Catherine over at Women Learning Thai has written a post about the FSI Thai Wiki Project, a collaborative project that we helped start, with the goal of digitizing the entire U.S. Foreign Service Institute's Thai language course, and adding Thai script in the process. The original course uses only romanized Thai, something we think needs fixing.
We're working on this via wiki, which means that we want and need your help. If you'd like to help type out some of the Thai, proofread some of the English, or format some wiki pages, then please send me an email at rdockum [at] gmail [dot] com.
The two-volume FSI course has a lot of excellent material. Drawing heavily from Richard B. Noss' (also excellent) 1964 Thai Reference Grammar, it remains very useful nearly half a century later. Sure, parts of the FSI course are outdated, but as I've written before, you can't beat the price. Courtesy of the American taxpayer, you get a 40-lesson course complete with accompanying audio for each lesson, and an audio introduction to Thai phonology. (Get them in PDF and MP3 format here.)
Please see Catherine's post for more information, or the Google Group that I started for this (and future) collaborative Thai language projects.
Showing posts with label free. Show all posts
Showing posts with label free. Show all posts
September 16, 2009
April 17, 2009
Thai 101 Giveaway: The Judgment / คำพิพากษา
The April giveaway is an equal opportunity giveaway: two copies of The Judgment/คำพิพากษา, by Chart Korbjitti/ชาติ กอบจิตติ, one in English, and one in Thai. As with two previous giveaways, The Judgment is a S.E.A. Write Award winner, receiving the honor in 1982. The English is translated by Phongdeit Jiangphatthana-kit and Marcel Barang.
The book was made into a film in 2004 with the title Ai-Fak/ไอ้ฟัก.
To enter the drawing, send an email to rdockum [at] gmail [dot] com. Include "Thai 101 Giveaway" in the subject (but you won't be disqualified if you don't). Please tell me your language preference, Thai or English. If you are okay with either one, then let me know that, too.
You have until the end of the month, April 30, to enter. I'll announce the winners at the beginning of May.
If you're selected, I'll email you to request your mailing address. If you've won something in the past, you're still eligible. The giveaway is open to anyone in the world. Postage is on me.
As I announced, these are books I bought at this year's book fair. The Thai is a brand new copy of the 42nd printing, published 2008; the English was printed 2001, and while new, it has minor shelf wear and yellowing around the page edges.
The book was made into a film in 2004 with the title Ai-Fak/ไอ้ฟัก.
To enter the drawing, send an email to rdockum [at] gmail [dot] com. Include "Thai 101 Giveaway" in the subject (but you won't be disqualified if you don't). Please tell me your language preference, Thai or English. If you are okay with either one, then let me know that, too.
You have until the end of the month, April 30, to enter. I'll announce the winners at the beginning of May.
If you're selected, I'll email you to request your mailing address. If you've won something in the past, you're still eligible. The giveaway is open to anyone in the world. Postage is on me.
As I announced, these are books I bought at this year's book fair. The Thai is a brand new copy of the 42nd printing, published 2008; the English was printed 2001, and while new, it has minor shelf wear and yellowing around the page edges.
March 9, 2009
Thai Community Radio (thaicr.org) offers 1000+ free mp3s
If you're on the lookout for free material to fill your iPod and practice your Thai listening skills, take a visit to thaicr.org, Thai Community Radio. All downloads are in mp3 format.
The catalog is truly expansive. There's a daily 30-minute program called โลกของเรา ("Our World"), covering public interest stories around the globe. The audio archive for this program alone go back nearly two years, which means many hundreds of episodes.
Another long running series is เส้นทางสู่ประชาธิปไตย ("Road to Democracy"), a weekly hour-long program which is up to nearly 250 episodes.
In addition, there are hundreds of other radio documentary programs, sometimes in shorter series, many times in single episodes.
In all, there are more than 1000 free mp3 programs on this website. Wow.
The catalog is truly expansive. There's a daily 30-minute program called โลกของเรา ("Our World"), covering public interest stories around the globe. The audio archive for this program alone go back nearly two years, which means many hundreds of episodes.
Another long running series is เส้นทางสู่ประชาธิปไตย ("Road to Democracy"), a weekly hour-long program which is up to nearly 250 episodes.
In addition, there are hundreds of other radio documentary programs, sometimes in shorter series, many times in single episodes.
In all, there are more than 1000 free mp3 programs on this website. Wow.
March 6, 2009
Thai 101 Giveaway: อัญมณีแห่งชีวิต by อัญชัน
It's time for March's Thai 101 Giveaway. Who doesn't like free stuff, right?
This time around, up for grabs are two copies of the short story collection อัญมณีแห่งชีวิต Anyamanee Haeng Chiwit ("gems of life"), by อัญชัน Anchan, the pen name of Anchalee Vivatanachai (อัญชลี วิวัธนชัย). Read about her on Thai Wikipedia (no English yet), or in the preview of Who's Who in Contemporary Women's Writing on Google Books.
This collection won the 1990 S.E.A. Write Award. (A second collection, ลายสือ Lai Sue, was on the S.E.A. Write shortlist in 1995, too.)
To enter the drawing, send me an email at rdockum [at] gmail [dot] com, telling me your favorite Thai word. It can be based on any criteria of your choice. Sounds nice, fun to pronounce, looks good on paper, tastes good on a sandwich.
You have two weeks to enter. I'll announce the winners shortly after Friday, March 20.
If you don't care to enter for the drawing, you can always share your favorite Thai word in a comment instead. I'll kick things off: I remember a few of my favorite Thai words from my first weeks of learning Thai were กระตือรือร้น and เปลือยเปล่า. I read the Mary Haas dictionary a lot.
If you're selected, I'll email you to request your mailing address. If you've won something in the past, you're still eligible. Open to anyone in the world. (If I start giving away heavy books, I'll have to change that, since the postage is on me.)
I picked these books up at last October's book fair. They're not used, but they've got some shelf wear.
Speaking of book fairs, we're only three weeks from the National Book Week Fair (งานสัปดาห์หนังสือแห่งชาติ). I'll be making the rounds there as usual, expanding my collection and looking for something suitable for April's giveaway.
This time around, up for grabs are two copies of the short story collection อัญมณีแห่งชีวิต Anyamanee Haeng Chiwit ("gems of life"), by อัญชัน Anchan, the pen name of Anchalee Vivatanachai (อัญชลี วิวัธนชัย). Read about her on Thai Wikipedia (no English yet), or in the preview of Who's Who in Contemporary Women's Writing on Google Books.
This collection won the 1990 S.E.A. Write Award. (A second collection, ลายสือ Lai Sue, was on the S.E.A. Write shortlist in 1995, too.)
To enter the drawing, send me an email at rdockum [at] gmail [dot] com, telling me your favorite Thai word. It can be based on any criteria of your choice. Sounds nice, fun to pronounce, looks good on paper, tastes good on a sandwich.
You have two weeks to enter. I'll announce the winners shortly after Friday, March 20.
If you don't care to enter for the drawing, you can always share your favorite Thai word in a comment instead. I'll kick things off: I remember a few of my favorite Thai words from my first weeks of learning Thai were กระตือรือร้น and เปลือยเปล่า. I read the Mary Haas dictionary a lot.
If you're selected, I'll email you to request your mailing address. If you've won something in the past, you're still eligible. Open to anyone in the world. (If I start giving away heavy books, I'll have to change that, since the postage is on me.)
I picked these books up at last October's book fair. They're not used, but they've got some shelf wear.
Speaking of book fairs, we're only three weeks from the National Book Week Fair (งานสัปดาห์หนังสือแห่งชาติ). I'll be making the rounds there as usual, expanding my collection and looking for something suitable for April's giveaway.
January 19, 2009
Update: New site for free FSI language courses
I've written before the excellent FSI-language-courses.com, which distributes user-digitized pdf and mp3 files of public domain Foreign Service Institute language courses. For whatever reason, the man behind the original site hasn't been active on it for several months.
Since the site exists on user contributions, though, folks have continued to digitize FSI course materials in the meantime.
But being unable to upload the new stuff to the original site, a spinoff site with a slightly different look and a larger collection of digitized language materials has opened its doors:
FSI-language-courses.org
Note that the address is .org -- the new site includes all the materials from the original one, plus all the new material digitized since that site stopped updating. This includes all the new materials for Southeast Asian languages that I wrote about in November. (Some of the links in that post are now defunct.)
Finally, a word to the wise: Since FSI materials are in the public domain, third parties are free to repackage and resell them, usually at absurd prices. Prior to the internet, this was actually a useful service, since FSI courses can sometimes be hard to track down.
Nowadays distribution is no problem, and the number of opportunistic sites selling FSI materials has increased. This is still legal, but I think it's distasteful. And the worst part is that in all likelihood they're just selling you a CD with the pdf and mp3 files taken from these free sites, which are quite good quality. Be warned.
Since the site exists on user contributions, though, folks have continued to digitize FSI course materials in the meantime.
But being unable to upload the new stuff to the original site, a spinoff site with a slightly different look and a larger collection of digitized language materials has opened its doors:
Note that the address is .org -- the new site includes all the materials from the original one, plus all the new material digitized since that site stopped updating. This includes all the new materials for Southeast Asian languages that I wrote about in November. (Some of the links in that post are now defunct.)
Finally, a word to the wise: Since FSI materials are in the public domain, third parties are free to repackage and resell them, usually at absurd prices. Prior to the internet, this was actually a useful service, since FSI courses can sometimes be hard to track down.
Nowadays distribution is no problem, and the number of opportunistic sites selling FSI materials has increased. This is still legal, but I think it's distasteful. And the worst part is that in all likelihood they're just selling you a CD with the pdf and mp3 files taken from these free sites, which are quite good quality. Be warned.
November 1, 2008
More free Thai, Khmer, and Vietnamese language courses
I've posted before about FSI-language-courses.com, a site dedicated to disseminating language courses prepared by the United States government (and thus in the public domain).
The site's owner seems to be AWOL, but one user on the site has continued his work of tracking down FSI books and tapes and digitizing them. In this thread on the site's forum, he posts external links to download more than two dozen new books and half a dozen more audio courses, until the site owner reemerges and uploads these materials to the site proper.
The following new materials for Southeast Asian language study are now available:
Audio for the Thai Basic Course Vol. 2 (part 1 -- 98MB and part 2 -- 79MB) -- a PDF of the accompanying book, along with Basic Course 1 PDF + MP3, and Intro to Thai Phonology MP3 are here.
Thai Reference Grammar by Richard B. Noss (10MB PDF) -- also available at SEAlang in DjVu format. This new version is very well done; the quality of the scan is much better, and includes bookmarked sections within the PDF.
Contemporary Cambodian Introduction (42MB) -- grammatical sketch and Basic Course Vol. 1 PDF + MP3 and Basic Course Vol. 2 PDF are here.
And as long as we're in Southeast Asia, last time I didn't post about the Vietnamese materials available:
Vietnamese Basic Course Vol. 1 (PDF + 37 MP3 files)
Vietnamese Basic Course Vol. 2 (PDF)
And also not yet added to the site, but linked in the forum: audio files for Vietnamese Basic Course Vol. 2 (part 1 -- 81MB and part 2 -- 69MB).
Update:
The following Cambodian materials are also available directly as PDF scans from the U.S. government at www.eric.ed.gov (note that there is some overlap with FSI-language-courses.com):
Contemporary Cambodian: Introduction (670 pages, 1972)
Contemporary Cambodian: Grammatical Sketch (127 pages, 1972)
Contemporary Cambodian: The Land and the Economy (375 pages, 1973)
Contemporary Cambodian: The Social Institutions (392 pages, 1974)
Contemporary Cambodian: Political Institutions (387 pages, 1974)
The quality of these scans varies between acceptable and poor. Also, these predate the Khmer Rouge, so their factual value is probably quite out of date, unfortunately, but their value as advanced readers for the Khmer language remains.
Cassette tapes were also produced for the advanced books in the Contemporary Cambodian series, and can be purchased from ntis.gov, at a prohibitively expensive price ($120 per volume). These are, as is everything the U.S. government produces, public domain materials. I hope someone will set these free online in the future.
The site's owner seems to be AWOL, but one user on the site has continued his work of tracking down FSI books and tapes and digitizing them. In this thread on the site's forum, he posts external links to download more than two dozen new books and half a dozen more audio courses, until the site owner reemerges and uploads these materials to the site proper.
The following new materials for Southeast Asian language study are now available:
Audio for the Thai Basic Course Vol. 2 (part 1 -- 98MB and part 2 -- 79MB) -- a PDF of the accompanying book, along with Basic Course 1 PDF + MP3, and Intro to Thai Phonology MP3 are here.
Thai Reference Grammar by Richard B. Noss (10MB PDF) -- also available at SEAlang in DjVu format. This new version is very well done; the quality of the scan is much better, and includes bookmarked sections within the PDF.
Contemporary Cambodian Introduction (42MB) -- grammatical sketch and Basic Course Vol. 1 PDF + MP3 and Basic Course Vol. 2 PDF are here.
And as long as we're in Southeast Asia, last time I didn't post about the Vietnamese materials available:
Vietnamese Basic Course Vol. 1 (PDF + 37 MP3 files)
Vietnamese Basic Course Vol. 2 (PDF)
And also not yet added to the site, but linked in the forum: audio files for Vietnamese Basic Course Vol. 2 (part 1 -- 81MB and part 2 -- 69MB).
Update:
The following Cambodian materials are also available directly as PDF scans from the U.S. government at www.eric.ed.gov (note that there is some overlap with FSI-language-courses.com):
Contemporary Cambodian: Introduction (670 pages, 1972)
Contemporary Cambodian: Grammatical Sketch (127 pages, 1972)
Contemporary Cambodian: The Land and the Economy (375 pages, 1973)
Contemporary Cambodian: The Social Institutions (392 pages, 1974)
Contemporary Cambodian: Political Institutions (387 pages, 1974)
The quality of these scans varies between acceptable and poor. Also, these predate the Khmer Rouge, so their factual value is probably quite out of date, unfortunately, but their value as advanced readers for the Khmer language remains.
Cassette tapes were also produced for the advanced books in the Contemporary Cambodian series, and can be purchased from ntis.gov, at a prohibitively expensive price ($120 per volume). These are, as is everything the U.S. government produces, public domain materials. I hope someone will set these free online in the future.
June 19, 2008
Free Thai language courses (with audio)
This falls under the category of 'things I've known about forever and consistently forgotten to blog about': FSI-Language-Courses.com.
If you're not familiar with it, FSI is the Foreign Service Institute, the U.S. government's training center for foreign service officers—diplomats and the like. It was established 60 years ago to replace an earlier incarnation established in 1924. The Institute has developed language courses in a large number of languages. And as a government body, all of its work is in the public domain and freely distributable.
FSI Language Courses was started by Glen D. Fellows in 2006. Users on the site (including Glen) scan FSI coursebooks and record FSI audio tapes that they either buy (they're regularly sold by third parties at exorbitant prices) or check out from a library. The resulting pdf and mp3 files are then made available for everyone. No copyright. No cost. Simple. Brilliant.
The site has FSI course materials for 34 languages at the moment, including Thai, Lao and Cambodian. Granted, these courses are at the youngest a few decades old, but you can't beat the price.
The site has the following materials for Thai:
Introduction to Thai phonology (19 mp3 files—3.5 hours)
Thai Basic Course Volume 1 (student text pdf—426 pages; 20 mp3 files—10 hours)
Thai Basic Course Volume 2 (student text pdf—421 pages; audio needed)
And these materials for Lao:
Reading Lao (student text pdf—492 pages; 79 mp3 files—35 hours)*
Lao Basic Course Volume 1 (student text pdf—448 pages; audio needed)
And materials for Cambodian:
Contemporary Cambodian: Grammatical Sketch (student text pdf—125 pages)
Cambodian Basic Course Volume 1 (student text pdf—453 pages; 45 mp3 files—12.5 hours)
Cambodian Basic Course Volume 2 (student text pdf—367 pages; audio needed)
Among the other languages you'll find materials for are Mandarin (listed as "Chinese"), Cantonese, Korean, Hindi, Swahili, Arabic, and a couple dozen more. Should keep any polyglot busy for years, really.
And if your eyes are rolling back in your head at the thought of right-click downloading all those files, then try DownThemAll, one of my favorite Firefox plug-ins. Just play nice and don't download everything at once.
*There is a typo in the URL for Tape 39 of Reading Lao, but you can manually correct it: change 396A to 096A in the filename.
If you're not familiar with it, FSI is the Foreign Service Institute, the U.S. government's training center for foreign service officers—diplomats and the like. It was established 60 years ago to replace an earlier incarnation established in 1924. The Institute has developed language courses in a large number of languages. And as a government body, all of its work is in the public domain and freely distributable.FSI Language Courses was started by Glen D. Fellows in 2006. Users on the site (including Glen) scan FSI coursebooks and record FSI audio tapes that they either buy (they're regularly sold by third parties at exorbitant prices) or check out from a library. The resulting pdf and mp3 files are then made available for everyone. No copyright. No cost. Simple. Brilliant.
The site has FSI course materials for 34 languages at the moment, including Thai, Lao and Cambodian. Granted, these courses are at the youngest a few decades old, but you can't beat the price.
The site has the following materials for Thai:
Introduction to Thai phonology (19 mp3 files—3.5 hours)
Thai Basic Course Volume 1 (student text pdf—426 pages; 20 mp3 files—10 hours)
Thai Basic Course Volume 2 (student text pdf—421 pages; audio needed)
And these materials for Lao:
Reading Lao (student text pdf—492 pages; 79 mp3 files—35 hours)*
Lao Basic Course Volume 1 (student text pdf—448 pages; audio needed)
And materials for Cambodian:
Contemporary Cambodian: Grammatical Sketch (student text pdf—125 pages)
Cambodian Basic Course Volume 1 (student text pdf—453 pages; 45 mp3 files—12.5 hours)
Cambodian Basic Course Volume 2 (student text pdf—367 pages; audio needed)
Among the other languages you'll find materials for are Mandarin (listed as "Chinese"), Cantonese, Korean, Hindi, Swahili, Arabic, and a couple dozen more. Should keep any polyglot busy for years, really.
And if your eyes are rolling back in your head at the thought of right-click downloading all those files, then try DownThemAll, one of my favorite Firefox plug-ins. Just play nice and don't download everything at once.
*There is a typo in the URL for Tape 39 of Reading Lao, but you can manually correct it: change 396A to 096A in the filename.
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