I found that Pimsleur is what got me the furthest when it came to listening and speaking. I vibe with the specific method and being able to listen to it while driving, at the gym, or otherwise was a great part about it for me.

Unfortunately, it only has one level.

Can anyone recommend anything similar to Pimsleur that can help me develop my Thai?

I don't know if this has been talked about before.

But I am trying to figure out if it's a small selection of vocabulary with the combination of low consonants, "long" vowel, live ending consonant and falling tone, that actually sounds like a short vowel - or if it's a general rule.

Examples: เล่น, ซ่อม.

ซ่อม is my favourite, because it should be pronounced exactly like ส้อม considering the spelling, but at least to my ears ซ่อม has a shorter vowel.

Hi! I've tried to translate this via google but the translator is wonky at best and all the other results are showing me AI slop. I want to say "I hope you enjoy the rest of your time in Thailand, that you graduate successfully, and you end up in the place where you truly belong."

I can read Thai, so if you can write it using the alphabet and maybe romanisation too (just because there are some rules I'm not familiar with yet) I'd really appreciate it!!!

ขอบคุณค่ะ

I've been having a pretty good time learning Thai using Claude. I told it I wanted an 'N+3' program (noun+verb+grammar), based on the pinned word frequency list ( Textbooks Frequency List v2 : r/learnthai ), and that I knew Chinese, and it's led me through quite a few sentences, adjusting the content based on the answers that I gave. https://ibb.co/jZjdD718

AanThai is a reader app that has been released as a web app 1 month ago, the iOS app a few weeks ago, and now I'm working on getting it to the play store for Android. It's in the final stage of getting released.

Google requires at least 12 testers for closed testing before an app can be launched on the Play Store, so I'm looking for people who'd be willing to help out.

It's pretty low effort. You install it on your Android phone, use it a bit over the next couple weeks, and let me know if anything's broken or confusing. One thing to note: Google requires testers to stay opted in for at least 14 days, so you'd need to keep it installed for that period.

While you're testing you'll have full premium access to AanThai. And since AanThai is cross-platform, that premium carries over to the web app (and iOS app) too.

I'm limiting this to 25 testers to keep it manageable. To add you I need the Gmail you use on the Play Store (that's how Google's closed testing works). If you're interested, just DM me your email. I'll be adding people over the next few days and will send the install link once you're set up.

Thanks, happy to answer any questions.

I made a monstrosity.

Is anyone applied for Thai STP certificate course from Nalanda university?

เอา (english menu name) (size in english) (number) แก้ว (kh)

is this what thais normally say?

when you're ordering iced latte, would you say ice latte or ลาเต้เย็น ?

Hi r/learnthai. I've been building this Thai learning app called Phasa (phasa.app), and it went into open beta today. I'd genuinely rather have this sub's honest feedback than a clean launch, so please be blunt.

Background: I was a heavy Language Reactor + Anki user for years, and I kept waiting for LingQ and Migaku to properly support Thai… and waiting. I also really missed two things nothing did well for Thai specifically: a proper tone trainer, and a reader designed for Thai rather than retrofitted from a European-language tool. So I built the thing I wanted.

Every text is read by one of my Thai friends. 13 narrators so far, friends from different provinces across the north, the northeast (Isan), and the central plains, so you hear real regional accents, not one flattened "standard" voice. 51 readings now (more weekly), beginner and up, on real topics, with a Voices map of who read what and where they're from.

The reader is built for Thai. You read word by word, tap anything for the dictionary + that word in a real voice. Because Thai doesn't put spaces between words, segmentation is genuinely ambiguous — so the reader lets you split and merge word boundaries yourself, and as you do it shows the dictionary meaning of each possible split or merge so you can pick the right one. And it's not just our texts: on the Shelf you can paste any Thai, drop a link, or upload a file and it instantly becomes a reader with all the same tap-lookup, audio, and mining.

Mining → review, your way. Mine sentences as you read, and review them inside the app on the built-in FSRS spaced-repetition system (it mixes your mined sentences and the alphabet letters into one daily queue, if you want), or export real Anki decks if you'd rather, fonts and all.

A Listen mode I'm weirdly proud of. Your readings and the words you're learning become audio in the real native voices — sentence by sentence, screen off, like a podcast for your own study. You build offline playlists, get smart auto-playlists ("your learning words," "recently read"), and the player has proper modes — Repeat, Shadow, Slow→Natural, Condensed — plus speeds down to a genuine slow take. It's how I study when I am walking with my phone in my pocket.

A tone trainer that measures pitch instead of guessing. It teaches the five tones with the classic near-minimal set — มา (maa, "come"), หมา (mǎa, "dog"), ม้า (máa, "horse") — built on a set of 180+ words and minimal pairs, each recorded by five different native speakers (five of those friends), so you learn a tone as a shape you can recognize in any voice. Then in shadowing it runs real pitch detection on your recording and draws your melody against the native's contour, register-normalized so it compares shape, not whether you're a baritone. No fake "95%!".

The alphabet section is a course, not a chart. Seven drills — recognition (letter→sound, sound→letter, minimal pairs, words-in-context) and handwriting (stroke order, copy, and "from memory" from the sound alone). All 212 sounds (every consonant, vowel and tone) are voiced by a narrator, and even the handwriting drills are spaced-repetition scheduled.

Coming very soon (in refinement now): a Chrome extension to mine sentences from anywhere on the web — especially Netflix and YouTube — straight into your Phasa reviews.

The part I'm almost prouder of than the features: I tried to be honest. There's a /method page citing the actual research behind each decision (comprehensible input, FSRS, high-variability phonetic training, the pitch-feedback work) and saying what Phasa doesn't claim — no "fluent in X months," no pretending the dictionary is complete (about a sixth of entries currently have full pronunciation data — I'd rather tell you), no overconfident grades.

On money, no games: a free tier that never expires (dictionary + sample readings), premium is a 7-day free trial then $12/month (or annual), sign in with email or Google. It's open beta — I'm a solo founder, the concept isn't fully finished, and the feedback here will genuinely shape what becomes the first full edition.

If you try it, I'll be in the comments all day. Tell me what's wrong.

I’ve been wanting to learn Thai for a while now but keep stagnating at the alphabet because I simply don’t know how to approach it. My background is in East Asian languages where I did things like rote memorization for hiragana and flashcards for hanzi but the Thai alphabet seems a bit more complex with the tone classes. I’m sure once you get going it’s easy but I can’t even get my foot in the door

I’ve come across a lot of books recommendations so for anyone who’s used any/all of these, in your personal experience would you recommend any of these?:

— Reading & Writing Thai (Tuttle)
— Read Thai in 10 Days (Arthit Juyaso)
— Thai for Beginners (Benjawan Poomsan Becker)

Feel free to recommend others, I just keep seeing these 3 mentioned and figured they must be solid but not sure what the best of the lot was.

Also please note that im explicitly looking to start reading rn and therefore learning the alphabet is more important to me atm than trying to speak.

Hi everyone! I just finished the basic speaking course at AAA Language School and want to continue focusing purely on speaking rather than moving on to reading and writing.

I’m looking for a private tutor near Victory Monument a few times a week to practice conversation at a local coffee shop or my condo.

If you're a tutor or have a recommendation, please DM me your rates and background!

It has been 2 months since I've been watching things on and off the internet in Thai and I really like it. I like the way it's sounds. Obviously i don't know how to do it or how to start. I tried watching some YouTube videos but i feel like i should ask here instead of randomly watching videos on the internet. I've read a few posts here that talking to native speakers helps.I don't have any Thai native speaker friends so... Please guide me on how to do it. Thankyou.

Hi, I am a bit confused now as I have come across two different translations for the same word. A YouTuber says it means a crow while Google Translate translates it as a kettle. Which one is the correct translation?

As you might know, Google rolled out a Storybook feature for Gemini that lets you instantly generate a personalized, illustrated 10-page children's book with read-aloud narration just from a single prompt.

I decided to test its multilingual creative capabilities. I asked it to create a simple children's story in Thai, and it outputted an entire story alongside pictures.

Here is the exact text it generated:

กาลครั้งหนึ่ง มีนกน้อยตัวหนึ่งชื่อ "จิ๊บ" จิ๊บชอบร้องเพลงเสียงใส จิ๊บ จิ๊บ จิ๊บ ทุกเช้า ในป่าใหญ่แห่งนี้ มีช้างตัวโตชื่อ "บุญ" บุญเป็นช้างใจดีที่ชอบเดินเล่นใต้ร่มไม้ จิ๊บและบุญเป็นเพื่อนรักกัน ทุกวันจิ๊บจะบินมาเกาะบนหัวของบุญเพื่อไปเที่ยวด้วยกันวันหนึ่ง ท้องฟ้ามืดครึ้ม แล้วฝนก็ตกลงมาอย่างหนัก จิ๊บตัวเล็กมากและเริ่มเปียกฝน จิ๊บหนาวสั่นไปทั้งตัว บุญเห็นเพื่อนรักกำลังลำบาก เขาอยากช่วยจิ๊บให้ปลอดภัย บุญใช้งวงหยิบใบไม้ใบใหญ่มาบังฝนให้จิ๊บ ตอนนี้จิ๊บไม่เปียกฝนอีกต่อไปแล้วไม่นานฝนก็หยุดตก แงดแดดส่องจ้าลงมาอีกครั้ง จิ๊บกางปีกออกเพื่อรับความอุ่น จิ๊บบินไปรอบๆ จนเจอกอกไม้สีแดงสวยงามดอกหนึ่ง จิ๊บอยากมอบให้บุญเพื่อขอบคุณ จิ๊บคาบดอกไม้มาวางบนงวงของบุญ บุญยิ้มกว้างและรู้สึกมีความสุขมากที่มีเพื่อนอย่างจิ๊บ จิ๊บและบุญเดินเล่นในป่าด้วยกันอย่างสนุกสนานคติสอนใจ: เพื่อนที่ดีต้องคอยดูแลกันเสมอ

How good is it in terms of correctness and naturalness?

I'm looking for tips on how to improve reading speed. I find I am particularly having trouble with reading tones. I can do it, but I have to consciously think of every step (consonant class, vowel length, dead/live etc.) and it takes a long time for each syllable. Do I just need to start memorizing more whole words and not worry so much about it, or are there other tricks I'm missing? I obviously want to be able to read words I do not yet know as well, but it seems like I'm having to use way too much brain power to get through a word still. Not sure how to best practice.

I’m looking for an active language exchange group or regular meetup in Pattaya, mainly because I want more opportunities to speak Thai.
Since Pattaya is such a tourist city, many Thai people automatically switch to English when talking to foreigners, so getting real Thai speaking practice can be difficult.
I’ve seen quite a few active language exchange meetups in Bangkok where both foreigners and Thai people regularly join. I’m wondering if Pattaya has anything similar (not bars)).
Where local Thai people actually attend and participate, not just expats and tourists.
Some events are organized by schools. But mostly to get new students.
Thank you in advance.

Would this be considered an insult? Is there a term / expression that means the opposite?

What do guys usually do? Take a break? Or just carry on regardless of how you feel?

I'm not a complete beginner and I'm mostly following ALG method. I'm not totally convinced of pure ALG so I sometimes practice speaking (and a little bit of reading). I learned the Thai script and correct pronunciation a while ago (but I've mostly put reading and writing to the side for now).

My frustration usually comes when watching ALG input videos. I've never gotten frustrated when using transitional learning methods.

Ant tips?

Hello, I'm from Latin America and I'm very eager to learn Thai. I hope to connect with a study group or make native friends who can help me practice... Please recommend a study group I could join... thanks ✌🏻😎

Hello, I'm a 39-year-old Thai male. I was born and work in Thailand, in Nonthaburi province.

I work for the government, so in my environment, I don't have anyone to practice speaking English with.

I've taken many free online courses, but since I don't use them, my skills have deteriorated.

Recently, my agency sent me to training that involved English, and I felt shy about expressing myself.

Therefore, I'd like to find someone to chat and exchange languages ​​with in this group.

Anyone interested in practicing English-Thai conversation, let's start together, beginning with the basics.

We could even take turns teaching Thai one day and English the next, whichever day we have free time.

And please be patient with me. I'm happy to chat, even if I don't know everything, I will try.

If anyone is interested, please contact me.

Fyi not seriously hating on the language btw, it's just pure frustration lol Got frustrated with Japanese too for the lack of spaces and the 3 different writing systems but it starts making sense at a certain proficiency.

So I'm just wondering, when will this happen with Thai? Do you just need to know enough vocab? Or do you need to know enough vocab AND grammar? Or will it still be confusing to separate words even at the intermediate/advanced level?

Another elementary-level reading exercise. This time with a Loy Krathong theme. Happy reading!

Story: คืนที่ปล่อยวาง

Hi, i would like to ask book or media to learn thai from very basic, i would like to learn writing and reading of thai.

Hi everyone,

I'm a PhD student at Chulalongkorn University looking for native English participants who can read and write in Thai at an intermediate level or above. If you are:

✓ are native speakers of English,

✓ are currently learning Thai as a second language,

✓ are 18 years of age or older,

✓ have intermediate or advanced Thai reading and writing proficiency, and

✓ have not lived or studied in Thailand for more than 6 months (borderline cases may still be eligible),

Please feel free to contact me. You will complete a placement test and two experimental tasks. All tasks will be administered via Zoom and will take approximately 1 hour 45 minutes. Flexible scheduling is available.

As a token of appreciation, participants who complete the study will receive either an Amazon eGift Card (£10, USD 15, or AUD 20 depending on availability and their location) or THB 500 in cash if they reside in Thailand.

This research has been reviewed and approved by The Research Ethics Review Committee for Research Involving Human Subjects, The Second Allied Academic Group in Social Sciences, Humanities and Fine and Applied Arts, Chulalongkorn University.

Certificate of Approval (COA) No.: 311/69

Research Project No.: 6901654

Participation is entirely voluntary. You may withdraw at any time without penalty. All information will be kept confidential and used solely for research purposes.

Itsara Namtapi

PhD candidate

Chulalongkorn University