BananaThai or Thapod101?

[itsallmedia]

I'm looking to learn to read and write Thai, but can't decide between these two courses. I read stuart jay reviews and wasn't keen.

 

I've been how to read/write Thai in 10 days book, but struggling with book format and want something online.

 

Would appreciate anyone who has used either program or another to leave a review/advice. Thanks!

[Chris.B]

Try here, they are very good.

 

https://learnthaiwithmod.com/reading-and-writing-thai-course/

 

 

[Oxx]

Have you looked at https://thai-notes.com/reading/index.html ? Despite the name, it covers writing as well as reading with animations showing the correct way to write characters and has worksheets for writing practice.  On the reading side, there's lots of interactive practice.  It's free, no ads.

[itsallmedia]

10 hours ago, Chris.B said:

Try here, they are very good.

 

https://learnthaiwithmod.com/reading-and-writing-thai-course/

 

 

Thanks, I'll consider this also! The group lessons seem interesting as well.

[Bredbury Blue]

Having recently taught myself to read (I won’t bother with learning to write), I think you have made a wise decision learning to read. I enjoy going around and reading signs, etc., in Thai and wish I’d learnt decades ago.

 

As mentioned, I taught myself so I can’t comment on using the reading/writing courses of BananaThai or Thaipod101 or any other.

 

I have subscribed and watch BananaThai’s videos and I listen to her podcasts and really like her and her approach.

 

Thaipod101 I subscribe for the videos on youtube but haven’t bothered to watch any yet (too much advertising themselves for me).

 

I also subscribe to ThaiwithMod videos and recommend the two lovely ladies.

 

I also really recommend Speak Thai Possible on youtube. Her lessons on tones is the best in my opinion - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhVpY7TlO-o

 

I watched a lot of Stuart Jay Ray videos. If I could pick up and a see his book in a book shop I might buy a copy but as that’s not possible currently I didn’t bother with it. I would just recommend as very useful his Youtube lessons where he uses his ‘map of the mouth’.

 

 

So here’s how I learnt to read (I’m still at the stage of reading slowly):

 

1. I used the lessons in the brilliant old book ‘THE FUNDAMENTALS OF THE THAI LANGUAGE (Fifth Edition) by Stuart Campbell and Chuan Shaweevongs’ to learn the consonants, vowels, tone rules, etc. I bought the book years ago and I found it online here

http://www.lyndonhill.com/FunThai/CONTENTS.html

 

2. After I knew a bit about the basics (consonants, vowels, tone rules, etc.) I searched around for youtube tutorials I liked. Funnily, I found this English guy Phil to be the best (he explains reading over about 20 tutorials and uses his Thai wife to pronounce the words in Thai – it works well). His website is http://phil.uk.net/tutorials/index.html

The YouTube videos are here: Learn To Read Thai Video Tutorial 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZuOB_HFIhQ

 

3. I now know the basics and I’m close to finishing off the translation lessons in the Stuart Campbell book. I tried reading some of my kids early age Thai books but I didn’t enjoy reading kiddies stuff so I persevere with grown-up text and use google translate to translate all the words I don’t know. It will be a slow process to improve but I’m doing a bit every day.

 

4. As mentioned I can read standard text, but I really still struggle with all of the other fonts in thai. Hopefully that will improve in time. I found this lesson very useful https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdy0KRJp4s4&t=570s

 

[KeeTua]

4 hours ago, Bredbury Blue said:

Having recently taught myself to read (I won’t bother with learning to write)

If you can touch type already learning to type Thai is easy. It comes in handy when you want to look up a Thai word using your smartphone or computer. I look up words frequently from Thai subtitles in YouTube videos it helps to build vocabulary and by typing it I think it helps to imprint the word in the brain.

 

I don't remember which website I used to learn typing but I just did a quick search and this one looks good:

https://thai-notes.com/typing/typingtrainer.html

Check out the typing trainer link. Or look around for other sites. Ideally you'd have a keyboard with Thai characters or Thai stickers.

I see there is a user here named ThaiNotes I wonder if he is associated with that site.

 

4 hours ago, Bredbury Blue said:

‘THE FUNDAMENTALS OF THE THAI LANGUAGE

Great book, I bought a copy over 30 years ago. I left it back in the US but wish I had it here to refer to on occasion.

[Bredbury Blue]

2 minutes ago, KeeTua said:

If you can touch type already learning to type Thai is easy. It comes in handy when you want to look up a Thai word using your smartphone or computer. I look up words frequently from Thai subtitles in YouTube videos it helps to build vocabulary and by typing it I think it helps to imprint the word in the brain.

 

I don't remember which website I used to learn typing but I just did a quick search and this one looks good:

https://thai-notes.com/typing/typingtrainer.html

Check out the typing trainer link. Or look around for other sites. Ideally you'd have a keyboard with Thai characters or Thai stickers.

I see there is a user here named ThaiNotes I wonder if he is associated with that site.

 

Great book, I bought a copy over 30 years ago. I left it back in the US but wish I had it here to refer to on occasion.

 

Go to the link I posted for the Fundamentals of Thai book, and I agree that it is an excellent book.

 

I type (slowly) Thai in to Google translate to get the English translation and I noticed that the Thai characters on the keyboard are tiny (far smaller than English characters) which isn't great when you're learning.

 

[KeeTua]

1 hour ago, Bredbury Blue said:

I type (slowly) Thai in to Google translate to get the English translation and I noticed that the Thai characters on the keyboard are tiny (far smaller than English characters) which isn't great when you're learning.

If you learn to touch type the size of the Thai characters on the keyboard don't matter so much once you've memorized their location but if doing hunt and peck the small characters would be a problem. Hunt and peck Thai is painfully slow, been there done that. Try a lesson for a half hour, I think you'll benefit from it.

[itsallmedia]

So I signed up to Banana Thai reading basics class on a subscription. Haven't started or gone through it yet.

 

Did a placement test with learn with mod and couldn't answer any haha. Will join their beginners class at the same time.

[MrJ2U]

"Drops" app.

 

Nice for the lazy guys like me where learning a Thai word or two a week is overachieving.

 

Paid or free version.

 

[Aforek]

On 8/4/2021 at 1:58 PM, Bredbury Blue said:

 

 

1. I used the lessons in the brilliant old book ‘THE FUNDAMENTALS OF THE THAI LANGUAGE (Fifth Edition) by Stuart Campbell and Chuan Shaweevongs’ to learn the consonants, vowels, tone rules, etc. I bought the book years ago and I found it online here

http://www.lyndonhill.com/FunThai/CONTENTS.html

 

 

I have learnt to read thai ( and also the fundamentals of the language  ) with this Bible , very good book, and now I can read easily, ( doesn't mean I understand everything but I have a very big and good dictonnary and I note new words  ) 

I know " learn with mod ", good but it doesn't explain the basis of the language as the fundamentals of Thai language does

now I read this , with Thai subtitles and slow speech with VLC if needed

 

Advanced Thai with Kruu Momm - YouTube

 

[Bredbury Blue]

19 hours ago, Aforek said:

I have learnt to read thai ( and also the fundamentals of the language  ) with this Bible , very good book, and now I can read easily, ( doesn't mean I understand everything but I have a very big and good dictonnary and I note new words  ) 

I know " learn with mod ", good but it doesn't explain the basis of the language as the fundamentals of Thai language does

now I read this , with Thai subtitles and slow speech with VLC if needed

 

Advanced Thai with Kruu Momm - YouTube

 

Thanks for the Kruu Momm videos suggestion. Watched the very first one on mamma noodles yesterday. Was able to follow most of it if I slowed it down to .75 speed. A few words I didn't know which I picked out. A good exercise. I'll try more of them. 

 

She used a term of death day (wan daay) when talking about mamma. I didn't get it so I asked the wife who at first didn't get it. Turns out she was probably meaning expiry date (using a jokey term maybe?). That had me totally confused for about 10mins. ????

[KeeTua]

2 hours ago, Bredbury Blue said:

She used a term of death day (wan daay) when talking about mamma. I didn't get it so I asked the wife who at first didn't get it. Turns out she was probably meaning expiry date (using a jokey term maybe?). That had me totally confused for about 10mins.

In that video the phrase เป็นสินค้าที่ไม่มีวันตาย is used in the sense that mamaa noodles is a product that's never going away, they are immortal.

[Bredbury Blue]

2 hours ago, KeeTua said:

In that video the phrase เป็นสินค้าที่ไม่มีวันตาย is used in the sense that mamaa noodles is a product that's never going away, they are immortal.

That makes more sense, thanks.

[Bredbury Blue]

6 hours ago, Bredbury Blue said:

Thanks for the Kruu Momm videos suggestion. Watched the very first one on mamma noodles yesterday. Was able to follow most of it if I slowed it down to .75 speed. A few words I didn't know which I picked out. A good exercise. I'll try more of them. 

 

She used a term of death day (wan daay) when talking about mamma. I didn't get it so I asked the wife who at first didn't get it. Turns out she was probably meaning expiry date (using a jokey term maybe?). That had me totally confused for about 10mins. ????

I thought I'd struck lucky with kruu momm, as she talks a level I can follow most of and the words she uses I don't understand I can pick from the captions, but it seems only the first of vids has captions and none of the others which is a pity. 

 

 

[itsallmedia]

I've started the first section of Banana Thai and I'm not very keen on the delivery for certain parts. As I'm learning the letters, she uses examples with letters that are not taught yet and completely confuses me. I will continue the course until my month is expired then will switch to something else and just use the videos to learn the alphabet (albeit with a ton of jumping around videos).

[Bredbury Blue]

1 hour ago, itsallmedia said:

I've started the first section of Banana Thai and I'm not very keen on the delivery for certain parts. As I'm learning the letters, she uses examples with letters that are not taught yet and completely confuses me. I will continue the course until my month is expired then will switch to something else and just use the videos to learn the alphabet (albeit with a ton of jumping around videos).

Sorry to hear that:

 

1. I used the lessons in the brilliant old book ‘THE FUNDAMENTALS OF THE THAI LANGUAGE (Fifth Edition) by Stuart Campbell and Chuan Shaweevongs’ to learn the consonants, vowels, tone rules, etc. I bought the book years ago and I found it online here

http://www.lyndonhill.com/FunThai/CONTENTS.html

 

2. After I knew a bit about the basics (consonants, vowels, tone rules, etc.) I searched around for youtube tutorials I liked. Funnily, I found this English guy Phil to be the best (he explains reading over about 20 tutorials and uses his Thai wife to pronounce the words in Thai – it works well). His website is http://phil.uk.net/tutorials/index.html

The YouTube videos are here: Learn To Read Thai Video Tutorial 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZuOB_HFIhQ

 

One important thing i learned was not to learn the order of consonants in the order they teach them in schools (as it makes no sense), but instead its better to learn the consonants by high class, middle class and low class as per Stuart Jay Ray's map of the mouth (attached). I learnt the middle class line first (left vertical column) then hign class (2nd from left column), etc, until i'd memorised that chart - took a while but i found it invaluable.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSiwUCCIhPY

 

Don't give up i think is the answer. I've been learning off and on for decades and never got anywhere, but since the turn of this year i decided I'm going to crack this bloody language and everyday i learn a bit. I change often my approach. I'll be in to someones videos and then i'll switch to someone else's videos. Then i'll read more and/or learn more words. Then i'll start watching vids again. I think anything helps. About a month ago i started using Anki cards - its very time consuming but by using them i've proven to myself that i learn words then i forget a lot of them so hopefully using Anki cards will help me retain the vocabulary i learn.

 

cupdf.com_thai-consonant-map-20-stuart-jay-raj.pdf

[katana]

 

On 8/21/2021 at 9:03 AM, Bredbury Blue said:

One important thing i learned was not to learn the order of consonants in the order they teach them in schools (as it makes no sense),

It does if you want to look up words in a Thai dictionary.

Edited August 25, 2021 by katana

[Bredbury Blue]

31 minutes ago, katana said:

 

It does if you want to look up words in a Thai dictionary.

True if using a book dictionary, but I guess most of us these days use online dictionaries so there is need to learn in the order of kor Kai, etc.

[KeeTua]

40 minutes ago, katana said:

 

It does if you want to look up words in a Thai dictionary.

Valid point but personally it's been years since I've used a Thai dictionary one reason is the text in my dictionaries is too small for my aging eyes and looking up words on the Internet is just easier all around and you can get audio too if desired. I think learning to type Thai for better use of online dictionaries is more important than learning the correct order of the characters. Learn both if you have the time and desire.

 

Speaking of dictionaries my current go to favorite is: https://www.thai2english.com/
I've recently started to use https://thai-notes.com/dictionaries/haas.html which uses the Mary Haas dictionary database for the back end. A forum member created the site and very nicely done.

[Bredbury Blue]

21 hours ago, KeeTua said:

Valid point but personally it's been years since I've used a Thai dictionary one reason is the text in my dictionaries is too small for my aging eyes and looking up words on the Internet is just easier all around and you can get audio too if desired. I think learning to type Thai for better use of online dictionaries is more important than learning the correct order of the characters. Learn both if you have the time and desire.

 

Speaking of dictionaries my current go to favorite is: https://www.thai2english.com/
I've recently started to use https://thai-notes.com/dictionaries/haas.html which uses the Mary Haas dictionary database for the back end. A forum member created the site and very nicely done.

I would agree with that. Using online dictionaries / translators has meant i have had to learn my way around a Thai keyboard (so bloody small on my phone).

 

My go-to is thai-language.com and google/translate, but if i'm not happy or convinced with what they shows i go to thai-notes.com/dictionaries/predictionary or www.thai2english.com.

[itsallmedia]

So continuing my journey of learning thai, I have to say I'm happy with the road I've gone down. Banana Thai later episodes are great once I've realised some examples have not been covered yet and has been helping me learn to read quickly.

 

I've done the 2nd live class with learn with mod with Kru Pear and the group classes are brilliant. They are so fun and comfortable and I'm excited to do my next class. I'm glad I did the live class as it's made it much more enjoyable than solo studying.

[Chris.B]

21 hours ago, itsallmedia said:

I've done the 2nd live class with learn with mod with Kru Pear and the group classes are brilliant. They are so fun and comfortable and I'm excited to do my next class. I'm glad I did the live class as it's made it much more enjoyable than solo studying.

I absolutely agree with you!

 

https://learnthaiwithmod.com/online-group-lessons/

 

[Aforek]

On 8/25/2021 at 4:56 PM, katana said:

 

It does if you want to look up words in a Thai dictionary.

Really, first, I love " Fundamentals of thai language ", and second, for reading, I read everything on my computer or my e-boot BUT for thai vocabulary ; it's so nice to have a real book in my hands ! mine is big, comfortable and very easy for the eyes ; it's this one 

 

9789742127855: New Se-ed's English-Thai Thai-English Dictionary Revised and Updated Edition (English Thai Thai English Dictionary, Completely Revised and Updated) - AbeBooks - Dr. Wit Thiengburanathum Ph.D, B.Sc., M.Sc., MPA, LL.B.: 9742127859

Edited September 3, 2021 by Aforek

[Bredbury Blue]

On 8/4/2021 at 1:58 PM, Bredbury Blue said:

So here’s how I learnt to read (I’m still at the stage of reading slowly):

 

1. I used the lessons in the brilliant old book ‘THE FUNDAMENTALS OF THE THAI LANGUAGE (Fifth Edition) by Stuart Campbell and Chuan Shaweevongs’ to learn the consonants, vowels, tone rules, etc. I bought the book years ago and I found it online here

http://www.lyndonhill.com/FunThai/CONTENTS.html

The website has been updated. But found an archive copy at 

 

https://web.archive.org/web/20180821202823/http://www.lyndonhill.com/FunThai/CONTENTS.html

 

[rsskga]

The Fundamentals of the Thai Language (Fifth Edition) by Stuart Campbell and Chuan Shaweevongs is also available as a PDF at Scribd. If you sign up for a free 30 day trial with your email address (unfortunately, you will need to provide payment info to start the trial) you will be able to download the file. Then, you can immediately cancel the subscription from your account page, or enjoy the full 30 days of the trial and go from there.