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There is no doubt that this book fills a long-felt need. Unlike some major European languages, there has not been a bilingual Thai dictionary of this scale. I also believe that this dictionary is better than other English-Thai dictionaries on the market. The entries are comprehensive and reflect current English usage. It major strength is that it contains many idiomatic phrases which dictionaries published in Thailand often lack. However, if you compare this dictionary to a French or German bilingual dictionary by Oxford, its many weaknesses become apparent. I get the impression that it was hastily released on the market, without any proper proof-reading being done, which is very uncharacteristic of Oxford dictionaries. A few examples of typos in the foreword and preface are enough to make my point: "the successful completion of this dictionary would not have been possible wihtout..." (p 6) "We sincerely hope that it proves to a valuable resource..." (p 6) "word crated in Thai by the Royal Thai Academy" (p 19) "course and oftensive" (p 19) This is quite worrying, not least because it is aimed primarily at Thais learning English. Beginners should perhaps stay away from this dicitonary.
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