Dictionary

[bhoydy]

I want a good recommendation for a Thai-English English-Thai dictionary, desk size. I can read Thai but want someone with dictionary experience to recommend. Thanks

[DavidHouston]

I want a good recommendation for a Thai-English English-Thai dictionary, desk size. I can read Thai but want someone with dictionary experience to recommend. Thanks

My favorite is the Domnern Sathienpong Thai-English Dictionary, Third Edition. This volume is available both in hardcover and in paper. The hardcover version contains a CD which is downloadable to your hard disk. You can search this electronic dictionary in both English and Thai. In addition the CD has voice pronunciation for every entry. Let me know if you have any questions regarding this dictionary.

For more dictionary references and reviews, see http://www.thai-language.com/store. Good luck.

[bhoydy]

I want a good recommendation for a Thai-English English-Thai dictionary, desk size. I can read Thai but want someone with dictionary experience to recommend. Thanks

My favorite is the Domnern Sathienpong Thai-English Dictionary, Third Edition. This volume is available both in hardcover and in paper. The hardcover version contains a CD which is downloadable to your hard disk. You can search this electronic dictionary in both English and Thai. In addition the CD has voice pronunciation for every entry. Let me know if you have any questions regarding this dictionary.

For more dictionary references and reviews, see http://www.thai-language.com/store. Good luck.

Thanks David, i'll have a look around for it in Chiang Mai

[meadish_sweetball]

I second that recommendation. Excellent resource.

The only downside is that some of the GUI (menus and 'fixed' parts of the program) will not be displayed correctly in Thai characters when used on a non Thai Windows system. The essential parts of the dictionary are still very much intact and show correctly though.

[kriswillems]

I second that recommendation. Excellent resource.

The only downside is that some of the GUI (menus and 'fixed' parts of the program) will not be displayed correctly in Thai characters when used on a non Thai Windows system. The essential parts of the dictionary are still very much intact and show correctly though.

Are you talking about windows XP?

Did you already try to change

control panel - regional and language options - advanced - language for non-unicode programs

to Thai?

Windows Vista should have a similar setting.

The disadvantage of using this setting is that if you use your computer for programs with non-English and non-Thai characters, the programs might not display their characters correctly (if they are non-unicode programs).

[DavidHouston]

I second that recommendation. Excellent resource.

The only downside is that some of the GUI (menus and 'fixed' parts of the program) will not be displayed correctly in Thai characters when used on a non Thai Windows system. The essential parts of the dictionary are still very much intact and show correctly though.

Meadish,

Can you please provide an example of dysfunction? I am running the U.S. Vista an the D-S dictionary seems to be working fine. Perhaps I am not using all of the postential functionalily. Thanks.

[katana]

It seemed to display properly on a Win XP installation I saw a while back too.

[meadish_sweetball]

I second that recommendation. Excellent resource.

The only downside is that some of the GUI (menus and 'fixed' parts of the program) will not be displayed correctly in Thai characters when used on a non Thai Windows system. The essential parts of the dictionary are still very much intact and show correctly though.

Meadish,

Can you please provide an example of dysfunction? I am running the U.S. Vista an the D-S dictionary seems to be working fine. Perhaps I am not using all of the postential functionalily. Thanks.

Looks like I spoke too soon then, or maybe it is because my system is older? I will arrange screenshots, but I need to access my other machine as I don't have the dictionary installed on this one.

[5tash]

I second that recommendation. Excellent resource.

The only downside is that some of the GUI (menus and 'fixed' parts of the program) will not be displayed correctly in Thai characters when used on a non Thai Windows system. The essential parts of the dictionary are still very much intact and show correctly though.

I was having the same problems as you Meadish. I followed Kriswillems instructions and changed the settings for non-unicode programs to Thai. Now it's working fine. What an excellent dictionary by the way, and the cd rom with the spoken entries is a great feature. Thanks Kris for the uni-code advice.

[kriswillems]

If you use this setting (Thai for non-unicode programs), you'll also be allowed to use the accent grave key to switch between Thai and English keyboard layout, which is more comfortable than pressing shift-alt.

For this you've to do the folllowing in windows XP (vista should have something similar):

control panel - regional and language settings - languages - text and input languages - details - change key sequence - grave accent

Without setting the language for non-unicode programs to Thai you'll not be allowed to use the accent grave key to switch languages.

The fact that the dictionary is a non-unicode program is not a positive point of this piece of software.

[5tash]

Thanks Kris, I've just arrived back in England from Thailand and having to use shift+alt to change between Thai and English has been a bit of a nuisance.

Like you said using the accent grave key is more comfortable.

The fact that this dictionary is a non-unicode program is not a positive point for this software but i think that this software has many other positive points that make up for that fault.

Thanks again Kris.

[5tash]

Kris, I'm experiencing a problem when using this setting. If i am typing in English the (') single quotation mark key changes the language from English to Thai but won't change back to English. I have to use the accent grave key to change back to English. Also i have to press the (') key a bit longer than usual for it to produce ('), so i end up getting ('''''''''''') and have to delete back, the language is also changed to Thai at this stage. Any suggestions? Thanks.

[5tash]

Problem solved! There must have been a problem with the actual (') key, maybe a bit of dirt or something. Working fine now. I still find it strange why this would cause the keyboard to change from English to Thai.

[kriswillems]

Problem solved! There must have been a problem with the actual (') key, maybe a bit of dirt or something. Working fine now. I still find it strange why this would cause the keyboard to change from English to Thai.

That is indeed strange. The single quotation mark is on the same key as the double quotation mark or ง, right?

On my computer this key doesn't change the input language.

Or is the problem fixed with cleaning your keyboard? There should be a lot of dirt in your keyboard to cause such a behavior

Since I stay in Thailand my keyboard is also really dirty. I've a house with a lot of windows here that are all open during the day. On two weeks my keyboard is full of dust and even insects (ants).

The blue alcohol that they sell in Thai pharmacies (iso-propanol) is cheap and it's an excellent product to clean your keyboard.

[5tash]

On my computer if you nominate the accent grade key to inter-change between English and Thai the key with (' " ง) single quotation, double quotation mark and ง also changes from English to Thai but not Thai back to English. As you can imagine this is quite annoying when you are trying to type. If I nominate either ctrl+shift or left alt+shift to inter-change English and Thai there is no problem with the (' " ง). I have Vista on my computer, maybe this a fault with Vista and you don't get the same problem with XP. I'll just have to stick with ctrl+shift.