i started learning thai, which is actually my first attempt at learning a second language from scratch.

I started by listening to the Pimsleur thai lessons whcih have been useful to help me understand/prounounce some words and phrases.

Doing this made me think of an even better way to learn. I was wondering if such an idea already exists and where i can use it if it does.

Basically the problem with the pimsleur lessons is that you would need to go through the tracks sequentially i.e. play them. if you wanted to practice any particular areas you need to go looking through the track. Also sometimes you wnat to think of the answer first before getting the answer, so you have to pause the track.

My idea is to have the phrases and words which can be selected on a site, once this is done the equivalent thai script and transliteration can be optionally shown. you can also optionally play back what it would sound like.

There would also be an option to simulate the site asking you questions, even possibly having a few pre-loaded questions that would start a psuedo conversation tha twould really get your mind thinking on what correct word to use.

Basically it would be like a pimsleur lesson, but much more interactive.

Does anything like this exist?

Thanks

Hey,

Have you ever used a space repetition program like Anki? It's a flash card on computer/smart phone. Spaced repetition is a learning technique that incorporates increasing intervals of time between subsequent review of previously learned material. It's very useful for learning vocabulary of the new language. The program and the decks can be downloaded for free. Last time I checked, I saw a bunch of Thai decks: Most used 300 Thai words, Thai for beginners, Thai consonants and tone, etc. You can also build your own decks. I'm recently learning Chinese and find Anki very useful.

A quick googling reveals that Pimsleur Thai has a CD version. It's more convenient to choose tracks on CD compared to keep rewinding cassette tapes.

Enjoy studying Thai :-)

Patrick