Burmese is written without spaces between words, so beginners do best with short texts and a way to tap a word and see its meaning. Comprehensible input is Burmese where you know most of the words and can guess the rest from a picture or the sound. For courses and tutors, see our Burmese app comparison.
Bubblegum
For serious learners, Bubblegum is the best app to learn Burmese. You learn from Burmese you can mostly understand, which is called comprehensible input.
Your cousin is getting married in Mandalay. Poppy, your AI tutor, writes a Burmese lesson about the day at your level, and the words you save return in new lessons.
The picture books and news below are good for the Burmese you find yourself.
- Pick a topic and a level, and Poppy writes the Burmese 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 Burmese of Yangon and Mandalay, so it has no lessons in the regional varieties.
- You can't turn your own Burmese 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
Loecsen
Loecsen's Burmese course is built around listening. Play an expression, repeat it, and then take the test that checks what you heard.
- Each expression plays as audio, and you say it back out loud.
- Listening tests play a phrase first and then ask you to pick the right meaning.
Web
Other Apps We Looked At (2)
StoryWeaver has 40 free Burmese books, 23 of them at Level 1. Open ကစားကွင်း (playground) and read each page aloud.
SEAsite also has Authentic Readings, a gallery of advertisements, shop and restaurant signs, and building signs. Its literature page has Burmese short stories and poems for later.
Burmese Lesson teaches the sounds of the consonants and everyday greetings. Build Up Burmese has videos on asking questions. Cherry's Myanmar Lab has videos on reading and writing the vowels.
Burmese news comes in two styles, so check which one a site uses. BBC News Burmese and VOA Burmese write in everyday spoken Burmese, and their sentences often end with တယ်. Myanmar Now writes in the formal written style, where the same ending is သည်.
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 phrases with audio | Loecsen's first levels | You repeat each phrase and know what it means |
| Short sentences | A Level 2 book, or a lesson from Poppy | You can answer a question about it without looking |
| Slow, clear talk | Videos from Burmese Lesson or Build Up Burmese | You catch the question words |
| Everyday news in spoken Burmese | A headline and first lines on BBC Burmese or VOA Burmese | You can say what the story is about |
| The written style | A news story on Myanmar Now | You spot သည် and know it is the written form of တယ် |
Check which language an app uses to explain Burmese before you pay.
| App | Languages You Can Use It In | Full List |
|---|---|---|
| Bubblegum | 74 | Supported language pairs |
| Loecsen | 40 | Full list |
| Ling | 68 | Full list |
| uTalk | 140+ | Full list |
Which Burmese app should a beginner choose?
If you are serious about learning Burmese, start with Bubblegum. Poppy, your AI tutor, writes lessons at your level about things you like. Start with Loecsen if you want audio, and with a StoryWeaver book if you want pictures.
Do I need the script before I start reading?
Yes. The books, signs and news here are all in Burmese letters. Each consonant carries a built-in vowel that signs attached to it can change. Bubblegum's Burmese Letters course teaches them, and ရေ (water) is a short word to try first.
Is there news written for learners?
No news site we know of is written for learners. BBC Burmese and VOA Burmese use the spoken style, which is the gentler place to begin, and a headline with its first lines is enough at first.
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
- The Unicode Standard 16.0, section 16.3: the Myanmar script (no spaces between words)
- Bubblegum: Burmese
- Loecsen: How to learn Burmese (free course, 6 levels)
- Loecsen: home page (free core course, paid options, 40 site languages)
- Ling: Learn Burmese
- Ling on the App Store (languages you can use it in)
- uTalk: Learn Burmese
- uTalk: the languages you can learn from
- StoryWeaver: free Burmese picture books
- SEAsite (Northern Illinois University): Burmese language lessons and readings
- SEAsite: Authentic Readings (advertisements, shop and building signs)
- SEAsite: Burmese literature (short stories and poems)
- Burmese Lesson: video lessons on YouTube
- Build Up Burmese: video lessons on YouTube
- Cherry's Myanmar Lab: Burmese reading and writing videos on YouTube
- BBC News Burmese
- VOA Burmese
- Myanmar Now (Burmese edition)
- Wiktionary: တယ် (a colloquial ending for statements)
- Wiktionary: သည် (the literary ending for statements)
