွတ်ႈလႅဝ်းၽဵင်ႇပဵင်းၵၼ်လႄႈသင်၊ ဢၶႂၢင်ႉဢယေးတၢင်းဢၼ်လွတ်ႈလႅဝ်းၽဵင်ႇပဵင်းၵၼ်လႄႈသင်၊ ၵူၼ်းၵူႈၵေႃႉမီတၢင်းၺၢၼ်ႇဢၼ်ၸၵ်ႉၽႄတႅပ်းတတ်းလႄႈ မီးၸႂ်ဢၼ်ၸၢင်ႈႁူႉၸၢင်ႈႁၼ်ၼၼ်ႉလႄႈ ၼင်ႇၵၼ်ၵၼ်လူဝ်ႇမီးတၢင်းႁၵ်ႉ သေယဝ်ႉ သိူၵ်ႈသမ်ႇၵၼ်ဢေႃႈ။

Shan script with the orthographic rules of Thai script ၷူၼ်ၵူ႒‌ၷေႃ႒ၼ်႒ၵိူတ်မႃၼႂ်ဒၢင်ဢၼ်မီၵုင်႑သရှေ႑လွတ်လႅဝ်ၽဵင်႑‌ဗေင်ၵၼ်လႄ႒သင်၊ ဢꧠႂၢင်႒ဢယေဒၢင်ဢၼ်လွတ်လႅဝ်ၽဵင်႑‌ဗေင်ၵၼ်လႄ႒သင်၊ ၷူၼ်ၵူ႒‌ၷေႃ႒မီဒၢင်ၺှၢၼ်ဢၼ်ဇၵ်ၽႄတႅပ်တတ်လႄ႒ မီၸႂ်ဢၼ်ဇၢင်႑ႁူ႒ဇၢင်႑ဟၼ်ၼၼ်႒လႄ႒ ၼှင်႑ၵၼ်ၵၼ်လှူဝ်႑မီဒၢင်ႁၵ်သေယဝ်႒ၹိူၵ်သမ်႑ၵၼ်ဢေႃ႒။

Thai script คนกู้ค้อไน้เกิดมาในทางอันมีกุ่งเสร่ลอดแลวเผ่งเพ็งกันแล้สัง ฯ อะฅว้างอะเยทางอันลอดแลวเผ่งเพ็งกันแล้สัง ฯ คนกู้ค้อมีทางหญานอันชักแผแต็บตัดแล้ มีใจอันช่างรู้ช่างหันนั้นแล้ หนั่งกันกันโหล่มีทางรักเสเย้าเซิกส่ำกันอ้อ ๚

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.