Thai Reading Book With Cd/ Audio Files- Recommendations?

[silvester2]

My Thai reading becomes better and I would like to train also at home.

I am looking for a Thai reading book with an attached CD/ Audio files to correct myself.

Any ideas for a good Thai reading book?

[kokesaat]

I'm not sure where in 'reading' you're at, but here's how I solved a similar problem. I browsed Thai books (all reading levels) until I found something I thought was in my range. I asked Thai friends to record chapters/pages into mp3 files for me. I listened to the files with audacity (free) a few times on my computer, then typed in what I was hearing. I'd cut small parts of the conversation off and put those clips into anki (a free flashcard program).

I'm currently reading a series of folktales in นิทานพื้นบ้านีสาน. While living in Thailand makes the process easier, there's no reason (in my mind) why someone in the middle of Siberia with an internet connection and an email account couldn't do the same. Take a digital photo of a page, send it email to a willing Thai person anyplace in the world, have that person record page into an mp3 file, have that person email the file to you, and off you go.

If you're not quite ready for that level of reading, have you tried the variety of reading materials available at http://www.seasite.niu.edu:85/thai/language/reading.htm

or for a more advanced level, Thomas Gething's most excellent 56 volume series available free with mp3 files at http://siamwestdc.com/thaireader-UH/index.htm

Hope this helps.

[klons]

There is loads of stuff on the net. The dharma Bhuddist sites are over looked I think, because farangs think, Oh, great, a monk droning on and on about transcendental mumbo jumbo.

But it’s not like that, they have some really good material.

At present, I’m going through a นิยาย called สัตว์โลกย่อมเป็นไปตามกรรม It’s a story or novel or fable, whatever. It’s about 400

pages and about 80 audio clips to go with it. About 35 0r 40

hours of audio I estimate. I’ve only done the first chapter and

am quite pleased with what I’m learning from it, plus it’s a

good story. It’s all right here:

http://www.fungdham.com/story.html

The story starts on page 3 with กิจวัตรประจำวัน (daily routine)

[bhoydy]

There is loads of stuff on the net. The dharma Bhuddist sites are over looked I think, because farangs think, Oh, great, a monk droning on and on about transcendental mumbo jumbo.

But it’s not like that, they have some really good material.

At present, I’m going through a นิยาย called สัตว์โลกย่อมเป็นไปตามกรรม It’s a story or novel or fable, whatever. It’s about 400

pages and about 80 audio clips to go with it. About 35 0r 40

hours of audio I estimate. I’ve only done the first chapter and

am quite pleased with what I’m learning from it, plus it’s a

good story. It’s all right here:

http://www.fungdham.com/story.html

The story starts on page 3 with กิจวัตรประจำวัน (daily routine)

Thanks for that Klons, it looks good. I was reading it with the online version and it's a little bit fast for my reading ability. I tried to download the audio but i can only find files which change the format of the audio from .wma. I can't find the audio files. I'd like to slow it down a bit on Windows Media Player cos i think it'll be good to improve my reading speed and pronunciation. What am i missing or doing wrong?

[klons]

There is loads of stuff on the net. The dharma Bhuddist sites are over looked I think, because farangs think, Oh, great, a monk droning on and on about transcendental mumbo jumbo.

But it’s not like that, they have some really good material.

At present, I’m going through a นิยาย called สัตว์โลกย่อมเป็นไปตามกรรม It’s a story or novel or fable, whatever. It’s about 400

pages and about 80 audio clips to go with it. About 35 0r 40

hours of audio I estimate. I’ve only done the first chapter and

am quite pleased with what I’m learning from it, plus it’s a

good story. It’s all right here:

http://www.fungdham.com/story.html

The story starts on page 3 with กิจวัตรประจำวัน (daily routine)

Thanks for that Klons, it looks good. I was reading it with the online version and it's a little bit fast for my reading ability. I tried to download the audio but i can only find files which change the format of the audio from .wma. I can't find the audio files. I'd like to slow it down a bit on Windows Media Player cos i think it'll be good to improve my reading speed and pronunciation. What am i missing or doing wrong?

I don't think your missing anything, I can't down load from there either.

I record them with audacity.

Another option for this particular book is to go here:

http://audio.palungjit.com/f16/สัตว์โลกย่อมเป็นไปตามกรรม-507.html

At this site you can download the sound files directly to computer as mp3

files. However the voice is a different person and the quality is not as

good as the first site. So I’m not using these, I prefer the first site even

though I must spend an extra bit of time recording.

[bhoydy]

Thanks Klons, i'll try audacity when i have time.

[keo]

I've started reading HIP magazine... >>>Hip Magazine<<<

It's a free magazine based in Chiang Mai.

You can download all their issues from their website (via MEGAUPLOAD).

The November issue has a feature called "20 HIP woman from Chiang Mai".

I've started reading them, and hope to have all 20 recorded by various friends for listening practice too.

So far I've only got the first one and the third one...

http://www.4shared.com/audio/KnUb5fUx/The_real_me.html

http://www.4shared.com/audio/gO1mV1av/Less_But_Mor_.html

The sound quality isn't great - it was just recorded through the built in mic on my laptop.

Thomas Gething's thing is a great learning resource, but I found the topics to be rather boring and lost interest in it quickly.

I'm going to give it another go though I think!

[kokesaat]

I at times struggled with Gething's series. Some units were interesting, others not. But what I liked about his method was the regular repeating of patterns/vocabulary, along with the use of both a male (fast) and a female (slow) voice to record alternating units.

I tried some of the dharma units mentioned above, but they're too fast for me. But they're certainly along the lines of what I need right now........printed material (like pdf files or magazine) along with mp3 files.

[bhoydy]

I at times struggled with Gething's series. Some units were interesting, others not. But what I liked about his method was the regular repeating of patterns/vocabulary, along with the use of both a male (fast) and a female (slow) voice to record alternating units.

I tried some of the dharma units mentioned above, but they're too fast for me. But they're certainly along the lines of what I need right now........printed material (like pdf files or magazine) along with mp3 files.

I just got through the first chapter of the dharma link which Klons recommended. I recorded it on audacity and slowed it down 30% turning up the pitch to compensate and i managed to get through it without stopping. I was a bit dizzy after it but it's definitely something i'm going to continue with. I even understood the gist of the story even if a lot of the vocab was new to me. What i like about it most is that there is no opportunity to look the words up that you don't know so it's a great reading and listening exercise. I find when i read books it's all stop and start cos i want to know the pronunciation and definition of new words.