Learning Thai Books/cd's

[JMSThai]

I'm headed to Thailand in Feb. 2005 and I wanted a reccommendation on which books/cd sets are the best to learn some conversational Thai basics. I was looking at 'Thai for Beginners' by Benjawan Poomsan Becker. Any comments on this set or other suggestions?

[Beanster1]

Thai for beginners isn't a bad book. She's also got a CD called "Improving your Thai pronunciation" which is good for a beginner getting to grips with the language. If you are going to be here for any length of time, more than 6 months, I'd recommend that you try and pick up the Thai script. It seems harder than it is, but once you get it ,your pronunciation will be much better than using phonetics and your vocab will increase much faster as you'll be picking up everything you read around you!

A good book to get you started reading is "Learning to read Thai" by Sriwilai Ponmanee who is the Director for teaching Thai as a foreign language at Chiang Mai Uni.

[Jockstar]

Anyone know of a free Thai language website with audio?

[et33.com]

learnthai.com

[george]

Here is a few books and CD's:

http://www.thaivisa.com/dco.0.html

[meadish_sweetball]

http://www.seasite.niu.edu/Thai/default.htm . Read the link about fonts on this page, follow the instructions to install them, and you are away.

[RDN]

Here is a few books and CD's:

http://www.thaivisa.com/dco.0.html

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Blimey! $19.50 for BP Becker's "Thai for Beginners"! Mine's got 299 Baht on the back ($7.50)

[Jockstar]

Hey meadish. Does this website have audio? Also is it much better than learnthai.com?

[loong]

If you buy any books to help you learn Thai, I am sure that they are all cheaper if you buy them in Thailand.

I started to learn with "Teach yourself Thai" available with or without a cassette tape. I think this book is good for the absolute beginner. Don't ignore the written Thai though. Many people think it unimportant to be able to read Thai, but it really helps with the pronunciation.

Many dictionaries use the official romanised thai and this can lead to serious mispronunciations. You will hear many farang use the K sound where it should be a G sound and P where it should be Bp.

[Tarragona]

You will hear many farang use the K sound where it should be a G sound and P where it should be Bp.

Think that's an unaspirated K not a G. Although that probably sounds pretty much like a G anyway.

[meadish_sweetball]

Hey meadish. Does this website have audio? Also is it much better than learnthai.com?

The website does have audio. I am not sure whether it is better or worse than learnthai.com at your stage. Why not play around with both of them and see which one you like best?

[loong]

You will hear many farang use the K sound where it should be a G sound and P where it should be Bp.

Think that's an unaspirated K not a G. Although that probably sounds pretty much like a G anyway.

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The original poster appears to be a total beginner, so talk of an unaspirated K would be a bit confusing. But a G sound is certainly a lot closer than a K, unless you look at it as the K in "Skin", but most farang don't.

[RDN]

The original poster appears to be a total beginner, so talk of an unaspirated K would be a bit confusing. But a G sound is certainly a lot closer than a K, unless you look at it as the K in "Skin", but most farang don't.  

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That's interesting! I have never noticed that the K in "skin" is more like a G.

[meadish_sweetball]

The original poster appears to be a total beginner, so talk of an unaspirated K would be a bit confusing. But a G sound is certainly a lot closer than a K, unless you look at it as the K in "Skin", but most farang don't.  

That's interesting! I have never noticed that the K in "skin" is more like a G.

It is a great way to learn how to pronounce Thai words with ก correctly, so they dont get the softer quality of a "g". Say "skin" very slowly and then practice keeping the sound quality of the "k" in "skin" but skip the "s" - then you are saying something approximating "กิน" (to eat) already.

Since Thai has no "g" sound it does not matter that much if you replace the ก sounds with the "g" sound instead, because that slight mispronunciation can not be confused with another, valid Thai sound.

In the case of pronouncing it exactly like the "k" in "kraut" or "king" though, it can be confused with the aspirated sound of the Thai letters ค ข ฆ instead. Cf. the difference between the initial sounds of "khaaw"[FL] (rice) (aspirated sound with a puff of air before the "aa" vowel) and "kaaw"[FL] (step, stride; nine) (unaspirated "k" with no puff of air before the "aa" vowel).

[RDN]

It is a great way to learn how to pronounce Thai words with ก correctly.......

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Thanks Meadish - excellent and useful post. (My g/f thinks I've gone loopy making funny noises with my throat )

[Dickie]

I bought "Thai - The Rough Guide" in the UK, part of the Rough Guide series of foreign language books. I got it a month before going to LoS for the first time and people were convinced I'd been there before (all true). It's very good for a basic grounding in the language and has examples of conversations you'll encounter.

[Spee]

If you buy any books to help you learn Thai, I am sure that they are all cheaper if you buy them in Thailand.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

100% on the money with that comment. Several of the oft-discussed beginner and intermediate books can be purchased inexpensively at Se-Ed which has a branch store on the 3rd floor in Siam Square shopping center.

Another thing I would suggest are the multitude of children's learning books and children's cartoon learning books, which are written in both Thai script and english. These don't cost much money and may be helpful in picking up some basic phrases and Thai script.

[RDN]

........ I would suggest are the multitude of children's learning books and children's cartoon learning books, which are written in both Thai script and english. ....

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I love "The Powerpuff Girls" book by the Cartoon Network . I've just got to the part where the evil Mojo Jojo has just created the Rowdyruff Boys to beat up the Powerpuff Girls.....

[et33.com]

try yahoo search / google search

type learn thai

work from there and updated here please

[Spee]

........ I would suggest are the multitude of children's learning books and children's cartoon learning books, which are written in both Thai script and english. ....

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I love "The Powerpuff Girls" book by the Cartoon Network . I've just got to the part where the evil Mojo Jojo has just created the Rowdyruff Boys to beat up the Powerpuff Girls.....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Didn't see those, but my fiancee's daughter recognized "Scooby Doo" right off the bat when I brought her some of those bi-lingual comics. Same thing for anything Disney (Winnie the Pooh, etc.)

Cheers!

[booma]

I found a lot of success with robertson's pratical English- Thai dictionary.

The phonetics are really good when you get the hang of them, Thais usually know what you are trying to say and will usually fine tune for you.

for more accurate pronounciation learn the alphabet!

[Readytogo]

I used David Smyth's "Teach Yourself Thai" and found it very good . Thai script is introduced (gradually) from the start, which is a good feature.

Becker's book requires loads of memorising and the most annoying thing for me is the way that English and Thai are used in almost the same breath.

When reading out lists of words, the English translation is read for each one, which is unnecessary because we can see the translation in the book. And the page numbers are also read out in English. I would have thought that if it was necessary to read out page numbers, this could be done in Thai as it would help us with our efforts to learn numbers. Having said all that, this course seems to be a popular choice for many people so maybe it just did not suit my style of learning.

I am still at elementary level but I can read and write fairly well (though still woefully short of vocabulary). If anybody or book tells you that Thai Grammar is simple, shoot them. And then buy Higbie's "Thai Reference Grammar".

[Jack Jones]

I use the Becker series of books. Thai for beginners is an excellent introduction to the language as it get's you reading and writing as well, which is absolutely necessary for correct pronounciation.

The intermediate series does move you away from the dependency on transaliteration as the sentences and conversations are written in Thai script only (translation at the back if required). That said, they're not perfect. I found that the CD on the intermediate course sounded like it was recored in an empty room with the echo effect on. Quite tricky at first but now I can understand Thai when spoken in caves!

[boxig]

Look at the end of this page. You can download and try it before buying.

English-Thai Phonetic dictionary

Edited January 10, 2005 by boxig

[catat]

<<You can download and try it before buying.

if you're on a pc ...

[taxexile]

Fundamentals of the Thai Language

http://www.geocities.com/funthai/

This text book for learning Thai was first published in 1957.

It is still considered the better text book for English speakers to learn how to speak, read and write Thai.

Thai | th | Thailand | language | This version of the book is in Windows Help file format and can be viewed using Windows 95 or 98. It is based on the fifth edition of the book which is no longer in print.

this is still a very useful book and the whole book can be downloaded.

[Steve2UK]

Look at the end of this page. You can download and try it before buying.

English-Thai Phonetic dictionary

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Not cheap (even at the "offer" price of US$30 at the moment), but very good clarity on the spoken recordings and a very easy-to-use interface. I understand from the author that he's going to be expanding it around June/July 2005 - no idea if it will be the same cost then........

[Steve2UK]

Fundamentals of the Thai Language

http://www.geocities.com/funthai/

This text book for learning Thai was first published in 1957.

It is still considered the better text book for English speakers to learn how to speak, read and write Thai.

Thai | th | Thailand | language | This version of the book is in Windows Help file format and can be viewed using Windows 95 or 98. It is based on the fifth edition of the book which is no longer in print.

this is still a very useful book and the whole book can be downloaded.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I get "page not found" when I try this link................

[dclaryjr]

Fundamentals of the Thai Language

http://www.geocities.com/funthai/

This text book for learning Thai was first published in 1957.

It is still considered the better text book for English speakers to learn how to speak, read and write Thai.

Thai | th | Thailand | language | This version of the book is in Windows Help file format and can be viewed using Windows 95 or 98. It is based on the fifth edition of the book which is no longer in print.

this is still a very useful book and the whole book can be downloaded.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I get "page not found" when I try this link................

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That would never shock me--my webpage of seven years just disappeared from Geocities in a flash. And stupid me had reformatted the old hard drive where I had it backed up. Lots of digital pics lost forever.

Meanwhile back on topic. I downloaded the trial version of the Rosetta Stone program and it looks interesting.

[thailotus]

Has anyone tried the Foreign Services Institute intensive Thai Course? It looks expensive so I don't want to fork out on something I'm not happy with. Any comments/reviews from those who've used it would be great.

Cheers,

Thailotus