Best iPhone Thai Language App

[AussieRules]

Hi Guys

 

I'm after some advice on Thai Language Apps for the iphone. Currently I don't know the alphabet and can't read or write Thai. I'm moderately competent at speaking & listening having had lessons for an hour a week for around a year, I'm above the "heineken neung krap" but by no means fluent.

 

Can anyone suggest a good app that will help me progress with pasa Thai ?

 

Cheers

[tgeezer]

I don't know any app. why not try Thai-Language.com? It's a website with lessons, reference pages, cultural background, dictionary, translations and forums where you can discuss and mostly disagree with one another! Most contributors here refer to it I'm sure.

[JimmyCardiff]

iTranslate is an excellent free download English to Thai with sound pronunciation.

[JimmyCardiff]

Another two free Apps are ThaiLite and Thai Translator...but the App for iTranslate is by far the best.

[Genericnic]

The best dictionary app I have found is Talking Thai–English–Thai Dictionary (iPhone/iPad version) or Talking Thai <> Eng Dictionary (Google Play version) by Paiboon Publishing, the company that publishes Thai for Beginners. Same app just different platforms.  It is not the cheapest app but it is the one I use the most. You can enter text in Thai or Romanized text, the words have spoken Thai versions (Central/BKK pronunciation), and it has a host of other features. 

 

David

 

[Baanguru]

There is one iphone app for Thai language that I stumbled on before and it is called Learn Thai. I just don't know if it's reliable and have had good reviews. 

[manfredtillmann]

the structure of the thai language is so different from english - or oztraalian - that, in my humble opinion, no translator really works if you want to discuss complex issues (as in what to eat tonight or who pays for what).

i used google translate and some israely software (babylon?), which was not cheap to buy, and i remember that using either got me into the biggest miss - understandings and arguments with who is now my wife.

[BaldPlumber]

The best dictionary app I have found is Talking Thai–English–Thai Dictionary (iPhone/iPad version) or Talking Thai Eng Dictionary (Google Play version) by Paiboon Publishing, the company that publishes Thai for Beginners. Same app just different platforms.  It is not the cheapest app but it is the one I use the most. You can enter text in Thai or Romanized text, the words have spoken Thai versions (Central/BKK pronunciation), and it has a host of other features. 

If you're serious, then you're going to have to learn to read / write thai - at least a little.

The talking Thai-English-Thai dictionary by paiboon publishing is the best I've come across, but it's not a free app.

I'm using a beta version which includes a huge reference section that covers consonants, vowels, tones, classifiers etc. It also allows you to break down each and every single word to explain the sound and spelling.

Other stuff in the reference section are phrases for every day situations, ranging from domestic, shopping, restaurants and the very entertaining sexy talk section. It is massively comprehensive.

Three keyboards are included with the app, Thai, English and also a sounds like keyboard that gives you the ability to try and find thai words with transliterated English.

I believe the next release will also support the generation of flash cards that can be imported into separate apps.

This app is vastly superior to anything else I've seen. The developers are accessible and respond very quicky to queries.

It's worth every penny of the, from memory, £15 I paid for it.

Very strongly recommended.

Edit: also look at the thai fun easy learn app. It will, in theory, teach you 6000 thai words - the first 1000 are free! It's more of a reading and writing app, so you need to know the thai consonants and vowels before you can use it effectively, but pretty good.

[Johpa]

3 hours ago, manfredtillmann said:

the structure of the thai language is so different from english

 

Both Thai and English have subject-verb-object (SVO) sentence structure so not that different.

[manfredtillmann]

10 hours ago, Johpa said:

 

Both Thai and English have subject-verb-object (SVO) sentence structure so not that different.

in that case my wife must be speaking a different language.

 

[DUS]

5 hours ago, manfredtillmann said:

in that case my wife must be speaking a different language.

 

 

What sentence structure does she follow then?

[BaldPlumber]

1. Pronouns follow nouns
2. Adjectives follow nouns
3. Personal pronouns very complex
4. Word omission when not strictly necessary
5. Non declining verbs
6. Plural / singular not necessary
7. Verb tenses mostly controlled by the use of จะ and แล้ว
8. Extensive use of classifiers, used infrequently in English
9. Sentence particles inc negation, softening and polite

To name a few, apart from that and the obvious vowel length and tones, nothing to separate the languages [emoji4]

[manfredtillmann]

35 minutes ago, DUS said:

 

What sentence structure does she follow then?

i do not know enough thai - i actually know nothing much thai at all - to get into a discussion with you guys.

this is about translation engines.

but, she seems to completely lack comprehension of i.e. plurals, tenses and causals. google translate does not understand that well. neither do i!

there appear to be no gender indicating articles in thai, so they translate badly.

she has a need to add ' ka' or 'mei?' into her conversation which usually translate into something like 'yes or no' ,thereby creating an atmosphere of challenge in her translated emails.

there appear to be only sisters and aunts in her family, no cousins or friends.

the list goes on...

 

and, yes, (off topic) i know, you will argue that this can easily be avoided by me learning thai? i do not want to!

when i entered high school i had the choice to learn latin - and than do what with it?

who on earth speaks thai - other than thais and you guys? i can't even order ice for my beer across the river in laos without being lectured that it is not 'nam kaeng' but 'nam gone'.

[BaldPlumber]

i do not know enough thai - i actually know nothing much thai at all - to get into a discussion with you guys.

this is about translation engines.

but, she seems to completely lack comprehension of i.e. plurals, tenses and causals. google translate does not understand that well. neither do i!

there appear to be no gender indicating articles in thai, so they translate badly.

she has a need to add ' ka' or 'mei?' into her conversation which usually translate into something like 'yes or no' ,thereby creating an atmosphere of challenge in her translated emails.

there appear to be only sisters and aunts in her family, no cousins or friends.

the list goes on...

 

and, yes, (off topic) i know, you will argue that this can easily be avoided by me learning thai? i do not want to!

when i entered high school i had the choice to learn latin - and than do what with it?

who on earth speaks thai - other than thais and you guys? i can't even order ice for my beer across the river in laos without being lectured that it is not 'nam kaeng' but 'nam gone'.

I don't know much thai but I do find it interesting to learn and very good fun to use.

Google translate is almost completely useless, it's sort of like you need to know the translation before you ask Google to do it for you.

Because my Thai spelling is awful, I often need to use Google translate and then play back the result. If, as is often the case, the translation bears little resemblance to what I was trying to say, I just try rearranging the English, especially the order of pronouns and adjectives until I get to somewhere close.

I still usually have to change ฉัน (chan) to ผม (phom) even though I understand it's not strictly necessary as this is the polite form of I - might be wrong on that one though.

[manfredtillmann]

1 minute ago, BaldPlumber said:

 

I don't know much thai but I do find it interesting to learn and very good fun to use.

Google translate is almost completely useless, it's sort of like you need to know the translation before you ask Google to do it for you.

Because my Thai spelling is awful, I often need to use Google translate and then play back the result. If, as is often the case, the translation bears little resemblance to what I was trying to say, I just try rearranging the English, especially the order of pronouns and adjectives until I get to somewhere close.

I still usually have to change ฉัน (chan) to ผม (phom) even though I understand it's not strictly necessary as this is the polite form of I - might be wrong on that one though.

 

you obviously know a lot more about the thai language than i do.

i have learned to adapt my english to suit the translation. i.e. instead of writing: 'my sister...' i write 'sister i', instead of 'are you going to see your mother?' i say 'go home mother you'. works 98% of the time.

 

i completely avoid tenses, my life only happens 'present tense' and even now that my wife speaks ok - english we no longer use articles at all. they are completely unnecessary in the english language, anyway.

[BaldPlumber]

That's pretty much how Thais speak English unless they've got a lot of experience or at least had a decent tutor.

The difference seems to be that English speakers are a lot more tolerant of our language being abused and mangled than the Thais are - cue bewildered stare from a thai should you dare to get a vowel length wrong in a completely unambiguous sentence lol

Sentence tense seems to be largely dictated by the use of ja (จะ) meaning will and not to be confused with the female ja (จ้ะ) meaning yes. So, you could say Phom ja duurm bier - I will go and drink beer at some unspecified point in the future.

This differs from the blindingly obvious Phom duurm bier - I'm drinking beer, are you blind?

Similarly, past tense as denoted by the extensive use of "before" by Thais is usually expressed by using แล้ว - laow - already. Which you usually just add to the end of the sentence. Or by using mua gorn - before (เมื่อก่อน) at the beginning of the sentence.

So, Phom duurm bier laow - I've drinked beer already, sort of.

Mua gorm Phom duurm bier - before I drunk beer.

Completely agree that the use of the final particle in forms of negation, question or accusation sometimes/often make the sentence needlessly aggressive in English.

Edit: my transliteration is probably different from yours.

[manfredtillmann]

4 minutes ago, BaldPlumber said:

That's pretty much how Thais speak English unless they've got a lot of experience or at least had a decent tutor.

The difference seems to be that English speakers are a lot more tolerant of our language being abused and mangled than the Thais are - cue bewildered stare from a thai should you dare to get a vowel length wrong in a completely unambiguous sentence lol

Sentence tense seems to be largely dictated by the use of ja (จะ) meaning will and not to be confused with the female ja (จ้ะ) meaning yes. So, you could say Phom ja duurm bier - I will go and drink beer at some unspecified point in the future.

This differs from the blindingly obvious Phom duurm bier - I'm drinking beer, are you blind?

Similarly, past tense as denoted by the extensive use of "before" by Thais is usually expressed by using แล้ว - laow - already. Which you usually just add to the end of the sentence. Or by using mua gorn - before (เมื่อก่อน) at the beginning of the sentence.

So, Phom duurm bier laow - I've drinked beer already, sort of.

Mua gorm Phom duurm bier - before I drunk beer.

Completely agree that the use of the final particle in forms of negation, question or accusation sometimes/often make the sentence needlessly aggressive in English.

Edit: my transliteration is probably different from yours.

 

i would give you three likes - if i could.

cheers

mft

[TeaMonkey]

Talking Thai <> English Dictionary+Phrasebook

from Paiboon Publishing and Word in the Hand

has just been updated after 3 years of work  and now includes a massive phrasebook. This is a fantastic app and it has been really helpful in my study of the Thai language. It really has everything you need to get started. You can tap on a word or phrase and get a clear pronunciation guide for all the syllables and learn how to word is constructed from the Thai characters including the tone rules. Also shows the different real word fonts which is very useful. I'm not aware of any other app which has as much detail as this one.

I've had a few email exchanges with the dev and he really cares about the app, listening to feedback and working hard to make it the best available.

Highly recommended.

https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/talking-thai-english-thai/id411632067?mt=8