One of my current favorite ways of learning Thai is reading bi-lingual or translated books since I can just compare the texts so I don't have to use the dictionary very often. One concern I have is how well are they translated? I read the Scooby-doo bi-lingual books and found a few mistakes where they translated it too literally and changed the meaning. I recently found a few of the Lemony Snicket books and they are just the right level for me (and entertaining enough for me to want to read them) but I want to make sure I'm not learning to construct sentences in a stilted, awkward manner. In my far from expert opinion they seem to be pretty good but I'd like to hear some feedback from some of the more experienced learners here.

The other option is to find original Thai books that have been translated to English but there aren't too many of them. I looked at the thaifiction.com website and bought one of Chart's books but it might be a bit of a struggle at this point. I know about "Happiness of Kati" but it doesn't really interest me. I just bought a bi-lingual book called "The shark that lost his teeth". I'm not sure how much I'll like it but at least the Thai will be correct.

Thanks for any help.

It is well known that the Thai versions of the Harry Potter books were meticulously translated from English into Thai. A lot of Thai students have done the reverse and work from the Thai versions to the English with some good results.

However, for me, there is no substitute for hitting the dictionary to build up that vocab. It's tiresome and frustrating I know, but you reap the rewards in the long run.

Double Posted! Apologies!