Product Description

An easy to use Thai language textbook designed for either self-study or classroom use. Teaches all four language skills speaking, listening (when used in conjunction with the cassette tapes), reading and writing . Offers clear, easy, step-by-step instruction, building on what has beenpreviously learned. Used by many Thai temples in America. Recommended books to be studied along with Thai for Beginners are Thai for Travelers (a practical Thai phrase book) and Speak like a Thai series by the same author.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #67086 in Books
• Published on: 1995-04-01
• Released on: 1995-04-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 262 pages

About the Author
Benjawan Poomsan Becker was born in Bangkok and spent her childhood in Yasothon, a small province in Northeast Thailand. Her family is ethnic Laotian, so she grew up speaking both Thai and Lao. She graduated from Khon Kaen University in Thailand in 1990, with a B.A. in English. Benjawan gained extensive experience teaching Thai to foreigners while studying for her M.A. in Japan with the Japan-Thailand Trade Association and Berlitz Language School, and in the US with Thai temples, Stanford University and private students. She now resides in Berkeley, California where she continues to write and publish books on the Thai and Lao languages. Her books include "Thai for Beginners", "Thai for Intermediate Learners", "Thai for Advanced Readers", "Thai-English/English-Thai Dictionary for Non-Thai Speakers", "Improving Your Thai Pronunciation", "Practical Thai Conversation DVD Series", the popular "Speak Like a Thai Series" and many other titles on the Thai language.

Customer Reviews

The first book in a GREAT series!
This book starts out at the beginning and goes through the language rather quickly building your vocabulary and getting simple phrases down. It's not really designed to just learn a few phrases that you might use on a short vacation. It's for people that are serious about learning Thai. I don't mean to say that it's a difficult book. It's not. The phrases you learn are short and simple but well thought out so you can learn to make other sentences by substituting words. There's no sense in learning at the beginning long and almost useless sentences that you don't know how to change under different circumstances.

I've spent so much money on Thai books and tapes and have been really discouraged. I started building web page that took the best parts of different books because I knew there was a better, more efficient way to learn Thai. But I found everything I wanted in this series of books. Also, there are several words like gaw and hai that are tricky to translate and it spends time explaining all their different uses.

The last part of the book has the alphabet and is taught the way Thai children learn, "Gaw gai, kaw kai, kaw kuart". I've been trying to learn it for so long but never found it on a tape. Speaking of the tape, or tapes - there are three - they do what is expected, read the vocabulary and phrases from the book. But they are great to have to drill the sounds and different tones into your head.

Lastly, the book uses good transliteration and has Thai script, which can be quite helpful to Thai people, and it clears up confusion if you're not sure exactly what sound they're making on the tape. This is besides the obvious reason, to learn how to read Thai. Oh, they focus on that too.

I don't know what else to say. It really is a must. The best.

Thai for Beginners
My husband and I tried several Thai language courses, but found each one of them lacking in the "flow" of learning. This course offers instruction in speaking, grammar, and writing. Each lesson gives you the right amount of information to keep you challenged, but not overwhelmed. The word choices in the vocabulary and sentence exercises allow you to quickly expand your speaking ability. -- It is evident that the writer has extensive experience in teaching Thai to foreigners. -- For true beginners to Thai, the accompanying tapes are also useful. These can be ordered using the form in the back of the book.

Best out there for those serious about learning Thai
First off, I want to say that I would not recommend this book for casual students, or people who want to study a bit of Thai for a holiday. This book is people who are serious about learning the Thai language correctly. (For those going on holiday, I also strongly recommend the phrase book from Lonely Planet.)

Second off, I want to say a bit about a few 1 star ratings I see. One complains that the book does not come with the tapes or a CD. Another complains that the tapes don't come with a book. Well, yes, this is true. If you want both, you buy both. What in the world does this have to do with the quality of either, and how does it justify a one star rating? It may be a legitimate complaint that buying both is too expensive (I would disagree), but these kinds of complaints are like saying that DirectTV satellite TV is awful because it does not come with a TV to watch it on.

In my opinion as a fluent Thai speaker, who has looked at many systems to learn the language, this one is the best. Here is why:

1) It has you learning to read and write right from the beginning, and if you're serious about learning Thai I cannot emphasize strongly enough the importance of this. It will aid your pronunciation and understanding to the language immensely, and in the grand scheme of learning the language, learning the writing system is actually a small part.

2) While you're getting up to speed on the writing system, it's transliteration system is there to help you, and is the best in existence. It has an extended roman alphabet to accurately and consistently represent the Thai alphabet. You need to take a bit of time to learn the system, but the payoff is you will be leaps and bounds ahead of students of other systems as far as pronunciaton goes.

3) It presents the major grammatical elements of Thai in a well pased, logical way.

4) The vocabulary building is also very good, introducing common stuctural words quickly. Vocabulary is introduced in a context so many realated words can be learned at once.

I recommend this series to anyone who has an interest in learning Thai.