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Title: Teach Yourself Thai Complete Course (Teach Yourself) by David Smyth ISBN: 0-8442-3782-5 Publisher: McGraw-Hill Pub. Date: 11 January, 1996 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.85 (13 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Probably the best one out there
Comment: This book is quite good to be modest, the main dialogues are provided both in romanized form as well as thai script, the thai script version is for later on when you can read the script better so you can go back to previous chapters and re-read the dialogue in script.
The book gradually teaches you to read and write the script, I have read other books teaching thai script and this one is by far the best one, you can tell the author knows the language.
Understanding the tapes can be hard at first since they speak at natural speed, but after some chapters you get the hang of it and its not too hard, and there are enough listening excercices for each chapter.
The grammar is clearly explained and is easy to understand, as with many asian languages the grammar is the easy part - pronounciation and script is the real challenge.
In each chapter you get to practice your knowledge of the script, you gradually build up you skills.
The only shortcoming of this book is that I think there are to few excerices to practice the grammar, so you might want to get a extra book on practicing grammar.
A good book for beginners.
Rating: 2
Summary: Inconsistent but good alphabet lesson.
Comment: i bought the book for the writing lessons. of all the (few) books on the store shelf, 'teach yourself' was one of the only to include writing and reading lessons. the typewritten font is clear and easy to read. also, handwritten examples of each letter are included, with arrows and so you know exactly how to write the letter.
letters are included in order of commonness (for the most part) with the least common at the end. while this may accelerate the reading of real words and sentences, perhaps it would be more valuable to learn the alphabet in dictionary order (now that i have a dictionary, i have trouble finding words in the thai half because i don't know dictionary order). also it would be a plus to teach the alphabet with its items (gor gai, kor kai...). i haven't found any book to include this.
for the most part, the alphabet is well taught. much of the rest of the book (and tape) is inconsistent, however. mistakes are made in the text.
at at least one point in the tape, a phrase is incorrectly translated. the book is not well organized, nor does it contain a lot of information. some of the excersises do not have answer keys (some excersise visual recognition of letters, without the need to understand the sounds).
finally, the english transliteration is rather good i think. unfortunately, it is not (or there is no) standard. after learning the script from 'teach yourself' i find it difficult to read other transliterations. this is not a problem of this book specifically, but i would like the author to explain a little about his chosen method in the introduction.
i took my first trip to thailand after studying this book casually for two months. i was able to read slowly much of what i saw on signs and menus.
Rating: 4
Summary: Fast pace, interesting and fun to work with
Comment: I've just finished Thai for beginners by Benjawan Becker and i think this is a great follow on book. Even through it's not touted as an intermeediate book, I think the pace of this would be too fast for an absolute beginner.
This book is way more interesting than Thai4beginners however. Each key word and sentense structure is explained very well and the constant Q&A is great. Thai4beginners is much more repetitious and spends too much time on nouns you will likely never remember or need.
This book also uses an easier to follow romanization method than the proper phonetic backward 'e' and all that crap used in thai4beg. My only complaint is their insistance on using 'u' for our 'a' sound which seems completely unnecessary and highly confusing.
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Title: Thai for Beginners by Benjawan Poomsan Becker ISBN: 1887521003 Pub. Date: 01 April, 1995 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Thai-English English-Thai Dictionary for Non-Thai Speakers, Revised Edition by Benjawan Poomsan Becker ISBN: 1887521143 Pub. Date: 01 January, 2002 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Thai for Lovers by Nit, Jack Ajee ISBN: 1887521046 Pub. Date: 21 December, 1999 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Improving Your Thai Pronunciation by Benjawan Poomsan Becker ISBN: 1887521267 Publisher: Paiboon Publishing Pub. Date: 01 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Thai: An Essential Grammar (Routledge Grammars) by David Smyth ISBN: 0415226147 Publisher: Routledge Pub. Date: August, 2002 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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