Learning the “conversation skills” of any language through a book seems like a ridiculous idea. Don’t you learn conversational language skills by, er, talking? Yes, usually, but if you don’t have anyone to talk to, then you probably have no choice but to use another source. That’s why popular Thai language study guide writer and teacher, Benjawan Poomsan Becker has created Practical Thai Conversation.
"With the help of Practical Thai Conversation you can repeatedly listen to the tones to help you not only pronounce things correctly, but also to understand what has been said."
As Thai is a tonal language, it is almost impossible to learn how to speak the language simply by using a book; you need to hear the tones to be able to understand and replicate them! This DVD and book set helps you to hear Thai and mimic what you hear, so that you can speak Thai the right way! Getting tones down is very important in learning Thai; you’ll quickly learn that “kaouw” can mean, “nine”, “rice”, or a bunch of other things all depending on the tone. With the help of Practical Thai Conversation you can repeatedly listen to the tones to help you not only pronounce things correctly, but also to understand what has been said.
The book and DVD uses scripted dialogues to help students learn Thai. The script in the book is written in English, Thai, and Romanized Thai to help the learner really learn the language. By studying Thai with the English translation sections, you can learn what was said and what it means while still getting the tone down. After each dialogue, there is a list of vocabulary words presented in the dialogue. This is helpful to study, but considering the translation is done line by line in the written script, it’s slightly repetitive material.
The book does not have any practice exercises to help you after you listen to and read the dialogue. If you are a Thai teacher, you can use the Practical Thai Conversation DVD and book set as a starting point, but it would be a good idea to offer your students some kind of follow up exercises to check and sharpen their comprehension skills. If you are a self-taught student, then testing your comprehension and really getting the most out of the dialogues is a little tough; you will really need a teacher to help you make the most of each lesson.
Like all books by Benjawan Poomsan Becker, Practical Thai Conversation is brief and lacking real “meat” as far as learning goes. Like the others, this book is for the casual learner who just wishes to get a handle on the language rather than the student who ever wishes to gain fluency. If your goal is simply to gain basic Thai skills to help you at the market or the Skytrain, then sure, this book and DVD can help. If, however, you have loftier goals for learning Thai, then you’ll probably want to invest in something with a bit more depth to it.
