This article was originally posted on WomenLearnThai.com.
And what phrase book is without humour?…
Deep into all things Thai phrase books, I couldn’t resist sharing a classic, The Hungarian Phrasebook sketch.
The Hungarian Phrasebook sketch was first shown in Episode 25 of the Flying Circus TV Show, in the 1970’s. Later on it was included in ‘And Now For Something Completely Different’.
They wouldn’t get sued if they targeted Thai. But they might get roughed up a bit though.
Such a classic skit, I love the Hungarian phrase book. I think a publisher should come out and do something like this for real, would be massively hilarious. They’d probably end up getting sued thou.
Abby, thanks for the link. Hilarious.
โฮเวà¸à¸£à¹Œà¸„ราฟท์ขà¸à¸‡à¸œà¸¡à¹€à¸•à¹‡à¸¡à¹„ปด้วยปลาไหล
(Love Monty…)
Classic.
I feel I should link to Omniglot’s My Hovercraft is Full of Eels page:
http://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/hovercraft.htm
Ben, LOL! Yeah, that’s what I was thinking… a great excuse. I plan on writing a post about using the iPhone and PDA’s for language learning. I have a friend using a PDA but I just needed to get some first hand experience of my own first. And maybe we can even share out files back and forth.
nt, glad you like it. I looooooooooooove Monty Python!
Brilliant! Thanks, Catherine. I so needed a good Python fix.
Nice. Let me know if you create a program for it and I might just join you in getting one (what a great excuse!)
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Ben, none I’ve come across go into any depth. But, they are good for those times when your brain quits working, or when you need a word you haven’t bothered to learn, or when you need to show a Thai a word or phrase that you are not pronouncing correctly.
I have a birthday coming up so I have my eye on the iPhone. Not for calling, but for adding phrases and words I want to take on. Everyone is in a rush to write programs for it, so it should be good timing. Apparently I can record my own words and phrases to add to existing programs.
Yes I have trouble with the sounds and the way they are described in one that I am using now.
I also own the eyewitness one you have in your review, which I used a lot when I first arrived, very handy, pretty small, can fit it in your pocket etc – and it’s not bad, but not as ‘in depth’ as I need now.
Next time I’m in BK I will make a beeline for a book shop and get a copy of the Collins one, so brilliant, many thanks!
Ben Shingletons last blog post..Tropical Landscaping in Thailand: The Royal Phuket Yacht Club
Am I allowed to recommend? Absolutely. This post is not a paid post, it is all mine.
Difficult to recommend as there are some pretty decent ones listed. For myself, when I head out the door I slip Colins into my purse as I’m not a big purse gal. The design is brilliant, it comes with sound, and is tiny. And I can take always take a folded sheet of paper to jot down the phrases I can’t find.
But I believe that any phrase books having sound and a Thai-English dictionary are worth purchasing, even if they do have the odd mistakes here and there.
Maybe it is not so with French or German, but being able to hear how the phrases/tones sound is a must for the new Thai learner; transliteration just doesn’t cut it and almost every phrase book has their own version.
Indeed…. I need a new one. Which is your fave? Are you allowed to recommend?
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Ben, hmmm… it could also be down to which phrase book you bought 😉
What a classic clip, but is now making me cringe…..Do my attempt to speak Thai sound like this!!? No. they sound worse!
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