Phuket Thailand

Trentreznik · #1 30-09-2007, 08:28

Anyone here had much luck learning some basic thai with a book,CD combo,Rosetta stone stuff is pricey but theres some alternatives on amazon for a tenner so was thinking of giving it a bash?

Thanks

LivinLOS · #2 30-09-2007, 12:25

Hit emule or other P2P for the pimsleur series..

I f you gonna get books Benjawan Poonson Becker (or close) is pretty good, hes put some good phonetic / Thai roman dictionaries together etc..

jimholio · #3 08-10-2007, 17:23

Pimsleur is very hard to follow, I think Rosetta stone might be better to start off with. Thats what the embassy's use to train their staff with in Thailand anyways.

Pimsleur doesnt offer any interactivity at all, only parrot practise.

LivinLOS · #4 08-10-2007, 19:54

I felt exactly the opposite.. Pimsleur audio tapes were logical and made sense.. I had a downloaded version of rosetta stone and it made no sense to me at all.. I even wondered if it was missing something due to being a pirate download, but a buddy who has used the legit (and expensive) set said the same..

With rosetta stone they attempt to immerse you in the language.. theres lots of click an image and hear a Thai word, supposed to make you make brain connections / associations.. My problem was there was 0 help or assistance. click an image of a blue ball and hear a Thai word.. Was that the word for blue ?? or the word for ball ?? I dont know.. I just felt lost toying with it..

I do think theres a market for a well programmed interactive learing program, one where you play games and have flashcards for Thai letters etc.. Not hard to do in flash and I am sure theres a market.

MassMoose · #5 08-10-2007, 19:59

I have Pimsleur, but was wondering what else there was available as I am not gaining much more than what I have already. I had the basic Lonely Planet one set before I started Pimsleur. Hopefully can find some more alternatives.

LivinLOS · #6 08-10-2007, 20:04

Try the Bejawan Becker stuff... Beginners Thai, Advanced Thai etc.. Emphasis on the script.. Books + CD.. Dont think you can get much better without going to classes..

MassMoose · #7 08-10-2007, 23:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by LivinLOS

Try the Bejawan Becker stuff... Beginners Thai, Advanced Thai etc.. Emphasis on the script.. Books + CD.. Dont think you can get much better without going to classes..

Thanks for the info. I will have to check it out.

MassMoose · #8 14-10-2007, 07:37

Just purchased "Teach Yourself: Thai" yesterday. It is a book and two audio cd's. It seemed like the best choice of what Borders book store had in stock.

I have only just barely previewed it, but it seems more difficult than Pimsleur(so far). Goes right into some script also. Things are layed out differently so I am hoping I can pick up things here and there from the different learning formats that these books/cds offer. I am sure in a few months I will be looking for something new to help the process. I don't master any of these. I just get bored when it seems I plateau on what I learn on some of these and need a change.

I am thinking a CD-rom format may be good to help this process. Some interaction, clicking etc. I see one software called Thai - Languages of the World -- (transl by Transparent Language) offered by CompUSA in download form. Does anyone have any experience with this?

sanuk21 · #9 14-10-2007, 10:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by MassMoose

Just purchased "Teach Yourself: Thai" yesterday. It is a book and two audio cd's. It seemed like the best choice of what Borders book store had in stock.

I am thinking a CD-rom format may be good to help this process. Some interaction, clicking etc. I see one software called Thai - Languages of the World -- (transl by Transparent Language) offered by CompUSA in download form. Does anyone have any experience with this?

I agree with you about "Teach Yourself Thai" by David Smyth, I found it to be a good choice . It is very advanced and challenging. I had previously attended one on one classes and had mastered (I use this term loosely) speaking thai (as well as farangs can) using transliteration but was never able to progress any further or read or write thai script. Teach Yourself Thai is brilliant for this leap.

I have never had much luck with interactive software, I found Courage Software the best of a bad bunch.

Though I found Thai Language e-Learning to be a great interactive web based programme freebee.

โชคดี

Sanuk

MassMoose · #10 15-11-2007, 11:13

Just picked up "Conversational Thai in 7 Days" by same publisher as "Teach Your self Thai" and David Smyth. Be prepared, all my posts in about a week will be written in Thai only! 55555

sanuk21 · #11 15-11-2007, 17:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by MassMoose

Just picked up "Conversational Thai in 7 Days" by same publisher as "Teach Your self Thai" and David Smyth. Be prepared, all my posts in about a week will be written in Thai only! 55555

While your in the mood check out this demo.

60 Minutes to Learn the Thai Alphabet - learn thai alphabet, thai symbols

It only costs about $5 for the full version. I bought it a long time ago and found it a good learning aid. I must be a slow learner coz it took me 60 minutes a day for about 5 days.

Sanuk

Schmeen · #12 17-11-2007, 11:31

Linguaphone is by far the best course I have ever seen.

LivinLOS · #13 18-11-2007, 09:49

I thought linguaphone was just a generic name for any listen / speak audioset ??

Schmeen · #14 18-11-2007, 12:25

Linguaphone is a UK company.

The Thai course is here, but I am not talking about the PDQ course. I'm talking about the full course which was 130 pounds when I bought it in 1990.

It has a great section on writing as well and if you approach the whole course from day one using writing, you will end up with a very food standard.

Ah...found it...complete course here

279 pounds now, expensive, but you pay for the best. No other course i have ever seen comes close including the US State Department one given to me by a mate who worked for the US Embassy in Bangkok (although that was an excellent course also).