New Thai Language Book

[dragonfly94]

This may have been mentioned before, but I have read some of this new book and found it more interesting to work through than similar books. I think the layout could be improved a bit, but apart from that it's pretty good-see review-

http://www.pattayatoday.net/index.php?acti...ews&id=2171

 

[my benny rai]

I clicked on your link and my heart sank. I have been writing a very similar book that deals with Thai in familiar contexts farang will face in Thailand. The Thai language and cultural lessons of my book project are wrapped around two stories. One of my characters is also called John. I can't believe how small a world this is! I am glad that Thai learners will have another study aid, but also sad that what I have been working on is no longer as unique as I had first thought.

Does Peter Faller’s Practical Situational Thai focus only on spoken Thai or does it also teach the learner how to read Thai?

From what I could gather from the review, the focus of the book was primarily spoken Thai. The book I have been working on places a heavy emphasis on teaching reading skills and then using the Thai learned in specific situations such as introducing yourself, ordering food, asking for directions, etc. If Peter's book is different, there may still be a market for my book that aims to give step-by-step instruction in learning the consonants, vowels, tones, etc.

I will have to buy this book to see if it is worthwhile to continue my writing project! This means a trip into Bangkok in the hot weather.

Has anyone seen this book sold in a Bangkok bookstore and what do they think of it?

[JaiRawnNitNoi]

I will have to buy this book to see if it is worthwhile to continue my writing project! This means a trip into Bangkok in the hot weather.

Has anyone seen this book sold in a Bangkok bookstore and what do they think of it?

I believe that I saw this recently at the Kinokunya bookstore at the Emporium on Sukhumvit Soi 22/24. I was looking for a dictionary and skimmed through it for a few seconds. I didn't see anything too remarkable about it. I do think that it was all transliteration and focused solely on verbal communication. I don't remember seeing any tapes/CDs. Are there audio files associated with the book. If not, it doesn't seem much of an improvement from the Becker books or others. I'll try to stop by this weekend again and have another look.

[stub]

I'm not sure how useful it actually would be as a learning aid. The format of Peter's book is a slab of conversation in English, a slab of conversation in phonetically spelled Thai, repeat a few times in the longer chapters, and a vocabulary list at the end. It doesn't help you learn, eg. by explaining concepts or offering learning aids. You find yourself having to jump around between the Thai, English and vocabulary sections to try and decode things yourself. I think this may be fine for people used to learning languages, but this is unfamilar territory for me so I will be looking for better resources for home study.

[JohnC]

so I will be looking for better resources for home study.

If you find a good one with audio I would love to know as I have started classes but at only 4 hours a week I feel I could progress better with some home study!

[meadish_sweetball]

I'm not sure how useful it actually would be as a learning aid. The format of Peter's book is a slab of conversation in English, a slab of conversation in phonetically spelled Thai, repeat a few times in the longer chapters, and a vocabulary list at the end. It doesn't help you learn, eg. by explaining concepts or offering learning aids. You find yourself having to jump around between the Thai, English and vocabulary sections to try and decode things yourself. I think this may be fine for people used to learning languages, but this is unfamilar territory for me so I will be looking for better resources for home study.

May I suggest 'Teach Yourself Thai' by David Smyth as a good alternative? It uses a similar type of approach - two main English characters (John and Sue I believe), who have just come to work in Thailand, and the book takes up the situations they get into.

It is interspersed with explanations of the most important aspects of grammar and vocabulary/phrases, and also dives straight into learning the alphabet.

I used it simultaneously with studying in a more theoretical manner at university, and found everything apart from the goofy transcription (do NOT focus on that transcription, only use it as a short-term crutch) to be very well thought out and useful. The conversations were very much like the type of conversations you have in Thailand when starting to learn the language and coming here as a new arrival.

[kriswillems]

I used it simultaneously with studying in a more theoretical manner at university, and found everything apart from the goofy transcription (do NOT focus on that transcription, only use it as a short-term crutch) to be very well thought out and useful.

Agree 100%!

"teach yourself Thai" was the first book I used to study Thai. I made the big mistake to focus on the transliterations. I studied by myself. This approach was completely wrong. My pronounciation was terrible. Nobody could understand any word of what I said. I took me more than 5 years before I got the courage to start studying Thai again. It's a very good book (better than many others). But studying Thai without the help of a Thai person is very hard.

The only remark that I have about this book is that it focusses on speaking language rather than on writing language. This is very useful if you want to be able to speak quickly, but it takes the logic and structure out of the language. The strongest point about this book is that the grammar in the conversations is explained in a much better, logical and more detailed way than in many other books (that teach Thai based on fictitious conversations between persons).

Edited April 23, 2007 by kriswillems