slice-of-thai.com → Thai Language → Resources for Learning Thai

Resources for Learning Thai

Updated Every 3 Months. Last Update: July 2008.

Introduction

On this page you will find a list of books, CDs, DVDs, and software for learning the Thai language.

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Resources

	Thai & English Dictionary Paiboon Publishing I believe this is the most popular pocket-sized Thai-English dictionary for farang travelers and language learners, and one of the only ones that caters to farangs. Although the vocabulary is relatively small (9,000 English entries and 7,000 Thai entries), and there are some strange omissions, the dictionary has three sections (look up by English word, Thai script, or Thai transcription) so you can look up a Thai word that you've heard even if you don't know Thai script. This is the dictionary I started with when creating my software Thai-English Dictionary for PalmOS PDAs.
	Thai for Beginners Paiboon Publishing Love it or hate it, this is definitely the most ubiquitous beginner book. Covers spoken and written Thai, including vocab, grammar, and even follow-the-dotted-line writing practice forms. All Thai words are in Thai script and the (famous or infamous) Paiboon transcription system. Some complain that the sample vocab and sentences in the book are not all that useful, but most still seem to think it's the best choice.
	Thai für Anfänger Paiboon Publishing German Thai for Beginners.
	Thai for Japanese Speakers Paiboon Publishing Japanese Thai for Beginners.
	Thai for Intermediate Learners Paiboon Publishing Ok but seems hurriedly written. The beginner or advanced book are probably better bets.
	Thai for Advanced Readers Paiboon Publishing A great resource to help wean yourself away from transcription. It's a whole book of Thai-script essays, interviews, and documents with English and transcription help only for the tough words.
	Speak Like a Thai Volume 1 Contemporary Thai Expressions Paiboon Publishing
	Speak Like a Thai Volume 2 Thai Slang and Idioms Paiboon Publishing I flipped through this one and wow, Kun Benjawan doesn't at all hold back in giving you the complete list of Thai slang! I'm glad someone finally pushed past the normal, academic prudishness of language books to give us this trove of words and phrases you hear in the real world every day.
	Speak Like a Thai Volume 3 Thai Proverbs and Sayings Paiboon Publishing
	Speak Like a Thai Volume 4 Heart Words Paiboon Publishing
	Speak Like a Thai Volume 5 Northeastern Dialect Paiboon Publishing I'm glad someone finally made this too! Isaan/Lao dialect may not be academically "hi-so," but a huge percentage of the population speaks it, particularly a segment that interacts with farangs.
	Thai for Travelers Paiboon Publishing Paiboon's phrase book.
	Thai for Lovers Paiboon Publishing Quite a lot of specialized vocabulary that comes in handy in this particular niche, with some cultural info mixed in as well! On the cultural side, also check out a book I co-authored, Thailand Fever.
	Thai for Gay Tourists Paiboon Publishing Includes lots of specialized vocabulary for yet another niche!
	Improving Your Thai Pronunciation Paiboon Publishing A CD and booklet that help you practice hearing and making some of the tricker sounds of Thai that are also found in our language section.
	Thai Keyboard Stickers Paiboon Publishing Get these to avoid going insane when you try to type Thai.
	Thai for Beginners Software Paiboon Publishing
	Thai for Kids Paiboon Publishing
	Practical Thai Conversation - Vol 1 Paiboon Publishing In this practice DVD they first speak slowly so you can understand, then they say the same thing at normal, supersonic speed so you can learn how it's really said! Cool idea.
	Practical Thai Conversation - Vol 2 Paiboon Publishing
	How to Buy Land and Build a House in Thailand Paiboon Publishing For those trying to "manage" their construction workers, includes amazing 3-D charts with Thai script and Thai transcriptions of the names of crucially important house parts, tools, materials, etc. Also includes vocab for land deeds, etc.
	How to Establish a Successful Business in Thailand Paiboon Publishing Mostly about business, but includes useful vocab for company formation.
	Thai Law for Foreigners Paiboon Publishing Mostly about the law in Thailand (sadly, only the kind that occurs above the table :), but also includes vocab lists for government agencies, land title types, etc.
	Essential Thai James Higbie A beginner Thai book by James Higbie that many people like because the vocabulary it uses while teaching you Thai sounds and grammar is immediately useful in everyday situations. It's almost like a phrasebook and intro language book combined. Writing is just touched upon quickly in an appendix; this is about understanding and speaking Thai. The book uses yet another strange home-brewed pronunciation guide system, one where tones are indicated using actual lines that bend up or down like the tones themselves. How to Get This Book Sadly, Higbie's distribution (through (Bangkok) Post Books and then later Asia Books) is awful. I rarely see the books in Asia Books outlets, and Asia Books' website is a steaming pile of bugs where everytime I try to search for anything, I get error messages and I get directed to pages I didn't click on. No wonder Asia Books has gone bankrupt repeatedly since the 1997 crash. I can rarely find this book on Amazon, and when I do it's used and super-expensive. The ISBN is 974-202-035-3. Typically the book comes in a big plastic binder (either blue as shown here, or brown) containing the A4-sized book and (don't laugh) a cassette tape accompanying it. You can just discard the tape; the book is still as great as it was in 1997. Usually I can find the binder on sale for around 1000B at: DK Books in Bangkok or Chaing Mai Suriwong Book Center in Chiang Mai If anyone knows other sources, please let me know.
	Thai Reference Grammar James Higbie and Snea Thinsan For a computer geek like me who likes to see everything analyzed and spelled out in great detail, this is the best book on Thai grammar I have ever seen—almost the only one I would even call a grammar book. It's one of the few books that tries to answer the question "How to I build Thai sentences?" rather than "How do I say this or that word in Thai?" I find myself repeatedly exclaiming "finally I found it!" as I browse chapters with titles like "Questions" and "Tenses." If you're the type of person who likes to see the whole picture written down, even though the reality of human language is messy and complicated, get this book! The book uses the same strange home-brewed pronunciation guide system found in Essential Thai above, but for an intermediate/advanced learner that's not a big obstacle as everything has Thai script too. The book has so many examples of how to build sentences that it must have taken them a decade to write it! The one disadvantage of the book is that it is just that—a huge list of examples, divided only into coarse categories. Now we need someone to take the next step and further analyze this gold-mine of examples into a more heirarchical presentation where common properties are drawn together to make learning easier. How to Get This Book There's a catch: Higbie's distribution (through Orchid Press) is absolutely abysmal; Orchid is doing him a huge disfavor by not getting the book out there. I can rarely find this book on Amazon, and when I do it's used and super-expensive. The ISBN is 974-8304-96-5. Usually I can find the book on sale for around 900B at: DK Books in Bangkok or Chaing Mai Chulalongkorn University Bookstore in Bangkok Suriwong Book Center in Chiang Mai If anyone knows other sources, please let me know.
	Thai: An Essential Grammar David Smyth Very much in the same spirit and organized similarly to Higbie's Thai Reference Grammar, this analytical work also has chapters entitled "questions" and "time," though at first glance it doesn't seem to be as detailed as Higbie or have as many example sentences. It uses yet another pronunciation guide system that falls somewhere in between the Paiboon and IPA systems, and also has Thai script for everything. This might be a good compromise for those who want more details than the Paiboon books but less detail than Higbie. Easily available on Amazon.
	A Reference Grammar of Thai Shoichi Iwasaki and Preeya Ingkaphirom I haven't seen this one yet. It's crazy expensive (around USD $110.00) but maybe at that price it's the most detailed grammar yet? Easily available on Amazon.
	Pimsleur Comprehensive Thai Program (30 lessons) First and seemingly most popular of the big-three complete Thai learning programs, this package includes 16 hours of audio instruction with the famed "Pimsleur method." It gives you basic skills in spoken Thai but this "Level I" course doesn't cover writing. I haven't tried it, but Some people swear by it! It seems to cater well to people who don't want to work hard memorizing lists or flashcards.
	Linguaphone Thai Language Course Second of the big-three complete Thai language courses, this one includes 8 CDs and 3 books and, unlike the Pimsleur course, also covers reading and writing. Again it's pricey, but some people believe the instruction is better and more complete than any other source.
	Rosetta Stone Software Third of the big-three complete Thai language courses, this one is a software package which includes a microphone and apparently has features to listen to you and grade your speech—a fancier version of voice viewer from this website.