The best way to learn Burmese is to meet it in short pieces you can follow, with the audio on, and to learn the letters and tones alongside. For what to read at each stage, see Burmese comprehensible input.
Poppy, your AI tutor, writes each Bubblegum lesson for your level and plays it aloud, so you read and listen together. For talking, bring in a tutor or a Burmese-speaking friend.
Spend most of your week reading with the audio on, since that is how you meet the most Burmese at a level you can follow. A 2016 analysis of 49 studies (Jeon and Day) found that reading a lot of easy text improved reading in English as a second or foreign language. It looked at English, so nobody has shown the same result for Burmese yet.
| Method | What It Builds | Use It For |
|---|---|---|
| Reading with the audio on | New words, grammar in context, and how each word sounds | Most of your week |
| A script course | The round letters, and the signs that change a vowel | The first weeks |
| A speaking-first course | Everyday sentences you can say aloud | The first months |
| Videos | The tones and the rhythm of speech | Every week, once the letters feel familiar |
| A tutor or a Burmese-speaking friend | Answers on the spot, and a check on your tones | After you read something new |
| Saved words in sentences | Remembering a word with the sentence it came from | The last few minutes of a session |
| Reading in the written style | The endings and words that books and some news sites use | Once spoken Burmese feels comfortable |
- Talk With Family or FriendsAsk a relative to say the phrases you will use at the next meal, like မင်္ဂလာပါ (hello), and record them. Play each one until you can say it back.
- Read Signs in Yangon or MandalayLearn the names on a map, like ရန်ကုန် (Yangon) and မန္တလေး (Mandalay). SEAsite's Authentic Readings has pictures of real signs to practice on.
- Work With Burmese ColleaguesRead a short work message with a colleague, and ask which words they would change in a text to a friend.
- Follow the NewsBegin with BBC Burmese or VOA Burmese, which use spoken Burmese. Try the written style of Myanmar Now once short stories feel comfortable.
- Read With ChildrenStoryWeaver has Level 1 Burmese picture books. Read one aloud together, and point to each word as you go.
- Volunteer or Teach With Burmese SpeakersLearn the words for the place and the people you will meet, like ကျောင်း (school). Ask a speaker to check how you say them.
How many hours the whole language takes is on the fastest-way page.
| Part | Other Option | App or Service |
|---|---|---|
| The letters | SEAsite's script lessons, with drills and quizzes | Bubblegum's Burmese Letters course |
| A first course | The textbook Colloquial Burmese, which starts from zero, teaches through dialogues and has free MP3 audio | Bubblegum, where Poppy writes dialogues at your level and explains the grammar when you meet it |
| First phrases | Loecsen's free course, with listening tests | Ling, which puts speaking first |
| Short lessons and picture books | StoryWeaver, with 40 Burmese books | Bubblegum, where Poppy writes a lesson on a topic you pick and plays it aloud |
| Everyday talk | SEAsite's beginning lessons, with greetings and questions | uTalk, for words and phrases by topic |
| Listening practice | Videos from Build Up Burmese | Ling's dialog feature, for practicing a conversation |
| Words to keep | A notebook of sentences you like | Saved words come back in new Bubblegum lessons through Regenerative Review™ |
| Talking with a person | HelloTalk, for chatting with language partners | A Preply or italki tutor |
When short stories feel comfortable, move up to the news on BBC Burmese and VOA Burmese, and later to the written style on Myanmar Now.
- Relying on Latin SpellingSeveral systems write Burmese in Latin letters, and they spell the same syllable in different ways, so learn the Burmese letters early.
- Mixing Spoken and Written EndingsSpoken Burmese ends a statement about now or the past with တယ်, and the written style uses သည်. Learn the first for talking, and meet the second when you read.
- Starting With a Word ListBurmese spelling doesn't always show how a word sounds in a phrase, since a written voiceless consonant is often pronounced voiced after a vowel. Hear each new word inside a sentence.
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.
- Poppy writes each lesson around your level and the topics you choose.
- Lessons play AI audio while you read.
- Tap a word to see what it means, or ask Poppy to explain a whole line.
- Lessons use everyday spoken Burmese, and the written style comes in for reading from Level 4.
- The Burmese Letters course teaches the letters and tones, and a second part covers numerals and rare letters.
- Regenerative Review™ brings saved words back in new lessons, and you can export them to Anki.
- 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
Should I Use an App or a Teacher?
An app gives you Burmese to read and hear at any hour. A tutor can hear your tones and tell you when one is off. Start with one app and one tutor session a week.
Should I Study Grammar Before Reading?
Not yet. Read first, and look up a grammar page when a line puzzles you. You will meet တယ် in nearly every spoken line, so you will learn it by seeing it.
Why Does Some Burmese Text Look Broken?
Some Burmese text is in an older encoding called Zawgyi. Zawgyi text looks scrambled in a Unicode font, and Unicode text looks scrambled in a Zawgyi font. A converter can fix either one.
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. If you'd rather begin with a free course, try Loecsen next. More choices are in our comparison of Burmese apps.
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
- Jeon and Day (2016): The effectiveness of extensive reading, a meta-analysis (Reading in a Foreign Language)
- The Unicode Standard 16.0, section 16.3: the Myanmar script
- Unicode FAQ: Myanmar scripts and languages (Unicode and Zawgyi)
- Wiktionary: Burmese transliteration (tones, voicing and four romanization systems)
- Wiktionary: တယ် (a colloquial ending for statements)
- Wiktionary: သည် (the literary ending for statements)
- Bubblegum: Burmese
- SEAsite (Northern Illinois University): Burmese language lessons
- SEAsite: Burmese script lessons (40 lessons)
- SEAsite: Beginning Burmese lessons (greetings and questions)
- SEAsite: Authentic Readings (advertisements, shop and building signs)
- Loecsen: How to learn Burmese (free course, 6 levels)
- Ling: Learn Burmese
- uTalk: Learn Burmese
- StoryWeaver: free Burmese picture books
- Build Up Burmese: video lessons on YouTube
- HelloTalk: language partners
- Preply: online Burmese tutors
- italki: Burmese teachers
- BBC News Burmese
- VOA Burmese
- Myanmar Now (Burmese edition)
