About Us

Benjawan Poomsan

A successful author, translator, interpreter, teacher, and publisher. She was born in Bangkok, Thailand and raised in Yasothon Province in the Northeast of Thailand. Her parents are ethnic Lao, so she grew up speaking both Lao and Thai.

As an author and publisher Benjawan has developed the materials to teach hundreds of thousands of people to speak, read and write in the Lao and Thai languages, which provides the opportunity for people to communicate in these languages successfully.

As an interpreter and translator Benjawan has had assignments on numerous high-profile criminal and civil cases, in addition to helping thousands of Lao and Thai people in the U.S. with both personal and legal issues for three decades.

Biography

Benjawan was attracted to learning the English language at an early age, being inspired by her father, who spoke English and worked for BOAC (now British Airways) as a flight planner. She started her career helping people overcome language difficulties by translating a love letter for a woman in her hometown when she was just 16 years old. Soon after, she studied in Kobe, Japan as an AFS exchange student for a year while she was attending high school.

Completing high school, she then majored in English at Khon Kaen University, in Thailand and graduated with first class honors. Returning to Japan, she earned her master’s degree in sociology from Kobe University. While in Japan, she started teaching Thai to friends and Japanese businesspeople. Her Thai language handouts became the basis for her bestselling book, Thai for Beginners.

In 1994, she married Craig Becker and moved to the United States. There she taught Thai to Americans living in the San Francisco Bay Area. After only one year, she passed the exam to become the first Lao and Thai language court interpreter registered with the Judicial Council of California. During this same time, she started a translation company called Thai & Lao Language Services and established the publishing company Paiboon Publishing. Subsequently, she has written over 25 books and apps to teach English speakers to learn the Lao and Thai languages.

As a translator Benjawan has translated thousands of documents from Lao and Thai into English and vice versa; from simple birth certificates and marriage licenses to legal contracts and operational manuals for Silicon Valley high tech companies.

She has interpreted in countless settings including courtrooms, jails, hospitals, arbitration meetings, marketing presentations and for the U.S. Department of State and two U.S. presidents. She has written extensively about her experience growing up in Thailand and her work as an interpreter in the award-winning book, The Interpreter’s Journal.

Because there is a shortage of competent Lao and Thai interpreters in the U.S. and around the world, Benjawan started an online language school called Paiboon Language Academy, which offers low-cost, online classes for people living anywhere to train to become an interpreter.

Activities & Honors

• Member of the American Translators Association
• Founder of the “Thai and Lao Interpreters Study Group” on Facebook with over 8,000 members worldwide
• Director of Paiboon Language Academy which trains students to become professional interpreters
• Best Author Award in 2011 from the Asian Publishing Awards Association for “The Interpreter’s Journal”
• Training in memory development by world-class memory experts, such as Harry Lorayne, Ron White and Steve Moidel
• First class honors from Khon Kaen University, Thailand
• Author of more than 25 books and apps for learning the Lao and Thai languages
• Passionate Scrabble player
• Physically fit and active with a daily yoga practice and an accomplished ballroom and salsa dancer
• Public speaking skills training from Toastmasters International
• Avid traveler having visited over 70 countries

Published Books

•   The Interpreter’s Journal: Stories from a Thai and Lao Interpreter
•   The Law of Karma Is Always Fair
•   Thai for Beginners
•   Thai-English English-Thai Dictionary for Non-Thai Speakers
•   Three-Way Thai Dictionary
•   Speak Like a Thai Series, Volume 1 – Volume 7
•   Thai for Intermediate Learners
•   Thai for Advanced Readers
•   Improving Your Thai Pronunciation
•   Thai for Travelers
•   Thai Law for Foreigners
•   Lao for Beginners
•   Lao-English English-Lao Dictionary for Non-Lao Speakers (as Khamphan Mingbuapha)
•   Thai for Gay Tourists (as Saksit Pakdeesiam)
•   Thai for Lovers (as Nit Ajee)
•   I Found the Fountain of Youth
•   Retiring in Thailand (as Sunisa Terlecky)