Theo Todman's Book Collection (Book-Paper Abstracts)

Amazon

1. Book Description: With only a few hours a day for less than 2 weeks, you'll be able to decrypt the mystery of the curious Thai characters and start reading right away guaranteed. Read Thai In 10 Days is a comprehensive Thai learning course including sound files so you learn how to pronounce words correctly from the start.
2. Customer Review: I recommend this book if you really want to read Thai written words. I've been visiting Thailand for several years and have a sense of the language and some basic vocabulary but the written language has always looked like strange hieroglyphics to me. I was determined to learn to speak better, and being able to read is a definite aid to both speaking and comprehension. Don't even try to read the book in 10 days. Maybe think 10 weeks instead. Everything you need to read is here but you will need to concentrate. I have been using it in conjunction with David Smyth's excellent 'Complete Thai' in the Teach Yourself series. The book covers recognition of all the consonants and vowels and introduces all the main pronunciation rules, plus the rare exceptions. *** Please be aware that what it doesn't cover is vocabulary, translation or romanisation of the words you are reading. *** This you will need to get elsewhere (like David Smyth's excellent book). The downloadable audio files are helpful for the first half of the book; thereafter I didn't really need them unless I was having a struggling day. The two summaries, after Chapters 5 and 9, are excellent as reminders. And the final chapter offers some very useful tips.