WLTs Thai Language Giveaway: Paiboon Publishing & Word in the Hand

27 comments

1. And the winners are ….

   Angela Savage
   Tom Kolek
   Richard
   Chris
   Mike

   Winners, please contact me asap to receive your codes. Any codes not retrieved by next Wednesday will be given to the winner/s in waiting (already chosen).

   Thank you for participating!

   In the next draw you’ll get a chance to win two each of James Higbies’ Essential Thai and Thai Reference Grammar, as well as Smyth’s Essential Grammar and Segaller Thai Without Tears.

   It doesn’t matter if you’ve won this time, you are eligible to win again. Good luck everyone!

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2. Hi Tom, teaching English in Thailand should be quite the adventure for you. Good luck!

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3. I just submitted an application to teach English in Thailand this Fall. Your books and apps would really come in handy to help me learn Thai. Korb khun mak krub!

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4. From Chris Pirazzi:

   In terms of vocabulary, the phrasebook has more than 12,000 entries in 250+ categories, so there is surely lots of material there that will help intermediate/advanced learners too.

   Both our phrasebook and dictionary apps have high-quality sound recordings for every Thai word and phrase. Both dictionary and phrasebook have detailed Help pages about Thai language, speaking/understanding Thai, grammar, and usage.

   Our dictionary app has some additional features that are of interest to intermediate/advanced learners, such as detailed pages on reading/writing Thai, the ability to find words inside a phrase to learn about the words that it is composed of, or the ability to click on any phrase and get a detailed explanation of its Thai spelling down to the level of vowels, consonants, and tone rules.

   Our plan is to fold all of the phrasebook features into the dictionary in an upgrade and also allow the phrasebook app to be upgraded to the full feature set too via an in-app purchase, so no matter which one you get, you have a path to the full feature set.

   All the comparison details are here: http://word-in-the-hand.com/thai-phrasebook-dictionary-app-product-comparison/

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5. Mike, I ditto the flashcards! It’d be handy to be able to add words you want to practice right when you find them.

   Tony, good reminder – I don’t use the history aspects of the dictionary as often as I should.

   Chris, in the 2.0 update all features of the phrasebook will be rolled in. Just my opinion … because the phrasebook covers so many subjects, I’d say it’s suitable for all levels. But I will ask Chris and get back to you asap …

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6. I have Paiboon’s dictionary, and it is excellent. Will current dictionary users get the phrasebook functionality included with the 2.0 upgrade? Is the phrase book suitable for intermediate to advanced Thai learners, or is primarily aimed at beginners?

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7. I have the dictionary and the phrase book. The phrase book is fun and a good learning app, but the dictionary is indispensable. I use it at least weekly and usually more often. When I shop or travel, I often don’t know the word for something I need. I can usually find the word in the dictionary and can show the Thai word to the person I’m working with. I can also listen to the audio of the Thai if I want to try speaking the word myself.

   I’m amazed at how comprehensive the dictionary is. I’ve found words that I didn’t think would be included. It also lets you back through words you have looked up before.

   This is an invaluable resource if you live in Thailand. Well worth the cost.

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8. The talking dictionary has proved to be the most useful Thai language learning app I have purchased(I have quite a few!).

   It has helped a lot with my reading, now I find I can even type Thai in the Thai to English section.so learning to write a bit has been a positive spin off!

   Being able to write my name and some other stuff in long hand is quite exciting(for me)

   Looking forward to the integration later this year.

   I also like the idea of flash cards as suggested above.

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9. Angela, this is great! As I have experience with both Bangkok and Chiang mai, I’ve just purchased ‘Behind the Night Bazaar: Jayne Keeney PI in Chiang Mai’ on Kindle. I’m an avid reader and Kindle has saved me a ton in shipping.

   “Fieldwork will take me to Si Sa Ket and Surin, amongst other places.”

   Fantastic! I enjoyed my time in Buri Ram. While there, I met the most wonderful Thai couple who had an experimental Thai farm in the traditional style. I have videos here somewhere, for one of those posts that I’ll ‘eventually’ get around to.

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10. Thanks Catherine. My first three novels are crime fiction, a series involving a 30-something Australian PI based in Bangkok. I set the books in different parts of Thailand in order to showcase the beauty and diversity of the country — and also because it makes the fieldwork more fun!

    My current WIP (work in progress) is a standalone novel. Fieldwork will take me to Si Sa Ket and Surin, amongst other places. I am really looking forward to it.

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11. Sam, here’s your reply from Chris:

    Yes we definitely want to integrate some kind of flashcard functionality into the dictionary app, possibly as an in-app purchase. Currently we are working on bringing all new features of the phrasebook into a 2.0 version of the dictionary by the end of this year, including full-text search and Favorites. Then after we ship dictionary 2.0 we will have time to work on a flashcard feature for the dictionary.

    We are VERY interested in hearing which flashcard features are most important. Because we have limited development time, our flashcard support will certainly not have the zillion bells and whistles of dedicated flashcard programs (and to some that will even be a plus because all those bells and whistles can make the flashcards hard to use). So we want to get down to the essential set of features that will cover 90% of the ways our customers want to drill words.

    If you have any input on how you use your favorite flashcard program (how cards are presented on-screen (e.g. visual card format vs. visual list format with gradual reveal), what is on each side of the card and how configurable that needs to be, how do you tell the program whether you got it right (yes/no vs. levels of gradation vs. just click/wait to go to the next card and don’t tell the program if you got it right), how do you choose card order, how to choose which cards get repeated and when, what reporting/history features do you actually use, etc.) then that would be appreciated, so we can make sure to support most/all of the same functionality in our flashcard feature. We welcome any suggestions at [email protected]

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12. Angela, went searching and found you on wiki – impressive. I hope you have a wonderful time in Thailand during your research. If I were to write a book it would have to be here (Thailand is always surprising me).

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13. Chuck and Mary, we are totally like minds. Just my opinion, these three products should be in everyone’s Thai learning arsenal (well, until they become two). Thank you both for your support!

    Sam, I’ll ask Chris if flashcards are in the works. I know the request has been made and they were indeed discussing the possibilities.

    Colon, if you do most of your work on your laptop, why not get their software dictionary for the PC instead? I have a Mac so can’t use the software unless I get an emulator (and the expense keeps getting pushed to the back burner).

    Angela, “fieldwork for my next novel” sounds exciting! With Lao/Issarn under your belt, getting the ultimate use out of both the dictionary and the phrasebook will be a dawdle. Good luck!

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14. I’m a Lao/Issarn speaker who would like to learn to speak Thai. I’m heading to Thailand at the end of the year to conduct fieldwork for my next novel and I strongly suspect I shouldn’t leave home without the Talking Thai-English-Thai Dictionary and Phrasebook. Thanks for bringing these resources to my attention, Catherine.

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15. I think the Thai dictionary is brilliant and highly thought out, used on my Andriod phone offline most days. One annoying point is the verification of purchase , still very much a lap top user so do not go online with the phone much.
    However I have learnt a great deal from this App

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16. properly fields -> already properly fielded

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17. Rather than pile Ossa upon Pelion — idiomatic Thai translation, please ! — in a fruitless attempt to explain how excellent this weeks applications are, I’d like to file a feature request with the dictionary programmers:

    I wish that dictionaries integrated flash card functionality. Bookmarks and favorites and categories are great, but at the end of the day — there’s another cliche crying out for idiomatic Thai — I want to learn the words, and flash cards are ideal for that.

    I think that you must have the database properly fields for this purpose, so it would really be a matter of plugging the fields into a flash card template, however your platform handles that concept technically, and then adding functionality unique to flash cards, like timing and testing (but that might even wait for version 2.0).

    Thank you all!

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18. I completely agree with Josh and Chuck. I also have all of the Paiboon apps and they are simply the best. As I am not able to live in Thailand full-time yet, they are the closest thing I have to being immersed in the language every day. So much thought has been put into each and every one. I feel so fortunate to have started my Thai studies at the same time that they started releasing their products. I have a little Ipod that is devoted exclusively to their apps. So, Paiboon, thank you for all that you do! And that goes to Catherine as well.

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19. i have been using the Thai dictionary for years. Absolutely the best one out there. When I heard that the phrase book would be integrated into the dictionary free at the end of this year, I couldn’t what so I bought that too! Well worth the extra money. I also have the Thai for beginners app and it has improved my Thai two fold. These three apps are my go to apps when I’m stuck and need help! Thanks for producing fabulous learning products. And thanks to Catherine for promoting and informing us of all the products out there!!!

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20. You are welcome Jee. I’m just sorry there’s no option at this time. Hopefully later …

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21. Thanks for the clarification, Catherine.

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22. From Chris: “Currently we don’t have a way to give out free copies of Android apps (Google Play Store doesn’t have the promo code capability yet).”

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23. Richard, transliteration was an annoyance to me as well. I was so relieved to see the option to turn it off.

    Jee, let me double-check. I know there are Android versions …

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24. Thanks Josh! They really are the top apps to have for learning Thai so I’m not at all surprised that you have the complete set.

    Hopefully you’ll find something you don’t have in the coming rounds… there’s even stuff I don’t have!

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25. iPhone only? That’s a pity, I’m on Android.

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26. I’m really happy to see that there are apps that allow you to turn off the transliteration, every single one I’ve used seemed to rely on it and it became really distracting once I’d learned to read Thai script!

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27. I already own all of these apps. They are indispensable for learning (and understanding) the Thai language. I highly recommend them to every Thai language learner.

    And kudos to Catherine and Paiboon Publishing for putting this contest together!

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