Thai Keyboard

[roly]

I'm just wondering what's the best way to write Thai on a Macbook laptop - I don't have a Thai keyboard and sometimes resort to virtual keyboards which is very slow. My reading Thai is quite good now but I need to be typing it every day to really improve.

a related note, I just realised the importance of hor heep ห in promoting the consonant to a high class consonant, which then means with a live syllable a rising tone and with a dead syllable a low tone. Simiarly why or ang is used with yor yahk to promote a consonant to middle class....starting to fall into place! :-)

[mike_l]

Excuse the promotion, but my site is designed for exactly this

I don't have a Thai keyboard and sometimes resort to virtual keyboards which is very slow.

http://typeinthai.com/virtual-thai-keyboard but it's not like the virtual keyboards where you have to click each key (=slow), you just type as normal. You might find the 'practice' or 'challenge' links helpful in improving your typing too.

[lumdam]

I have one, too! http://www.type-thai.com/

Most of these kind of websites actually support typing in addition to clicking, but all users don't realize it. It usually does not work if your actual layout is something very different from QWERTY, however.

Once you can touch type without looking at the keys, you should just switch to Thai layout in your operating system. But before that, a virtual keyboard can be convenient.

Edited November 25, 2011 by lumdam

[SWW]

One very obvious solution is to buy an external USB keyboard that DOES have Thai on it. I still have an old SUH keyboard that I bought in Pantip when I first came here in 2004 and used with my old G4 PowerBook, which cost 270 THB. I spent hundreds of hours on it, before I upgraded the laptop a couple of years later (and the MacBook I bought DID have a Thai keyboard).

As long as you are using the computer on a desk, the inconvenience of not using the built-in keyboard is far outweighed by getting used to the Thai keyboard layout.

Consider buying a mouse (or even the Magic Trackpad) at the same time, as otherwise the keyboard will be in front of the laptop's own trackpad.

I think now a USB keyboard can even be had for less than 200 THB, so it's a very worthwhile purchase!

[lumdam]

I think now a USB keyboard can even be had for less than 200 THB, so it's a very worthwhile purchase!

True; I bought one for 180 THB in early 2009. However, I do lots of non-Thai typing and I need a better keyboard for that - the cheap Thai keyboard has very stiff keys. Swapping between two keyboards is very cumbersome, so the Thai keyboard is essentially useless to me. Spending a bit more on higher quality might be a good idea, at least if you're a heavy typer.

Yet another option is to print the Thai layout and put it below your monitor. Then look at the paper instead of your keyboard while typing. Somebody recommended this for learning Dvorak and it sounds like a good idea to me.

Edited November 27, 2011 by lumdam

[fire and ice]

get a page of stickers for sticking on top of the keys, readily available at any computer shop. Although most mac books have a back-lit keyboard so it would null that feature so may not be worth it if your k/b is backlit.

[BWPattaya]

Simply buy a Thai keyboard, usb so it will plug in to your laptop, and enable Thai language.

[Richard W]

Yet another option is to print the Thai layout and put it below your monitor. Then look at the paper instead of your keyboard while typing. Somebody recommended this for learning Dvorak and it sounds like a good idea to me.

Alternatively, while it is useful to have a legible print-out of a Thai keyboard, use a key that goes from Thai character to label on the key. It's much faster than hunting for the key on a print out of the keyboard. You can also colour-code the consonant classes for the tone classes, e.g. as in the consonant layout at http://www.thai-language.com/ref/phonetic-organization-consonants. I did this with the key (and character buttons for the slow) with my downloadable web page for a virtual keyboard, which was designed for use on other people's networks where one can't install a proper Thai keyboard mapping and downloaded executables are a no-no.

It probably makes sense to graduate from the Thai-to-QWERTY table to a keyboard picture, as having learnt the positions well enough to type without any sort of Thai keyboard I have a strong tendency to mistype ก on 'd' instead of ด do dek. (I'm too stingy to pay for shipping a Thai USB keyboard to England.)

There are some mnemonics at Thai Letters Keyboard Mnemonics. One feature I hadn't appreciated at the time is that the non-spacing characters occur in a band down the middle - this simplifies the construction of manual typewriters.

[makescents]

One very obvious solution is to buy an external USB keyboard that DOES have Thai on it. I still have an old SUH keyboard that I bought in Pantip when I first came here in 2004 and used with my old G4 PowerBook, which cost 270 THB. I spent hundreds of hours on it, before I upgraded the laptop a couple of years later (and the MacBook I bought DID have a Thai keyboard).

As long as you are using the computer on a desk, the inconvenience of not using the built-in keyboard is far outweighed by getting used to the Thai keyboard layout.

Consider buying a mouse (or even the Magic Trackpad) at the same time, as otherwise the keyboard will be in front of the laptop's own trackpad.

I think now a USB keyboard can even be had for less than 200 THB, so it's a very worthwhile purchase!

Outside of Thailand Thai keyboards are expensive.

[Richard W]

Outside of Thailand Thai keyboards are expensive.

Someone's advertising new, silicone Thai USB keyboards to the UK for less than £13. I must admit that it sounds too good to be true. Surely the keys don't make them printed matter!