We want to unite the world by connecting people from different cultures...

…By building fun, practical languages apps that make learning hard languages easy.

The Making of Ling

Click on the arrows to follow Ling's journey

2008
2008

Simon and Khwan first met in a finance class at the University of Münster, Germany.

2017
2017

Ling app officially launches on the App Store and Play Store.

What started off as a side project for Simon to learn Khwan's native language, Thai, led to the development of Simply Learn Thai. After the app gained traction, they decided to launch a new app - the Ling app - with a new design, icon, and more advanced learning techniques.

2018
2018

The Ling app reaches 100,000 downloads across the App Store and Play Store.

Ling hires more talent and collaborates with local Thai communities.

2019
2019

Ling web officially launches.

Bought first office space in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

2020
2020

The Ling app reaches 1 million new users.

Started expanding the teams and growing the Ling blog.

2021
2021

Ling recruits team members from Thailand, US, Canada, the Philippines, Cambodia, Myanmar, Pakistan, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, and more.

Ling is featured in the App Store as one of the "Great Apps For Education" in 15 countries.

2022
2022

The Ling app receives 5+ million downloads worldwide.

Ling 2.0 launches company-wide with new branding, UX, and UI.

Courses expanded to 40+ languages in over 30 locales.

7 million website visitors.

Ling Scholarship launches.

Featured in Forbes, Buzzfeed, and VOGUE.

2023
2023

First internationally-held quarterly meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Team grows to 35+ full-time and 10+ part-time members.

The Team Behind Ling​

Company Values​

Everyone’s input matters at Ling, so we sat down to create our seven company values together. We encourage everyone to embody these values daily because when we’re working under the same vision, we can accomplish something great.

Curious

We view every day as a new learning opportunity.

User-centered

We strive to understand each and every one of you.​

Committed

We hold ourselves and each other to high standards.

Data-driven

We rely on data to guide our decisions.

Entrepreneurial

We try new things. We move fast.

Open

We use open feedback to improve ourselves.

Supportive

We laugh, we work, we achieve together.

What Makes Ling Different?

The origin of Ling is one of love and passion for connection and learning languages. Simon wanted to learn Thai, Khwan’s native language, to communicate better with her friends and family. 

As with most Southeast Asian languages, there weren’t any good resources for learning Thai. So, they created their own.

That was 6 years ago. Thanks to Simon and Khwan, the app education world was changed forever.

Now, Ling is the leading app for learning Thai and several other Asian and Eastern European languages, and the growing team comprises young, multilingual talent from around the world. With such a diverse team, we genuinely understand the importance of language learning and giving representation to overlooked languages.

Ling uses gamification to make learning fun and rewarding because, let’s face it, languages are hard! You can earn awards after every lesson is completed and even rank on our leaderboard. Ling carefully and thoughtfully creates lessons to make learning languages as easy as possible because every language deserves to be spoken.

Awards and Partnerships

Check out some of the awards
Ling has earned!

Want to partner with us?
See who else Ling has partnered with!

Find Ling on Android and iOS