Stories, audio, and videos can all help you learn Thai when you can follow what they mean. That is the idea behind comprehensible input: learning from Thai you can mostly understand. Thai makes reading harder to start, because words are written with no spaces between them. These apps give you Thai at your level, or help you look up words in the Thai you choose.
Much of the Thai made for learners is on YouTube, so a section near the end lists those channels and podcasts. For courses, speaking practice, and tutors, see our Thai app comparison.
Custom Lessons Made for You
Bubblegum
Learn Thai with a path made just for you. Start with your level, what you like, and why you want to learn. Your path grows as you learn, with new lessons that fit you. Bubblegum also has news and stories, so you can read and listen to a mix of Thai about music, food, family, or daily life.
Poppy, your AI tutor, writes each lesson for your level, interests, and goals. If a sentence is hard to follow, just ask her to explain the words or the grammar.
The trade-off is that Bubblegum can't help you read or watch Thai you found yourself. For a show, an article, or a web page you already picked, the tools in Read and Watch Thai You Choose are the better fit.
- Read and listen to lessons, news, and stories about things you like.
- Regenerative Review™ brings saved words back in new lessons, so you review them by reading instead of using flashcards.
- Ask Poppy for help as you read.
- AI voices read each lesson, not recordings of Thai speakers.
- You cannot bring in your own books, articles, or shows.
- A new custom lesson costs us real money to make, so you can ask Poppy for a free one, and Bubblegum Pro gives you unlimited custom lessons. The lesson library is free for everyone, because we believe everyone should be able to learn.
- Regenerative Review™
- Teaches the Thai Alphabet
Mobile
Read Stories Written for Learners
AanThai
AanThai is built for the step after the alphabet, when textbook dialogues feel too easy and native Thai feels too hard. Its stories are about Thai culture and daily life, from street food and festivals to getting around Bangkok. It suits learners who can already sound out Thai words.
- More than 80 stories in four levels, from Beginner to Advanced.
- Every story is read aloud by a Thai speaker, and each word lights up as you hear it.
- Tap a word for its meaning and romanization, or hold it to see how it is used in that sentence.
- Review saved words with flashcards that show the sentence where you found them.
- Flashcards
- Doesn't teach the Thai Alphabet
MobileWeb
Poly Thai Reader
Poly Thai Reader is made by Grace, the Thai teacher behind a YouTube channel for learners. Its stories cover Thai culture, daily life, and her own life, and the early levels build common verbs, adjectives, and question words through short stories.
- More than 250 graded stories in five levels, from Newbie to Hard.
- Grace, a Thai teacher, reads every story aloud, and each word lights up as she reads.
- Tap any word for its meaning and sound, and turn romanization on or off.
- Each level has grammar explanations.
- Doesn't teach the Thai Alphabet
MobileWeb
Read Free Picture Books
Let's Read
Let's Read is a free library of children's books from The Asia Foundation, and a learner on r/learnthai suggests it for reading practice. Short picture books are an easy first step, because the pictures help you follow the story.
- More than 300 free picture books in Thai.
- Each book shows its reading level.
- Tap to switch a book between Thai and English.
- Download books to read offline.
MobileWeb
Listen to the News in Thai
SBS Audio
SBS Audio carries SBS Thai, with a short news roundup in Thai each day. It suits learners who already follow a lot of spoken Thai and want current news.
- News and stories in Thai from SBS, Australia's public broadcaster.
- Short news updates of about ten minutes, plus a longer live program.
- Listen in the SBS Audio app, on the web, or as a podcast.
- Doesn't teach the Thai Alphabet
MobileWeb
Read and Watch Thai You Choose
These tools help you learn from shows, videos, and web pages you pick yourself. They suit learners who already know what they want to read or watch.
Language Reactor
Thai learners on r/learnthai often use Language Reactor to watch native shows. It is free to install, with paid extras.
- See Thai subtitles beside a translation on Netflix and YouTube.
- Look up words in a pop-up dictionary.
- Pause and replay one line when it goes too fast.
- Doesn't teach the Thai Alphabet
Browser extension
Readlang
Readlang is a reader for the Thai you find yourself, from news sites to stories you paste in. It runs in your browser.
- Tap a word or a short phrase on a Thai web page to see what it means.
- Paste in or upload your own Thai texts.
- Words you have saved can be underlined when they come up again.
- Flashcards
- Doesn't teach the Thai Alphabet
WebBrowser extension
LingQ
LingQ added Thai in 2025. You can read and listen to the Mini Stories first, then import Thai videos and articles to read with the same tools.
- Read and listen to more than 60 Mini Stories that practice the basic patterns of Thai.
- Bring in YouTube videos, books, and songs of your own.
- New words and words you are learning are highlighted, and words you know are left plain.
- Flashcards
MobileWeb
More Thai to Watch, Hear, and Read
Comprehensible Thai is a non-profit channel with a free listening course of about 1,000 hours, in eight playlists that go from Beginner 0 to Advanced. Thai learners on Reddit recommend it often. Understand Thai, run by the teacher Khroo Ying, teaches entirely in Thai, with pictures and context clues that help you guess the meaning. Riam Thai has listening practice in Thai on everyday topics, such as a day at the office, both on YouTube and as a podcast. Thai with Grace teaches in Thai, with Thai and English subtitles on every video.
For Thai made for children, Thai PBS Kids has shows from Thailand's public broadcaster, and Thai Fairy Tales tells stories such as Cinderella as cartoons in Thai. On the Thai PBS news site, a button on each article reads the story aloud.
For listening on the go, You Too Can Learn Thai is a podcast for beginner and intermediate learners by Khru Nan, a Thai linguist and university professor, with transcripts linked from its website.
Learn Thai in Your Language
These counts cover menu-language choices, including script variants. Other apps’ counts and full lists come from their iPhone listings, except Language Reactor (Chrome Web Store) and Readlang (its help forum). Word meanings, lesson explanations, and other platforms may differ.
| App | Supported Display Languages | Full List |
|---|---|---|
| Bubblegum | 74 | Full list
|
| AanThai | 1 | Full list |
| Poly Thai Reader | 1 | Full list |
| Let's Read | 1 | Full list |
| SBS Audio | 1 | Full list |
| Language Reactor | 27 | Full list |
| Readlang | 1 | Full list |
| LingQ | 17 | Full list |
Other Apps We Looked At (9)
- Reelang ThaiMore than 2,500 short videos by Thai speakers, sorted from A1 to C1, with filters for topic, speed, and accents such as Isan and Southern Thai.
- LangPandaLook up Thai words in YouTube subtitles on your phone, or on Netflix and other sites with its browser extension. It also runs a Thai comprehensible input channel on YouTube. It is new and growing.
- Kaprao Thai Popup DictionaryA browser extension that splits Thai text into words as you hover over it, with meanings and romanization.
- LuteA reader you install on your computer, with a Thai plugin that splits text into words.
- DuostoriesDuolingo stories that volunteers are translating into Thai, with audio. The Thai set is small and growing.
- VIPAThai PBS's free streaming service for Thai dramas, documentaries, and shows for children, with a closed-caption option.
- Read ThaiAn iPhone app for learning to read Thai, with articles from basic to advanced.
- Thai Stories for Language LearnersA book of Thai folktales and fables from Tuttle, with Thai recordings you can download from the publisher.
- Mana Manee readersThe classic Thai school readers, which many learners use for graded reading. Teachers read them aloud on YouTube.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to learn the Thai alphabet first?
You can start listening without it, but you need it to read. Thai has 44 consonant letters, two of which are no longer used, and its vowel signs sit above, below, or beside the consonants. Bubblegum's Thai Alphabet course teaches the 42 consonants Thai uses today, the vowels, and the tone rules, right in your browser.
Can I learn Thai just by listening?
Some learners do. Comprehensible Thai's plan is to listen first, then watch native shows, and learn to read after that. One learner who followed this path wrote that, after more than 3,000 hours, they could follow many Thai films and stand-up comedy shows on their own. Others mix listening with reading and word study, which the apps on this page help with.
Is Bubblegum free?
Yes. The lesson library is free for everyone, because we believe everyone should be able to learn. It holds lessons that other learners asked Poppy for. A new custom lesson costs us real money to make, so you can ask Poppy for a free one, and Bubblegum Pro gives you unlimited custom lessons.
The Thai Alphabet course on this site is also free and needs no account.
Sources
- Omniglot: Thai language and alphabet
- Wikipedia: Thai script
- Comprehensible Thai: about the channel and its listening course
- Comprehensible Input Wiki: Thai
- LingQ: How to Learn Thai, Tools, Tips and Resources
- Thai learner discussion: The awkward stage after learning the Thai script
- Thai learner discussion: 3086 hours of comprehensible input followed by speaking and reading
- Thai learner discussion: Thai children's shows for comprehensible input
- Understand Thai on YouTube
- Riam Thai: Practice Thai Listening podcast
- Thai With Grace on YouTube
- You too can learn Thai: podcast and transcripts
- Thai PBS News
- Bubblegum
- AanThai
- Poly Thai Reader
- Let's Read
- SBS Audio
- Language Reactor
- Readlang
- LingQ
Checked on October 8, 2026 against each app's own pages.
