Is creating a phonetic word list helpful when studying Thai language or does it soon get too cumbersome to be of use?

 

Or, is it simpler just to get someone else's word list and use that?

 

I'd say it depends how time you have and what level you're aiming for.  What I've done is create a set of flashcards containing the 1000 most popular words. The flashcard plays the audio of a word, and then I attempt to type the word in Thai. It's a good way of becoming familiar with both the pronunciation and the spelling of the word.

 

This is the deck I used as a base https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/2201805440

I started using Anki just over a month ago. I find it slow and/or a bit of a chore to add cards, there's 168 cards now. Anki has proved to me that I do forget words, and that certain words just do not stick (I fail to remember them every time they come up).

 

At the weekend I thought I'd have a go at downloading and using someone else's deck, a deck of 3000. I've found I'm knowing about 50% of those cards and it's amusing to just use the deck to test myself.

 

Which helps more in the long run, do your own as you come across words or use someone's deck, I don't know.

 

Whichever way, it proves I still have a lot to learn.

 

I watch vids, listen to podcasts, read books, do Anki, speak with the family. Sometimes I feel like I'm just not getting there then other days I'll listen to something in Thai and be chuffed I follow it and know most the words. Learning thai is a marathon.

 

The very process of creating the Wordlist (for Anki etc) creates memory of the words. Don't jump this step.

•Only add words you personally read or hear or a friend suggests.

•Never add words "by reverse" (looking up in a Native to Thai language dictionary) because you'll learn rare/outdated/unused words or words with a certain nuance lost without context (i.e. only use a Thai-Eng dictionary, not a Eng-Thai dictionary for adding words).