Whether you’re on a short trip to Thailand or studying the Thai language in-depth, this iPhone app is the one dictionary you can really use.
There are already quite a few Thai/English dictionary apps for the iPhone. Most are aimed at Thai people and so are not good if you cannot read Thai. Some do have transliteration for foreigners and even a few have sound files. But, none of them are really satisfactory or even comprehensive. That is, until now. If you are only going to buy one dictionary app for the iPhone, then I strongly urge that you buy Talking Thai-English-Thai Dictionary. I downloaded it today and I have already deleted all of the other dictionaries that I have collected. This iPhone app, which also works beautifully on the iPad, has everything that I would ever need from a dictionary. At the moment, we are talking about over 100,000 entries with more than 14 hours of studio recorded sound. Not sure how to pronounce a Thai word? Click on it to hear a Thai native speaker. Don’t like the transliteration system used? Just choose one of 12 widely used systems. Font too small to read? No problem, just pinch the word to make it larger on every page. Want to practice reading a different Thai font? No problem, just change in preferences. I have been waiting for this iPhone app to be released all year ever since Paiboon brought out the desktop version of their popular three-way dictionary. The Talking Thai-English-Thai Dictionary iPhone app is bigger and better than I could ever possibly imagine.
What is unique about this dictionary is that it uses a three-way system. This means that you can look-up a word in Thai, English or even by the sound it makes. So, if you hear a Thai person say a word, you can have a go at entering it using Roman letters. As you start to type, you get a list of possible words for you to choose from. As well as clicking on the words to hear a native speaker, you can also see how the word is broken down. This helps you to understand how the word is made up and also allows you to learn new words. Another mind-blowing feature is that you also get the option to see how the word is spelled. This breaks the word down into consonants and vowels, explaining which class they belong to and then tells you which tone that you should use. Want more help in understanding tone rules? You will find everything and more inside this iPhone app. There are many help files which actually go a long way towards teaching you to read Thai. Many sound files are also included in these help pages. Another nice touch for people learning to read Thai, is that there is an option to have all Thai words split up into syllables which will greatly help beginners.
Years ago, after I learned the Thai alphabet, I taught myself how to read Thai by reading a dictionary every day. I kept this up for about three months and ended up being able to read easy children’s books. Of course, there was no way for me to know whether I was using the correct tone as I didn’t have a Thai teacher to practice with. I would have loved to have this iPhone app back then. I would have certainly made good use of it. Although it is very good, there is potential to be even better. As it stands now, it is basically a talking dictionary. It could be a lot more. I personally would like to see a feature like “Word of the Day” that would encourage me to read more often. Maybe some flashcards as well. Another good feature would be word lists and maybe also bookmarking. Though there is a tab to show your recent history. I contacted Chris Pirazzi, the developer, about this and he said that there are already plans in motion to incorporate ideas like this and more in the app next year. More words will also be added. All of these upgrades are free once you have bought the app from iTunes. One final comment, the app is 271 MB. Although large it does mean that everything is on your iPhone and iPad. There is no connection to the Internet at all unless you choose to look up a word on Google.
The present price for Talking Thai-English-Thai Dictionary on iTunes is $24.99 which is about 753 Baht. Good value for money I think.
Indeed a great app, thanks for the review Richard
This looks absolutely brilliant Richard. It even shows the classifiers for each noun as well. Up to now I’ve been using the excellent ‘Click Thai/English’ Dictionary which is similar in that it has sound files for pronunciation and a 3 way translation, but not only is this new one more comprehensive, and has the ‘extras’ like the various fonts, it is also cheaper
Your review convinced me to buy – but no more Thai Dic Apps for me after this one
Sounds good, i’m going to buy it now.
Thanks for the Thai dict app tip. I bought it, and are quite pleased with what I got
I downloaded it last night 2 & think it’s great – THANKS 4 tip Richard
A excellent recommendation..a good buy. Just purchased it.
This is really good! I can’t think of a better addition to my iPhone!
would be great to have an Android version
I just did a quick 5 hour competition on Twitter to win this app. All the names were put in the randomizer and this was the result:
1. mandalaysamui
2. thailand_photos
3. saimontee
4. oldskooldi
5. jambla
6. scottearle
7. bocamike
8. thaidomains
9. JackPrinya
10. StrontiumDog1
11. srall
12. Kaypobird
13. TaewOwen
14. maguay
15. kstengline
16. malcolmjury
17. dwightturner
18. chocolatemonkee
19. qandrew
20. elgrodo
21. ChrisWidmer
22. nellriccio
23. cotimichele
24. prismmind
25. KainerWeissmann
26. debono
27. steadirob
28. wetfdstamp
Unfortunately, number one on the list doesn’t follow me on Twitter so I couldn’t send him the promo code. So, the winner was @Thailand_photos.
Watch out for another competition for a different app soon!
Long awaited app. Have been using the Palm version since years. Good there is sound now!
Hi RIchard. Great review, as ever! Have you seen the Thai for Beginners course in the app store? Any comment?
Yes, I will write a review of the Thai for Beginners app in a day or two. Still playing with it.
Richard how long did it take you to figure out how to read a sentence when all the words are joined together? Does this app help with that? Can you give any tips on this ?
Allan, it took me about 3 months of reading Thai to finally see the spaces between words. Even though the gaps are not really there, they will suddenly jump out at you. Just keep at it and you will get there.
Will this app also work Thai to English as well as it does English to Thai so that my Wife which is Thai can us it to learn English as well?
Daniel, this app is really for foreigners learning Thai. Although a Thai person can enter a Thai word and see the meaning in English, it won’t say that word. There are other more comprehensive Thai/English dictionary apps out there aimed at Thai people.
Thanks for the response, Do you have any suggestions on decent apps for Thai/English? Thanks
Love the App, and just found out that Thai for beginners has a app 2 and directly bought it. I know the work from this publisher and its an easy and fun way to learn Thai
this app is faboulous i love it ,
Thank you
Fantastic Ap… While I had it.
I used it extensively on my recent vacation to Thailand and it was the next best thing to having a native translator right along side me. I’ve also recommended it to all of my students who study Thai in addition to English ( which I teach).
Unfortunately, my iPhone was stolen on my while I was in Thailand and I had not backed up The Dictionary, so it’s lost. I am considering purchasing it again for my new phone though.