ThaiPod101 Review: Can it Help You Learn Thai?

Who Should Use ThaiPod101

ThaiPod101 has lessons for language students of all levels. There are podcasts, videos, and review tools available for the complete beginner to advanced level. With ThaiPod, you can build a solid foundation for the language and start to develop your conversational skills. Due to its focus on essential language, ThaiPod101 might be better for beginner to intermediate students who want to develop their conversational skills.

ThaiPod101 Overview

ThaiPod is one of the 34 courses developed by Innovative Language Learning. Its complete Thai course takes you from the absolute beginner to the advanced level with podcast-style and video lessons. Each lesson is presented by a native speaker and introduces you to a new set of Thai words and phrases. Then, they explain the correct grammar, context, and cultural background of the language. You can repeat after the speaker to improve your pronunciation and start building your listening comprehension.

In addition to the lessons, there are other useful features to help you practice Thai. There are flashcards, quizzes, in-depth lesson notes, quizzes, word lists, and a dictionary. ThaiPod101 also includes lesson transcripts and line-by-line audio dialogue so you understand the content. Some of these tools aren’t in plain sight, but ThaiPod101 is very flexible, and you can choose what and how to study next. ThaiPod101 provides a comprehensive course, but it can’t teach you to read or write, so it might work better combined with other Thai resources. 

ThaiPod101 Cost

You can sign up for a free lifetime subscription that gives you access to some of its features, but if you want a more complete experience, you can buy a subscription. The app has three different subscription tiers: Basic, Premium, and Premium Plus. You can choose to buy 1, 3, 6, 12, or 24 months for each. Note that buying a longer subscription can help you save some money. For example, you can get one month of the Basic subscription for $8.00 per month, 3 months for $21.00, 6 months for $36.00, 12 months for $60.00, and 24 months for $84.00.

The Premium Plus subscription gives you access to a Thai teacher who gives you written feedback on assignments and creates an individualized learning plan for you. Unless you feel that you really need the help of a private tutor to learn the language, I think the Basic subscription is a good starting point. ThaiPod’s free subscription can help you try some of its features, but it is too limited when compared with any of the other subscription options. With the Basic subscription, you can access all the lessons and pdf lesson notes. However, if it’s within your budget, I’d highly recommend the Premium plan because it gives you access to all learning materials, including premium lesson tracks, a word bank, vocabulary lists, quizzes, and more. 

Apps like Mondly and Babbel have similar prices to ThaiPod’s Basic subscription, but the price of its Premium and Premium Plus options is closer to Pimsleur and Rosetta Stone.

ThaiPod101 Free Trial

ThaiPod101 has a 7-day free trial that gives you access to all the features included in its Premium subscription. The only feature you won’t be able to try is the personalized help of a tutor because this service is only available with the Premium Plus subscription. The platform doesn’t ask for your credit card information, so you don’t have to worry about unwanted charges on your account.

ThaiPod101 Review: Overall Learning Experience

In my opinion, ThaiPod101 is one of the best ways to improve your listening and speaking skills and build a foundation inn the language if you are a complete beginner. I didn’t know any Thai when I started using ThaiPod101, and I was scared that the language would be too hard for me to understand due to its different writing system and phonetics. However, ThaiPod101 is so thorough that I was able to understand and remember the basics after just a couple of lessons. 

Within its lessons, ThaiPod101 offers detailed grammatical notes that explain how to build sentences and the use of specific words in the Thai language. For me, this was one of the course’s most helpful features because Thai grammar is often tied to cultural manners, so it’s important to know how to address others. This is also the best way to speak Thai and sound like a native speaker.

Overall, ThaiPod101 is a great resource to start your language-learning journey. It uses a lot of English for its explanations, but many beginner students see this as a positive aspect because it makes studying Thai less overwhelming. It took me a while to discover all the tools ThaiPod101 has to offer the first time I used it, but it isn’t hard to navigate once you become familiar with the platform.  

ThaiPod101 Alternatives and Competitors

If ThaiPod101 isn’t right for you, there are other alternatives for learning Thai effectively. Like ThaiPod101, Pimsleur also has audio-based lessons that develop your conversational skills. The lessons with native speakers break down dialogues line-by-line to help you learn the correct pronunciation and use for each word. Glossika also has audio elements and tools to help you improve your speaking and listening comprehension.

While ThaiPod101 has podcast-style lessons, Mango Languages develops your vocabulary and grammar skills. With Mango, you can read a phrase, see the meaning of each word, and listen to the pronunciation. If you prefer an app with quick and easy lessons, Mondly is a good choice.

ThaiPod101 Review FAQ

About This ThaiPod101 Review

This is an independent ThaiPod101 review, and the company has not sponsored this article. To write this review, I signed up for ThaiPod101’s premium subscription and used it for a few hours to thoroughly test its content and features. I also found additional information on the ThaiPod101 website to verify my findings.