Android Talking Thai - English Dictionary.

**can123** · 17-05-2012, 01:58 AM

I have only used this for a couple of hours but it seems, initially, to be excellent. It is the Android version of the dictionary and has just been released. The publisher is Paiboon and it is available in the Google Market. It cost me just under £ 16, so about 800 baht.

I first saw a Thai "talking" dictionary when i was studying for my CELTA. Over ten years ago, it had cost over £ 80 at Pantip and wasn't much good.

This also explains the reasoning behind the sound of the words and is very helpful to me as I struggle with the tone marks.

The Paiboon site can be found here :

Learn Thai the Easy Way!

Not a cheap app but I think it is worth the money.

**rawlins** · 17-05-2012, 01:27 PM

Just installed it. Thanks.

It will help me loads when I am offshore as that is when I find time to go through the Paiboon books.

**The Fresh Prince** · 17-05-2012, 01:30 PM

The google translate app has a voice feature now. Works very well and is free.

**rawlins** · 17-05-2012, 01:35 PM

^ but does that need constant internet connection?

No use for my tablet when I`m on a boat.

**The Fresh Prince** · 17-05-2012, 01:43 PM

I don't know. I'll try it with no connection.

It needs a connection.

**harrybarracuda** · 17-05-2012, 04:11 PM

Originally Posted by The Fresh Prince

The google translate app has a voice feature now. Works very well and is free.

Interesting you should say that. Try speaking a complete sentence into Google Translate.

Then reverse the translation, paste the Thai result in as the source, and see what it translates back to in English.

I've found it to be wildly unpredictable. OK for words, but sentences are unreliable.

**The Fresh Prince** · 17-05-2012, 10:13 PM

I've only used it for single words or sometime small groups of words. Also I've only typed them.

It comes in handy at the super market.

**cereal** · 24-05-2012, 01:26 AM

Originally Posted by rawlins

^ but does that need constant internet connection?

No use for my tablet when I`m on a boat.

No connection needed - you download the entire dictionary onto your android smartphone. I am very happy with it ! Glad i don´t have to carry the paper dictionary around anymore. we used the same phonetic system at Union Language School.

**gussethuffer** · 04-09-2012, 04:57 PM

best thai dict i ever used tho its not completely 2 way its really designed for us learning thai and not in reverse tho if your with a thai person you can speak the english

**toddaniels** · 08-09-2012, 08:20 AM

FWIW: both Benjawan Becker and Chris Pirazzi put TONZ of time and effort into comin' out with a great product and one which is available for Windows, Mac & Android.

It ties into ALL Benjawan's books (Paiboon Publishing stuff), and is actually a "three-way" dictionary. You can type in English to get Thai, type in Thai to get English, or type in how you "think" the words sounds phonetically and it'll show you the available choices.

You're not limited to using Benjawan's phonetic system if you don't want to and can change to the most popular ones out there. There is a great "how to use this" section, and are 150,000 spoken sound files tied to the dictionary. Rumor has it, that's Benjawan's voice for them all. Words are coded with symbols letting you know if they are "royal", "archaic", "formal" or "colloquial".

It's easily the best "talking dic" (as Thais call it) goin' right now and it gives a really good "bang-4-the-baht" as far as ease of use, versatility and content.

It ain't designed to teach you to speak Thai, after all it's a dictionary. You wanna learn to speak Thai buy Benjawan's books or go to school. Still for people who don't happen to have a native Thai speaker takin' up space about the house it provides an excellent resource.

Early on I had great hopes for Google Translates seeing as in theory it is supposed to be "self correcting". By that I mean users can suggest better translations for spurious stuff which comes up. Sadly it's so far off the mark on translating Thai sentences into English or vice versa that it yields mostly gibberish. Even after the coupla three years it's been in use it hasn't gotten all that much better. Now it does have that "speak Thai" feature, where you can paste in a bunch of Thai and it'll "read" it out loud for you. Unfortunately, it's really bad with "chat-speak-thai" or the version of Thai the younger generation use on social network sites and when chatting. That's because that "version of Thai" is written more like it's pronounced rather than how it's really spelled.

Anyway, that's my two satang's worth about Benjawan's Talking Dictionary. Great Product. And before you ask, nope, I'm not affiliated with them in the least, just recommend good stuff when I see it.

**rawlins** · 08-09-2012, 09:36 AM

Originally Posted by cereal

Originally Posted by rawlins

^ but does that need constant internet connection?

No use for my tablet when I`m on a boat.

No connection needed - you download the entire dictionary onto your android smartphone. I am very happy with it ! Glad i don´t have to carry the paper dictionary around anymore. we used the same phonetic system at Union Language School.

I was asking about google translate which does need an internet connection.

The Paiboon dictionary doesn't need a connection once downloaded but it does need to do a licence check online about once every couple of weeks.... So, 2 weeks into my offshore trip it stopped working

**Butterfly** · 08-09-2012, 10:06 AM

^^ link ?

**rawlins** · 08-09-2012, 10:18 AM

^ you can get to the download via the link in the OP.

Costs about 800 baht. Expensive compared to your average app but is worth it.

**TLansford** · 30-09-2012, 10:41 PM

Originally Posted by can123

I have only used this for a couple of hours but it seems, initially, to be excellent. It is the Android version of the dictionary and has just been released. The publisher is Paiboon and it is available in the Google Market. It cost me just under £ 16, so about 800 baht.

I first saw a Thai "talking" dictionary when i was studying for my CELTA. Over ten years ago, it had cost over £ 80 at Pantip and wasn't much good.

This also explains the reasoning behind the sound of the words and is very helpful to me as I struggle with the tone marks.

The Paiboon site can be found here :

Not a cheap app but I think it is worth the money.

I agree with the praise given to this app in the thread. I used the iphone version and stopped using all other dictionaries. I prefer the iphone version to the android version, but that is an apple/google preference of mine.

My wife uses it for Thai -> English as well, and it is excellent. It is meant for learning Thai and not learning English, however. If they ever extend it to pronounce English, then it would be fantastic going in both directions.

For an online internet resource, I use thai-language . com : It is far, far, far more useful to me than google translate and much more accurate

**importford** · 01-10-2012, 12:16 PM

i will try this one also, thanks

**Ozcol** · 01-10-2012, 12:33 PM

I've got a long black haired dictionary that works quite well

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