26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Better, Stronger, Faster, February 14, 2009
This review is from: New Thai-English, English-Thai Compact Dictionary for English Speakers with Tones and Classifiers (Paperback)
I just spent the last hour "playing" with my new "three-way" English-Thai, Thai-English, Thai sound-English dictionary from Paiboon publishing.... I say "playing" because this dictionary is not only better than its predecessor, but for a lover of the Thai language, it is just plain "fun!"
First of all, this is the best Thai-English/English-Thai dictionary on the market, anywhere, bar none. I don't even want to waste time explaining why it is "better" than the would-be competition.... But I suppose a few words are necessary. The advantages of the earlier edition -still- have not been matched by any other dictionary... 1) Comprehensive yet compact, 2) The only dictionary that allows the critical "third-way" of looking up a word in Thai, by it's pronunciation in English 3) Utilizes the most accurate and user friendly pronunciation system in existence, and 4) Has lots of cool extras presented with a "real life" no b.s. approach, with no loss of the subtle complexity of the language at any turn.
While Thai uses an alphabet, the word ordering in the dictionary is not immediately apparent... very frustrating... Benjawan and Chris (the two authors) explain a simple way -and- the "real" way to quickly look up words. Problem solved.
Thai has multiple letters that sound like "P" or "S" or "F" or "T" or "K"... Maybe you have heard a word spoken and want to look it up, but you have no idea what "K" or "T" was used to actually start the word because you have not mastered "tone rules" enough to guess. If you don't think this is a problem, you have not tried to understand spoken Thai. This dictionary provides a whole section that lets you look up the word by the way it sounds IN ENGLISH. Then it directs you to the right Thai letter and definition. In an awesome improvement from the earlier edition, you are directed to the correct Thai word by page number in the Thai spelled section... eliminating the need to essentially re-print definitions in this section; a move which saves a large amount of space that the authors have used to fill with a much larger amount of entries than in the previous edition.
Let's say that you read something in Thai, but of course it is written in some crazy font that does not remotely resemble the standard Thai letters you have assiduously struggled to learn.... No problem... the dictionary has a section that shows each Thai letter in a number of different fonts.... Much as the previous edition, but improved by depicting in one place, the name of the letter (written in Thai, phonetically and with the English translation of the letter's name), it's "class" (high, low or mid), along with the various fonts.. AND how the letter would sound at the beginning OR the end of a word (not always the same!)
Maybe you are more than 20 years old and have something less than 20/15 vision or the mind reading ability of Thais to decipher the micrographic small print in which Thai normally appears... No problem. The authors have graciously increased the font size that allows your eyes to luxuriate in washing over the beautiful Thai script without placing the book under a microscope! I should note here that the physical dimensions of the book are somewhat larger than the previous edition, but it is still quite manageable enough for a cargo pocket and has the advantages of the larger script, more entries and more extras. The authors consciously have made efforts to be more efficient so that every extra page provides added value and not just added size.
Oh... this is my favorite .... In Thai, most nouns have "classifiers" (in other languages also known as modifiers or quantifiers or measure words). We have but few examples of this in English, but in Thai they are the norm. So, for instance, you would not say that you had five children and leave it at that. You would say something like you have "child, five people" or "television three devices." These words like "people" or "devices" and when to use which are VERY annoying because while there is some predictability, what word you use with what noun is not obvious... most of the time in fact. It is like knowing that you have to say that you want two "slices" or "cuts" of pizza, but that you want two "pieces" of candy. How would you know how to say that in English if you did not already just "know it" as a native speaker? Well, it is 100X worse in Thai.... But the dictionary comes to the rescue by offering two advantages from the earlier edition and something I NEVER SEE in other dictionaries (except one, but done poorly). The Paiboon dictionary lists the appropriate classifier along with the entry of each noun if one exists for that noun... thank god! Secondly, to give you some idea that the classifiers are not all picked out of a hat, there is a small section in the back that lists major classifiers... not as a laundry list, but by explaining the different classifiers used within each kind of idea, such as classifiers often used with food, or in writing or in classifiers that have something to do with a shape of the object etc. A really ingenious descriptive technique.
I can't believe it took this long to describe a critical aspect of the dictionary... the English pronunciation system. .... Of course it is best if you learn how to read Thai... but even then, there are more than a few exceptions to the rules and beyond that there are exceptions in the way a word is pronounced in everyday speech (versus the way it appears that it should be pronounced). The "Paiboon" system takes two minutes to learn and is vastly more accurate than any other, including the actual and dreaded "official system" which gives us words like Suvarnabhumi. Try to use -that- word and make it to the airport! In any case, the Paiboon system is used in all of the Paiboon published books and CDs on learning Thai... As those resources are also the absolutely best way to learn Thai, you might as well own a dictionary that uses the same pronunciation system.
Above all, this is the only dictionary with a sense of humor. There is a section on vowels, consonants, tone and parts of the language that seems to empathize with your struggles instead of making it seem like understanding Thai is all simple and you are the only idiot not getting it all. It makes you feel like you have a friend helping you through...
Look, if you already own the older version of this dictionary, keep it for street use until it falls apart, but BUY this new one... it is a quantum leap beyond an already fantastic product. If you own any other dictionary or none at all... THIS is the one to buy. You can buy something bigger, but you would be wasting your time and getting a monster book you won't want to use. Good luck and enjoy!
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Love the Updated Version!, May 5, 2009
This review is from: New Thai-English, English-Thai Compact Dictionary for English Speakers with Tones and Classifiers (Paperback)
I was already a big fan of khun Benjawan's previous dictionary (I owned four copies to make sure I had one handy wherever I was). I purchased this new version as soon as I heard it was available.
I had two small complaints about the previous version: first, sometimes words I was looking for was only in one section and not the other (only in the Thai-English but not English-Thai for example) which did cause some translation delays, and secondly it seemed like there were more than a small number of words that were omitted, which forced me to rely on my much heavier (but more thorough) Mary Haas dictionary. The good news is that these problems seem to have been taken care of in the new version; at least so far as I can tell having had it for a short period of time.
I am also greatly looking forward to the Desktop Edition that is mentioned in this pocket version as becoming available in late 2009.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Greatly improved - Don't hesitate to upgrade to this edition., May 24, 2009
This review is from: New Thai-English, English-Thai Compact Dictionary for English Speakers with Tones and Classifiers (Paperback)
I purchased this dictionary as soon as it was available from the publisher. This dictionary is a great improvement over the previous edition. The inclusion of classifiers and "word register (formality)" is of great utility to any serious student of Thai. The introduction is also vastly improved. It serves as a quick reference for the Thai language as well as a guide for using the dictionary. It is packed with useful information including a pronunciation guide, examples of Thai font variations, and classifier usage.
As mentioned by other reviewers, the previous edition seemed to be lacking more than a few common words. During my most recent trip to Thailand, I kept this dictionary in my backpack at all times during the trip. I found its coverage of the vocabulary I encountered in "real life" nearly 100%.
Like the old edition, the new edition includes the "Thai Sound" section makes it easy to find that word you heard on TV or overhead in a conversation.
In summary, this edition is a must have upgrade over the old edition. Don't hesitate to purchase it.
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