A new Thai language product from Paiboon

[Chlp]

I just noticed a new Thai language product at the DK Bookstore called Practical Thai Conversation - Vol 1.

 

All of the materials from Paiboon Publishing I've used are top notch andI don't expect this one to be any different.

 

What I'd like to know is how advanced is this course. If anyone has tried it yet I'd apreciate a short review. Thanks.

[McBif]

I bought it half a year or so ago when it came out. It's pretty good. The sound is a little crummy what with a lot of the conversations being outdoors and picking up the noise of every car and bus roaring by. Some odd characters involved. Make that very odd. Mind you, there's a leuk kreung babe in a few of the lessons who alone is worth the price of admission.

 

Not for beginners, that's for sure, nor is it meant to be. You could probably sweat thru it if you've lived in LOS for awhile and/or have throughly studied the first (Benjawan Becker) book and are hot on the trail. It comes with a booklet with the conversations in Thai, Phonetic and English. Each lesson is followed with each participant owlishly staring into the camera and slowly repeating everything they said in the previous conversation. There are subtitles in English, Thai and I think Phonetic that you can choose from.

 

Sometimes quite entertaining. There's one "actor" who I believe is the video director. Guy is completely nuts, a one-of-a-kind dude. He's about as inconpicuous as a tarantula on a slice of angel food cake. Others on the video are more or less comatose. Did I mention the babe?

 

Only for the serious student.

[wasabi]

I have really enjoyed products from Paiboon and credit Benjawan's materials for helping me get to where I am today with Thai, however I found the Practial Conversation DVD a little disappointing. I wasn't expecting a Peter Jackson production but the sound and videotapping is extremely lo-budget. Sound is the biggest problem. They need to invest in some boom mikes or simply do more recording indoors. I also wish for the subtitles you could have Thai script, English and transliteration all at once. I can read Thai pretty well but must admit when it comes to conversational speed Thai I fall back on transliteration when available, such as you see in many Karokee VCDs.

 

There is a new version coming out in 2006, hopefully the sound issues will be cleared up. Like I said this is meant to be constructive criticism since I really enjoy Paiboon products.