spirit_of_town_hall Posted June 22, 2001 Report Share Posted June 22, 2001 I'm looking for some good web sites with good vocab lists. The pronunciation I'm OK on now, but I need to increase my vocabulary. Chaio Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boemba Posted June 23, 2001 Report Share Posted June 23, 2001 I suggest you just read Thai books. That is a very good way to increase your vocabulary. The easiest thing to start with are non-fiction books, like translations of English books into Thai. For instance, at present I am going through 'Rich dad, poor dad'. Looks more interesting to me than going through vocabulary lists. Fiction is another matter, you have to go to a quite higher level to be able to do that. quote: Originally posted by spirit_of_town_hall: I'm looking for some good web sites with good vocab lists. The pronunciation I'm OK on now, but I need to increase my vocabulary. Chaio bar prices and bar ratings Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 23, 2001 Report Share Posted June 23, 2001 I'm prepared to go down in flames here but I tried to think of the advantages of me learning to read Thai at my time of life - apart from the locations on the front of buses, I couldn't really think of one. I know it would improve my pronunciation but my spoken Thai is not bad really. I can always chat with a waiter or waitress if I can't read the menu, and my girlfriend never leaves her secret letters lying around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 17, 2001 Report Share Posted July 17, 2001 I learnt to read Thai because I had to. It was the only way I could keep up with the football results. I used to buy Star Soccer and I started off reading the league table. Once I got the hang of that, which is just English words written in Thai, then I would read the team line ups. Not learning any Thai vocab, but learning to recognise the sounds needed, and recognising the floating vowels. Then it was on to the match reports. Not reading every word, but looking for the most common. From there I developed to reading the buses, sad life, and restaurant menus. Nt really progressed from there, but I know when bars are looking to hire new staff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 18, 2001 Report Share Posted July 18, 2001 Phil wrote: quote: I'm prepared to go down in flames here but I tried to think of the advantages of me learning to read Thai at my time of life - apart from the locations on the front of buses, I couldn't really think of one. I know it would improve my pronunciation but my spoken Thai is not bad really. I can always chat with a waiter or waitress if I can't read the menu, and my girlfriend never leaves her secret letters lying around. Later, Phil wrote: quote: I only wish I could read Thai because there's some serious bitchin that goes on in that forum - and my girlfriend reads them too me. Phil, I had wanted to respond to your first quote, just didn't get around to it. I think it's an extension of wanting to speak the language of the country of your residence. Lot of farang - most, perhaps - live in the LOS for years and years without learing more than 100 words of Thai. They too can argue that they can't think of a reason to--they can get by with English just fine. There are many reasons to learn Thai script. In your case, pronunciation is not one of them, but it an excellent idea to learn the scrip when one is first learning the spoken Thai. It is obvious one doesn't need to learn the script. But you're obviously an educated man and, apart satisfying an intellectual curiosity, it would allow you to more fully participate in the affairs around you. I guess I would not voluntarily relegate myself to being illiterate. Having said that, I just hope that if I ever end up living in Japan or China, no one will remind me of what I just said. But seriously, the script only has 44 consonants and about 20 or so vowels. You're constantly surrounded with Thai script and, instead of taking trips to Pattaya :-), if you spent two weekends studing it I bet the rest would come to you without hardly any effort on your part. And then you could partake on some serious bitchin' on the Thai boards... [ July 17, 2001: Message edited by: Mad Max ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 18, 2001 Report Share Posted July 18, 2001 Originally posted by Bangkok Phil:"I tried to think of the advantages of me learning to read Thai at my time of life ... I couldn't really think of one." I belong to the school of thought which believes that learing ANYTHING is of advantage. Funny thing is, you'll only really know what the advantages are AFTER you've gone the whole hog. Mean old world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khunsanuk Posted July 18, 2001 Report Share Posted July 18, 2001 Hi, Here's a good reason, you will be able to read the subtitles when (parts of) a movie isn't in English and the subtitles only contain Thai. Had to do this whilst watching Traffic. I don't speak Spanish and 1 story in the movie was completely in Spanish. Had to pause the bloody movie for every sentence and read the line (well, try to decipher the line is more accurate). Anyway, gave up after a few minutes, too much work. Sanuk! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 19, 2001 Report Share Posted July 19, 2001 Another reason. How about looking up new words in the dictionary? Don't think I'd want to ask my girlfriend every time I come across a word I don't understand. Besides, the Thais' ability to explain things to us farang is close to non-existent at times. This is not a flame, but even my Thai teacher will at times say 'mai roo' at things I know she knows. How the hell am I supposed to learn?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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