It's been a busy couple of days in the Its4Thai HQ. The pieces of our website are starting to fall into place, and on Wednesday we were actually able to upload some of our flash games to the Internet for the first time. I invited a few farang friends to come in over the last two days to be our "Alpha" testers and to tell us what they thought of our progress.
So today, I am breathing a sigh of relief, as the feedback we got from them was mostly positive. They pointed out a lot of little things that we overlooked in the interface that will help improve the games, but in general they really enjoyed learning Thai Language by using the games. They also had a lot of great ideas for future services, which I look forward to implementing someday.
Yesterday was also a big day for us for another reason, as our two Thai freelance graphic designers stopped by the office to show what they have been working on. I think they are doing an excellent job of illustrating some of the 1500 words that we have in the database. Having nice pictures in the games really adds a lot to the experience, I think. Along with the excellent sound files we have recorded, we are hopefully building a good learning experience for both visual and audio learners.
I've posted a few of the illustrations here, just to give everyone an idea of the look and feel we are going for. Like I said, I think they are pretty cool. But feel free to give your opinions in the comments! (You can click on the picture to see a bigger version.)
So that's where we stand now. I hope we can release some examples of our new approach to learning Thai Language to the public soon... stay tuned!
(And just as a reminder, if you haven't signed up for our email newsletter yet, you can do so at Its4Thai.com.)
Cool Illustrations!
You're teaching them the word for "cornish game hen"? That's great!
Yes, the interface and online product is really good and I'm excited about the prospect of having something useful to recommend to my readers.
The illustrations really do look great. Pass along a "Nice work" to your freelancers.
Tim
Pretty great idea. By the look of the picture, I guess its creator are still young.
Hi Stuart, I had a look at your system. It's really cool! Neat, tidy interface and compelling in a fun way.
One tiny suggestion is that you should do away with transliterations completely and only display the words in Thai. Especially for the games and exercises.
For those people who can't read Thai yet, please refer them to my website www.learnthaionline.com where we have just launched an ebook entitled Read Thai in a Day.
I think your introductory course would make an excellent follow-on for the ebook.
And more and more books and courses are beginning to come out that rely only on Thai letters. Trying to learn Thai without knowing how to read is like karaoke in a way - it's like trying to sing a song without the tune.
Now that the Read Thai in a Day ebook is out, all courses that rely on phonetics or transliterations will become obsolete. Few, if any, people will want to learn Thai that way, if learning the Real Thing is an easy alternative.
Well done. Looking forward to doing some collaborative work on future projects.
Hi Gary, thanks for your comments. I definitely agree that the transliteration from Thai into English letters is a bad path to go down. I am hoping that the ITS4Thai website will be able to wean people off that system as soon as possible.
Besides, learning the Thai script is really not that hard, and it makes learning new words much, much easier. Unfortunately, most people find that hard to believe ("Jump in the pool. The water is warm, promise! :)