Customer Reviews

The Oxford-Duden Pictorial Thai & English Dictionary

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I have Oxford-Duden pictorial dictionaries in both Chinese and Thai, and have found them very helpful reference materials indeed for situations where translation of esoteric or extremely technical items is required, such as working parts of machinery, military hardware, etc. Obviously, being a pictorial dictionary, abstract nouns as well as verbs are not listed. I should also say that this dictionary would more than likely be superfluous for a basic-level speaker. I think it would probably be quicker to look up a word such as "sparrow" in a standard Eng-Thai dictionary than to track down the same word using this one. However, it is a fantastic technical reference.

As a picture dictionary, almost all words contained in the dictionary are nouns. This series uses a standard Western and scientific basis for most of the content, and section of Thai-specific items is added at the end. This is mostly wat architecture, animals, plants, and farm produce. There are many realms of Thai life that are not included. Also some very common nouns seem to be missing -- octopus is one animal not included in the dictionary at all.

I bought this book as a way to study technical words in Thai. In that capacity it is fantastic. But as a former art director at an ad agency, I found it very entertaining as well. Each diagram reminds me of those little emgergency instruction cards in the front pocket of airplane seats. Imagine those diagrams but placed in the context of a nightclub or discotheque. The result is quite hilarious.

Also, a linguist might find the format of the book interesting from a semiotic point of view in that it is a book of signs with three signifiers for each signified. If you are not familiar with semiotics, ignore this last comment !

"A picture says a thousand words". . . This book has thousands of pictures! This book is a handy reference for English people who are studying the Thai language or vice versa.

I believe it is a bit unwieldy for the casual traveller/visitor.

I have a strong desire to learn Thai and I have purchased quite a bit of English<->Thai material over the years...most of the material is 1970s and earlier. . .

This "dictionary" (manual?) is recent and has really tickled my fancy. I will buy this book for some of my Thai & English friends...Two thumbs up!