Thai for people who live here
Thai is not a word list.
Here is how you learn it.
A sequenced course: sentences in the situations you will meet them, real script from day one, and a memory system underneath so week-one Thai is still there in month six. Try one.
The first 17 lessons are free, forever. No card. Or three minutes of sentences and we will point you at the right lesson.
You do not need any Thai for this
I'll have pad kra pao with chicken, not spicy — said by a man
Tap the English. The Thai comes with it.
- 245
- lessons written and playable, across three levels
- 1,027
- sentences, every single one with audio
- 927
- words taught, each one exactly once and then scheduled
- 52
- letters, taught as the tone rules they encode
Most people learn Thai in the wrong order
They download a flashcard app, drill three hundred nouns, then stand in front of a food stall and cannot say a single useful sentence. Knowing the word for “spicy” is not the same as being able to order.
Core Thai teaches the other way round. You learn phrases in the situations you will meet them — the stall, the taxi, the pharmacy, declining a plan without a flat ไม่ — and the words come with the phrase. Street food is a module, not a pack you unlock later.
What you actually get
rising toneA dashboard that tells you what to do today, and the places to go and do it. There is nothing to configure and no deck to build.
Today
Opens on the one decision that matters: what is due, and what is next. The streak and the XP are there because they work, not because they are the point.
A lesson
Four to six new words, always inside a sentence you would actually say. Building the order is the skill the stall asks for — isolated cards cannot test it.
Then it comes back
The number on each button is when you will next see the word. That is the whole engine — not a streak, not a score. Capped at twenty a day, so a week off does not produce a two-hundred-card punishment: a scheduling choice, not a fact of life.
Read the sign you photographed
Paste Thai from a menu, a contract or a LINE message. It splits into words, glosses each one, and tells you where in the course it is taught.
Two more you will use less often: Look up, a dictionary of every word in the course that also lets you browse what you have mastered, and Progress, which is the honest version of the streak — what is scheduled, what is slipping, and what you have actually retained.
Twelve minutes a day, in this order
high toneReview first, then something new, then the same material comes back later on a schedule.
Yesterday comes back
Forgetting is the default. Each word and each sentence has its own schedule. The ones you are about to lose come back today; the ones you know drift out and stop competing for your time.
Four to six new words
Always inside a sentence you would actually say, with audio on every one. You leave able to say something, not name something.
Nothing new in it
At the end of a module, a checkpoint built entirely from what you already did. There is no way to fail a lesson; getting something wrong just schedules it sooner.
Learn the script. We will not make you.
falling toneThe reading modules are optional. You can skip them and still do every other lesson with romanisation. We recommend you do not: Thai spelling encodes which of the five tones a syllable takes, and romanisation almost never does. Two weeks of letters and the rest of the course is cheaper.
The full set
- mid tonemid
- low tonelow
- falling tonefalling
- high tonehigh
- rising tonerising
All four of those are written mai in romanisation. That is how it quietly teaches you to say them wrong. Thai is still on every card if you skip the letters; you just will not be able to read a sign yet.
The path is situations
high toneSequenced, so you always know what to do next — and nothing authored is locked if you would rather jump to this week’s problem.
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A0
Foundation Live · free to start
Greet someone, pay, order, get a taxi. The alphabet is optional and we recommend it — a menu is cheaper to read than to guess.
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A1
Beginner Live now
Ask a question, give a reason, tell the time, talk about your people and how you feel.
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A2
Elementary Live now
Street food, a table, markets, the pharmacy, a hotel, and declining a plan without a flat ไม่.
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B1
Intermediate Next
Core first: work, rent, visa, utilities. Extra (festivals, recipes, Shopee) comes after. Not written yet.
The questions people actually ask
mid toneIs the free part a trial?
No. No timer, no card, nothing expires. Those 17 lessons stay yours whether you ever pay or not.
What happens if I cancel?
You keep everything you have already learned — the words, the sentences, your review schedule, your streak and your stats. You lose new lessons. Nothing is deleted.
Do I have to learn the alphabet?
No. Every lesson works with romanisation. But Thai spelling is what tells you the tone, so the reading modules pay for themselves quickly.
How long until I can hold a conversation?
Realistically six months of daily practice for something simple, and a couple of years to be comfortable. Anyone promising a fortnight is lying.
I already speak some Thai. Where do I start?
Take the three-minute placement test. It gives you sentences rather than vocabulary, and points you at the right lesson. Earlier lessons stay open.
Is there a refund?
Thirty days, no questions, on every plan. Email and it is done.
Who this is not for
If you want to read Thai literature, sit a formal exam, or study grammar academically, this is the wrong course. Core Thai is built for spoken, practical Thai.
If you want to be fluent in a fortnight, no app can do that and anyone selling it is lying. Realistically it is six months of daily practice to hold a simple conversation, and a couple of years to be comfortable.
If you are happy with free tools and enjoy building your own decks, Anki is excellent and costs nothing. Core Thai is for people who would rather follow a path someone else has already sequenced.
Start with a sentence, or start with the alphabet
17 lessons stay free — greetings, introductions, and reading the everyday letters. Carry on for £9.99 a month, £99 a year, or £249 once.