Thai

[connda]

Does anyone know if there are any published study guides and practice tests for the Pratom 6 Level Thai Language Certification Test which is approved by the Thai Ministry of Education.

I'm interested in any resources that have been published explicitly to prepare students for this test.

Thanks!!!

Naga

[Rikker]

I seem to recall having seen links at some point, but the best I know of off the top of my head are:

http://bet.obec.go.th/eqa/images/2008/news/scan.pdf

It contains an explanation of all the test parts and has some sample questions.

Also this:

http://www.karn.tv/thai.html

Scroll to the รวมข้อสอบ section and download the ป.6 test (direct PDF link here). These sample tests are intended for Thai children, not foreigners, but will perhaps give you more of an idea of the level of questions to be asked.

[connda]

I seem to recall having seen links at some point, but the best I know of off the top of my head are:

http://bet.obec.go.t...8/news/scan.pdf

It contains an explanation of all the test parts and has some sample questions.

Also this:

http://www.karn.tv/thai.html

Scroll to the รวมข้อสอบ section and download the ป.6 test (direct PDF link here). These sample tests are intended for Thai children, not foreigners, but will perhaps give you more of an idea of the level of questions to be asked.

This definitely will help. Thanks for the info!

[kriswillems]

The new language test is a mix of questions from ป.1 to university level.

You can find books with thousands of test questions in Thai bookshops that focus on students.

They are big books printed on low quality paper. Most book contain questions about many subjects (not only Thai language).

Thai students use these "test-books" to estimate if they will be able to pass all kinds of test (mainly entrance tests).

Edited October 30, 2010 by kriswillems

[Tod Daniels]

This may also be of interest as far as self testing. ..

I recently stumbled across a series of books at B2S Bookstores put out by Hi-Ed Publishing. They offer books on a wide variety of subjects, but the one's I happened across were titled;

คู่มือเตรียมสอบ-หลักภาษาไทยการใช้ภาษาไทย

In my horrific back translation I think it’s something like;

"A pair of hands to prepare to test"

"Principles of the thai language, usage of the thai language."

The books are offered from ป.๑ all the way up to ม.๖. After visiting 3 different locations of B2S, I was able to find ป.๑-๒-๔-๕, but not ๓ or ๖ . Unlike Asia Books which will transfer books to another location, evidently I was unable to convey this request sufficiently or it is a service NOT offered by B2S. ..

Now seeing as they're books for thais to prepare to test out in the thai language they're obviously written only in thai. Although with that being said, I think that ANYONE who wants to undertake reading thai can't go wrong with these books as long as you have a compentent thai to help you thru them.

Be that as it may, I found them of very high value (especially as the most expensive one was only 95 baht!). I was able to test out on quite a lot of chapters in books one, two (and to a lesser extent book four). Although I freely admit I failed abysmally in regards to recognizing วรรณยุกต์ (tone) of thai words which I hadn't previously committed to memory. A great shortcoming, I know...

I especially liked a couple chapters, which really made my understanding of some things gel better in my head. Chapters of note were; อักษรควบ (consonant clusters), พยางค์ (syllables), ทัณฑฆาตและตัวการันต์ (words that use garan), คำที่มี ฤ ฤา (words with those letters), คำที่มี รร (ร หัน) (words with a double r), คำที่ใช้ "บรร" และ "บัน" (words that use 'ban'). I even found the chapter about คำราชาศัพท์และคำสุภาพ (words of royal usage and polite usage) interesting in an anecdotal way, especially the polite words for pig, water monitor, buffalo, cow, dog, etc .

The sample tests after each chapter are quite good, the different topics in each chapter are well explained, and the examples given are totally understandable. There is an answer key in the back for every test they offer. The books mostly use multiple choice, so to really test out on writing thai you'd hafta find another resource.

Really I can't say a single bad thing about these books. I know that they've helped me expand my meager grasp of the thai language. I may even be able to finally wrap my head around the toning rules using the explanation in the ป.๑-๒ books, and if so, that'd be a major plus (mostly for me)... ..

I don't know if they'd be good prep-books for the “new version” of thai proficiency testing the government offers or not, as I've never sat it. However in reading responses from people who sat the old ป.๖ test versus the newer “where are you in relation to whoever sits the test the same day as you” version they give now, I think they might be of some value.

Apologies if this was too long to slog thru, sorry about that. ..

[kriswillems]

Hi Tod,

Yes, these books are very useful because they will show you the type of questions asked on the language test. For some mysterious reason Thai language exams systematically use the same type of questions.

- which tone is a word

- Which word is not written correctly (here you'll find typical mistakes like mai tree with a low class consonant)

- what kind of text is this: opinion, story, news, ...

- what's the most correct summary of a short piece of text

- arrange the order of the words in a sentence

- what's the meaning of a certain word in the example text

- Which level of politeness should you use in a certain case

... and few more questions that I forgot.

The chance you'll get one of the question on the language test that is exactly the same as a question from the books is very small.

The best way to prepare for the test (in my opinion) is reading stories about all kinds of different subjects and learn to read and write fast.

The most difficult thing of the test is the limited time you get for each exercise.

I believe the score of the new exam is a relative score, but that doesn't make it much easier. The group you're competing with are mainly Japanese and Koreans that spend up to a full year or longer in a language school (full time study). It's a very big group and all people test on the same day. The variation of the test group between different years is probably small (because it's a very big group). So, there's not much "good luck" involved. A low score, really means you're not that good. A high score means you're pretty good.

I took some of the exercises out of these books and let an adult Thai person with a low education (ป.4) answer them. The score she got on the tests was not better than my score (but of course her Thai is much better than mine). I believe these "language" tests are not only about language, but also about logical thinking.

Edited October 30, 2010 by kriswillems

[kriswillems]

sorry, wrong post

Edited October 30, 2010 by kriswillems

[Peppy]

คู่มือเตรียมสอบ-หลักภาษาไทยการใช้ภาษาไทย

In my horrific back translation I think it's something like;

"A pair of hands to prepare to test"

"Principles of the thai language, usage of the thai language."

คู่มือ (khuu-meu) means "handbook", "instruction book", or "manual"--so, "Exam Preparation Manual-Principles and Usage of the Thai Language".

[Tod Daniels]

คู่มือ (khuu-meu) means "handbook", "instruction book", or "manual"--so, "Exam Preparation Manual-Principles and Usage of the Thai Language".

While you're far from the first person who pointed out that error in my word by word translation instead of recognizing them as I should have as a compound word, still I feel thanx are in order.

I routinely miss compound words in thai when reading; especially as the meaning of the stand alone words don't necessarily have anything to do with the new meaning once words are combined or compounded. As in this instance, where the two stand alones mean 'pair or couple' and 'hand' but combined mean a 'manual, guidebook' or a new on to me 'handy'

It's a learning curve of which I am evidently still quite close to the bottom.

Again, thanx to all though; now I know the word for 'manual' คู่มือ(khuu^F meuu^M)

[desi]

The books are offered from ป.๑ all the way up to ม.๖. After visiting 3 different locations of B2S, I was able to find ป.๑-๒-๔-๕, but not ๓ or ๖ . Unlike Asia Books which will transfer books to another location, evidently I was unable to convey this request sufficiently or it is a service NOT offered by B2S. ..

That's because ๓ and ๖ haven't been printed yet. I'd give them a month or so and then call HI-ED direct as it'll save on shoe leather. What HI-ED does carry are the vocabulary lists for ๔, ๕ and ๖. From what I understood, they have no desire to compile ๑, ๒ and ๓. But I did find another company who has ๑ and ๒. They can be found at the Chula bookstore in Siam (next to the British Council).