ศาลาชุมนุม

Hi,
I'm wondering how the books reviewed on the reference resource were selected? I guess the reason I ask is that I don't see beginner "self-study" books there e.g. "Thai FOR BEGINNERS" by Benjamin Poomsan Becker, which is what I'm using right now. And then "EVERYDAY THAI FOR BEGINNERS" by Wiworn Kesavatana-Dohrs - I'm planning to switch to that one once I've completed the first that I mentioned.

Ken

Thank you for your post, Ken. The purpose of the book review section of this site was to introduce foreign students to books written in Thai which would be of use to them in furthering their studies. We did not include books in English. For books in English for learning Thai, see Catherine's listings at http://womenlearnthai.com/index.php/boo ... age-books/.

David,
Thanks for the explanation and other resources. As a suggestion, perhaps a version of your response could be added to the top of the book review page?

Ken

Somewhere, I feel like I've seen a review of the beginner books that lists what is good and bad about each of them, etc., and it was really helpful in getting an idea of which books I might want to get. I think it was on WLT. I can't for the life of me find it again, and I feel like I've looked all over that site. Anyone know what I'm talking about? (I've found reviews there of the grammar books, the dictionaries, etc., but the page with the language-learning books just lists them, without review.) Am I remembering something that doesn't exist? If not, does anyone know where to find it?

Unless you need to learn reading and writing the Thai script, the only beginner book you need is Essential Thai by James Higbie. It's so much better than the others there's really no competition.

Katia,

Perhaps this is the listing you are referring to: http://womenlearnthai.com/index.php/boo ... age-books/

baker wrote:Unless you need to learn reading and writing the Thai script, the only beginner book you need is Essential Thai by James Higbie. It's so much better than the others there's really no competition.

I'm learning both, yes. Currently learning to read/write; I'll work on speaking more once I'm there and can go to a language school where someone can listen to me and make sure I'm speaking correctly.

David and Bui wrote:Katia,

Perhaps this is the listing you are referring to: http://womenlearnthai.com/index.php/boo ... age-books/

I like that list, but the one I'm thinking of has a review under each title.

Katia,

Is wasn't this one, by any chance, was it? http://www.thai-language.com/book-reviews

David, this is really embarrassing, but I finally found that it was this one: http://www.thai-language.com/store

I looked all over WLT, and this site, because I knew I'd seen it somewhere on one of the two... and the "store" link was the one spot on the site I DIDN'T think to look!

(The reviews are really helpful, because I'm trying to narrow down which books I want. Both because buying many can add up to a lot of money in a hurry and I'm also going to need to save some of my budget for going to school once I'm in Bangkok {and the books are not commonly available used, like on Amazon and such, to save some money}, and because I don't need too many cooks in the kitchen and will just end up getting confused/overwhelmed. I think I have it narrowed down to Thai For Beginners by Becker, perhaps the Smyth Teach Yourself Complete Thai {I have a copy on hold at the library so I can see if I like it before I buy, too} and/or Essential Thai by Higbie, and then maybe the Bua Luang compact dictionary for carrying, and maybe the Haas dictionary for home. And then probably the Higbie Thai Reference Grammar.)