Thai for Intermediate Learners

All three books in the series are excellent. They address the need for a systematic and thorough, yet informal and highly accessible, introduction to the Thai language for native speakers of English. One receives the impression that the author has taken great care to ensure her books provide the maximum possible benefit to assist students who wish to learn Thai. The books teach both the spoken and written aspects of the language, unlike other textbooks which would leave the student effectively illiterate. Throughout the series, the author stresses the advantages of learning written Thai as opposed to relying upon a system of transliteration. In this, the second book in the series, it is finally possible to dispense with transliteration altogether and focus on Thai in Thai. Since my wife is Thai, I had a ready source to assist me with pronunciation. Otherwise I would certainly have purchased the audio materials that correspond to the books, for it is impossible to learn Thai sounds simply by reading about their approximate descriptions from a book.

Finally Poomsan Becker and her use of the horrible International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is gone. This is a dreadful system that has caused so many Thai people troubles when trying to read and pronounce English words. It was not designed by native speakers of English and actually is confusing and difficult to adapt to. This new book assumes you have learned everything from the basic level. It is a hard second step but it is a necessary step. All of the lessons are written in Thai. At the end of the book the English translation is provided. There is absolutely no Thai phonetic in this book. The vocabulary provided is good except at the end when they give transliteration for English names. They also give transliteration of English words where there is actually a Thai equivalent. Why would I want to now how a Thai person says the English word for Bank when there is a Thai word for that? To me that is just promoting laziness and avoiding Thai fluency. Once again you will need to buy the tapes or CD's separately. You may not necessarily need them for this level but I did. If nothing else it is a way to reassure yourself that you are pronouncing things correctly.

This book can help one build on what they learned in the Beginner series, or one can use this book and tape set, if they never studied under the first set to begin with. Tons of useful vocab, phrases, and contextual dialogues are in here. In real-life, you can use what you learn here, and the writing, reading, and listening sections will help a person adapt to the short and long vowels and tones quicker, it seems, than those who just work on the language on their own.

Once again, Benjawan Becker has written a great book on reading, writing, speaking and comprehending the Thai language. Lists of streets, provinces and names provide great references, and are taught in the context of conversations. Emphasis is placed on learning to give and take directions, hold conversations, and express impressions and emotions. Altogether a natural and beneficial follow up on her first book. Highly recommended for anyone serious about learning the mechanics of the Thai language.