I've sorta hit a wall (motivation wise), where I've just gotten frustrated with my studies at Chula and want something more flexible (I'll probably return there at some point, but for now I need a bit of a break). I've still got a few weeks left of the existing course, but I just really feel like a change and so am not going to attend them.

I'm thinking about attending some classes at AUA to keep my listening up, and to also start reading/translating newspaper articles. In particular, I think if I can find a series of articles about the same topic, then I should be able to get familiar with the vocabulary I don't know about that topic quite quickly. Hopefully, because of my interest in reading the news (I probably spend about 1h+ each day just reading the news lol), that it'll keep me interested in learning (And ideally if I could swap from reading the English newspapers, to Thai ones, I'd then be practising my Thai every day just for pure enjoyment).

Although I think I'll also need a news website which has both English and Thai versions, with the English version being a relatively good translation of the Thai version. And ideally a site which has videos as well as the articles, so that I can listen to it as well.

Can anyone recommend me some good news sites along these lines?

Bangkok Post has a learning Thai section that's really good:

http://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/learning-from-news/333366/learning-thai-with-post-today-archive

For current daily (weekday) news articles in Thai with audio, check out Voice of America's website: http://www.voathai.com/

VOA's news articles don't always follow the recorded audio, though some do almost perfectly. As a way to learn, I've translated and re-transcrtipted 85 VOA news articles which I put up on selfstudythai.com. It's far from perfect, but not horrible either. So it might be good enough for what you're looking for.

@ stardog, your selfstudythai site seems like a goldmine!

Edited September 27, 201411 yr by fire69water

Although I think I'll also need a news website which has both English and Thai versions, with the English version being a relatively good translation of the Thai version. And ideally a site which has videos as well as the articles, so that I can listen to it as well.

Voice TV doesn't have English translations but they often have short video clips of individual news items with a bit of explanatory text in Thai, so you can read the Thai first as preparation for the listening.

Also excellent, very funny, very authentic and news-ish are the เจาะข่าวตื้น videos. The conversations rattle along at a pretty fast pace and there's a bit of slang in there but it's subtitled in English so you can get an idea what's going on from that and then work on your listening. You can watch them at http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5mJrJ6tg1WiGGWzoKK7ewQ

Bangkok Post has a learning Thai section that's really good:

http://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/learning-from-news/333366/learning-thai-with-post-today-archive

For current daily (weekday) news articles in Thai with audio, check out Voice of America's website: http://www.voathai.com/

VOA's news articles don't always follow the recorded audio, though some do almost perfectly. As a way to learn, I've translated and re-transcrtipted 85 VOA news articles which I put up on selfstudythai.com. It's far from perfect, but not horrible either. So it might be good enough for what you're looking for.

selfstudythai.com and it's anki deck are awesome. thank you very much.

@starrdog, I have to say it again, your selfstudythai site is priceless, now that I've sampled it with my headset. Thanks มากๆ!

Edited October 4, 201411 yr by fire69water

Thanks, I really appreciate your kind words! As mentioned before, the site is far from perfect as each time I review it I end up fixing things. I am learning more all the time though, and the more I learn the better the site will become.

Thanks, I really appreciate your kind words! As mentioned before, the site is far from perfect as each time I review it I end up fixing things. I am learning more all the time though, and the more I learn the better the site will become.

I agree that it is a really useful site for people along a wide spectrum of ability levels. Keep up the good work!