Sukhumvit Posted May 18, 2001 Report Share Posted May 18, 2001 Yeah Colloquial Thai also has a couple of typos which is just what you don't need. Put it this way, I could spot them and I speak Thai like an Alzheimer's disease sufferer i.e. I keep lapsing into English or adopt the old standby of talking louder and adding "na" to the end of every sentence. Similarly, the Colloquial Vietnamese course has a similar amount of typos and ditto the rest of the comments. My mate's wife is Vietnamese and she could hardly understand me, then again it may have had something to do with the amount of alcohol I'd consumed and the fact that I was trying to speak French to her. Eh life. [ May 18, 2001: Message edited by: Sukhumvit ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 24, 2001 Report Share Posted May 24, 2001 I just started using Becker's "Thai For Beginners" course, comprised of book and tapes which arrived from Amazon recently. First impressions are excellent. It's really user-friendly and easy to understand, and things are becoming clearer for me after just a few hours learning. The tapes are essential of course, I can at last hear the correct pronunciation of Thai words that phonetic transliteration just cannot impart. The course also gives you the option of reading and writing Thai, which at first seemed great but I now realise is incredibly difficult, I really admire those Thai people who can learn the Roman alphabet and read and write in English. Learning a new alphabet from scratch is very hard work indeed, and although speaking and listening skills are my primary concern, I'm going to give it a go, if I don't learn to read it now I know I probably never will. We'll see how long I stick it out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 28, 2001 Report Share Posted May 28, 2001 The "Thai for Lovers" book comes with a companion set of tapes. I found them quite helpful, it has a lot of "relationship" stuff you will not find in other courses. My last trip I had no problem hooking up with English limited Bar girls, but still can only order one dish in Thai. All of my girlfriends thought I really liked koa pat gai. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 28, 2001 Report Share Posted May 28, 2001 I really disliked the Colloquial Thai course--confusing, and totally uninspired in it's approach. I'm thinking of checking out Pimsleur's Thai course. It starts you off with nothing written. You listen and repeat and it's structured in such a way that it continously builds from what you just repeated and you therefore haven't any need to rewind and play back, which I find annoying. I've used it for Norwegian and it is by far the best learning method I have come across. Has anyone here used it for Thai? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zanemay Posted June 8, 2001 Report Share Posted June 8, 2001 Bagged Becker's book before blowing Bangkok. Been benefical. Bane Bay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 9, 2001 Report Share Posted June 9, 2001 All .... Do you have Linguaphone in the US? A friend of mine visited LOS in February, my GF and I met him for lunch. After talking for 15 minutes about all manner of subjects my GF asked if he was half Thai. She also said he had a "Chiang Mai" accent, and his family obviously came from that province. Bottom line he was on only his second trip to LOS, and started studying AFTER his first trip. The course is expensive (Appx. 250 pounds) but it seems to work. I have used Becker's Book and found it useful Though I think Hodder & Stoughton's Teach Yourself book and accompanying cassette are better structured and more fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iuytrede Posted June 12, 2001 Report Share Posted June 12, 2001 quote: The Bangkok Post publishes a very good beginning Thai course called "Essential Thai" quote: Yes it's very nice book for beginner and it's similar as thai people speak in everyday....other books're not update and sound strange for me (I'm thai) had gf look at beckers book and she found it too formal, not the way she speaks i myself noticed the lack of dialogues in the book Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 12, 2001 Report Share Posted June 12, 2001 You should check out 'The Fundamentals of the Thai Language (sixth edition)' if you can find it. One of the best around. A big hardcover blue book with gold script on the cover. I bought it in Australia and haven't seen it here, but it was published here (thailand) by Marketing Media Associates Co.,Ltd. in Huay Kwang. Loads of good stuff in it. It's distributed in the USA by Paragon Book Gallery 14 East 38th St. NYC 10016 and.. in Australia by F.W. Cheshire Pty. Ltd. 388 Little Collins St. Melbourne. and.. in Europe by BAY FOREIGN LANGUAGE BOOKS 19 Dymchurch Road, St. Mary's Bay, Romney Marsh, Kent TN29 OET England. I'd tried the rest and this is the best. Also, for beginners, 'Thai for English Speaking Learners (a grammatical and cultural approach)' by Tipawan Thampusana-Abold is also not a bad starting point. or.. Thai for Lovers is a very good and well structured practical book.... It focusses on every day stuff (and night stuff too)... cheers and happy learning dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 13, 2001 Report Share Posted June 13, 2001 Fundamentals of the Thai Language is available online at: http://www.geocities.com/funthai/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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