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Update 7.23.2010: I'm removing a few posts that are no longer interesting to me. You can reach the homepage here.

Thanks for your interest!

Thai Word of the Week: Subject

My Thai word for this week is วิชา, meaning "subject".

Thai2English.com entry for วิชา
VOA sound clip of a sentence using วิชา
Transcript of VOA clip

Note that the transcript can easily be copy-pasted to thai2english.com, obtaining a word-by-word translation.

Other interesting words in this clip are:

ฐานะ, meaning "position"
ภารกิจ, meaning "duty"
รับมอบหมาย, meaning "to be entrusted"
กำหนด, meaning "to specify"
มาโดยตลอด, meaning "always".

Corrections and clarifications are always appreciated.
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Technorati tags: second language acquisition, thai, thai language

Thai Word of the Week: Consider

My Thai word for this week is พิจารณา, meaning "to consider".

Thai2English.com entry for พิจารณา
VOA sound clip of a sentence using พิจารณา
Transcript of VOA clip
Original complete story on VOA, with transcript and MP3

Note that the transcript can easily be copy-pasted to thai2english.com, obtaining a word-by-word translation.

Other interesting words in this clip are:
ตัดสิน, meaning "to decide"
เท่าใด, meaning "however much"

Corrections and clarifications are always appreciated.

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Technorati tags: second language acquisition, thai, thai language

Thai Word of the Week: Expert

My Thai word for this week is ผู้เชี่ยวชาญ, meaning "expert".

Thai2English.com entry for เชี่ยวชาญ
Thai-language.com entry for ผู้เชี่ยวชาญ
VOA sound clip using ผู้เชี่ยวชาญ
Transcript of VOA clip
Original complete story on VOA, with transcript and mp3


Note that the transcript can easily be copy-pasted to thai2english.com, obtaining a word-by-word translation.

Other interesting words in this clip are:
ด้าน, meaning "field (of study)"
กฎหมาย, meaning "law"
หอสมุด, meaning "library"
แถลง, meaning "to express"
คณะ, meaning "group"
อนุกรรมการ (อะ-นุ-กัม-การ-), meaning "subcommittee"
วุฒิสภา, meaning "senate"
ทัศนะ, meaning "point of view"
ทั่วไป, meaning "general"
แสวงหา (สะ-แหวง-หา-), meaning "to seek"
เกียรติยศ (เกียต-ยศ-), meaning "prestige"
ความรุ่งโรจน์ (ความ-รุ่ง-โรจ-), meaning "glory"
เข้าสู่, meaning "to enter"
ความสูญเสีย, meaning "waste"
การคลัง, meaning "finance"
ชาติ (ชาต-), meaning "nation"
จึง, meaning "therefore"
ป้องกัน, meaning "to defend"
โจม, meaning "to pounce"
อย่างกะทันหัน, meaning "immediately"
ตั้ง, meaning "to start"
ข้อสังเกต, meaning "remark"
ความคลุมเครือ, meaning "ambiguity"
ยาม, meaning "time"
ควร, meaning "should"

Corrections and clarifications are always appreciated.

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Thai characters don't render correctly? Click here...

Technorati tags: second language acquisition, thai, thai language

Thai Word of the Week: Historian

My Thai word for this week is นักประวัติศาสตร์ (นัก-ประ-หวัด-ติ-สาด-), meaning "historian".

Thai2English.com entry for นักประวัติศาสตร์
Thai-Language.com entry for ประวัติศาสตร์
VOA sound clip of a sentence using นักประวัติศาสตร์
Transcript of VOA clip
Original story on VOA, with transcript and mp3


The clip paraphrases a historian, who says that the framers of the U.S. constitution intended to assign most of the authority in matters of war to the congress. Note that the transcript can easily be copy-pasted to thai2english.com, obtaining a word-by-word translation.

Other interesting words in this clip are:
บรรดา (บัน-ดา-), meaning "totality"
ก่อ, meaning "to construct"
ร่าง, meaning "draft"
สร้าง, meaning "to create"
รู้เท่า, meaning "to be perceptive"
การณ์, meaning "event"
แน่ชัด, meaning "obvious"
มอบอำนาจ, meaning "to authorize"

Corrections and clarifications are always appreciated.

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Thai characters don't render correctly? Click here...

Technorati tags: second language acquisition, thai, thai language

Thai Word of the Week: Signal

My Thai word for this week is ส่งสัญญาณ (ส่ง-สัน-ยาน-), meaning "to signal". Component words are ส่ง, meaning "to send" and สัญญาณ (สัน-ยาน-), meaning "signal".

Thai2English.com entry for ส่งสัญญาณ
Thai-Language.com entry for ส่งสัญญาณ
VOA sound clip of a sentence using ส่งสัญญาณ
Transcript of VOA clip
The original story on VOA, with transcript and mp3

The clip discusses the debate in the U.S. congress over restricting funding for President Bush's unpopular "troop surge" proposal. Note that the transcript can easily be copy-pasted to thai2english.com, obtaining a word-by-word translation.

Other interesting words in this clip are:

คัดค้าน, meaning "to disagree"
ตัดทอน, meaning "to cut off"
ดังกล่าว, meaning "aforementioned"
สื่อ, meaning "to communicate"
ความหมาย, meaning "meaning".
สู้รบ, meaning "to combat"
เหล่า, the classifier for "group"
ปฏิบัติภารกิจ (ปะ-ติ-บัต-พา-ระ-กิด-), meaning "to do one's duty"
อีกต่อไป, meaning "anymore"

Corrections and clarifications are always appreciated.
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Technorati tags: second language acquisition, thai, thai language

Thai Word Of the Week: Oppose

My Thai word for this week is ทัดทาน, meaning "to prohibit", or "to oppose".

VOA sound clip of a sentence using ทัดทาน
Transcript of VOA clip
The original story on VOA, with transcript and mp3

The sound clip discusses the possibility that the U.S. congress may cut off military funding in opposition to President Bush's "troop surge" proposal in Iraq.

Other interesting words in this clip are:
เชื่อ, meaning "to believe in"
เพิ่ม, meaning "to increase"
การระงับ, meaning "suppression" or "discontinuance"

Note that the transcript can easily be copy-pasted to thai2english.com, obtaining a word-by-word translation.

Corrections and clarifications are appreciated.

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Thai characters don't render correctly? Click here.

Technorati tags: second language acquisition, thai, thai language

Thai Word of the Week: Authority

My Thai word for this week is อำนาจ, meaning "authority".

Thai2English.com entry for อำนาจ
Thai-Language.com entry for อำนาจ
VOA sound clip of a sentence using อำนาจ
Transcript of VOA clip
The original story on VOA, with transcript and mp3.

The sound clip explains the constitutional balance of power between the U.S. president and congress in matters of war.

Other interesting words in this clip are:

ตาม, meaning "according to"
รัฐธรรมนูญ (รัด-ทะ-ธัม-มะ-นูน-), meaning "constitution"
รัฐสภา (รัด-ทะ-สะ-หภา-),meaning "congress"
ประกาศสงคราม, meaning "to declare war"
อนุมัติ (อะ-นุ-มัต-), meaning "to approve" or "to allow"
ทุน, meaning "fund"
ปฏิบัติการ, (ปะ-ติ-บัต-การ-), meaning "to take action"
ผู้บัญชาการ, meaning "commander in chief"
กองทัพ, meaning "army"
รับผิดชอบ, meaning "to be responsible"
ดำเนินการ, meaning "to carry out" or "to perform"

Note that the transcript can easily be copy-pasted to thai2english.com, obtaining a word-by-word translation.

Corrections or clarifications are always appreciated.

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Technorati tags: second language acquisition, thai, thai language

Thai Word of the Week: Provoke

My Thai word for this week is กระตุ้น (กระ-ตุ้น-), meaning "to provoke" or "to stimulate".

Thai2English.com entry for กระตุ้น
Thai-Language.com entry for กระตุ้น
VOA sound clip of a sentence using กระตุ้น
Transcript of the sentence
The original story on VOA, with transcript and mp3

The VOA clip is a translation of comments by Celinda Lake, a strategist for the Democratic political party in the United States. It uses กระตุ้น in describing the controversy surrounding the Iraq war. Note that the transcript can easily be copy-pasted to thai2english.com, obtaining a word-by-word translation.

Other interesting words in this clip are:
ต้องการ (ต้อง-กาน-), meaning "to request" or "to demand"
เปลี่ยนแปลง (เปลี่ยน-แปลง-), meaning "to change"
อย่างชัดเจน (หย่าง-ชัด-เจน-) , meaning "clearly"
จน (จน-), meaning "until"
ระทึกใจ (ระ-ทึก-ใจ), meaning "excited".
ระมัดระวัง ( ระ-มัด-ระ-วัง- ), meaning "to be careful"
วิธี (วิ-ธี-) , meaning "means", "way", or "process"
เสียจน (เสีย-จน-), meaning "so much that"

As always, corrections and clarifications are appreciated.

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Technorati tags: second language acquisition, thai, thai language

Thai Word of the Week

A couple of the language blogs I follow have recently posted about "overlearning" (see AJ's post and Jeremy's posts). "Overlearning", as I understand it, is reviewing material beyond the point where it is understood, in order to acquire it at a much deeper level. I had not heard of this previously, but it sounds like a good idea.

I want to experiment with posting a weekly vocabulary word to this blog. I'll also post an audio clip and transcript of a sentence from a news broadcast that uses the word. This gives me the chance to overlearn the word by listening intensively to a native speaker saying the word in context. As part of my Thai study for the week, I'll spend at least a cumulative half-hour repeatedly listening to the clip.

By the way, if you have any other references on overlearning itself, I'd be interested to read them.

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Technorati tags: thai language