Customer Reviews

Thai for Lovers Tape Set

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

PUBLISHER’S COMMENTS AND EXPLANATION

We noticed the wide variation in reviews of the "Thai for Lovers Tape Set" -- some users gave it 1 star and some gave it 5! - and felt that an explanation on our part could be helpful. First, the tapes are useless without the "Thai for Lovers" book. They are not a stand-alone product but are meant to be an accompaniment to the book. Second, "Thai for Lovers" (the book and the tape set) is not designed to be a serious language course. Another book and tape set that we publish, "Thai for Beginners", serves that purpose. Instead, "Thai for Lovers" is meant to be a romantic phrase book with no pretensions of teaching the Thai language in a systematic way. The tapes follow the book exactly and phrases are spoken in natural Thai following the English translation. Some listeners pointed out that the Thai was very fast. We asked the Thai speakers to use their natural speed and intonation thinking that this would be what listeners wanted to hear. It turns out that some people like it and others would prefer a slower pace. In the next edition we will reconsider and possibly have the Thai voice talent slow down a bit. In the meantime, we honestly believe that the "Thai for Lovers" book and tape set offer the best and most complete Thai romantic phrase book available. The potential they have to help open doors to new or improved relationships make them a five star bargain indeed!

Our company is doing its best to help our readers with the Thai language and to maintain quality products....

I purchased both the book and the cassettes. The book contains many phrases which, as a frequent traveler to Thailand, I find myself wanting to use. However the audio cassettes, which is merely a page by page reading of the book, is an extreme disappointment. What with its five tones the Thai language is extremely difficult for the westerner to grasp - and merely pronouncing each phrase once in rapid fire Thai is not helpful to one who is trying to learn the subtleties of this rich foreign tongue. There are no pauses in the tape for the listener to repeat the phrases - there are no repetitions of the phrases - as in the Pimsler method of learning languages - so one is merely left with a soundtrack to the book - which will leave the neophyte Thai speaker no closer to mastering the language.

I enjoyed listening to the tapes very much. They are spoken at the Natural speed of Thai speakers and are easy to follow when used with the book (the book and tapes need to go together). The content is fun and the tapes are clear. If you are serious about speaking Thai to your lover, these tapes are a must!

I have spoken Thai for 37 years. I learned to speak it
in Thailand in 1967 while stationed there with the U.S.
Air Force.

I was stationed in Central Thailand near the town of
Nakhon Ratchasima.

In that part of Thailand, there is a large ethnic Chinese
population. I find that I speak Thai with a Chinese
accent. This book gives me the phrases as spoken in
Bangkok.

The first time I was in Bangkok, people laughed at my
accent. Now I can hear the words spoken as they truely
should be.

This is not a textbook for learning basic Thai, although
some basic phrases are included. It is instead a add-on
to the book "Thai For Lovers."

I personally like the speed at which the words are spoken,
and the content of the material.

I recomend the tapes as a learning aid to using the books.

The book version of the tapes fills a void that most Thai - English dictionaries leave in that it provides translations of phrases which most farangs will encounter in day to day life abroad in Thailand. However, the cassettes are merely a rapid fire recantation of the words in the book...with no slow syllable by syllable phrasing - so that a list ener can easily learn the hard to grasp Thai pronunciation. With its five different tones Thai is a difficult language for westerners to master, and these tapes do little to facilitate the task.

Fun and Natural Thai

I enjoyed listening to the tapes very much. They are spoken at the natural speed of Thai speakers and are easy to follow when used with the book (the book and tapes need to go together). The content is fun and the tapes are clear. If you are serious about speaking Thai to your lover, these tapes are a must!

I enjoyed listening to the tapes very much. They are spoken at the Natural speed of Thai speakers and are easy to follow when used with the book (the book and tapes need to go together). The content is fun and the tapes are clear. If you are serious about speaking Thai to your lover, these tapes are a must!

There is no book that comes with the tape cassetes rendering the tapes useless. The authors pronounce the phrases in a hasty manner making it hard to follow. All in all, I am very dissatisfied with the Tape Set. You have to purchase the book to effectively use the tapes, otherwise forget the tapes. Not worth it, I seen a better deal. Thanks, but no thanks.

Fun and Natural Thai I enjoyed listening to the tapes very much. They are spoken at the natural speed of Thai speakers and are easy to follow when used with the book (the book and tapes need to go together). The content is fun and the tapes are clear. If you are serious about speaking Thai to your lover, these tapes are a must!

To learn Thai, first of all the English person needs to hear the words slowly and with a degree of repetition. This poorly executed tapes is merely the author saying a trailer trash phrase in English and having it repeated by his bargirl girlfriend. A true waste of money for anyone attempting to learn Thai