Talking Thai <> English Dictionary+Phrasebook Reviews

Super

Savanna74

I can't compare other Thai dictionaries (apart from google translate), but this one is excellent. A few features I like: - zoomable text so my crappy eyes can make out the words, especially Thai letters - has lots of obscure words that I'm frequently surprised it contains (e.g. Pandanus and Star Anise) - developers are happy to get word or definition suggestions - easy to switch between English, Thai or phonetic scripts. Overall, a really excellent app, and worth the money in my opinion.

Fantastic! Great Study Aid and User Friendly

Gaelyn V

I've been living in Thailand and taking basic Thai classes for a couple of months now. The classes are focused on spoken Thai, and I've been frustrated by a lot of the e-dictionaries and other apps that require Thai words to be entered in Thai script, which I can't read yet. The Talking Thai app allows me to search for words or phrases in three different ways - using the English word, the Thai word using a romanized script, or the Thai word using Thai script. It also allows me to create folders where I can store favorite words or phrases for later study. I have now done this with the vocabulary words from the first 15 chapters of my textbooks, so I can carry them with me and study at any time. The best part is that for each word (or short phrase), I can click an icon and hear the word spoken by a real Thai speaker. The tones are hard to get right if your mother tongue is not a tonal language, and getting the tones right can be critical to making yourself understood. The spoken Thai in this app is much better than Google translate, which I tried to use before for this purpose. I've found about 98% of the vocabulary from my textbook in this app. The ones that are missing are mostly multi-word expressions. Usually the dictionary has the individual component words, but may not have them placed together, usually because they have an alternate expression for the same thing, often one that is more commonly used. There are also lots of example phrases using basic grammatical forms. More than just a dictionary, I am finding Talking Thai to be a great study aid. I also stumble across a lot of new and useful words as I look up others. The other thing I like about this app is how user-friendly the interface is. When I look up a word, the search engine will give me all examples where that word appears in the entire app. In the English searches, it also shows words with similar spellings. So when I looked up "happy" in English, I found several Thai words for the adjective happy in the first entry, presented with both Thai script and romanized script. Placed next to each word is a little button I can push to have each word pronounced for me, and another button I can push if I want to save the word to one of my folders in Favorites. Below that, is another word for happy in Thai (referring more to being content) and then some words with similar spellings, such as happen, happily, happiness, etc. If I search the other way, using romanized Thai, I get the word for happy showing several synonyms in English to indicate its meaning, as well as the word used in phrases and sentences in various ways. Also, many of the example phrases come from folders dealing with specific subjects, such as Time, or Religion, or How We Feel. If you want to see what else is in that folder, you can just click on the tab immediately below the phrase, and the app will take you to that folder to see what else might be there. This is very helpful for studying the months or days of the week, for example. A feature I really like is the ability to grab just one word or a string of words from a sentence and search for it alone in the dictionary. They make this really easy. You tap the sentence, the app opens a new window where you can limit the words to just the one (or a few) you are interested in, then you can hit search and find the dictionary meaning for just that word or short phrase, or you can hit the "find words inside" command and it will break up the phrase into its constituent pieces and tell you the possibilities for what each individual word might mean. One really nice design feature is that when you hit the back button to return to the original phrase, you find yourself right where you left off within the list, rather than back at the top, having to scroll back down to where you left off. One more really nice feature of the app is the ability to resize the script on any page just by placing two fingers on the screen and moving them apart. Particularly helpful to those who have reached middle age. Whoever designed this app was really thinking about the user when they did so. A final feature I like are a set of symbols to tell the user whether a particular word is formal, primarily spoken only, or literary. This is nice when you look up an English word you want to use, because it immediately tells you which of several choices might, or might not, be appropriate in a particular situation. The symbols are only used for words that are primarily formal, or primarily spoken only, etc. I can't say enough about how useful this app is. The price is very reasonable considering the content. This app has been invaluable as a supplement to my Thai class. Knowing what I know now, I would have gladly paid more for this app. If the designers would like to make improvements, or perhaps create a Pro-version, they might consider adding a flashcard function whereby the words stored in a folder or group of folders could be randomized for study purposes. Also, there is a Thai-Japanese dictionary app where the Thai word can be typed in even if you don't know the exact "spelling" in roman script, and the app will present all possibilities. So if the word I hear sounds like "Kwaam-Suk" but I don't know if it is actually "Kwam-Suk" or "Gwam-Suk" or "Kwam-Suuk", the app will present all of these possibilities. If this app had a "Guess" mode, where it tried to find a word that sounded close to what the user types in, it would make the app even more valuable. Might be trickier to program with English but a feature like that would make this app even more valuable.

Now the X. Last IPhone I bought was I5 in Udon Thani

MountainCatKing

Just bought the IPhone X. First 15 min on the App Store Good to be back. Going through my list and remember happily payment paying for this 5 years ago. Awesome updates and awesome to see y’all are keeping the Thai language accessible. Next I need to load the Thai keyboard for some practice. Great to see the fresh updates! I had the hard copy of this book too. Khrap!

Just about perfect; a delight to use

Tetious

This is the friendliest, most thoughtfully designed language dictionary app I’ve used. It is packed with features to help with learning Thai, as well as features that make communication while learning much easier and less intimidating. The search by sound and explain spelling features are especially excellent. Extensive help pages explain every aspect of the app, speaking and reading Thai, and loads more. Totally worth the price. If you have any doubts, the app’s website is detailed and should leave you feeling confident. Highly recommended!

Great dictionary, OK value

EWBears

This is probably the best Thai/English dictionary out there and there are a lot of nice features, but I’m not sure that it’s the right choice for everyone. I am happy to pay $25 for a premium app, but generally that means it should be a very good app. This one doesn’t support the iPhone X/XS/XR screens yet, even after more than a year since their release. It also has native female audio but not male, which means that there’s no good voice for male students to imitate or copy. That would be totally fine at a lower price point, but not at $25 in my opinion. I really want to give this app 5 stars but these flaws keep the score down for now. If you’re serious about Thai then you’ll still probably want to buy this app, but less serious learners should look at free alternatives.

Superb. Could use an update, but still great

ian_989

If you're learning Thai buy this app. It's amazing how much attention and thought has gone into this. Also the Paiboon system if romanization is best in class. That being said, I wish the publisher would update a few things: * The "favorites" system seems to be an afterthought. There's no indication of an item is already favorited and duplicated are possible. It's but the useful feature it could be * iPhone X screen support Still though, this app earned 5 stars from me. Such a great resource for such a niche language.

Beware of update

dmanqrstxyz

Avoid this update. You will be disappointed with this new version. Cluttered, clumsy, klutzy and confusing. Not just an elegant, simple and easy to use dictionary anymore. Also if you had managed to not update and had continued to use the older, simpler, easier version, BEWARE of UPDATING to the new version of IOS. YOU WILL BE FORCED TO UPDATE to this newest, clumsy, cluttered, trying to be everything to everybody, ugly version. Phooey! Grade F.

Great App !!!

Ray Global

Easy to use and very helpful. Pronounces words for me to learn. Also useful word categories, eg. Food etc. Well done! Please continue to maintain and update app

This is THE app

ohzonator

Just buy it. I’ve been here 16 years and I use it nearly daily. I have studied all of Benjawan’s books — she is the reason I can speak Thai. Thank you, Khun Benjawan ??

Best App!!

Frick yeahs

Seriously the best app and worth the money. Every bit worth the money. One thing... the Haas keyboard needs the glottal stop option for beginning of words. There are many words that can’t be searched for because this option isn’t there. At least I can’t find it. Thanks.

Talking Thai <> English Dictionary+Phrasebook Reviews – Page 4