Chat in English with someone who speaks Thai

With Piou, you write in English and your contact writes in Thai. With Piou Premium, every Thai message appears in English on your phone, translated on the device itself, and the original Thai script stays one tap away. For your contact to read you in Thai, they need Premium too, or you can gift it to them.

How it works between English and Thai

Piou detects the language of each message on the sender's phone and stores it exactly as written. Translation happens on the recipient's device, into the recipient's language: you read English, your contact reads Thai.

The engine depends on the device:

• iPhone: Apple's built-in translation, on iOS 18 or later.
• Android: ML Kit by Google, with models downloaded to the phone.
• Web app: the open source Bergamot engine with Firefox Translations models running in the browser, or Chrome's built-in translation on a computer when available. English and Thai form a direct pair on the web, with no detour through a third language.

A translated message carries the label Translated, and Show original displays the exact Thai text, handy for showing an address to a taxi driver. Translations never leave your device; the messages themselves are stored on Piou's servers in their original language so they can be delivered and synced.

Language packs download once, ideally over Wi-Fi. After that, translation and Face to face mode work offline. On the free plan, Piou is a complete messenger, but messages appear in their original language. Premium adds automatic translation, voice messages transcribed and translated, translated subtitles during calls and Face to face mode.

What an exchange looks like

Sarah teaches at an international school in Bangkok. In the afternoons, Joy looks after her daughter Mila and writes in Thai. Here is roughly what each of them sees:

• Joy writes: “คุณแม่คะ วันนี้น้องมิลาตัวรุม ๆ ทานข้าวได้นิดเดียว เดี๋ยววัดไข้แล้วส่งรูปให้ดูนะคะ” → Sarah reads: “Mom, today Mila feels a little feverish and only ate a little. I'll take her temperature and send you a picture.”
• Sarah replies: “Thank you, Joy. If her temperature goes over 38°C, please call me right away.” → Joy reads: “ขอบคุณ จอย ถ้าอุณหภูมิของเธอสูงกว่า 38°C โปรดโทรหาฉันทันที”

“คุณแม่” literally means “mother”: many Thai nannies address the child's mother this way, out of respect. “น้อง” (nong) before Mila's name is affectionate, and a translation may turn it into “little sister”. Joy's polite “คะ” and “นะคะ” vanish in English, while Sarah's reply reaches Joy without the softening particle a Thai speaker would add. For Mila's medication or allergies, a written plan prepared by someone fluent in both languages is safer than a chat.

Tips for chatting with Thai speakers

• Nicknames first. Most Thais go by a short nickname (chue len) such as Joy, Nok or Bee; the long official first name is mostly for paperwork. Ask which one to use.
• Khun, phi and nong. “Khun” before a first name is polite and neutral, as in Khun Somchai. Among acquaintances, “phi” addresses someone older and “nong” someone younger, family or not.
• An indirect “no”. Out of consideration for others, called kreng jai, many Thai speakers avoid refusing outright, and “yes” may mean “I've read your message”. Offer clear options: “Saturday at 10 am or Sunday at 3 pm?”
• Keep it cool. Criticism in writing, especially in a group chat, can make someone lose face. For anything tense, use a call with translated subtitles or talk in person, calmly.
• Read the shorthand. “555” means laughter, because 5 is pronounced “ha” in Thai, and a folded-hands emoji often works as a thank-you, a greeting or an apology, like a wai.
• Mind the clock. Thailand is on UTC+7 with no daylight saving time: 11 hours ahead of New York in summer and 12 in winter, 6 or 7 hours ahead of London.

Where translation can stumble

• No spaces between words. Thai only puts spaces between phrases. Long messages without punctuation, or with typos, are harder to translate than short sentences.
• Missing subjects, neutral pronouns. Thai often drops “I” and “you”, and เขา means both “he” and “she”, so the translation guesses. หนู, a word some women and children use for “I”, literally means “mouse”, and a translation may say so.
• Names that are words. Nok means “bird”, Ploy “gem”, Kung “shrimp”. A translation can turn a nickname into a noun.
• Dialects and romanized Thai. Piou translates standard Thai. Isan, Northern Thai and Thai typed in Latin letters may come out wrong or stay untranslated.
• Times, years and amounts. Everyday Thai often counts hours in six-hour blocks: สองทุ่ม means 8 pm. Years often follow the Buddhist calendar, so 2569 is 2026. Large sums use units of ten thousand (หมื่น) and a hundred thousand (แสน). Ask for times, dates and amounts in digits, and check them in the original.
• Idioms, irony and mixed messages with Thai and English in the same sentence can come out wrong.

Getting started

1. Install Piou on iPhone (iOS 18 or later) or Android (8.0 or later), or use the web app at app.piou.chat.
2. In Settings → Language & translation, choose English, then download English and Thai, ideally over Wi-Fi.
3. Invite your contact with a link, a QR code or from your address book. They need Piou to message you.
4. Start the 7-day free trial to turn on translation. A card is required, nothing is charged for 7 days, and the subscription then starts automatically at the price shown unless you cancel before the trial ends.
5. Want your partner or their family to read you in Thai? Use Gift Piou to someone to pay for their Premium, and manage the gift later in Settings → Premium.