Thai Reading And Listening-- A Model Example

[Gaccha]

You going to enjoy this.

I have taken a Thai language article on Thaksin and the red shirts from Voice of America, and translated every single word(**) and transliterated all of it for maximum user advantage. There is then a Thai audio that is almost identical to the script. And there is an identical article in English. So for a one page article it is now 24 pages long.

The words learnt will prove to be very useful for the upcoming weekend.

Here_come_the_red_shirts.PDF

Thai_Thailand_Thaksin_Rally_JS_04Mar10_0.mp3

You can do what you want but I suggest the following:

Advanced level:

Listen to the audio initially and try to catch every word. Check against the article.

Intermediate:

Read the article and try to work out meanings of words that you do not recognise.

Check these words and then read again.

Then listen to the audio for around three sentences until your brain can instantly recognise every word.

Beginner:

Try to read each word and check against the transliteration.

Listen to the audio and see if you can pick up any words.

Try to learn about 5 words and listen again to the audio.

Please note the following key:

[G] Grammar-- requires individual look up the word in a grammar book

(*) Word is a repeat. You failed to remember from first appearance in the article.

// indicates this is another meaning of the word

/ indicates this is a variation on a single meaning of word

I have done this partially to show you all what a great idea this is and partially to persuade language publisher professionals to do the same.

(**) I have not translated what are essentially grammar points. If you don't know these already you are probably a bit out of your depth already. Check out a beginner grammar book.

[SoftWater]

Thanks for this Gaccha, extremely useful and very kind of you to put in so much work for us.

The learning strategies are also excellent advice. The only thing I'd add is for beginners, it can be useful to read the English translation first to get a sense of the meaning. This will help you predict meanings when you read/listen to the Thai (a well-recognized cognitive learning strategy).

Cheers again Gaccha!

Sw

Edited March 9, 2010 by SoftWater

[kikenyoy]

Excellent work Gaccha!

"I have done this partially to show you all what a great idea this is and partially to persuade language publisher professionals to do the same."

I agree wholeheartedly. Paiboon used to produce programs that are similar to this (but with annoyingly incomplete vocabulary lists), but her latest efforts have left me totally underwhelmed.

[SimonN]

Excellent idea Gaccha!

I had a quick read through and noticed a couple of mistakes in the vocabulary lists, I'll point them out, if I may?

"ชินวัตร" is Thaksin's family name (not two seperate words)

"โฆษก" - spokesperson

there's no "ชก" the "ช" is the end of the abbreviation "นปช." and "ก" is the beginning of the word "กล่าว"

"ล่า" is part of the word "กล่าว"

"พรรคเพื่อไทย" is the Puea Thai Party

"ผู้แทน" - representative

I hope this is of some help.

[Gaccha]

Excellent idea Gaccha!

I had a quick read through and noticed a couple of mistakes in the vocabulary lists, I'll point them out, if I may?

"ชินวัตร" is Thaksin's family name (not two seperate words)

"โฆษก" - spokesperson

there's no "ชก" the "ช" is the end of the abbreviation "นปช." and "ก" is the beginning of the word "กล่าว"

"ล่า" is part of the word "กล่าว"

"พรรคเพื่อไทย" is the Puea Thai Party

"ผู้แทน" - representative

I hope this is of some help.

Very much appreciated. I did correct most of these but then accidentally used an earlier version after I had the document checked by two native speakers. Oh well.

Looking at the English news report, I don't think it is an exact match, but still it will be useful for anyone who is completely stuck.

[SimonN]

Looking at the English news report, I don't think it is an exact match, but still it will be useful for anyone who is completely stuck.

I agree, the English news report could be used as a rough guide line for beginners.

One more amendment I forgot to add before:

"นปช." is an abbreviation for "แนวร่วมประชาธิปไตยต่อต้านเผด็จการแห่งชาติ": National United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship; UDD

[Gaccha]

Here is an updated version. Hopefully most errors now removed.

Enjoy.

Here_come_the_red_shirts_v2.PDF

[kriswillems]

Just want to say thanks for all the work you've put into this! I am enjoying it (like you said I would).

[Gaccha]

Just want to say thanks for all the work you've put into this! I am enjoying it (like you said I would).

I have wanted to do this since I (wrongly) thought I had struck gold the other day.

I had downloaded Hugh Leong's (very impressive) advanced (and free) reading materials (I recommend them to everyone-- just google his name) and I noticed that every single sentence appeared to be used as an example sentence in thai-language.com. This meant every word was already translated and transliterated, making it very convenient. But then I found that this only happened up to 'Exercise 3'.

If Hugh was to encourage Thai-language to import every single sentence of his magnus opus into the dictionary website then I think it would be by far the best reading tool, commerical or non-commercial, available. All it would then need is an audio.

[Gaccha]

1. Here is an updated version.

Multiple corrections made, and markings added to identify relationship of English to Thai article.

Here_come_the_red_shirts_v3.PDF

2. And here is an audio file of Paragraph 2 repeated ad nauseum to show how to use the text effectively. Simply listen and work out what you can hear. Learn the words you don't know and listen again until you have heard it so much that you start to hear the melody of the paragraph in your head...

Repitition_of_Reds.mp3

If you enjoy this (and you will) then download 'GOM player' to make 'A--B repetition' exercises easy on your computer for the whole audio file.

[desi]

1. Here is an updated version.

Wow. Thank you so much for doing this for us! Nice.