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Talking Thai <> Eng Dictionary
for Android Smartphones and Tablets
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
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Features Questions:
Purchase Questions:
Requirements/Compatibility Questions:
Licensing Questions:
Keyboard Questions:
Using the App Questions:
Companion Material Questions:
Features Questions and Answers:
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Wow! How do I use this?
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This Talking Thai-English-Thai dictionary is an app that runs on
hundreds of varieties of smartphones and tablet devices that use the
best-selling Android operating system from Google, available from a
huge variety of device manufacturers including Samsung, HTC, LG,
ViewSonic, Toshiba, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, Acer, Dell, Huawei,
Lenovo, Creative, and others.
Word in the Hand and Paiboon Publishing also offer separate versions
of our app which run on Apple iOS devices
(iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch) and Microsoft Windows
notebooks and PCs.
To use the software, you simply run the program and start typing
letters of your word. As you enter each letter, the dictionary jumps
closer and closer to your word, and typically after only a few
letters, you have found your word. Each entry contains English, Thai
written using the Thai alphabet, and Thai written using a convenient
English-like pronunciation guide.
So you can read and search for Thai words even if you don't read Thai
script.
We have lots more information about the dictionary on our overview page, including the exact
requirements for
your Android device.
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Will this run on my Apple iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch?
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For those devices, you want to get our Apple
iOS app.
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Will this run on my laptop?
Will this run on my PC?
Will this run on my Mac?
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If your laptop or PC runs Microsoft Windows, you want to get our Windows App.
If your laptop runs Mac OS, it is also possible to run our Windows
dictionary software inside a Windows emulator as explained here.
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Can I look up both English and Thai words?
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Yes. Most dictionaries let you look up English words, and some also
let you look up Thai words using Thai script. But Paiboon's
revolutionary three-way design bridges the gap for English speakers by
introducing a third section where you can look up Thai words that you
hear by their sound, using the same easy-to-read pronunciation
guide:
Search-by-Sound™ has been a hallmark of all Paiboon dictionaries
since 2002.
For more information on Search-by-Sound and why it's so useful for
Thai, click here.
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Will I see actual Thai script (the Thai alphabet)?
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Yes you will. Our dictionary comes with highly readable Thai fonts
and allows you to set the font size as big as you want! You don't
need any extra software to display Thai characters or even to search
for Thai words using the Thai alphabet. We provide a handy on-screen keyboard to help
you type Thai letters, or you can use your favorite third-party
keyboard.
If you don't read Thai script, our dictionary is still just as
useful! Every time a Thai word appears, it's written in the Thai
alphabet, but also in an easy-to-use, English-like pronunciation
guide, so you can read and sound out Thai words without needing to
read Thai script. And thanks to our indispensable Search-by-Sound™
feature, you can even find Thai words by their sound without needing
to know the Thai alphabet.
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Do I have to read Thai to use this dictionary?
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No. Our dictionary is equally useful to casual travelers who don't
read Thai and serious students who do, because every time a Thai word
appears, it is written both in the Thai alphabet and in an
easy-to-use, English-like pronunciation guide. So you can read and
sound out Thai words without needing to read Thai script. And thanks
to our indispensable Search-by-Sound™
feature, you can even find Thai words by their sound without having to
know how they are spelled in Thai!
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Do I have to be on the Internet to use the Dictionary?
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No. When you purchase our app and run it for the first time, it
downloads all the dictionary definitions and sounds from the internet
to your device. You can then look up words in the app, and play all
the high-quality sound
recordings of each Thai word, without being connected to the
internet or incurring any data charges. All the entries and sounds
are stored right on your device. Works on a plane or on the train.
Our Android application uses Google Play Licensing (formerly "Android
Market Licensing," and also known as Android Licensing Verification
Library or LVL) in order to verify your purchase. Google Play
Licensing periodically requires access to the internet. The license
check is done on very rare intervals (it's done when you first
download, install, and activate our software, and then it's done every
15 days with multiple days of grace period in case you don't happen to
be on the internet on the day that Google checks). So, in the vast
majority of cases, customers never notice the license checks. In
extreme cases, if your device is off the internet permanently for an
extended period of time, you may see a message saying "Unable to
verify your purchase of this app." In that case, you need only
connect your device to the internet once (for example, bring it to an
internet cafe with WiFi), run the app once, and the license will be
valid again for at least 15 days. If you are having problems with the
license check, see below.
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Does the dictionary talk?
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Yes. You can click on any Thai word in the dictionary to hear a
high-quality sound recording of a native Thai (Kun Benjawan of Paiboon
Publishing) speaking that word.
Click the  buttons to hear some
sample sounds:
Say goodbye to robot voices and limited sound sets: our comprehensive
sounds set a new standard in the industry.
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Can I speak to the dictionary?
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No. Our dictionary does not have speech recognition at this time.
However, you can Search-by-Sound™:
when you hear a Thai word, you can look up that word by its sound
using an English-like pronunciation guide. You don't have to know the
Thai alphabet. Click here for more details.
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Purchase Questions and Answers:
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How can I purchase the dictionary?
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To purchase and install our app, do one of these:
- just click this button on your device:
(links to Google Play Store / Android Market)
Money-Back Guarantee
or
- use Google's "Play Store" app (formerly known as Google's Android
"Market" app). This app typically shows up on your device's home
screen as a shopping bag (white for Play Store, green and white for
Android Market). Run the app, touch the magnifying glass icon to search,
and then search for "Paiboon."
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What if my device doesn't come with Google's Android "Market" app?
What if my device doesn't come with Google's "Play Store" app?
Do you sell an APK by download?
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At this time, we only sell our app through the Google Play Store
(formerly known as Google's "Android Market").
We are considering listing our app in smaller stores and/or offering
APK download.
If your device did not come with Google's Play Store/Android Market
(which typically shows up on your device's home screen as "Play Store"
or "Market" with a shopping bag icon), in most cases it is possible
for you to install Play Store/Android Market onto your device. Do
some Google searches for:
- "install Android Market on [your device model here]" or
- "install Google Play Store on [your device model here]"
However, this process may require you to "root" your device, so you
might want to seek out a smartphone specialist who knows how to do
the installation.
Be aware that certain Android devices, particularly the extreme
low-end devices, ship with a look-alike app called "Market" that is
not Google's Android Market. When you search for "Paiboon" you will
not find our app in these look-alike (typically China-based) app
markets. On such devices it is still generally possible to install
the real Google Android Market.
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Can I buy the app using PayPal?
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Currently the Google Play Store (formerly known as Google's "Android
Market") does not allow purchases using PayPal, probably becuse it
is based on Google's competing Google Wallet system. Sorry for the
inconvenience. In the future we are considering separate .apk sales,
which we would be able to offer through PayPal.
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Is there a money-back guarantee?
What is the evaulation/return policy?
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The Google Play Store (formerly known as Google's "Android Market")
has a policy that you can return any app within a 15-minute period
after purchase. We believe this policy is utterly absurd, since 15
minutes is not enough time to evaulate any app, and in the specific
case of our app, you will almost always need more than 15 minutes to
complete the one-time download of dictionary definitions and sounds
that happens when you run the app for the first time.
Therefore, after taking a reasonable amount of time to evaulate the
app on your device, if it does not function as advertised, we will be
more than happy to issue you a refund; contact us at orders@word-in-the-hand.com
and include the email address that you used to purchase the software.
Please provide as much detail as you can about the issue you are
having as it will help us improve our software.
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Is there a free trial version?
How do I evaluate the dictionary?
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Currently, we do not publish a free trial version of our Android app.
Instead, we welcome you to purchase the app, take a reasonable amount
of time to complete the download of definitions and sounds and
evaulate the app on your device (do not worry about Google's absurd 15
minute deadline), and if the app does not operate as advertised,
contact us orders@word-in-the-hand.com
and we will be more than happy to issue you a full refund. Please
include the email address that you used to purchase the software.
Please provide as much detail as you can about the issue you are
having as it will help us improve our software.
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Do I get free lifetime upgrades to later Android versions?
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Yes! We are constantly improving the dictionary by adding new
features and adding more vocabulary. For example, at the end of 2010
we more than doubled the size of our dictionary to 100,000+ entries,
and then at the very start of 2012 we again increased the dictionary
size to 150,000+ entries, and this was available free for all existing
customers who had purchased the smaller dictionaries on their
respective platforms (Windows vs. iOS vs. Android). By purchasing the
dictionary now, you will be entitled to download free upgrades to our
Android software as new features and vocabulary become available.
Each platform (Palm OS, Windows, Apple iOS, Android) is sold separately, so upgrades do not apply
across platforms.
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Is one purchase good for multiple Android devices?
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Yes! The standard policy of the Google Play Store (formerly "Android
Market") is that once you purchase our app, you can install it on any
number of Android devices so long as those devices are all set to to
the same primary Google account that you used when you purchased our
app.
Your purchase of the Android product does not entitle you to use the
app on other platforms (e.g. iOS, Windows). The other platforms are
sold separately. See below.
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How do I install the app on additional Android devices?
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With one purchase, you can install our app on multiple Android devices
provided each device is set to to the same primary Google account that
you used when you first purchased our app.
To install the app on additional Android devices, go to the Google
"Play Store" app (formerly the Android "Market" app) and follow the
same steps you took to find the app during your initial purchase.
You will find that the button that used to say "Purchase" now says
"Install." Touch that button and the app installation will begin.
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Do I get free lifetime upgrades to other platforms (e.g. iPhone)?
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No. Each platform (Palm OS, Windows, Apple iOS, Android) is sold
separately, so our free lifetime upgrades do not apply across
platforms.
The simple reason for this is that all the platforms for which we've
developed dictionaries so far (Palm OS, Windows, Apple iOS, Android)
are completely and utterly incompatible at the developer level, and so
each app has required a complete rewrite of all our app UI code from
scratch with no re-use of old code. This means the development
process for each is extremely costly and time-consuming for us at Word
in the Hand. So it is necessary for us to charge across platforms in
order for us to have any hope of recovering our development costs.
Otherwise, we would simply not be able to stay in business and offer
you any dictionary at all!
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How often do you update the app?
What is added in updates?
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Although we have no fixed schedule for updates, we typically update
apps on all our platforms about once a year to add a large batch of
new entries (we started at 42,000 entries in 2009, increased to
100,000 in 2010, and increased to 150,000 entries in 2011) and then we
occasionally release additional updates to add new features or address
issues with new devices.
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If I already have the iOS/Windows/Palm dictionary, can I get a discount?
Can I trade in my older version for the Android version?
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No. We sell each platform (Palm, Windows, iOS, Android) separately
because, while the apps are certainly similar on the surface and we
understand that generally only one platform at a time is useful for
customers, it turns out that each of the different platforms (Palm OS,
iOS, Windows, Android) for which we've developed dictionaries so far
are completely and utterly incompatible at the developer level, and so
each app has required a complete rewrite of all our app UI code from
scratch with no re-use of old code. This means the development
process for each is extremely costly and time-consuming for us (months
for each). We hope you understand.
Another issue is that even if we wanted to have such a trade-in or
discount system, the payment systems of Apple, Google and PayPal are
not integrated: so there's no way for us to generate a working license
of two products with one credit card purchase, nor is there a way to
transfer a license to, say, Google Play (formerly "Android Market")
based on an earlier valid purchase on the Apple iTunes Store. That
stuff is all under the strict control of Apple and Google and they
don't play friendly with each other.
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Do you offer an academic discount?
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Not at this time.
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Can I get a discount for bulk purchases in our business/school/institution?
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Our complete product line of dictionaries for Windows, iOS
(iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch), and Android is a dream come true for large
institutions who employ large numbers of expat workers. With a single
easy centralized purchase, you could have the world's leading
Thai-English dictionary for English speakers on every employee's
device, smoothing their transition to the Land of Smiles and saving
you both work and training costs. Plus, Paiboon Publishing offers a
huge range of other Thai language learning materials for those
employees who want to go deeper. If your business, school, or
institution is interested in purchase of a large number of units (say,
3000-5000 units over the multi-year course of our business
relationship), please contact us and we can
discuss creating a customized version of our software that is easy to
deploy across your entire institution.
For those who wish to make smaller bulk purchases, we would love to be
able to offer bulk purchase discounts, unfortunately at this time,
Google Play (formerly known as the Google Android Market) controls
pricing and does not give us the opportunity to offer different prices
for different quantities.
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What changed in each version of the software?
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To see a list of all software versions so you can find out what
changed, visit this page.
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Requirements/Compatibility Questions and Answers:
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What kind of Android Device do I need?
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Our Talking Thai-English-Thai dictionary runs on almost all
Android devices with Android Version 2.2 or later.
For all the important details, see the
requirements section
of our Android overview page.
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How much space do I need on my device?
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Because our app includes more than 18 hours of high-quality sound
recordings, we require about 380 megabytes (380MB, or 0.38GB) of free space on
your device's SD card. To see how much storage you have available,
run the Settings app from your device's home screen, then choose the
option containing the word "storage" (e.g. "SD card & phone storage"),
then look what it says under "SD card...Available Space." This must
be at least 380 megabytes (380MB, or 0.38GB). Our app always stores the
definitions and sounds on your SD card.
Our app also requires a very small amount (6 megabytes (6MB, or 0.006GB)) of
internal storage for the core of the app itself. The core of the app
must reside on your internal storage due to a limitation of the
Android operating system: any app that has its own keyboard (as we
have the Paiboon Keyboard) must be stored internally, otherwise the
keyboard becomes un-selected each time you reboot your device.
The app will install to internal storage by default.
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Can I move the app to the SD card?
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We do not advise that you move the small (6 megabyte (6MB, or 0.006GB))
core of our app from your internal storage (where it will install by
default) to your SD card.
The core of the app must reside on your internal storage due to a
limitation of the Android operating system: any app that has its own
keyboard (as we have the Paiboon Keyboard) must be stored in internal
storage, otherwise the keyboard becomes un-selected each time you
reboot your device. This de-selection is very inconvenient because it
means you must re-enable the keyboard each time you reboot.
However, the issue is moot for most users since the core of our app is
so tiny (6 megabytes (6MB, or 0.006GB)). Our app automatically stores
the big data file of dictonary definitions and sounds on your SD card
in every case.
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Will the dictionary run on the Amazon Kindle Fire?
Can I download the dictionary from the Amazon Appstore?
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The first release of our Talking Thai-English-Thai dictionary for
Android will mostly run on the Kindle Fire, but Amazon has
unfortunately decided to create two major issues:
- For no rational reason, Amazon went out of their way to specially
cripple their own version of Android so that it will not support any
third-party keyboards (that is, keyboards other than the one keyboard
that Amazon provides). Note that this is a special quirk of the
crippled version of Android that Amazon ships on their devices and it
is beyond our control. Our dictionary app comes with a handy Paiboon
Keyboard which lets you type in Thai and also type the special
English-like symbols needed for pronunciation guides while in our
application. Amazon's senseless modification prevents the Paiboon
Keyboard from working. So, you can type in English with no problem,
but if you want to type in Thai, you will need to find some other
solution for the Kindle Fire. You may need to "root" your device, as
many Kindle Fire users have done, in order to work around the
inexplicable limitations placed on the device by Amazon. If you are a
Kindle Fire user, we urge you to take all means possible to contact
Amazon and demand that Amazon update their software and restore to you
this basic right, enjoyed by all Android users on all platforms except
the Kindle Fire. Tell them you want to use a bilingual dictionary app
that uses a custom Android Soft Keyboard (also known as an IME), but
Amazon has inexplicably disabled this feature. Our guess is that
Amazon disabled third-party keyboards so they could "control"
distribution of Kindle Fires in non-English-speaking markets. If we
can make Amazon realize that bilingual dictionaries and other apps
require custom keyboards even in the US/European market, Amazon may
relent.
- A second issue which arises on the Kindle Fire is that Amazon does
not ship the device with the Google Play Store app (formerly known as
Google's "Android Market" app), which is by a vast margin the largest
paid app store on the Android platform. Instead, Amazon ships its own
Amazon Appstore app, so that Amazon may usurp all profits while
sticking you with an extremely limited selection of apps. At this
time, our dictionary app is only available on Google Play/Android
Market. We intend to list ourselves on the Amazon Appstore in the
future, but we have not done so yet (in part because of the keyboard
problem). Despite this further obstacle created by Amazon, many
Kindle Fire users have found ways to modify their devices (possibly
involving "rooting") so they can install Google Play Store/Android
Market and get access to the hundreds of thousands of apps available
on Google's flagship app store. We highly recommend that you check on
the internet to see what options are available to you.
Here is an excellent website which describes the process of liberating
your Fire from the greedy clutches of Amazon and enabling third-party
keyboards such as our Paiboon keyboard:
Use a third party keyboard with a (rooted) Amazon Kindle Fire
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Will the dictionary run on Sony-Ericsson devices?
Why do dictionary definitions shift left and right on Sony-Ericsson devices?
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The dictionary does run with full features, but we have discovered
that Sony made certain non-standard modifications to Android Version
2.3.x that cause some minor display issues with our app. In
particular, after you click on some part of a dictionary entry (such
as a translation or speaker icon), you may see that dictionary entry
shift to the left or right a few letters. This symptom is similar in
appearance to the Android Version 3.X problem described in the next
item below, but the underlying cause is different: it is due to
Sony-specific modifications to Android.
Although we cannot completely work around the Sony defect, we did
introduce a special new switch in version 1.7 of our Android app for
Sony users: touch your device's Menu button, touch "Settings," and
scroll down and uncheck "Indentation." This will disable indentation
of each entry, and this should also make the Sony display problem go
away so that you can use your dictionary normally.
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Will the dictionary run on Samsung devices with Android 2.2.1?
Why does my dictionary give license errors on my Samsung with Android 2.2.1?
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Summary: there is a nasty Samsung Android 2.2.1 bug that, in rare
cases, may cause our dictionary to be unable to permanently save its
settings across device reboots, or give you license errors when you
use our dictionary when not connected to the internet. Until Samsung
releases a new Android version to fix the bug for real, there is a way
to restore full ThaiDict functionality, as detailed below.
We have gotten word of a bug that Samsung introduced in their custom
2.2.1 firmware for devices such as the Galaxy S (and other Samsung
devices) which may cause our application to be unable to remember its
Settings, or may also cause our application to fail to retain its
license for the normal offline period (normally you can be off the
internet for 15+ days plus a multi-day grace period and still use the
dictionary, before you need to be online to confirm your license, as
explained here).
This bug comes from Samsung and is beyond our control, and it may
affect any app on your device (not just ThaiDict). Specifically, it
may cause any app on your device to be unable to save application
preferences that persist across reboots of your device. Thousands of
Samsung users are clamoring for an Android update but as of February
2012, Samsung has not yet released one.
This Samsung bug does not affect all apps, and it may not affect a
given app (like, say, ThaiDict) in all cases. In fact, the only time
you will see this Samsung bug is in the following scenario: say you
install an app A, then you remove app A, then you install or remove
one or more other apps, and then you install app A again. In this
scenario, app A is likely to experience problems saving its settings.
If app A happens to be our ThaiDict, you will see that you cannot save
settings across reboot and you will also experience license failures
if you run the app when not connected to the internet.
The problem is that when you uninstall any app, Samsung's buggy
Android 2.2.1 fails to clean up all of that app's settings files. It
leaves behind an orphaned settings folder, which for our dictionary is
called /dbdata/databases/com.wordinthehand.thaidict (by the way,
/dbdata is a Samsung-specific concept that Samsung invented for their
devices and is not a standard part of Google's Android).
Then, if you later re-install the same app, the app cannot create new
settings (because it cannot read, write, or delete the old orphaned
folder), nor can it access the settings from the previous
installation.
Simply uninstalling and reinstalling ThaiDict will not solve the
problem, because the bug is in Samsung's uninstallation code.
The solution is to remove or rename the old, crufty settings folder
before re-installing the app.
If your device happens to be rooted, this is easy. Download and run
one of the many, free file explorer apps, such as Droid Explorer or
ASTRO, navigate to /dbdata/databases/com.wordinthehand.thaidict (note
that your file explorer app must be running as root otherwise /dbdata
will appear to be empty), and rename the folder to anything else (say
com.xxx.xxx). Then you can install ThaiDict and use as normal.
If your device is not rooted, then unfortunately the only way to
delete the old, crufty settings folder is to do a factory reset of
your phone. The factory reset will completely wipe all apps and data
on your phone and restore it to its original condition. If you do
this you will not lose any purchases you made on the Google Play Store
/ Android Market, but you will have to re-download all your apps and
set them up again, as well as restoring any music or other data you
put on your phone.
We hope Samsung will fix their bug for real. Perhaps they will offer
and Android 4.X update for your device that fixes the problem.
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Why are entries sometimes cut off on Android 3.X devices?
Why do entries sometimes shift to the left or right on Android 3.X devices?
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In Android Version 3.X (aka Honeycomb), which Google released in early
2011 and which only runs on certain tablet devices, Google introduced
a display
bug which sometimes causes our dictionary entries to be incorrectly
wrapped from line to line, and occasionally even display wider than
the screen, so that to see the whole entry you need to actually
touch on part of the definition that is not a hotlink and drag your
finger left or right to see the whole entry. You will find that this
problem is intermittent: you might see it for an entry, then go to
another screen and come back to the same entry, and the problem
will be gone.
This problem looks nearly identical to a similar problem on
Sony-Ericsson devices running Android 3.3.x, but that problem turns
out to have a different cause and solution, as explained above.
Unfortunately, due to the internal nature of the Android 3.X bug, we
are not able to fix the bug for you on 3.X devices. It is too deep
inside Google's operating system.
Fortunately, we have gotten word that Google has fixed the bug in
Android Version 4.X, and we understand that many current 3.X device
vendors will allow upgrade to 4.X. So if you are experiencing
this problem, contact your device manufacturer to see if you can
upgrade to 4.X.
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Licensing Questions and Answers:
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Q:
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How does the app licensing work?
Why does the app say "Unable to verify your purchase of this app"?
Does your app use Google Android Market Licensing?
Does your app use Google Play Licensing?
Does your app use Android Licensing Verification Library (LVL)?
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A:
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First of all, thanks for your legitimate purchase of our app and we
apologize for any difficulty caused by licensing issues. Piracy is
such a major issue on the Android platform that it threatens to reduce
our revenues to the point where we can no longer afford to keep
updating your dictionary and providing you with new Thai learning
materials, so we hope you will bear with this burden that is placed on
all of our honest customers.
Our Android application uses Google Play Licensing (formerly known as
Google Android Market Licensing, and also known as Android Licensing
Verification Library or LVL) in order to verify your purchase. Google
Play Licensing periodically contacts Google's servers on the internet
to check your license. The license check is done on very rare
intervals (it's done once when you first download, install, and
activate our software, and then it's done every 15 days with multiple
days of grace period in case you don't happen to be on the internet on
the day that Google checks). So, in the vast majority of cases,
customers never notice the license checks at all.
If you see the message "Unable to verify your purchase of this app,"
it means that Google's licensing system on your device was unable to
receive a response from Google Play licensing servers on the internet
confirming that your purchase was valid. There are several reasons
why this might happen:
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Keyboard Questions and Answers:
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Q:
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Do I have to purchase a separate Thai keyboard?
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A:
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No. Our app comes with everything you need to read and type English,
Thai Script and Thai Sound. We have included, free of charge, the
Paiboon Keyboard, which allows you to type all the Thai letters and
special phonetic symbols you will need for our dictionary.
The Paiboon Keyboard is specially designed for use with our app: it
features a simple layout with large, finger-friendly keys and includes
only the buttons needed for the dictionary. For example, it doesn't
include an enter key, punctuation, or other special symbols that force
general-purpose keyboards to have such tiny keys.
If you already have a third-party Android keyboard that you like, you
can of course also use it with our app.
Special note for Amazon Kindle Fire users: see this
question.
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Q:
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What does the Paiboon Keyboard look like?
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A:
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The Paiboon Keyboard is specially designed for use with our app: it
features a simple layout with large, finger-friendly keys and includes
only the buttons needed for the dictionary. For example, it doesn't
include an enter key, punctuation, or other special symbols that force
general-purpose keyboards to have such tiny keys.
The Paiboon Keyboard automatically adjusts its appearance based on
your dictionary section and settings.
For example, while searching for a Thai word using Thai Script, the
Paiboon Keyboard displays like this:
While searching for a Thai word using one one of our 12 Thai Sound pronunciation guide
systems, the keyboard automatically adapts itself to your currenly
selected system, as shown here for the Paiboon+ system:
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Q:
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Can I use my favorite Android keyboards?
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A:
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Yes. While typing English, Thai Script, or Thai Sound words, you can
choose any keyboard, including our free, built-in Paiboon keyboard,
or your favorite system or third-party Android keyboard.
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Q:
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Why don't I see the Paiboon Keyboard?
How do I activate the Paiboon Keyboard?
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A:
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For security reasons, Android requires that you explicitly enable any
new keyboard that you have just installed. You only have to do this
once.
For complete instructions on how to enable the Paiboon Keyboard on
your device, start the dictionary and touch your device's Menu button.
Choose "Help" and then navigate to the Help section called "Using the
Dictionary," then "On-Screen Keyboard."
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Q:
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How do I switch keyboards in Android?
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A:
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We have included complete documentation showing you how to activate
the Paiboon Keyboard, and how to switch between the Paiboon Keyboard
and other keyboards, in our application Help.
Start the dictionary and touch your device's Menu button. Choose
"Help" and then navigate to the Help section called "Using the
Dictionary," then "On-Screen Keyboard."
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Q:
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How can I easily switch from the Paiboon Keyboard to another keyboard?
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A:
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The Paiboon Keyboard includes a handy keyboard chooser button that
will directly bring up the list of keyboards so that you can
switch:
When the Paiboon Keyboard is in its Thai Script mode, you must
first touch the Shift key in order to see the chooser button.
This is because there was no room on the unshifted keyboard for the
chooser button, without making the keys inconveniently small:
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Q:
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Can the dictionary automatically switch between English/Thai keyboards?
Can I make the keyboard follow which dictionary section I'm in?
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A:
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If you are using our provided Paiboon Keyboard, then yes! The Paiboon
Keyboard always automatically notices which section of the dictionary
you are in and adapts its keys appropriately. There is an English
keyboard, a Thai Script keyboard, and a custom keyboard for each
Thai Sound Pronunciation Guide system.
If you are using another keyboard, then unfortunately Android does
not give us app developers the necessary control over third-party
keyboards, so we cannot switch your keyboard automatically as you
switch between dictionary sections. This is a feature that many
Android users have been yelling at Google to include for more than
two years now, but it still has not surfaced.
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Q:
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Can I use the Paiboon Keyboard to type Thai Script in other apps?
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A:
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Yes, you can use the built-in Paiboon Keyboard to type Thai Script in
other apps, but keep in mind that the Paiboon Keyboard was specially
designed for use inside our dictionary app. The Paiboon Keyboard
features a simple layout with large, finger-friendly keys and includes
only the buttons needed for the dictionary. For example, it doesn't
include an enter key, punctuation, or other special symbols that force
general-purpose keyboards to have such tiny keys. So it may not have
all the keys you need for general email writing: that is not what it
was designed for.
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Q:
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Why does the Paiboon Keyboard appear in other apps?
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A:
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It is sometimes handy to have the Paiboon Keyboard available for typing
Thai in other apps, such as when composing a quick SMS.
However, the true reason why the Paiboon Keyboard appears in other
apps is that Google does not allow us app developers to create a
keyboard that is specific to one app, without also losing a wide
variety of other important functionality in our app (such as the
ability for you to select, copy, and paste part of the text using the
selector bars). We would actually have preferred to make the Paiboon
Keyboard private to our app, but Google did not give us this
choice.
Developers and users alike have been screaming at Google for the
ability to set an app-specific keyboard, but as of January 2012
Google has still not provided this functionality.
This means that if you are using the Paiboon Keyboard in our dictionary
app and you switch to another app, you will generally need to also
switch keyboards back to whatever Android keyboard you normally use.
We've provided handy chooser buttons in
our keyboards to make this easier.
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Q:
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Why does the Paiboon Keyboard get de-selected every time I reboot?
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A:
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This is almost certainly because you, or some program on your device,
has moved our app from your device's internal storage to your SD card.
We do not advise that you move the tiny (6 megabyte (6MB, or 0.006GB))
core of our app from your internal storage (where it will install by
default) to your SD card.
The core of the app must reside on your internal storage due to a
limitation of the Android operating system: any app that has its own
keyboard (as we have the Paiboon Keyboard) must be stored in internal
storage, otherwise the keyboard becomes un-selected each time you
reboot your device. This de-selection is very inconvenient because it
means you must re-enable the keyboard each time you reboot.
This is purely an issue of where to store the very small
(6 megabyte (6MB, or 0.006GB)) app core. Our app automatically stores
the big 380 megabyte (380MB, or 0.38GB) dictonary definitions and sounds
on your SD card in every case.
So you can get the correct behavior back by moving the app from your
SD card back to your internal storage. To do this (or to check its
current location):
- run your device's "Settings" app
- touch "Applications"
- touch "Manage Applications"
- choose the "All" tab
- touch "ThaiDict"
- you will get a detail screen for ThaiDict
- if you see a button on the screen labeled "Move to SD Card," it means
that the tiny 6 megabyte (6MB, or 0.006GB) core of our app is currently on
your internal storage, so
no action is necessary.
- if you see a button on the screen labeled "Move to Phone" or
"Move to Tablet" or "Move to Internal," it means that the
6 megabyte (6MB, or 0.006GB) core of our app is currently on your SD card,
so you should
touch that button to move the core back to your internal storage.
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Using the App Questions and Answers:
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Q:
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Why does the app always start on the Help screen?
Can I make the app start where I left off?
Should I exit the app using Back or Home?
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A:
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This is a common question which is answered in our Help pages under
"Using the Dictionary" ... "Exiting: Back vs. Home." Here is
an excerpt:
Some Android users are accustomed to using the Back button to "exit"
the app and get back to their device's Home screen. That works
because most apps (other than, say, the Browser app) do not have a
deep history, and so just a few touches of Back will bring you back to
the Home screen.
For our app, we recommend that you touch the Home button to get back
to your device's Home screen. This has several advantages: it brings
you Home instantly with one touch every time, and even better, when
you run the app again, you will be right back where you left off with
all your backward and forward history intact.
Some Android users choose to exit apps using Back because on many (but
not all) Android Versions, Back also has the side effect of causing
the app to no longer appear in the list of running apps (that you can
see by long-touching the Home button), meaning that the app is not
running and not taking up memory on the device. Various Android users
do this for reasons of conserving either battery life or memory. This
is a good strategy for apps which continue to actively use your
device's processor (and thus battery) while in the background.
However, our dictionary is not such an app. We are not aware of any
battery life or memory benefits from exiting our app using the Back
button (or explicitly killing it using a Task Killer app). Therefore,
we recommend use of the Home button to exit the app instead.
In particular,
- When our dictionary app is not in the foreground, it does not
consume any CPU (or battery) resources on your device because it
does not run. The only exceptions to this are:
- When you install the app and run it for the first time, the app
downloads dictionary entries and sounds from the internet. During
this download, our app attempts to continue the download even when in
the background (if Android permits), in order to allow you to use
other apps while you wait for the download to complete.
- When you use the Paiboon Keyboard from other apps on your device,
part of our app is running and thus consuming minute amounts of your
battery. However, this only applies to periods when the Paiboon
Keyboard itself is visible on the screen.
- If you use the Home button to leave the app and run another app,
our app will still be consuming memory on your device as it sits
quietly in the background. However, this does not mean it is
consuming battery life. The memory hardware on your device consumes
the same amount of battery regardless of whether there is 1MB of
memory used or 100MB of memory used. So you will not save battery
by actively clearing out your device's memory.
- If you use the Home button to leave the app and run another app,
and the new foreground app requires more memory than is currently
available on your device, then Android will automatically kill our app
to free up more memory. You do not need to worry about running out of
memory. You do not need to manually manage your device's memory. So
you don't need to explicitly kill our app via the Back button in order
to run other apps.
For all these reasons, we recommend that you exit our app using
the Home button.
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Companion Material Questions and Answers:
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Q:
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What other Thai learning materials are available?
What else does Paiboon Publishing produce?
Which Thai books work best with the dictionary?
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A:
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 The Talking Thai-English-Thai dictionary was developed by
Paiboon Publishing and Word in the Hand™ Inc.
Paiboon Publishing is the world's leading producer of South-East Asian
language learning materials, including the famous Thai for Beginners and the infamous Thai for Lovers. There's even an audio companion
to the learning books, a guide to pronunciation, and a multi-volume series on how to Speak Like a Thai.
Our software dictionary is the perfect companion to these materials
because it supports the same pronunciation guide system as the Paiboon
Thai products (for more detail on pronunciation guide systems, see Search-by-Sound™).
If you have a mobile device, don't miss out on this indispensable
learning app from Paiboon Publishing:
 The Thai
for Beginners App
by Benjawan Poomsan Becker
and Dominique Mayrand
For iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch: Buy Now
For Android: available mid-2012.
The best Thai language learning app available anywhere!
Paiboon Publishing’s Thai for Beginners app makes it easy to study
your Thai lessons wherever you go with your iPhone, iPad or iPod
Touch. The lessons follow the format of the Thai for Beginners book
but a real Thai person speaks each of the over 3,000 words or
phrases. Test your ability to hear and understand Thai or test your
knowledge of written Thai with the built in exercises. Hearing the
spoken Thai will help you increase the speed of learning the language
that no book alone can do. Plus you’ll find many new opportunities to
practice your Thai since your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch will be with
you all the time.
Buy Now from the Apple iTunes App Store
For more info on Paiboon Publishing products, see www.paiboonpublishing.com. Here are just some of
the titles that you can use alongside the dictionary software:
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