If you’re looking to learn Thai then you may be wondering if the popular language learning platform Duolingo has a Thai course.
Table of Contents
Does Duolingo Have A Thai Course?
Despite the importance and long history of the Thai language, Duolingo doesn’t currently have a Thai course.
Thai is a fascinating language with a long and rich history. Today it is spoken by approximately 50 million people, mainly in Thailand.
Many people who are looking to learn a new language use Duolingo, a fun language learning platform that features bite-size lessons on various languages.
Duolingo is known to be a fun, free and easy way to learn a new language.
Why Is Thai Not On Duolingo?
It’s hard to say exactly why Duolingo hasn’t yet produced a Thai course as Thai is one of the world’s most spoken languages with 50 million speakers.
Duolingo has produced courses on much smaller languages (in terms of number of speakers).
They have courses on small minority languages such as Hawaiian which only has 24,000 speakers total!
Additionally they have made a Klingon course of which there are no native speakers as this is a fictional language.
By this standard, it’s definitely not the number of speakers of the language that is a problem.
Less Popular Language
One reason why Duolingo may have not yet produced a Duolingo Thai course is that there isn’t enough demand.
Thai isn’t a popular language for native English speakers to learn. Relatively few people are interested in learning the language compared with other languages and Duolingo produces courses based on demand.
This is a shame because it’s certain that there is some demand for English speakers wanting to learn Thai (you wouldn’t be on this page if there wasn’t!).
Thailand is actually one of the world’s biggest tourist destinations so there are definitely a lot of people out there that would want to learn some Thai.
Additionally there are lots of people all over the world with Thai heritage that don’t speak the language but would love the chance to learn it.
Duolingo is currently working on other languages which they believe will be more popular with their users.
When Will Thai Be Available On Duolingo?
The Duolingo Incubator is a feature where you can see what languages Duolingo are currently working on producing a course for.
The Duolingo courses are created by volunteers. You can contribute to a course on the Duolingo Incubator page if you’re fluent in more than one language.
This page simply shows which courses are currently being produced so you can apply to help build a course if you want to.
Having checked the Duolingo Incubator, I can see that currently Thai isn’t a course they’re working on.
This means that Duolingo Thai isn’t going to be released any time soon as they’re not even working on producing a course.
Within the incubator, on their language list they do say ‘more languages will be available for teaching soon’ however it is unclear how long we may be waiting for more courses to be added.
How Do Duolingo Decide On Which Courses To Create?
Duolingo themselves state that they decide on new courses based on the Duolingo forums.
They suggest the best way to get them to add a new language is by visiting their forum section and searching for suggestions that have been made in the past.
You then should add an upvote or comment to these posts. The more upvotes the more likely Duolingo will take notice and build a course.
If you want to help then you can upvote this Duolingo forum post to show Duolingo that people want a Thai course.
The above forum post is actually one of the more popular forum posts requesting a new language course. This is a positive sign and hopefully Duolingo takes note and starts producing the course soon.
Alternatives To Duolingo To Learn Thai
Whilst Duolingo is a fantastic resource for learning a new language, don’t let their lack of a Thai course stop you from learning the language if you want to.
There are plenty of fantastic courses out there for learning Thai – both free and paid.
Free Alternatives For Learning Thai
Mondly
A fantastic place to start your Thai language learning journey is the Thai Course on Mondly.
Mondly is a great app that is a fun, easy and effective way to learn a language.
You can access Mondly from anywhere on any device and the best part is that you can start learning for free. They do also offer a premium version.
Memrise
Memrise is an online language learning app that uses fun games to help its users learn their chosen language.
They have tons of free Thai courses that will teach you the alphabet, vocabulary and phrases in Thai.
It’s really interactive and gradually introduces new words slowly so you have time to consolidate them all. There’s also plenty of opportunities to practice what you’ve learnt.
Drops
Another great resource for learning Thai is the language app ‘Drops’.
The app focuses on building up your vocabulary and features a range of fun vocabulary lists including food, numbers, weather, health, transport and so much more.
The lessons are fun and immersive, you’ll learn lots of new vocabulary and the app uses visual associations to help you learn new words.
Drops states their course will teach you 2,000+ Thai words.
You can use the app for 5 minutes a day for free (you do have to pay for unlimited access).
Paid Alternatives For Learning Thai
Pimsleur Thai
Pimsleur is a fantastic audio course that will get you speaking from day 1.
This course is perfect for anyone who wants to focus on being able to speak the language (rather than reading and writing).
You can try Pimsleur Thai for free to see if you like it before paying for further lessons.
Glossika
Glossika is a great resource for building up vocabulary and learning to speak the language fluently.
The best thing about Glossika is that they help you to acquire the language (rather than memorizing). It’s a fun, easy and effective way to learn Thai.
Thai Textbook
If you’re looking for a standard textbook to help you with Thai then the Teach Yourself Thai book is one of the best out there.
It’s a great reference point and explains the language in clear, easy to understand terms.
It will teach you a range of useful vocabulary, phrases and grammar.
I’d also recommend getting an English – Thai dictionary to expand your vocabulary and look up new words.
ThaiPod101
ThaiPod101 is a great resource for someone looking to learn Thai fluently.
They feature both audio and video lessons recorded by native Thai teachers who will explain everything to you in simple terms.
They also have word lists and flashcards to help you study. They also have a lot of free content on their YouTube channel for you to get started.
Thanks for reading this post on whether Duolingo currently has a Thai course.
Even though Duolingo doesn’t currently have a Thai course, there are still lots of other ways that you can learn Thai.
Check our other Thai content here.
Related Posts: