Learn Thai with HelloTalk: Android & iOS Language Exchange

Learn Thai with HelloTalk

This article was originally posted on WomenLearnThai.com.

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HelloTalk: Language Exchange App…

To learn Thai, there are a growing number of iOS and Android apps available. If you haven’t seen it yet, just check out my GINORMOUS List of iOS Apps: iPhone, iPad and iPod.

Subject by subject, I’m working my way through the reviews but it’ll take some time. As it’s an immediate concern, Zackery from HelloTalk asked if I could please bump the review in order to help out their Thai members (and in turn, help others to learn Thai).

Zackery: So far we have 7,300 native Thai registered users, versus 1,915 users learning Thai. That means more than 5,000 Thai users might not find a language exchange partner. Your article about HelloTalk might help thousands of Thai users trying to learn foreign languages for a better future.

5,000+ – that’s a lot of Thai speakers going without language exchange partners. And it doesn’t matter if your native tongue is English, French, Italian, Russian, Japanese, whatever. They are waiting for you.

How HelloTalk works…

  1. To use the HelloTalk app to learn Thai, you first sign up. And while I object to sharing my age, country and location, there’s extensive privacy and control features in place.
  2. Next up is a tutorial of HelloTalk complete with video (you can choose to skip it).
  3. After that, it’s time to search for a suitable partner and then send them a message.
  4. Once connected with your new partner you can chat via text or send voice messages.
  5. Other options available are sketches, the ease of translating on the go, and the ability for language exchange partners to correct each other’s mistakes.
  6. You can even save messages in a notepad for later study.

Btw: Did you notice that no money is required? That’s right, this is a free app.

These two reviews go into a fair bit of detail about the HelloTalk app:

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Nik’s QuickShout: HelloTalk – A language learning community on your mobile

Short on time? Watch these quick overview videos instead:

Where to find HelloTalk…

HelloTalkSpeak Thai Slang - Nagaraja Rivers
Author: HelloTalk
Facebook: Hellotalk
Twitter: hellotalkapp
Google Play: HelloTalk

Price: Free
Updated: Oct 20, 2014
Compatible with: iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5. Requires iOS 6.0 or later.

Remember: 5,000+ Thai speakers are going without language exchange partners. See you there?

6 thoughts on “Learn Thai with HelloTalk: Android & iOS Language Exchange”

  1. I’ve changed my native language to English, as suggested, and already had the opportunity to chat with a few Thais. The app is really well designed. The text chat correction feature is intuitive, and the app supports voice messages and pictures as well. It also looks quite nice on my iPhone. I’m pretty sure I will keep using HelloTalk on a regular basis as it provides easy mobile access to other language learners. Great piece of work!

    Regarding Germans and the German market, I would have thought that Germans (Austrians, Swiss, …) do enjoy learning languages. It might just be a matter of reaching them. Unfortunately, I have no idea how to go about targeting the German market specifically, but I’m sure word will get out there eventually.

    Reply
  2. Hi Andrej
    What you pointed out is a true issue, that the number of users for a given language needs to be balance for the app to work.

    We are trying to penetrate German market too, somehow very few Germans learn a second language. If you have ideas about how we should go about reaching language learners in Germany, please feel free to email me at [email protected]
    Thanks a lot!

    Zackery

    Reply
  3. Zackery, that’s a good suggestion, I’ll give it a try. I didn’t mean to sound negative, I think the idea is great and the app looks nice. Looking forward to trying it out!

    Reply
  4. Andrej

    HelloTalk actually has very few German native users, and there are many HelloTalk users learning German actually. Indeed not that many Thai users learn German. I would suggest you change native language to English, and write in your profile that you are German native and can also help them with English. That way you will find many language partners.

    We are also launching the learn and teach multiple language function in about 10 days. It’s a paid option at $1.99. Contact HelloTalk team over app at that time and mention that you are from womenlearnthai.com and we will be happy to offer this for free to womenlearnthai users.

    Any further quesítions you can always talk to HelloTalk team over app. Thanks.

    Reply
  5. I’ve signed up for HelloTalk with my native German, but there are only a handful of Thais learning German who have logged in at least once over the past 30 days. Moreover, most of them are absolute beginners. German is the most widely spoken first language in the European Union, so it’s not exactly an obscure tongue. The situation may be different for English (Chinese, Japanese) native speakers, but for German native speakers there is no reason to get excited about HelloTalk.

    Reply

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