Track your Thai input hours. Skip the spreadsheet.
Watch comprehensible Thai inside InputTrail and your real playback time is counted for you. Always know how many hours you've accumulated, what you've watched, and what comes next.
No account or card needed to start. Create a free account anytime to keep your hours safe.
Your input hours shouldn't live in a spreadsheet.
Accumulated hours of comprehensible input are well worth tracking. Keeping the count by hand works, but it's tedious.
- Look up the video's length.
- Stop part-way? Estimate how much you actually watched.
- Add it to the running total.
- Mark the video as done.
- Remember which one comes next.
- Keep other sources of input in the same sheet, by hand.
- Press play.
- Watch.
- Your real playback time is added to your total.
- The video is marked watched and the next one is lined up.
- Come back later and resume where you stopped.
Paused time doesn't count. Rewinding or restarting a video the same day isn't counted twice. Watching a video again counts on a later day, or when your last viewing of it reached the end.
New to ALG?
Automatic Language Growth is an approach to language learning that grew out of Dr. J. Marvin Brown's work at the AUA Language Center in Bangkok. Its premise is that you spend a lot of time understanding meaningful input in the language and let the language grow from that. There is nothing to study in the classic sense: no word lists, flashcards or grammar exercises.
ALG learners track their accumulated hours of understandable input because, on average, the count predicts how much you understand. The hour roadmap most learners follow was first based on thousands of students who learned Thai this way at AUA. Your pace will vary with the language, the languages you already know, and you, but hours are the most direct measure of progress you have.
InputTrail doesn't teach or create ALG content. It organizes supported third-party material and tracks the time you spend with it. Read more at ALG World (opens in a new tab) or start with Comprehensible Thai's About the Method (opens in a new tab) playlist.
Understand first
Follow meaningful communication, helped by pictures, gestures, stories and context, rather than translating every word.
Accumulate input
Spend many hours with material that is understandable now and gets gradually harder. No vocabulary lists, flashcards or grammar drills.
Let output develop
ALG recommends not forcing yourself to speak early. Speech starts to come automatically as understanding builds, and it helps to be around people you can talk with when it does.
Features
Just watch. Your hours add up on their own.
InputTrail counts actual playback time while a video plays inside the app. Pausing, seeking and skipping never inflate the number. Your total and today's goal update as you go.
Pick up exactly where you left off.
The Comprehensible Thai playlists are laid out in order, from About the Method to Advanced. Each video remembers whether you've watched it, skipped it or hidden it, so the next one is always lined up, on every device you've signed in on.
Your progress isn't limited to one website.
Add hours from lessons, conversations or videos watched elsewhere, dated or as a baseline. They join your roadmap total so you keep one picture of your input.
Already tracking in a spreadsheet? Import your CSV and InputTrail reads it into a dated draft you review before anything is saved. The importer uses AI to interpret the layout, so it copes with most reasonable sheets as long as columns and rows are clearly named. CSV import needs an account.
Imported and manually added hours count toward your roadmap, not toward the 50 free hours, which are in-app watch time only.
See what hundreds of hours add up to.
A daily goal and streak, hours per day by week, month or year, where your hours come from, the dates you crossed each milestone, roadmap completion per playlist, and your personal records. Statistics work without an account.
Not limited to the built-in roadmap
Paste a YouTube video or playlist link to add your own Thai material. It plays in the same player and is tracked the same way. The videos stay on YouTube; InputTrail doesn't copy or host them. Adding your own needs an account.
Your data comes with you
Import your existing history from a CSV, and export your InputTrail data whenever you like. Exporting needs no account; importing a CSV does. The export is a ZIP with CSV files for spreadsheets and a JSON file with the complete record. Your hours are yours, and you're never locked in.
The videos are free. InputTrail is optional.
The videos belong to their creators. InputTrail doesn't make, own or host them. It adds tracking, organization, progress and statistics around selected third-party YouTube content.
You can watch Comprehensible Thai directly on YouTube and learn Thai this way without InputTrail at all. InputTrail is for learners who want the hours counted for them and everything kept in one place.
InputTrail is an independent product by Mawal AB. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Comprehensible Thai or ALG World.
Watch the source
Comprehensible Thai on YouTube
9 ordered playlists, from About the Method to Advanced, all free to watch on the creators' channel.
Watch on YouTube (opens in a new tab)Pricing
One plan. You're paying for InputTrail's tracking, organization, statistics and sync, never for the videos, which stay free on YouTube whether you subscribe or not.
First 50 hours in the appFree
No account, no card. Automatic tracking, roadmap and statistics from the first minute. Hours you add by hand or import don't use up the 50. Once the free 50 are used, new watching isn't tracked until you subscribe.
Questions
About InputTrail
What is ALG?
Automatic Language Growth is a comprehension-first approach that came out of Dr. J. Marvin Brown's work at the AUA Language Center in Bangkok. You spend a lot of time understanding meaningful input in the language, without memorizing vocabulary or drilling grammar, and ALG recommends not forcing speech early.
Why track hours?
On average, your accumulated hours of understandable input predict how much you understand. The hour roadmap most learners follow was first based on thousands of students who learned Thai this way at AUA. Your pace will vary with the language, the languages you already know, and you, but hours are the most direct measure of progress you have.
Are the videos free?
Yes. The Comprehensible Thai videos are free on YouTube and stay free whether or not you use InputTrail. InputTrail never puts them behind a paywall. Watch Comprehensible Thai on YouTube (opens in a new tab)
Do I need InputTrail to learn Thai this way?
No. You can watch the videos directly on YouTube and learn Thai without it. InputTrail is for people who want their hours counted automatically, their place remembered, statistics, and one organized picture of their input.
Does InputTrail make the videos?
No. The videos are made and owned by their creators and stay third-party YouTube videos; InputTrail doesn't host or copy them. It organizes selected videos and tracks your progress through them.
Is InputTrail affiliated with Comprehensible Thai or ALG World?
No. InputTrail is an independent product made by Mawal AB in Sweden. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Comprehensible Thai, ALG World, or any video creator.
Will you add more languages?
Thai is the focus today. Other languages may be considered where there is enough suitable comprehensible-input material, but no particular language is promised. If there's a language you'd like to see, email us at hello@inputtrail.com.
Tracking your hours
Does time count while a video is paused?
No. Only real playback counts, and rewinding or restarting a video the same day isn't counted twice, unless your last viewing of it reached the end. Watching a video again on a later day counts again. (Days here start at 4 in the morning, so a session before then still counts toward the day before.)
Can I add input from somewhere else?
Yes. Add hours from lessons, conversations or other videos, either as dated entries or as a single baseline. They count toward your roadmap total but not toward the 50 free in-app hours.
Can I import my existing spreadsheet?
Yes. Sign in, upload a CSV, and InputTrail uses AI to interpret it into a dated draft that you review before anything is saved. Most layouts work as long as columns and rows have clear names. If yours doesn't, email us at hello@inputtrail.com describing the problem and we'll look into it.
Can I add my own YouTube videos or playlists?
Yes. Paste a YouTube video or playlist link and it appears alongside the built-in playlists, played and tracked the same way. The videos remain on YouTube. This needs an account.
Accounts, pricing and your data
Do I need an account?
Not to start. Tracking, the roadmap, statistics and data export all work without one. Without an account your hours are kept only in the browser you use, which can delete them; an account keeps them safe and syncs them between devices. You also need one to import a CSV, add your own videos or playlists, and keep the tracking going after the 50 free in-app hours.
Where are my hours kept without an account?
In the browser you use, and nowhere else. Clearing that browser's data deletes them, and a browser can also delete them on its own: at the end of a private browsing session, when the device runs low on storage, and in a Safari tab after about a week of browsing without a visit to InputTrail (opening it most days prevents that). If several people share a browser, their hours add up together and go to the next account that signs in there. Signing in saves your hours to your account.
What happens after 50 hours?
Once you've watched 50 hours inside the app, keeping the tracking going costs 4.90 USD per month, billed monthly, and you can cancel anytime from your account page. You can still watch; what stops is the counting. That pays for InputTrail's tracking, sync and statistics. The videos themselves stay free on YouTube regardless.
Can I export my data?
Yes. You can download your InputTrail data at any time from the More page in the app, and no account is needed. It comes as a ZIP with CSV files for spreadsheets and a JSON file with the complete record. When you're signed in, it also includes your account details and subscription.
Troubleshooting
Why does YouTube sometimes ask me to sign in or confirm I'm not a bot?
That message comes from YouTube's own player, not from InputTrail. It almost always means you're connected through a VPN that YouTube has flagged. Turn the VPN off and reload the video. It isn't something InputTrail can switch off.
Spend your time on Thai, not on tracking Thai.
Press play and the counting starts. Your first 50 hours in the app are free.
Start tracking: 50 hours freeNo account or card needed to start.