Assamese has few materials made for learners, so picture books, a short recorded reference and Assamese news do most of the work, along with lessons written for you. Comprehensible input is Assamese where you know most of the words and can guess the rest from a picture or the sound. For courses and classes, see our Assamese app comparison.
Bubblegum
For serious learners, Bubblegum is the best app to learn Assamese. You learn from Assamese you can mostly understand, which is called comprehensible input.
Your friend is taking you to a Bihu show in Guwahati. Poppy, your AI tutor, writes an Assamese lesson about the evening at your level, and the words you save return in new lessons.
- Pick a topic and a level, and Poppy writes the Assamese to match.
- Each lesson has AI audio to play while you read.
- Tap a word to see what it means, or ask Poppy to explain a whole line.
- Regenerative Review™ brings saved words back in new lessons.
- Clear, expressive AI voices read every lesson aloud, with a different voice for each speaker.
- Bubblegum teaches the standard Assamese of the Brahmaputra Valley, so it has no lessons in Kamrupi or Goalpariya.
- You can't turn your own Assamese books into lessons. However, you can paste a page in the chat, and Poppy will explain it.
- Custom lessons cost us money to make, so you need Bubblegum Pro for unlimited custom lessons. Lessons Poppy wrote for other learners are free for everyone to read.
- Regenerative Review™
Mobile
StoryWeaver has 542 free Assamese books, and 169 of them are Level 1. Open মোৰ বন্ধু (my friend) and read each page aloud. StoryWeaver's Levels 2 and 3 have 243 more books for when the first ones feel easy.
Xobdo has a set of nine Level 1 reading stories, the Bogori and Dubori stories, and a classic, Burhi Aair Xadhu, which Xobdo writes in Roman letters for readers who speak Assamese but don't know the alphabet yet. Its Learn to Read course teaches the letters.
Languages Home plays everyday words, questions and sentences in a recorded speaker's voice. Its Assamese is in Roman letters, so it works before you can read the script. uTalk teaches more than 2,500 Assamese words and phrases in over 60 topics.
For longer listening, All India Radio's regional news page has a Guwahati bulletin in Assamese, with a play button.
Asomiya Pratidin is a newspaper written in Assamese letters, with sections for Guwahati, Assam, sports, health and entertainment. It also has an e-paper.
Choose a story you first read about in English. Read the headline, then the first two lines.
| What You Can Follow | Try This | You're Ready to Move On When |
|---|---|---|
| One picture for each idea | A Level 1 book on StoryWeaver | You can tell the story back from the pictures |
| Short stories | Xobdo's Level 1 reading stories | You can answer a question about the story without looking |
| Single words and questions | The audio on Languages Home | You catch the question words |
| Short sentences in Assamese letters | A Level 2 or 3 book, or a lesson from Poppy | You can say what happens on each page |
| Headlines | The top story on Asomiya Pratidin | You can say what the story is about |
| Spoken news | The Guwahati bulletin on All India Radio | You catch the place names |
Check which language an app uses to explain Assamese before you pay.
| App | Languages You Can Use It In | Full List |
|---|---|---|
| Bubblegum | 74 | Supported language pairs |
| uTalk | 140+ | Full list |
Which Assamese app should a beginner choose?
If you are serious about learning Assamese, start with Bubblegum. Poppy, your AI tutor, writes lessons at your level about things you like. Start with a StoryWeaver book if you want pictures, and with Languages Home if you want to hear words first.
Do I need the script before I start reading?
Yes, for the books, newspapers and most lessons here. They are all in Assamese letters, which are the Bengali letters plus ৰ and ৱ. Bubblegum's Assamese Alphabet course teaches them, and কিতাপ (book) is a short word to try first. Bubblegum can also show a lesson in Roman letters while you learn.
Is there news written for learners?
No news site we know of is written for learners. Asomiya Pratidin is written for Assamese readers, so a headline with its first lines is enough at first, and the radio bulletin is good for listening once the letters feel familiar.
Is Bubblegum free?
Yes. Lessons Poppy wrote for other learners are free for everyone to read. Custom lessons cost us money to make, so you need Bubblegum Pro for unlimited custom lessons.
Sources
- Bubblegum: Assamese
- uTalk: Learn Assamese
- uTalk: the languages you can learn from
- StoryWeaver: free Assamese books (542 books, 169 at Level 1)
- Xobdo: Assamese Learning (Learn to Read, stories and articles)
- Languages Home: Assamese for beginners, with audio
- Asomiya Pratidin: Assamese newspaper
- All India Radio News: regional audio bulletins, including Guwahati in Assamese
- Wiktionary: কিতাপ (book)
