Please vote!

Once again I have been humbly nominated for the LexioPhiles favorite language learning blog. It’s a great honor to be listed among the world’s best online language learning resources. That being said, it would be wonderful if LTMS could be among the winners.

What does it take?

About five seconds of your time. All you have to do is go to the voting page, find my blog (it’s listed under “Learning Thai”), select the radio button next to my blog, and submit the form. That’s it!

I would also ask that you please check out my good friend Catherine’s Thai blog – Women Learn Thai. If you feel that her blog deserves a vote, please consider voting for hers, even at the risk of not voting for mine. Ours is a small community and we try to stick together as much as possible.

Please take a moment to vote.

Thanks!

Resistance is futile!

A recent news item coming out of the Washington campus of Microsoft suggests the mega-company is developing software that can translate what you say into 26 different languages. In a version of your own voice, mind you.

Just picture it; you’re traveling in Thailand. You say something into your phone and then instantly get to talk to an entire population of people whom you previously would never have been able to communicate with previously. The ability to do this opens so many doors, the possibilities are exponentially amazing.

Such a technology then begs the question: If technology can be created to allow us to instantly communicate from one language into another, what’s the point of learning a new language? 

Could such a product eliminate the need for spending countless hours learning tones, memorizing vowel charts, and studying kids books?

In a word? No.

Read more…

Paiboon Publishing Thai-English iPhone Dictionary

I’ve reviewed Paiboon Publishing’s amazing Thai-English dictionary app for the iPhone in the past. You can read that review here.

The great news is that Paiboon Publishing has just released a new version, including thousands and thousands of new entries, and compatibility with Android devices.

The fantastic Thai blog, Thailand – Land of Smiles, is giving away three copies for free! All you have to do is visit the site, read the post, and follow the rules!

Good luck!

GRRRRRRRR!

This one is for you, the blog readers. It’s a chance for you to air your language-learning grievances and get some community involvement. As we reach the end of 2011 and head into the New Year (supposedly our last on the planet if you listen to the Tin Foil Hat Brigade) we usually spend an inordinate amount of time trying to think of new ways to torture ourselves to do things vastly different than the previous year.

Instead of trying to inspire you to come up with a list of language goals for the upcoming year, what I would like to hear from you is what you struggle with most. What gives you the most problems and causes you the most headaches?

Read more…

Chao Praya River - July 11 (left) and October 23 (right)

If you’re wondering why I’ve been a bit quiet here on LTMS lately, it’s not for a lack of motivation. Quite honestly, I just haven’t thought that now was a good time to be writing about the language while the country has been struggling with a very serious crisis.

And no, I’m not talking about Occupy Wall Street, the idiots in the GOP trying to send the middle class back to the Stone Age, or the banks milking us for every last cent we have.

No, I’m talking about my second home. Just in case you aren’t aware, the central region of Thailand has been in the midst of crisis for several weeks now dealing with uncontrollable flooding.

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Dear Diary...

My wife and I recently took a trip to see friends and family, which required a long car drive. The CD player wasn’t working, so we decided to spend some time working on my Thai language skills. She first gave me a few travel-related vocabulary words, quizzed me on them, and then told me to make up some sentences using the new words and related to our current travels.

I did pretty well for about a hour before I started to hit the brain overload level. (Practicing Thai while trying to navigate through multiple states using a GPS is not the easiest thing in the world, just so you know.) When we got finished our practice session I was feeling rather confident. I had done pretty well, had been luckily able to memorize the 20 or so vocabulary words my wife threw out at me, and I could finally speak some sentences that didn’t sound like a four year-old was speaking.

And then my wife said to me, “You should keep a journal.”

Read more…

Carabao - The Man

Some people suggest that the best way to learn a language is by listening, similar to the way a child learns a language: listening first, then mimicking and speaking, then reading, and then writing. There are many within the language-learning community who think listening above all is the best method. There are even a few who proffer that when taking on a new language you should do nothing but listen for upwards of 300 hours first, and then start to think about speaking, reading, and writing.

Me? I didn’t start that way, but many of the people I currently study with did and their speaking skills are much better than mine. Our teacher always tells us to “sing a song, sing a song.” I can relate to that notion since I’m a musician, and yet I find myself listening a lot less than analyzing and memorizing.

When I read an article called Learn Any Language By Treating it as Music in which the profiled polyglot — Susanna Zaraysky — suggests that we should put down the word and tone charts and lists and just listen the same way we listen to music, my interest piqued. Can I make more progress by doing less book work and more active listening?

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And the winners are...

As you probably know, I have been running a contest over the course of the past two weeks to win free copies of Paiboon Publishing’s Thai for Beginners iPhone app. The contest ended last night and I’m happy to be able to announce the winners.

So let’s click on through and see who the lucky winners are, shall we?

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Need Thai help? Have an iPhone or iPod Touch?

Yes, that’s right. The folks at Paiboon Publishing are totally awesome and have given me four free download codes to give away for their iPhone Thai for Beginners app. And I just have a few weeks left to choose some cool blog readers to give them to.

As I have four download codes to give away, so  if you want a copy, keep reading and find out what you need to do.

Read more…

Learning Thai? What to Buy?

If you are serious about learning any trade, craft, or hobby, you will find that each endeavor usually requires a standard set of must-have items; whether they be tools, equipment, books, DVDs, etc… every pursuit contains certain essential items that those who came before you feel you simply cannot live without.

As I have now spent a fairly good amount of time in the Thai language learning community, I feel that I’m now in a place where I can pass on my recommendations to those who are just starting out on this wondrous journey.

Here is a list of the products, materials, and resources I recommend that you have at your disposal for learning Thai.

Read more…