Typing In Thai Language

[kenk3z]

I had the idea to try to send "Sawasdee" by SMS to my TGF's Thai-capable cell phone. So I started looking around for tools to attempt to construct the word.

It turns out to be relatively easy to display Thai fonts in Windows, but rather difficult to find tools to actually type something out (Thai keyboard being another issue).

I found a good tool at the following URL: Thai Virtual Keyboard

http://learningthai.com/thaikeyboard/

It seems you can type things in here and then cut-and-paste over to your own Windows programs.

Can anyone tell me if I have done "Sawasdee" correctly: สวัสคี

I would like to get a check on this first before I send something like "Your armpits are damp" or something like that.

I'm at such an elementary level that I have to go someplace on-line to find simple Thai-English phrases and then try to copy the characters visually. I'm a long way off from actually being functional reading/writing/speaking.

Here is a URL for basic phrases and Thai fonts:

http://www.into-asia.com/thai_language/thaifont/

Other than the Thai OEM versions of Microsoft Windows and Office, what else do you recommend?

Thanks,

kenk3z

[Smokin Joe]

Good link. I just book marked the virtual keyboard page to try out later.

What I have done until now is use a doc I made by typing two lines each by going across the keyboard both lower and upper case then changing the font of the second copy of each series to the Thai (sukanya) font that was available on my computer. I then open the doc I made in a separate window and refer back to it to when typing. I don't know if the Thai font I use is came with MS office or Windows but I didn't download it or install it, unless unknowingly.

Unfortunately the easy solution for me would have been a cheap keyboard I bought at Pantip Plaza with both English and Thai characters but the keyboard doesn't match the location of the characters on my computer.

[taxexile]

sawatdee is spelled correctly, although to complete the phrase you should put the word

ครับ (khrap) after the sawasdee.

it completes the phrase and makes it polite.

[kenk3z]

Thanks for the help Taxexile. I added your Thai "Khrap" to complete the phrase and cut-and-pasted this into Yahoo (SMS) Messenger. When I find out if it passed through correctly I'll post the results.

kenk3z

[bkk_mike]

Unfortunately the easy solution for me would have been a cheap keyboard I bought at Pantip Plaza with both English and Thai characters but the keyboard doesn't match the location of the characters on my computer.

There are 2 types of Thai keyboard. Kedmanee, and Pattachote.

You've probably just selected the wrong one. (Kedmanee seems to be the common one - has ฟ and ห on the a and s keys).

If you're running XP you can change it from Control Panel, under Regional and Language options. On the languages tab, make sure the "Install files for ... including Thai" is selected, then click on details, and add Thai as an input language, and the type of keyboard as an option. (If you didn't install the Thai language options, you may need your Windows CD).

Then you can switch between Thai and English by clicking on the EN or TH on your Windows toolbar.

There are instructions for other OS (i.e. 98), at http://www.thailand-uk.com/fonts.html

[Smokin Joe]

I had no idea about the keyboards. I'm back in the US and I may have that old keyboard somewhere so I'll try your advice. When I get back to Thailand I'll probably buy or have built a desktop computer and I'll make sure it has a Thai/english keyboard. I assume you would normally get the Thai version of windows if you buy locally.

[Maejo Man]

I had no idea about the keyboards. I'm back in the US and I may have that old keyboard somewhere so I'll try your advice. When I get back to Thailand I'll probably buy or have built a desktop computer and I'll make sure it has a Thai/english keyboard. I assume you would normally get the Thai version of windows if you buy locally.

Smokin Joe, the majority of keyboards sold in Thailand have both english and thai keys on them, and to get one with just english keys is difficult. Yes, the local Thai version of Windows has an icon in the start bar which says "en/th" just simply click to change.....

[kenk3z]

It seems that Thai language characters are supported in international Unicode. This means that you can send and receive Thai with computer systems that support the Thai Unicode without any special hardware or software. I can use my standard (US) issued Windows XP for example, and the IE browser and my E-Mail programs support Unicode.

Unicode is easy to display. Much more work to type. To get a Unicode character, you can type in the HEX (hexadecimal) sequence that represents the character, and then type ALT+X. Not sure about other O/S, but my Windows XP then converts that HEX sequence into a Thai character. In many cases it seems that Thai characters are a combination of two Unicode characters, so you have to type in the HEX sequence for what I'll call the "base" character, and then another sequence for what I'll call the "accent" mark.

If you want to proceed with this painful way of typing Thai, refer to the following URL for the Thai Unicode characters and their HEX sequences:

http://www.alanwood.net/unicode/thai.html

The following text is Unicode Thai and if your browser displays Thai characters it is Unicode compliant:

สวัสคี ครับ

Probably the most fun thing I have discovered is that Windows XP supports Unicode for naming files. So does Microsoft Word and PowerPoint. I'm gonna start freaking some people out at work.......

This lets you type Thai without a Thai keyboard and you don't need to share a common Thai font with the recipients. I wouldn't want to do a term paper with it though. I was able to send a Thai message with this unicode through Yahoo Messenger, but my TGF's phone is not set up to display Thai SMS. At least I think that's what happened. Next I'll be trying E-Mail.

kenk3z

[katana]

To set-up an English version of Win 95/98/ME to type Thai, see here:

http://www.geocities.com/siamsmile365/typi.../typingthai.htm