How to improve listening comprehension

[thailandsgreat]

My listening  comprehension is poor. I look for suggestions how to improve.

 

I have used some apps. Here is my opinion on two of them. (I use Android)

 

Ling is a good app. Clear audio. Useful vocab. It writes the spoken material in both phonetic and Thai script, putting blanks  between words. It gives full sentences organized after topic and also explains basic grammar. It is a paid app.

 

Drops is another paid app. I made a short trial but maybe it didn't suit me. I only found single words and not sentences. When I searched one word the dictionary said it was obsolete. So Drops is not my first choice.

 

Does anyone have experience to share regarding listening material? I need to hear sentences that Thai people often use and see them written, preferably with an explanation.

 

 

 

Edited November 22, 2019 by thailandsgreat

[Exploring Thailand]

You could try here.

[thailandsgreat]

48 minutes ago, Exploring Thailand said:

You could try here.

Thanks. That's a good suggestion. It was also possible to copy and paste the text into Google translate. 

Edited November 22, 2019 by thailandsgreat

[tgeezer]

18 hours ago, Exploring Thailand said:

You could try here.

That was clever, I clicked ‘here’ and was there straight away. I have bookmarked that to listen later. 

[ColeBOzbourne]

There is a six volume series by Benjawan P. Becker called Speak Like a Thai. Available on CD, and some possibly available to download. I have Volume 1, Contemporary Thai Expressions, and think it is OK, not great. It is random single sentences and short phrases.

 

I also have Volume 6, Real Life Conversations, and am very happy with that one. There are 20 short conversations on a variety of subjects that are first played at normal speaking speed only in Thai. Each one is then repeated slower along with English translation. A little booklet is also provided with Thai, English, Transliteration and a Vocabulary list. Can order online, or many are available in bookstores around Bangkok for 299 baht per volume. I would estimate they are at the Upper-Intermediate level of Thai.

Edited November 23, 2019 by ColeBOzbourne

[thailandsgreat]

On 11/22/2019 at 6:03 PM, Exploring Thailand said:

You could try here.

I translate the text to English using Google and follow the text as I listen. A lot of words I don't recognize of course, but hopefully listening has some effect . The author made a thorough work.

 

 

4 hours ago, ColeBOzbourne said:

There is a six volume series by Benjawan P. Becker called Speak Like a Thai. Available on CD, and some possibly available to download. I have Volume 1, Contemporary Thai Expressions, and think it is OK, not great. It is random single sentences and short phrases.

 

I also have Volume 6, Real Life Conversations, and am very happy with that one. There are 20 short conversations on a variety of subjects that are first played at normal speaking speed only in Thai. Each one is then repeated slower along with English translation. A little booklet is also provided with Thai, English, Transliteration and a Vocabulary list. Can order online, or many are available in bookstores around Bangkok for 299 baht per volume. I would estimate they are at the Upper-Intermediate level of Thai.

It was possible to download the book and access the recordings through a web-service called Napster. After the first free month it will cost $10/month to use. Napster is not distributed to Thailand so to sign up I had to use VPN. (I just have access to a phone now.)

 

I don't absolutely need the book, but it helps. They say in English before they say in Thai. And also play nice music ????

 

Also seems very useful. Single sentences fit my level. Thanks.

 

 

Edited November 23, 2019 by thailandsgreat

[starrdog]

I'm putting together a free website that has movie subtitles in Thai and English with Thai audio at http://studythaisubs.com - It should be quite useful for something like this assuming you can read Thai.

[Exploring Thailand]

6 hours ago, tgeezer said:

That was clever, I clicked ‘here’ and was there straight away. I have bookmarked that to listen later. 

It's easy. Just click on the chain link (next to the quotation marks) which appears above the box when you are typing a message

 

[thailandsgreat]

Speak like a Thai is definitely useful. You can listen and read text at the same time on the phone using Napster.

 

[nebuer]

.

Edited November 25, 2019 by nebuer

[Gene1960]

for me Glossika Thai Fluency 1-2-3 worked the best. I was able to download the 2014 audio files and listen to them in my car while commuting. There are some mistakes and the female voice is a bit irritating with her เรา used as a pronoun, but the course is interesting enough. 

Edited November 28, 2019 by Gene1960

[thailandsgreat]

On 11/28/2019 at 10:28 PM, Gene1960 said:

for me Glossika Thai Fluency 1-2-3 worked the best. I was able to download the 2014 audio files and listen to them in my car while commuting. There are some mistakes and the female voice is a bit irritating with her เรา used as a pronoun, but the course is interesting enough. 

The web-site has useful sentences. But since it is a course they repeat many times. I would prefer fewer repeat for listening comprehension. But definitely useful.

[cmarshall]

There is an Android (and probably an iphone) app called NHK World News which provides daily broadcasts of the news from Japan Broadcasting Corp in various languages including Thai.  News items are typically short and the app provides a complete transcription of each news item.  The Thai announcers, who are all native speakers, speak very clearly.  I practice by listening to a news item a couple of times and then reading the transcription, looking up unfamiliar vocabulary.  Then I listen to the item again.

 

The advantage of this kind of exercise is that each item is short, which is preferable to watching a movie in which the story line would be more complex.  Also, I have probably encountered the content of the world news items from other sources, so that I often know the gist of the story.

 

This kind of exercise is useful to improve comprehension of spoken, formal Thai, but not of the vernacular.

[Nokawou]

I am currently listing to โน๊ต อุดน episode 12 a Thai standup comedian  with good English subtitles  and some Thai subtitles if you look around. Have fun while you learning and some insights into the Thai thinking.  

 

 

[SnakeheadAngler]

On 12/24/2019 at 12:42 PM, Nokawou said:

I am currently listing to โน๊ต อุดน episode 12 a Thai standup comedian  with good English subtitles  and some Thai subtitles if you look around. Have fun while you learning and some insights into the Thai thinking.  

 

 

Watching Thai videos along with Thai subtitles is a really great way to improve listening comprehension if you have already developed some competence in the written language.  At least it helps me.  I will watch a segment of the video (say 15 seconds or so, but gradually lengthening as I gain proficiency), ignoring the subtitles, and write down in Thai what I thought I heard.  I'll substituting boxes for the things I couldn't make out.  Then I'll go back and check my translation.  This helps me home in on the problem sounds so that my ear becomes progressively tuned to them.  The first time I listen, I may slow down the video speed so I have more time to process the input; but I only do that when absolutely necessary, and make a point to go over the material again at normal speed.

The only problem is that I only know of one Thai-language YouTube channel which offers Thai subtitles for its videos.  (OK, now that I read the post above, I know two.)  I really, really, REALLY wish that someone out there could suggest some more.  Especially welcome would be videos covering Thai local news and current events, Thai culture, and Thai TV shows and movies.