Dictionary Transliterations.

[Sean Moran]

The dictionary that I have found most indispensable in Thailand was the one pictured below
published by Paiboon and written by Benjawan Poomsan-Becker.

The advantage of this book is that rather than just two sections to translate between Thai
script and English or vice versa, a THIRD central section contains pasa Thai (Thai language)
phonetically transliterated, which makes it possible to learn the meanings of spoken Thai
words, without fully understanding the written Thai script.


Section One- English-Phonetic-Thai
Section Two - Phonetic-Thai-English
Section Three - Thai-Phonetic-English


Hearing a word or phrase spoken in pasa Thai that you don't understand, and then having to
try to correlate back through the 42/44 consonants of pasa Thai to find the right page where
the translation might be is near on impossible if attempting to translate Thai into English.
Perhaps it is not so difficult if working the other way?

In 2005 and 2006, the price at Se-Ed bookstores was 425 THB although that may have now
risen slightly. It's a good investment.



http://www.dcothai.com/product_info.php?products_id=339

[GenetheMachine]

Thanks Sean. I will look for it.

I recommend "Thai Without Tears" by Denis Segaller. It is good for learning to speak Thai.
What I love about it is it has the 5 vowel sounds and recommends hearing a Thai person say them.
Almost half of the book is leanrning Thai and almost half is a English-Thai glossary.
It is pocket size at 4x6 inches (or 10x15 cm).

I found it at a bookstore in the Emporium for 294 baht.

[expattaffy]

Being resident in Thailand fro four years I was determined to do my best at tackling the Thai language. I have bought many books including Denice Segaller which is very good because he is originally western, ie farang. What I have found with many thai books is the ones that are writen by educated Thai people have many mistakes. Thai people who claim to have learned english still dont grasp the language correctly. for instance, one sentance from one book states, The chinese have the greatest number of populations in the world. inccorrect, because what they are trying to say is, China has the greatest population in the world. What I decided was if one is going to learn the language you may as well learn how to read it and write it from day one, and the best book I found for this was, EASY THAI, a red book writen by a farang named GORDON H ALLISON. Practice this writing and you will soon be able to read a lot of thai.

[chithanh119]

Thank you very much, Sean. I will also look for it.

[GenetheMachine]

Expattaffy, I would phrase it as "China has the largest population in the world." I think every country believes they have the greatest population in the world. You could also say "China has the greatest number of people of any country."
English has to be one of the hardest languages for anyone to learn. e.g. slow up and slow down mean the same thing.

[khonthai]

i use this one dict.longdo.com