Google Translate does documents too…

Over the weekend Google added a new service to Google Translate: upload a document.

What you do is select ‘upload a document’, then browse for a file to translate. Right quick your translation pops up in a browser window, but minus your original formatting.

Google Translate can also be used with Gmail and Google Talk.

For Gmail: Simply enable “Message Translation” from the Labs tab under Settings, and when you receive an email in a language other than your own, Gmail will help you translate it into a language you can understand. In one click.

For Google Talk: Apparently you can get Google Translate for Google Talk but I was unable to get it to work. Can you?

Google Talk for iPhone: Go here and sign in with your gmail account.

And here’s more: 3 Tips for Quick and Free Translation Between Languages.

Google Translate users beware…

In sillier days I would converse in French with a friend who was using Babel Fish. My French wasn’t too hot so there were times when I had to depend on Babel Fish too. I say sillier days as the results were absolutely hilarious!

And while we were using Babel Fish for lighthearted fun, those who need to be clear in their foreign language communications should be aware of the real dangers when using online translators. Especially when it comes to a language such as Thai.

This article on Automatic Thai machine translations online outlines the difficulties (paraphrasing):

• Vocabulary, style and structure between the two languages are different.
• Words with the same spelling have multiple meanings.
• Thai words do not have Latin or Germanic roots.
• The meaning of a Thai word must be chosen in the context of the sentence.
• Western software algorithms cannot handle Thai word breaks.
• Thai does not have articles or tenses, and uses polite particles.

Google Translate evaluation…

As my very good friend Amy Praphantanathorn of Expat Women Living in Thailand is married to a Thai translator, I took the opportunity to get Golf’s opinion of Google Translate.

The machine translator from Google definitely cannot be a substitute for a real human translator. The software might know all the terms and vocabularies, but it takes more than just translating word by word.

A human translator knows what subject and/or content he/she is translating, thus uses the right words/tones/moods for that content.

I tested Google Translate Services and this is what I found out:

1. I typed a simple English sentence like this “Please complete the following information and return it to your child’s school”, and hit a “Translate” button.

This is what I got: “กรุณากรอกข้อมูลต่อไปนี้และกลับไปที่โรงเรียนของบุตรของท่าน”, which is translated back to English as “Please fill out the following information and go back to your child’s school”.

Another example is “Automatic labeling is of interest to the produce industry”, was translated as “ป้ายกำกับโดยอัตโนมัติเป็นดอกเบี้ยที่ผลิตอุตสาหกรรม.” (automatically label is the interest which produces the industry.) Plus Google adds a “period” at the end of the Thai sentence.

2. As for Thai to English translation, Google Translate does not do a good job at all. “ผู้จำหน่ายจะต้องไม่ “สอน” ให้พนักงานให้คำตอบที่เหมาะ สมแก่คำถามจากผู้ตรวจสอบ”, and the English text is “Vendor shall not “coach” employees on appropriate responses to questions asked by auditors”.

Google translated it as “Vendors must be “taught” to the appropriate staff to answer questions from the auditors.” Totally wrong!

In the comments of my post BabelWith.me Enters the Thai Conversation, Pete from FrogBlog left some advice for English-French auto translations that just might work for casual Thai conversations too:

One tip if you ever want to get any English translated into another language by automated software - use very short and simple sentences, where no ambiguity is possible.

I’ve experimented with this from English to French, using different variations of a few sentences to express the same meaning.

Some (the short, simple versions) were translated almost perfectly. But longer, convoluted versions mostly ended up as complete gibberish in French.

Thank you Pete. And thank you Golf and Amy.

And as ever, enjoy…

Welcome to the Thai 101 Learners Series…

It’s easy to start learning a language. You might pick up a few words from friends, memorize a line or two from a phrasebook, even study some grammar.

At the same time, it’s easy to get in over your head. And when it comes to mastering a new language, who isn’t in over their head?

Think of all the English literary references in, say, a Shrek movie. Now compound that with pop-culture references, slang and characters who speak with half-a-dozen accents and this is marketed as entertainment for kids.

If you consider how a foreigner learning English must feel, it’s dizzying. Yet somehow there are billions who speak or study English as a second language.

So what makes you think you can’t learn Thai? That’s where I can help. You’re reading the maiden voyage of “Thai 101,” a new column in which I’ll address questions and issues for students of the Thai language.

I’ve lived in Thailand off and on for six years.

During these years, learning, improving and mastering my Thai has always been one of my main pursuits.

While you were enjoying the latest bestseller beneath the sunshine of Koh Samui, I was browsing the stacks at the library.

While you were honing your karaoke skills, you would have found me reading up on etymology or serial verb constructions.

I’m not a polyglot who wants to learn every language. I’ve studied a few, but Thai has captivated me in a way I can’t shake.

Last year, as I approached the five-year anniversary of the first time I ever uttered sawatdee khrap, I tried something new, I started a blog, with which this column shares its name.

I called it Thai 101, because even after several years of intensive study, I’m a perpetual student and it reminds me of how much Thai I have still to learn.

The good news is that Thais appreciate even the tiniest amount of effort on your part.

As you may have noticed, most people you meet will be impressed that you are making the effort to learn their difficult language at all.

Some will heap praise upon you as if you had just recited the entire Ramakien, when all you did was order lunch.

I have learned the most by simply speaking Thai with Thais every day. I ask questions, and I pay careful attention to the way natives speak - word choice, phrasing, intonation.

I recommend the same to anyone, but sometimes it’s helpful to hear something particularly puzzling explained by someone who has been through the same learning process. That’s where I come in.

This column will serve as a useful forum for your questions. Pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, I’ll tackle them all.

The column will be geared toward beginners, but I’ll gladly take questions on any topic, any level.

If it’s not suitable for here, I could always write about it on my blog, which tends toward more advanced topics.

Whenever I meet someone who’s lived in Thailand for a while and who thinks it’s hopeless to learn the language, I want to prove them wrong.

If that’s you, then read this column and see if the language isn’t worth another try.

Next time we’ll kick things off with an overview of free resources for the would-be student of Thai.

We’re already in over our heads. We might as well keep swimming.

Rikker Dockum
Thai 101

The Thai 101 Learners Series first appeared in the Phuket Gazette ‘08
@ Copyright 2008-2009 Rikker Dockum

Voting commences for the top 100 language learning blogs…

Before we get started with Rikker’s Thai 101 Learners Series, I have wee announcement to make.

Back in February we visited Lexiophiles Top 100 Language Blogs, where I dug through their list to share blogs helpful to Thai language learners too. This week they are at it again, only this time you can get involved.

Five Thai language blogs have been nominated:

ฝรั่งงง
Learn Thai from a White Guy
Learn Thai Language Blog
Thai 101
… and Women Learning Thai… and some men too

The button above takes you to the complete list. Please show your support by voting for your language blog of choice (pssst… I’m waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down in the w’s ;-)

There are four categories:

Language Learning
Language Teaching
Language Professionals
Language Technology

EDIT: I just noticed that Stuart Jay Raj’s Behind the Curtain is listed in the Language Professionals section.

I also noticed that you can vote for a blog in each section.

Stu has my LP vote for sure.

Thank you.
And as ever, enjoy…

Introducing Rikker Dockum…

If you hang around the Thai language forum scene - thaivisa.com, thailandqa.com, and thai-language.com - then you’ll already know about Rikker from Thai 101.

If not, then the below should clear things up fairly quickly for you.

Rikker Dockum is a linguist and Fulbright grantee researching the ancient Thai language. Or, to be more precise, Rikker is studying the stone inscriptions of the Sukhothai period, known to be the oldest Thai writings around.

So just what is Fulbright all about?

The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. With this goal as a starting point, the Fulbright Program has provided almost 300,000 participants chosen for their academic merit and leadership potential with the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns.

Just last year Rikker put his knowledge towards a beginner Thai series for the hard copy version of Phuket Gazette. Not wanting to see it languish out of sight, we received permission to share it here.

Introducing the Thai 101 Learners Series…

As I mentioned in my post, A Year’s Worth of Women Learning Thai, this week sees the start of Rikker Dockum’s Thai 101 Learners Series.

So for the next 16 weeks Rikker will explain the basics of the Thai language: Pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and more…

1. No Need to be Tongue-Thai’d Anymore
2. Building a Private Library
3. When in Rome, Thai Doesn’t Sound the Same
4. A Breath of Fresh Air
5. Finding Your Voice
6. Thanks for the Loan, We’ll Keep Our Word
7. The Long and Short of Thai Vowels
8. Everything to all Men
9. Pigs and Bombs Go Hand in Hand
10. Don’t Speak it, Think it
11. Getting Personal
12. Bringing Abstract into Real Life
13. More on Titles
14. Vocabulary Acquisition
15. A Few Facts About ‘Farang’
16. Bumper-to-bumper Language Lessons

Then, when the series is a wrap, we’ll toss it into a pdf just for you.

Enjoy…

Babeling away… can you hear me?…

About BabelWith.me

BabelWith.me is a simple, free group chat tool that lets you communicate in one language or multiple languages (up to 45). Enjoy real-time conversations without language barriers - BabelWith.me automatically translates each message as you type.

BabelWith.me most likely uses Google Translate, so it should create many hilarious conversations when speaking with Thais. But as these are early days in the field of auto-translation, who knows what tomorrow will bring?

How to use BabelWith.me:

1. Click ‘Start a Conversation’
2. Choose your language
3. Enter a nickname
4. Type in your message
5. Invite others (Facebook, twitter, email the url, etc)

You can even use it on your iPhone. Nice.

Enjoy…

The I Love Thailand website launches…

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva recently launched a website to unite the Thai people: ilovethailand.org.

The site is not only in Thai, so if your Thai is not up to it but your English is, you should find something of interest.

The Lands of Thailand video…

Included in the video section is a graphic history of Thailand from 1782 to 1932.

Checking on YouTube, I found the video translated to English.

Going through the strong opinions under the Thai version on YouTube is… interesting. Perhaps we’ll find similar maps from the Vietnamese, Chinese, Cambodians, and Burmese posting soon.

The I Love Thailand website was discovered via: Bangkok Crimes. Conversations elsewhere: Absolutely Bangkok and Siam Report.

Siam Report mentions Siam Mapped by Thongchai Winichakul. I purchased it on Christopher G. Moore’s advice several months back, so I know what I’ll be reading this coming week.

Enjoy…

Blogging birthdays come but once a year…

A year and a month ago, on June 4th, WLT launched.

Sigh. I know, I know. It is already July 4th and I’m running late (it has been that kind of a month).

And while a blogging birthday is not the same as your firstborn turning one, it is a cause for celebration.

When I came up with the idea for Women Learning Thai, I had set aims in mind. A given, I wanted to improve my Thai and increase my understanding of Thailand and Thai culture. But along the way (just to be difficult), I also hoped to upgrade both my writing and photography skills.

Confession time: In the past year I have not improved my abilities equally, but I have improved overall. And while I am quite chuffed at my progress for some, it may take yet another year before I’m out of one stage and into another. For all.

A bonus that I did not take into account is the online Thai community. Bloggers or otherwise. Expats and locals included. A nice surprise, the friendships gained since launching WLT are as equally important to me as my intended aims.

To celebrate, I decided to share the bloggers in my small Thai community, as well as those responsible for helping me succeed. And a given, I’ll include WLT’s highlights for the past year.

Apologies. But you first need to wade though the highlights…

Top posts on WLT…

In the sidebar are WLT’s most popular posts. Truthfully, they should be called resource-intensive content but as the title popular posts is shorter, there you go.

Learn Thai Online for FREE
Thai Language Phrase Books: A Mega Review
Google Books: Thai Learning Resources
Top Thai Language Learning Resources
The Easy Way for Beginners to Read and Write
Thai Language Cheat Sheets
The Thai Alphabet Poem
Thai-English Readers with Mp3s
Byki Thai Language Course
Thai Typing Tutors: aTypeTrainer4Mac
Recording the Thai National Anthem
Google Translation & Thai Dictionaries

Thai phrase books…

After purchasing 99.9% of the Thai phrase books on the market, I tried to make sense of them all. I’m not sure that I succeeded, but it was fun trying. The island trip I took during the process was trying too.

Travelling with Thai Phrase Books
Using Thai Phrase Books
Thai Language Phrase Books: A Mega Review
The Monty Python Phrase Book
Thai Phrase Books with a Twist
Pictures: When They Can’t Speak Thai…

Quick and Dirty…

My very first book review was Myke Hawke’s Quick and Dirty Guide to Learning Languages Fast. After tracking Myke down, I went further. Much further. And I’m not done yet.

The Quick and Dirty Guide to Learning Languages Fast
Quick & Dirty Thai Language Learning with Myke Hawke
Interviewing Myke Hawke: Quick and Dirty Guide to Learning Languages Fast
FREE: Quick & Dirty Thai Vocabulary Download

Thai alphabet cartoon…

The Thai Alphabet Cartoon was cleverly created for adults. And not all adults, as I soon found out. And boy, was this series ever an experience into Thai language and culture!

Thai Alphabet Cartoon: Part One
Thai Alphabet Cartoon: Part Two
Thai Alphabet Cartoon: Part Three
Thai Alphabet Cartoon: Part Four
Thai Alphabet Cartoon: Part Five
Thai Alphabet Cartoon: Part Six

Thai bumper stickers…

You can’t drive around Thailand without noticing bumper stickers everywhere. And as stickers are filled with real Thai, an ongoing series is a must.

Thai Bumper Stickers 1
Thai Bumper Stickers 2
Thai Bumper Stickers 3
Thai Bumper Stickers 4
Thai Bumper Stickers on Taxis

There are many more posts in my growing archives so please have a look around.

WLT guest posts…

Opening the conversation to include subjects that I am not able to write about in detail is important, so I am especially grateful to those generously sharing their knowledge and experiences.

Tina Gibbons: The Most Effective Way to Learn Thai and Why Learning the Thai Language Needs to be More Than a Study of Words and Grammar

Tony Wright: Let’s Talk Thai: How the Brain Learns

And stay tuned for a Thai learners series from Rikker of Thai 101!

A big blogging community thanks goes to…

In the past year I’ve met many bloggers in the Thai community. The six below not only throw comments my way, but they share time behind the scenes as well. In alphabetical order…

Amy: Expat Women in Thailand
Amy is married to Golf, a Thai translator. She blogs about the day to day expat living in Thailand. The information Amy gathers is not just for women, but for men too. For those heading to the land of smiles, she has put together an ebook - The Expat Woman’s Guide to Living in Thailand.

To peruse: Receiving Parcels, Customs and Duty in Thailand, Avoiding Bangkok Scams Part 1 and Dealing with Expat Whiners.

Ben: The Thai Pirate
Ben married into Suphanburi, where he now lives, works, and plays. And sometimes blogs. And except for when he’s playing around in the UK, his subjects cover all things Thai living. You can also find Ben at Thai Garden Design - The Thai Landscaping Experts, so contact Ben if you have tropical gardening going on.

To peruse: Driving in Thailand, How far will 1000 Baht get you? and The Best Thai Blogs.

Martyn: Beyond the Mango Juice
Martyn works in the UK for most of the year, but as soon as he can, he hightailes it to the wonderful Wi. Wi keeps their beautiful home running smoothy in Ban Norn Chad (thanks Wi!) With a humorous twist, Martyn posts about all things Thailand. His monthly reviews are a godsend for our busy community.

To peruse: Thailand Country Life – A Survival Guide, Always On My Mind and Giving a Little Bit Back.

Pete: FrogBlog - Thaidings
A wonderful photographer and writer, Pete lives part of his time in the sunny south of France and the rest of the time in Changmai. He writes thought-provoking posts about the cultural and political aspects of living in Thailand. Btw - do you twitter? Pete does too.

To peruse: Thaivisa: Founder of Thailand’s largest online community answers the critics, Thailand’s tarnished image abroad: Thai tourism in decline and Brash Bangkok, culture-hound Chiang Mai, pornographic Pattaya, innocent Isaan - which one is your Thailand?

Rikker: Thai 101
Rikker lives full-time in Bangkok. He is one of the few expats with in-depth knowledge of the Thai language. And while Rikker does not comment often, he does share his know-how on Thai 101, as well as via emails, forum posts and twitter. Starting next week, Rikker’s learning Thai series will launch on WLT.

To peruse: Thai jokes category, Farang Stuff and A look at the Ramkhamhaeng script.

Talen: Thailand Land of Smiles
Talen lives and works part-time in the US, but as his heart and the lovely Pookie are in Issan, he spends as much of his time there as possible. Talen has a good eye for a story, so we are often regaled by real life experiences from northern Thailand and elsewhere.

To peruse: My Thai Girl and I Part 1, Thai Ingenuity and Setting Sun on the Family Farm.

Note: While I am in contact with other fantastic bloggers, to keep this post a reasonable length I stopped at just six. I promise that the rest will be discussed at another time, so please do not send any bad mojo my way.

Photography, writing, book collecting and more… I owe… I owe…

Writing: I’d like to send a special thanks to two writing coaches: Joanna from Confident Writing, and Paul from Bangkok BC Writing Services. Joanna released my writing fears, while Paul gives monthly tips on grammar, sentence structure, and more.

Photography: Gavin and Jackie from the newly formed Bangkok Photography School took my photography out of the 90’s and ran it straight into 2009. I’m still playing catchup, but I’m not having to run quite as fast as before.

Book collecting: When it comes to tracking down obscure books dealing with Thai culture and language, Danny at DCO Books is a lifesaver. Danny’s varied knowledge about Thailand has brought even more subjects to my attention. So much so, that I’ve ordered a new bookcase. Where it will fit, I don’t quite know.

Thai learning: As for my long suffering Thai teacher, she deserves an award for her patience. At times she calls me her best student, but I believe she means that in a special sort of way. I flit here and there, dragging her into technology and subjects far away from her regular curriculum. And she holds steady on for the wild ride. Bless her.

Programming: Oh, and I can’t forget my amazing programming buddy Jay, who puts up with a zillion frustrating emails about cacca code. Yeah, I owe, I owe. Hey Jay, even more chocolates are on the way!

Enjoy…

Susanna Zaraysky and Language is Music…

I’ve read a number of books about learning languages. Some are made up of information that anyone can find on their own with a google or two. Others are written by thoughtful people sharing actual experiences of their own. Susanna is such a thoughtful person and Language is Music is such a book.

A child of Soviet immigrants struggling with English, Susanna Zaraysky grew up in California, then went on to study ten languages and speak seven languages fluently. Susanna’s language skills paved the way for her to live in nine countries and travel to fifty. Impressive.

In her new book, Language is Music, Susanna teaches you how to immerse yourself in your target language; to make learning languages a part of your daily living.

While reading Dr. Oliver Sacks’ book Musicophilia, about the neurological aspects of music, I became inspired to write about how music helped me learn foreign languages.

After solving my personal mystery about why I was so dexterous in learning foreign languages, I developed fun tricks and lessons to enable others to be successful.

In Language is Music, I share these listening methods so that anyone can have fun learning any language. The book has over 70 tips and 90 free or low-cost Internet resources that teach enthusiasts how to use daily activities, such as watching T.V. or listening to music; conversation partners; and attendance at cultural events to become masterful speakers of any tongue.

Language is Music table of contents…

1. Conductor’s Notes
   Tips on how to think of language as music.
2. Listen, Listen, Listen
   Suggestions for listening to music in your target language.
3. Concert Time
   Play your instrument by speaking.
4. Radio Time
   Tune into a new frequency online or off.
5. Television for Homework
   Learn to speak by watching TV.
6. Films to Fluency
   Learn languages from the stars.
7. Be Part of the Symphony
   Speak with others in your target language.
8. Day-to-Day
   Exercises to ingrain the language into your brain with daily rhythms.

While Susanna shares many tips to help you get over your language learning hump, the tip below spoke to me personally.

Give up your ego. If you are a perfectionist, you need to take on an alter-ego of a fearless person who makes mistakes in your new language.

My father was a producer of musicals when I was growing up. I was a painfully shy young thing, but the inevitable happened - he put me in one of his plays. And then another.

I discovered that if I was playing a part, I was no longer the shy me. I was whoever I needed to be at that time.

So I can see how this very same trick can be used for language learners who are either shy or perfectionist, or both. As I have nothing to lose, I’ll certainly give it a try.

Susanna can be found at Susan’s Word and Create Your World Books.

You can purchase Language is Music here.

Enjoy…

“Mai pen rai” means “no problem” or “no worries”…

All languages are pointers to understanding the culture of a country or nation, and the Thai language is an excellent example of this. However, it is important to understand that an awareness of the culture, is also essential in understanding how to interpret the language. The two are twined together.

Let’s take a classic phrase in the Thai language as an example. Most visitors to Thailand leave with the familiar ring of “mai pen rai” in their minds. Literally translated this means “no problem” or “no worries”, and it is common for first time visitors to Thailand to think something along the lines of, “Wow, these people are amazing, nothing is a problem to them! They are so laid back, nothing worries them!”

On the face of it, this is, in many ways, true. The Thai people see intense emotions such as anger as a weakness, and do not like to lose face. It is important to them to be able to cope with situations calmly, and many would say this is an excellent asset, and indeed an element of the Thai culture which visitors find extremely appealing. Yet in truth, it is important to realise that sometimes there is a problem, and sometimes it’s a big one.

Thai people can be really angry and upset, even though they say “mai pen rai”. You can find out weeks later that what they really meant was something different. This can give rise to many misunderstandings when westerners react by saying “but you said so”, or, “but you told me that it didn’t matter”, when the Thai person has obviously grown furious.

For accurate interpretation of the Thai language, it is important to understand that it is a “HIGH CONTEXT” language, whereas Western languages tend to be of “LOW CONTEXT”.

In a high context language true meaning of what is being communicated can be established not just by the words and their meaning (as in low context languages), but also by the body language of the speaker, by what is NOT being said, and what should be understood without mentioning it (in this context) etc.

In the situation described above, the Thai person will have very clearly expressed what he/she wanted or meant, but not with words. A Thai counterpart would have understood, but as westerners listen more to the words than the context, a big misunderstanding may well have occurred, even though both people were correct according to their own culture.

To understand the Thai language, look deeper…

In order to gain a sound grasp of the Thai language it is essential to look deeper into the culture, and into the way things are said. You may learn from a book that “mai pen rai” literally means “no problem”, however holding conversations with Thai people, listening to Thai people, watching Thai people, reading between the lines, and being advised on cultural differences will provide you with a greater ability to understand what a Thai person really means. Or, to put it simply, if a Thai person is not smiling when they say “mai pen rai”, then generally there IS a problem….

Tina Gibbons
Lanta International Language School

Google goes virtual with Thai keyboards…

If you look under my resources nav at the top of WLT, you’ll find a new page: Thai Keyboard Input.

The Thai keyboard is all thanks to the coders at Google, with their AJAX Language API.

As you can see, they have all sorts of programming bits on offer: Translation, transliteration, language detection and more.

And if you scroll way down at the bottom of that page, you’ll see this one: AJAX Language API for Virtual Keyboard.

And that’s what I’ve included on WLT’s resources: Thai Keyboard Input. Not because I need a Thai keyboard (my Mac comes with Thai keys) but because I wanted to see how it works.

Go ahead and play around with it. You’ll see it works just fine.

When I sent Google’s API page over to Jay saying ‘I want one of these too!’, she asked ‘where, in your comments?’

Now, that’s a thought. Because apparently, you can code a keyboard into a blog’s comment area for visitors who don’t have a Thai keyboard handy.

But it sort of freaked me out as it then meant that people might feel obligated to start typing all sorts of stuff in the comments. In Thai. Or faux Thai even.

And I don’t believe this site is ready for that.

More free Thai keyboards…

Article on WLT: Thai Typing Tutors: aTypeTrainer4Mac.

aTypeTrainer4Mac
A fantastic multilingual typing tutor for the Mac.

Mister Kwai - Virtual Thai Keyboard
Note: check out the Thai-English-Thai dictionary (editable), along with the quizz generator (uses the dictionary).

PPA Thai Keyboard
Virtual Thai Keyboard.

Thai Typing Tutor
Windows version.

Thai Typing Tutor V1.04c
Windows version.

Typing in Thai advice…

Mnemonics for the Kedmanee Keyboard
Logic for learning the Thai keyboard.

Thai Typing - The Key to A Hidden World
Tips on typing in Thai from Stuart Jay Raj.

Typing with Non-English Keyboards
Advice for typing in a foreign language.

These free Thai keyboard resources can be found at Learn Thai for FREE. Along with a zillion other free Thai resources.

Enjoy…