Eat your way to understanding Thai with new app

[rooster59]

Eat your way to understanding Thai with new app

By KORNRAWEE PANYASUPPAKUN 
THE NATION

 

 

FEELING LOST among the food-stall choices? Turn to your phone and open a new app.

 

The Thai Food Terms app in seven languages was launched yesterday by Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Arts in partnership with the National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre (Nectec).

 

“It will benefit gastronomy, tourism and the country’s food industry,” faculty dean Assoc Prof Kingkarn Thepkanjana said at a press conference yesterday at Chulalongkorn University.

 

“It will be useful for translators, interpreters, students, tour guides, flight attendants, hotel receptionists and restaurant owners – as well as tourists visiting Thailand,” Kingkarn said. The application, derived from a decade-long research by the university’s Faculty of Arts, was developed and launched by Nectec.

 

 

More than 1,600 Thai culinary terms are translated in seven languages – English, Chinese, Japanese, German, Italian, French and Spanish – and accompanied with an image and audio recording. The list ranges from main dishes, desserts and snacks to cooking methods, ingredients, herbs and drinks.

 

The list contains famous Thai staples such as som tam (spicy papaya salad) and tod man pla (fish cake) to such delights as ka la mae (Thai chewy caramel candy). 

 

The idea behind the application is to set a standard for Thai food terms and reduce confusion.

 

“For instance, ‘curry’ can refer to several different dishes,” Asst. Prof Sarapi Gaston said.

 

It can refer to massaman, choo chee or even kaeng phet. This can be really confusing for foreigners. While massaman is a non-spicy Indian-style curry, choo chee is usually cooked with fish and coconut milk, and kaeng phet is a clear, spicy curry, Sarapi, who is the programme coordinator, explained. 

 

 “In Thai, we have three words for three kinds of basil – kra phao, ho ra pha and maeng luk – and each is used to cook totally different dishes. Yet in English, they are all called Thai basil. When an expat wants to cook phad kra phao [stir-fried chicken with Thai basil], for example, they will be perplexed to find three different herbs all labelled Thai basil,” Sarapi explained. 

University student Piyarat Panpoosa, who has downloaded the Italian version of the app, lauded the creation. 

 

“I think it is a really good application. There are even terms for not-so-common Thai dishes – something other than som tam or phad Thai. It will give tourists more choices. But I think it should be made a little easier to use.”

 

The app will be fully available on both iOS and Android platforms next week. The “lite” version is free for download, but to access the comprehensive 1,600-word dictionary, opt for the full version (Bt99 on either platform).

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30351857

 

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-08-12

 

[zaphod reborn]

The app is only usable if you can read Thai language (you can see from the screenshot that the guide is only indexed in Thai).  It only goes from Thai to another language, not the reverse.  Yes, it could be useful for tour guides, but no, it is useless for tourists and most ex-pats.

[happydays]

2 hours ago, zaphod reborn said:

The app is only usable if you can read Thai language (you can see from the screenshot that the guide is only indexed in Thai).  It only goes from Thai to another language, not the reverse.  Yes, it could be useful for tour guides, but no, it is useless for tourists and most ex-pats.

You can change the language to English in the settings menu (3 horizontal lines in top left corner then 2nd from last option). Worth paying B99 for the full version.

[zaphod reborn]

4 hours ago, happydays said:

You can change the language to English in the settings menu (3 horizontal lines in top left corner then 2nd from last option). Worth paying B99 for the full version.

Thanks for the navigation hint.  Full version isn't available from Google Play.    

Edited August 12, 2018 by zaphod reborn

[Alotoftravel]

Does the lite version play the sound byte ?

[FaFaHead]

Should be worth ฿99 as a newcomer to Chiang Mai in November. 

[radiochaser]

On my iphone "App Store", I found the app with what appears to be downloads in a primary language for both the lite and the paid version.  
 

However, the app did open in the Thai language.  As happydays mentioned, tap the three lines in the left corner.  

 

The steps I went through for the English version:

 

1. Tap the three lines in upper left corner

2.  Tap the long Thai word on the top left

3. A dialog window opens with the Thai word for Thai (yeah I know) choice on top and the primary language on bottom

4. Tap your primary (at least for English version) language choice, look for check mark to the right

5. Tap "OK"

6.  Screen returns to menu list in your primary (at least for the English version) language

7.  Work through the menu choices to see how it works.  

 

I found the speaker audio on my iphone 5s, for this app, to be have a very low audio volume.  I plugged in my earphones and it was even lower with them.  

 

I am not sure if the very low volume is due to my iphone 5s, or a bug in the app. 

 

 

 

Edited August 12, 2018 by radiochaser

[FaFaHead]

10 hours ago, radiochaser said:

On my iphone "App Store", I found the app with what appears to be downloads in a primary language for both the lite and the paid version.  
 

However, the app did open in the Thai language.  As happydays mentioned, tap the three lines in the left corner.  

 

The steps I went through for the English version:

 

1. Tap the three lines in upper left corner

2.  Tap the long Thai word on the top left

3. A dialog window opens with the Thai word for Thai (yeah I know) choice on top and the primary language on bottom

4. Tap your primary (at least for English version) language choice, look for check mark to the right

5. Tap "OK"

6.  Screen returns to menu list in your primary (at least for the English version) language

7.  Work through the menu choices to see how it works.  

 

I found the speaker audio on my iphone 5s, for this app, to be have a very low audio volume.  I plugged in my earphones and it was even lower with them.  

 

I am not sure if the very low volume is due to my iphone 5s, or a bug in the app. 

 

 

 

I just downloaded the lite version and the audio is so low I can’t hear it. Hmmmmm...

[Alotoftravel]

Luckily we checked the lite before getting the full version . I do not even have any sound on my iphone

[FaFaHead]

On 8/13/2018 at 2:24 AM, FaFaHead said:

I just downloaded the lite version and the audio is so low I can’t hear it. Hmmmmm...

I emailed them to no avail so far...

[Alotoftravel]

I even posted on Apple store for their support on audio issue 

[Surasak]

No sound so, not all that good. Anyone tried the £2.79 version with any success?

[Khunangkaro]

Useless for me. Very limited. Not the common food that I'm used to. Where are my noodle soups. And finally no vegetarian choices. Thai pronunciation not clear. 

* . . . . .

UNINSTALLED

[JBe1990]

For people living in Bangkok, I strongly suggest to check out the app TopTravelFoods: 

 

iOS: https://tinyurl.com/yd3u2ub2 

 

Android: tinyurl.com/y7aj3jbm 

 

Instead of good restaurants, TopTravelFoods recommends good food. If you are looking for the best Pad Kra Pao, Som Tam, Moo Krob, Kai Yang, Khao Soi.. you name it.. you can find it there.

 

 

 

Enjoy ????