'The Thai Language', a Dutch textbook
Until recently, students of the Thai language had to rely on English textbooks. This has many disadvantages: the representation of the pronunciation of Thai in English phonetics was often flawed and difficult for the Dutch reader, the grammatical terms were not always clear and the English text was sometimes an obstacle.
That problem has now come to an end. Ronald Schütte translated David Smyth's popular textbook, Thai An Essential Grammar (Routlegde, 2014), in Dutch. This book has gone through ten reprints since 2002. In addition, Ronald Schütte has enriched the book with additional material such as writing exercises.
The English version has long been my favorite reference work. It is clear, accessible and complete. All topics can be easily searched through the extensive index. The example sentences in the Thai language are appealing and simple, and are closely related to everyday use.
It is therefore both an ideal book for the beginning student but also proves its value for the more advanced.
Good rendering of the pronunciation
The Dutch version is called: The Thai language, grammar, spelling and pronunciation. I am particularly impressed with the way the pronunciation of Thai, where the tones and the vowels are the most important element for a good understanding, is presented.
As with any language, the help of a native Thai speaker is indispensable at first, but the good way in which the pronunciation is presented in this book will allow the reader to master it completely independently after some time.
Other features of the book are:
- Overview of important elements such as interjections, the expressions of emotions (so important in the Thai language), sample sentences (many), negations and quantifications;
- Chapters on Pronunciation, Speaking Guidance, Expressions and the Thai Writing System;
- Overview of the phonetics used, completely new and adapted to the Dutch speaker;
- Explanation of the used grammatical terms.
Suitable for (self) study and as a reference work
For all these reasons it is a very suitable book for self-study, but also for courses, schools and universities. It also proves its value as a reference work.
I recommend everyone who wants to learn the Thai language to buy this book. This applies to young and old, because a person is never too old to learn a language.
The price of the book is hefty (29,95 euros and with shipping costs 33,95 euros), but the book is well worth it. In addition, 2,50 euros of each book goes to the Hill Tribes Children Home for sponsorship.
Tino Kuis
There is a website about the book www.slapsystems.nl/, which contains sample pages, the further details of the book and also where and how to obtain it.
I typed the title into Google for some more info and found a PDF file of the whole book (220 pages)
Take a good look Eugeen, because after page 20 the pdf suddenly switches to page 214. So you miss most of the book. Just buy it I guess. Trying to learn the Thai language for less than € 35,00 is a cheap price of course.
Dear,
there is already a teaching program in which the phonetic pronunciation of Thai has been made suitable for Dutch people.
Pariya Suwannaphome developed that and has been teaching with it for over 13 years.
http://www.suwannaphoom.nl
I also found a PDF but 200 pages are missing.
Greetings from Josh
nothing beats taking a Thai lesson, both for reading, pronunciation and writing, I have been following this for about 5 years in Belgium, in Luchtbal Antwerp, taught by Thai teachers who also speak Dutch, this evening school starts every year back in September (Wednesday evening 2nd year, Thursday evening advanced, always at 19 pm, there are also lessons on Friday and Saturday and Monday for beginners, you can consult this on the THAIVLAC.be site, where you can find everything. You will notice that nothing beats just reading, books are provided for beginners and advanced students.
a lot of Thai is spoken, written and read. after a year you can already express yourself a bit in Thai, which is highly recommended if you are on holiday there, you hear, see, and read a few things there.
I definitely recommend it than just reading from a book, the pronunciation is very important, hearing the sound and more. read the site and come and have a look at our class and listen how things are going there. I hope to see you there, CHRIST
Ronald showed me sample copies of his translation at an early stage and I was immediately enthusiastic. Ronald did not happen overnight. He had the text checked by Neerlandica and Thai counterparts. The explanation of the Thai spoken language and spelling appeals to me enormously. I immediately ordered two copies (1 for a friend) and I can't wait to read(s) the books. Highly recommended and a white raven in the Netherlands.
I know those courses too, so I took them once, Christ. But it was surprising how many did the first year for a second time. I myself stopped after a few months. They are indeed Thai ladies. My teacher was even a primary school teacher in Thailand. I am sorry, but my remark is that there was no logical structure in the sequence of the lessons. as well as the pedagogical ability was quite low. Also recommended are the books by Benjawan Poomsan Becker. Three parts with CD. There is also a software program of the first part. (Paiboon Poomsan Publishing)
A tip
I have very good experiences with this
So real lesson and no nonsense
http://www.groept.be/www/volwassenenonderwijs_ace/talen/thai/
I've been waiting for this. I'm going to look at it right away and probably order it right away.
Thank you very much
Thanks for the information Tina!
I had owned the English version for about 6 years. The English pronunciation (transliteration) never helped me so much, I always had to read the original Thai text (luckily I can do that quite well). However, with the Dutch transliteration I can check the other way around whether I am not making a mistake when reading Thai. So I will definitely start it.
PS
An amazingly good book for Dutch speakers who cannot read Thai is: Wat & Hoe Taalgids Thai. (Perfect representation of the pronunciation in Dutch) So far I thought this was the best Language Guide that existed.
http://www.watenhoe.nl/boeken/taalgids-thai/
Hello Eugene,
Do you perhaps have the ISBN number of the booklet How and what Thai. When I open the link and want to order the booklet, the page is not found.
Regards, Peter.
Dear Peter,
ISBN 9789021581378
I used to buy it in the ANWB shop. The booklet can also be ordered at, for example, bol.com
Now that's funny!
I also worked through the English version of Smyth and that was no problem at all. The phonetics were almost entirely the same as those I learned in Almere at Pariya Suwannaphome (also used in the Seu Thai dictionary). But I believe that this phonetic is hardly used in NL anymore.
Dear ThailandBlog reader(s),
I have obviously not placed the entire book in PDF on my page. I just want to be very clear to those who are really interested, and thus give a better understanding of the book.
What I do make freely available are those other PDF files, which not many people will know. Everyone should (likely) take advantage of it.
The book also contains the method of learning to write, but the PDF for this, on my page (www.slapsystem.nl), has the advantage that someone can print it themselves in large format and practice writing to their heart's content, without having to having to 'draft' the book.
With regards
Ronald Schütte, the book's translator.
Seems like a good idea to me, a few test pages and if the reader likes to buy the book. Messy pages are also nice, no smearing with erasers in the book or breaking the spine of the book under the copier.
I will definitely check out the book and put it on my wish list. 🙂
Good morning Ronald,. How to order this book for the Dutch in Thailand.
Gr Peter
The book “The Thai language, grammar, spelling and pronunciation” is easy to order via my page: http://www.slapsystems.nl
Greeting รอน
At the moment I am mainly learning the language for free via the internet (Kru Mod, Thaipod101, Youtube, etc.).
In completely chaotic order 🙂
The advantage over a book is that you hear the pronunciation from a native Thai(se).
Disadvantage, as I said, I'm rather unstructured.
I'm going to check out the book.
Thanks for the info,
René
A very good tip.
Then order the book immediately.
I've already brought some junk into the house myself, but that doesn't work well
and is often incomplete.
Regards,
Erwin
Thanks, Tino, for this review and thanks Ronald for the translation.
Without further ado! Smyth's book is very accessible, with a good choice of relevant topics and therefore a great start to learning Thai, which will only get better with this translation.
Perhaps you can indicate which dictionaries NL-TH-NL can be used for this. Seems essential for self-study to me.
However, in its brevity of 200 pages, Smyth cannot be truly exhaustive. If you are looking for further explanation and a real reference work, you can contact James Higbie cs with the book the "Thai Reference Grammar". But this is only recommended for advanced users.
Point of attention is always the applied phonetics. Sometimes I wonder how many systems are used in the Dutch language area. With any system you cannot avoid learning certain new characters or artificial pronunciation rules.
It would be best if education in the Netherlands/Belgium would use a uniform system.
Here's a video to help with the pronunciation.
http://youtu.be/T02AkRj6Pcw