Thai For Beginners

[jimjom]

Hi there

I was planning to get Thai for beginners by Benjawan Poomsan Becker, I've found the book itself for 299 baht and the book with CDs for 799 baht.

Do you guys think its worth paying an extra 500 baht for the CDs considering i have a thai wife to help with pronounciation.

Ps i'm not tight but with the value of the pound lately i have to watch the bahts.

[DavidHouston]

Hi there

I was planning to get Thai for beginners by Benjawan Poomsan Becker, I've found the book itself for 299 baht and the book with CDs for 799 baht.

Do you guys think its worth paying an extra 500 baht for the CDs considering i have a thai wife to help with pronounciation.

Ps i'm not tight but with the value of the pound lately i have to watch the bahts.

My opinion is that having a real live speaker to help you with pronunciation is the best method, especially because she can give you feedback which the recording cannot. However, the question is whether she have the patience to teach you in a systematic manner and would she be willing to spend the time to do so.

BTW, did you teach your wife how to drive? If you have, you will know what I mean.

[klons]

Hi there

I was planning to get Thai for beginners by Benjawan Poomsan Becker, I've found the book itself for 299 baht and the book with CDs for 799 baht.

Do you guys think its worth paying an extra 500 baht for the CDs considering i have a thai wife to help with pronounciation.

Ps i'm not tight but with the value of the pound lately i have to watch the bahts.

My opinion is that having a real live speaker to help you with pronunciation is the best method, especially because she can give you feedback which the recording cannot. However, the question is whether she have the patience to teach you in a systematic manner and would she be willing to spend the time to do so.

BTW, did you teach your wife how to drive? If you have, you will know what I mean.

It can be dangerous having a wife help with you Thai. Some months ago I asked mine about rao jai from the Nescafe commercial. She said, it means fast heart, you know how you get at the Mall when you see all the girls in short skirts. I denied it, she got mad and things went downhill from there.

[wasabi]

I got the software (not audio CD) that came with that book and I found it very helpful. I think Thai for Beginners and Thai for intermediate learners are among the best Thai education books out there.

Edited May 30, 2009 by wasabi

[Rionoir]

If you have a native speaker obviously it's going to be more useful than a CD... as long as you're sure she'll sit down and do all your lessons with you when you want to do them.

[jimjom]

Hi guys, thank's for your replys.

Someone has very kindly sent me a message saying I can "borrow" their CDs, so that sorts that out.

With regard to patience learning with the wife it's normally mine that runs out first after I repeat what she say's exactly how she say's it maybe fifty times and she still say's i'm saying it wrong

Repeat to self Jai yen yen, Jai yen yen.

[fullservice]

I was in a similar situation some months ago. The books are ok but the cds just have few examples. Learning from your wife will be hard if she is not a Thai teacher and can explain you details. I tried it with my girlfriend and it is good to practice but you will still need someone to explain you all the details. A friend recommended me this online course for beginners here: http://learn-thai-podcast.com/premiumcourse.php and it was a great investment. I have learned much more Thai in the last 6 weeks since I joined this course than in the last 6 months trying to learn with books.

[fishandchips]

hi,

i find myself in the same position as you were. i have the book and spend most of my time disagreeing with myself as to the correct pronunciation. i was wondering if i could jump on your bandwagon as to getting hold of the cd's or mp3 versions, i'd be happy with tape or even vinyl for that matter.

let me know what you think

thanks

[Datsun240Z]

Hi there

I was planning to get Thai for beginners by Benjawan Poomsan Becker, I've found the book itself for 299 baht and the book with CDs for 799 baht.

Do you guys think its worth paying an extra 500 baht for the CDs considering i have a thai wife to help with pronounciation.

Ps i'm not tight but with the value of the pound lately i have to watch the bahts.

My opinion is that having a real live speaker to help you with pronunciation is the best method, especially because she can give you feedback which the recording cannot. However, the question is whether she have the patience to teach you in a systematic manner and would she be willing to spend the time to do so.

BTW, did you teach your wife how to drive? If you have, you will know what I mean.

It can be dangerous having a wife help with you Thai. Some months ago I asked mine about rao jai from the Nescafe commercial. She said, it means fast heart, you know how you get at the Mall when you see all the girls in short skirts. I denied it, she got mad and things went downhill from there.

So you denied the girls in short skirts and then what?

Edit: @ OP ; I ordered this book to, seems a good basic for the language!

Edited July 9, 2009 by Datsun240Z

[monoli87]

Hi there

I was planning to get Thai for beginners by Benjawan Poomsan Becker, I've found the book itself for 299 baht and the book with CDs for 799 baht.

Do you guys think its worth paying an extra 500 baht for the CDs considering i have a thai wife to help with pronounciation.

Ps i'm not tight but with the value of the pound lately i have to watch the bahts.

greetings to Mr. jimjom...

i'm one user of Thai for beginner authored by Benjawan Poomsan Becker, I then pursue more stage to Thai for Intermediate learner and Thai for advance readers same publisher and same author....

in my opinion... i think formal text book is more helpful than personal guide... unless if your wife is a professional language teacher... otherwise it's difficult for you to learn and difficult for her to teach...

the most difficult thing for westerner or non-Thai speaker is to speak correctly based on transliteration... Thai language have various of Thai learning book, also various of author then... so, normally transliteration is totally different by any each books....

like สวัสดีครับ, some book just write "sawatdee krap", some write "sawasdee krap" also "sawasdii krub"...

i think it's really confusing for us (non-thai speaker) to learn without systematic guide and sometimes we have to face a lot of unclear pronounce in regarding transliteration...

well... honestly i've Thai best friend... she ever help me to teach Thai language... not to formal, just a friend talking.... hahaha...

first of all she's happy to teach me, but soon... she's getting tired.... it's hard for me to speak fluently based on her writting... and hard for me to heard any word that she pronounce for...

and now.... i'm so lucky enough as i'm a bit fluent in Paa Saa Thai especially Thai simple phrases.... thanks to benjawan poomsan becker and her collection about learning Thai....

so have a try, and a very good luck for you!!!!

Edited July 9, 2009 by monoli87