Using an iPhone & iPad in Thailand Tips, App Reviews and News for the iPhone and iPad by Richard Barrow

Google Translate for iPhone

Translate words and phrases between more than 50 languages using Google Translate for iPhone. For most languages, you can speak your phrases and hear the corresponding translations.

There are already a number of apps for the iPhone and iPad that makes use of Google Translate. Some are free and some you have to pay for. Now Google has released their own app called simply Google Translate. It is available to download for free from iTunes. The app can translate between 57 languages which includes Thai. So, for us here in Thailand, we can enter the text to be translated in either English or Thai. It is obviously not going to be perfect but in many cases it should be able to translate simple sentences and phrases. There is a history of what you have translated already and you can also bookmark certain phrases for quicker access. 15 of the languages can be entered verbally (see below). Also, 23 languages can have their translations spoken aloud. Unfortunately Thai is not among them yet. Another feature is the transliteration of the Thai words. However, as you can see above, this is next to useless at the moment. If you are stuck on a long train ride with a Thai family then this app might help pass the time.

Thai for Beginners for the iPhone

Paiboon Publishing’s new iPhone app makes it easy to study your Thai lessons wherever you go with your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad.

The Thai for Beginners app for the iPhone is aimed at people who are using the popular book of the same name written by Benjawan Poomsan Becker  (buy book online here).  Benjawan has a series of three books for people learning Thai as well as a wide range of resources such as dictionary, CDs and DVDs. I reviewed her excellent Talking Dictionary for the iPhone a few weeks back. Like the talking dictionary, this new iPhone app is based on computer software that has already been released (buy online here). Really, it is aimed at people that have already bought Thai for Beginners as the app gives additional exercises based on this book.

When you first enter the app you are given a list of lessons which refer to lessons in the book of the same name. The introduction gives you a lesson about words with different tones. I think it is good that you get a chance to listen to words with certain tones as that helps to train your ear. You get the choice to first review the words then you get to do the exercises. Here you have a choice to hear and read the words or just read the words. This is the same format for all the exercises. For lesson 1 there are three topics: vocabulary, numbers and sentences. Click on the word or sentence and you get to hear a native speaker. Both female and male speakers are used. The speed is just right. Once you are ready then it is time to try the exercises. Overall, I think this is a useful app to buy if you are already using the Thai for Beginners book and are working alone.

Download Thai for Beginners on iTunes. Present price is $24.99 >>>

UPDATE: You can now use this on your iPad.

HEdictionary English Thai

HEdictionary English Thai HD for iPad

The HEdictionary English Thai has separate versions for the iPhone and the iPad. It can be used by people learning Thai or for those learning English. I think really it is more set up for Thai people learning English. You won't find any transliteration of Thai words (so no good for people who cannot read Thai) and the sound clips are only for the English words. The apps have four built-in dictionaries as well as access to online google translations. According to their press release, the English Thai has 52,000 entries, Thai English 35,000 entries, WordNet 3.0 has 200,000 entries and a Thesaurus with 20,000 entries. If you have already started to learn Thai then it might be useful as you will get sample sentences. It also has Word of the Day. For Thais learning English, they might like the crossword game.  You can also do wildcard and anagram searches in the dictionaries.  You can buy each version of this app on iTunes for the present price of $2.99 by clicking here for iPhone and here for iPad.

HEdictionary English Thai for the iPhone

The developers of these apps kindly sent me some promo codes to give away on my blog. I have already distributed some on my Twitter account @RichardBarrow and the rest you can grab from below.  To use these promo codes, log into iTunes. Then in the top rightand corner you should spot two links for "redeem". Click on either of these and then enter one of the following promo codes. These codes can only be used once so it is first come first served.

1) Promo codes for HEdictionary English Thai for iPhone & iPod touch, Version 1.1:
   1. TY39AET6YXJH
   2. YMNXL6ANMENN
   3. LRTTT7RPY74A
   4. MXP9XPJ7APFF
   5. EWE3TWRHHPWX
   6. 9WR96PWYJ4XJ
   7. EX6EWH7EPAP6
   8. YJ6F9F9KPWW7
   9. 4LWRHL93RJT7
  10. W774MM7HYA47

2) Promo codes for HEdictionary English Thai for iPad, Version 1.5:
   1. 9FPFN36LPTE3
   2. EN363HLK9AAA
   3. 3J9LLW69N9TJ
   4. XTXKWKA7WMRT
   5. 74A3797PXW7J
   6. WPMRLJ6AAHYA
   7. PWPWRFT349MR
   8. 6JMP7WPTL9NW
   9. KYH9A6WE4X3X
  10. 7KR6XWX6JKTW

Good luck! More competitions soon here and on Twitter.

Thai TalkBoard for iPad

Thai Talkboard for the iPad for learning Thai is certainly interesting in it's approach. Instead of categories and scrolling lists, it gives you a "talk board" where what you see is what you get. Click on any of the phrases and words to hear a native speaker. It is of course very limiting as you only get this one page. It might be nice if they upgrade with a second page. The quality of the sound is good enough, though obviously it wasn't recorded in a studio as you can often hear the neighbours! The original version had some glaring errors but they seem to have corrected these now. A second problem is that it is always a female speaker. I just hope male speakers won't copy her by saying "mai ben rai ka". The original price in iTunes is $1.99 but today it is free. So, be quick if you are interested.

Collins Thai/English Phrasebook

With over 2,000 “survival” phrases and 10,000 words the Thai-English-Thai Collins Phrasebook & Dictionary will meet all your language needs and will make your trips more comfortable and fun.

There must be several dozen phrasebooks by now for people who are learning Thai. Some are made by enthusiasts while others are the product of seasoned professionals. This recent release is produced by Europe's top bilingual dictionary publisher. It is called Thai-English-Thai Collins Phrasebook & Dictionary and is an app that works beautifully on both the iPhone and iPad. The present price is $12.99. What is interesting is that it can be used just as well for Thais learning English as it is for foreigners learning Thai. The front menu can easily be switched so that all the categories show Thai headings. Click on one of these to get a list of sub-categories (above right), and then click a gain for a list of phrases (below left). Finally, click on the phrase to get the audio page (below right). As you can see, you get the option to hear the phrase in either English or Thai. Both recordings are of a high quality and they have used native speakers.

The number of survival phrases is certainly impressive. And it is also good that they have a built in dictionary if you want to hear single words. However, it is the kind of application that has been done for a world market and then adapted with local translations. This means that you will get phrases such as "Do you think it is going to snow?" Another problem is that there aren't any tips for what words to use for male and female speakers. They use the female "chan" all the time for each phrase. If it is a Thai person learning English then it is perfect. However, I am finding that many of the phrases spoken by the female native speaker to be too fast. I remember what it was like when I first got here. A beginner will not be able to catch all of the words in a long phrase. So, it is more aimed at someone who has been here for a while and are already used to Thai sounds. If you are learning Thai and your girlfriend/boyfriend is learning English, then you might get your money's worth out of it.

As usual, follow me on Twitter for the latest news of price drops with these apps. Often the price only goes down for 24 hours so you have to be quick.

Talking Thai–English–Thai Dictionary

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.

Speak Thai on Your iPhone

Speak Thai Sanuk is an easy to use talking Thai phrasebook for the iPhone.

There have been quite a few iPhone apps for people learning Thai over the last year. Some have been better than others. From experience I have found out that the amount they charge is not reflective on the quality of the app. Speak Thai Sanuk was released in November 2010 at a price of $2.99. As far as quality and appearance goes, it is pretty basic. However, what it lacks in that department more than makes up for it with its usefulness. At present they are claiming that they have 584 spoken words and phrases which is pretty good for that price. What is even better is that it is presently FREE and you should quickly go and download it now before it goes back up. They have already done one update with new words and more are expected.

The app opens up with the following categories: Greetings, Basics, Shopping, Restaurant, Hotel, Transportation, Places, Sightseeing, Health, Money, Entertainment, Numbers, Time, Weather and Fun Phrases. In the above example, I clicked on Money and then chose the phrase "Where is the ATM?". You then get this phrase written in Thai script, Romanization and also English translation. There is also a "play" button to hear a native speaker. Sometimes both a male and female speaker will read the phrase with the appropriate "ka" and "krab". Though, not always.

The Speak Thai Sanuk iPhone app is simple and quick to use and I think that it will prove useful to anyone holidaying in Thailand.

Thai Alphabet Helper

The Thai Alphabet Helper app for the iPhone was designed to help you memorize the Thai alphabet, including consonants, vowels, tone marks, and pronunciation rules. You'll also get a chance to practice reading some common Thai words.

It is good to see more iPhone apps coming out recently that help you learn the Thai language. The Thai Alphabet Helper is another app to help teach you the alphabet and unlike some others this one is free. Interestingly, this one breaks the alphabet up into the three main groups of middle, high and low consonants. For each one you get a picture and also a sound clip. There is also a section on short and long vowels. The reason the consonants are sorted into groups is because this apps tries its best to teach you the correct tones to use for each word. Quite ambitious but as they say themselves, you should also study from a book and then use this app when you are away as a kind of reminder. The last section has a list of words broken up by letters. You can click on each letter to hear a sound file or the whole word. However, it would be better if when you clicked on the letter you get the sound of the letter "kor" and not the name "kor kwai". Having said that, this app is worth downloading if you want a good introduction to the Thai alphabet.