Customer Reviews

Thai-English English-Thai Dictionary for Non-Thai Speakers, Revised Edition (Dictionary)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Bad news:
Print is too small. Anyone with eyes over 40 years old will be looking for a magnifying glass to supplement their glasses, just as one needs one to read the message he is printing here. But dictionaries are supposed to be reference materials, not teaching resources. I wrote to the publisher and asked if there was a version for people with real eyes. His response was that what you see (or don't see) is what you get.
In both Thailand and the U.S. I haunted bookstore after bookstore for a more flexible dictionary and found none.
Good news: in conjunction with other learning guides, this dictionary is the best. If you want to learn pronunciation, get something on disk.
Until someone comes out with something in larger print, this is as good as you'll get.

This is the best dictionary on Thai I have seen to date, and I have looked at a lot of them. Although the transliteration
system (The Romanized version for English speakers) is probably the most unique and difficult to learn and remember, will easily result in the most accurate pronounciation. The transliteration system is worth learning, and puts all other transliteration systems in second class (as far as winding up with the correct pronounciation) at best.

The book has English-to-Romanized-Thai, Romanized-Thai-to English, and "real"-Thai-script-to-English, easily making
it the most useful of all the ones I have seen to date.

As this dictionary is fairly comprehensive, it is also a bit thick, making it a little difficult to travel with, but this dictionary is a MUST for anyone trying to learn any Thai at
all.

The beginning has very useful information to decipher this difficult language (vocabaluary, how to write the letters, what the different fonts look like). Then there is a large section for English-Thai (the Thai script is small, so you need a magnifiying glass for it), then a section of English written Thai - Thai script (very good but you have to learn how to write the English equivalent of Thai sounds). Third section is Thai script to English. I have many Thai books and dictionaries, but this one is the most requested by my friends learning Thai.

I cant imagine finding a better English-Thai dictionary. This dictionary offers a complete pronunciation guide as well as tips on recognizing different thai scripts all in addition to having three different ways to look up a word. English,transliteration, or thai script. If you are a serious student of Thai you will most likely need to purchase a larger more complete dictionary but for everyday use this is the best Thai dictionary on the market.

This dictionary wonderful for everyday use or as a reference when studying Thai. I have had this this dictionary and another Thai - English dictionary for about two years. At first, I did not like this dictionary because the Phonetic Thai that is used is difficult to understand. After, I got use to that Phonetic Thai, I found out it is the best system invented (thus far) for romanizing the Thai language.
There are three main ways to search for information using this dictionary. The first, of course, is to look up the English word and discover the Thai translation. The next way, is to "sound out" a Thai word. Then, search for that sound (via the Thai Phonetic section)and discover the English translation. This is great for when someone says something to you on the phone that you do not understand. You could just look it up without having to know how to write Thai. The third way, is to look up the word written in actual Thai.
This dictionary's foremost imperfection is it's inability to contain every word that you will ever need or hear. I have been frustrated many times by this. But after two years, it is still the most used tool that I've bought.

This dictionary is probably the best one that the beginner Thai student will find. I am currently a Peace Corps Volunteer in Thailand and am the only Farang in my community. This has proven to be very helpful and often very frustrating. Thankfully I am learning how to read Thai and will be moving on to better options.

The good points:
1. Written in English and Thai alphabets. You will mispronounce whatever word you are looking up so it helps when the Thai's can read what you are pointing at.
2. Lists a lot of rules for the Thai language to give beginners a better understanding.
3. Alphabet key at the bottom of pages allows for quicker referencing.
4. Size is nice. Maybe a little too big for pockets but compact enough.

The bad points:
1. The middle section, Thai phonetic, is useless and takes up space.
2. Thai print is tiny. Thai's have difficulty reading and often have to go looking for glasses. If phonetic section was eliminated this print could have been made larger.
3. The system that they use for translating the vowels is difficult and frustrating. Example: ii is equal to ee. I don't understand why they don't just use ee then. I had to make a vowel key on a notecard to make sense of the system.

Bottom line. Buy this dictionary, there are none better in a compact size. Expect to be frustrated with it quite a bit. Once you start learning to read Thai you will want to move on to a dictionary that eliminates the Thai phonetic.

Potential PCVs, through our diligent lobbying efforts you will be provided with this dictionary during training. Save your money for Soam Tom.

one of the best 'pocket' dictionaries around. It has the best transliteration system around, and offers translations in 3 different ways. only 4 out of 5 stars because some common words arent present, but an alternate is easy to find.

B.P. Becker also writes the learning texts for Thai that are used almost exclusively by thai schools. So if youre learning Thai this is an excellent accompaniment.

This is by far the most useful dictionary I have used while traveling in Thailand. Even if you know the Thai alphabet, the phonetic transliterations of Thai can be very helpful in real-time communication. The three sections (English-phonetic-Thai, phonetic-Thai-English, and Thai-phonetic-English) work well together to get you what you need. There are some handy extras: a section on the Thai writing system, a list of common classifiers, and a sampling of Thai fonts. Good study material for long bus rides!

Lots of everyday words where missing. Frustrating when you are looking at a dictionary, one just expects it to be there. 50% of the time the word I was looking for wasn't in the dictionary. Granted that some words may not translate, not that many though surely.
Not the worst Thai dictionary but lots of room for improvement.

This is the best Thai dictionary that I found anywhere. It has very readable print (both in English and in Thai). There are many wonderful features such as a section that shows the Thai letters in different print style -- VERY useful. There is a section that covers tones and examples of why they are important. The best feature is that there is a section for Thai script to English and a section for phonetic Thai transliteration to English. There is also a handy Thai alphabet at the bottom of the Thai scrit to English section for easy reference. The only thing that could be more useful is a wider range of vocabulary enteries. It's not ment for more than basic to eary intermediate vocabulary. Other than that I give it an A plus!