Best applications for learning Chinese
We are lucky to live in 2020. There are many new apps appear in the App Store and Google Play. Approximately every tenth of them is for foreign language learners.
Services that analyze handwritten hieroglyphs and your speech together with vocabulary cards will make the process of learning language easier than it was before.
If you start to search “Learn Chinese ” on Google Play or the App Store, you will find more than 350 different icons of applications. We decided to test the most popular among them and develop a compilation of 7 effective, interesting and useful apps for both iOS and Android. Our TOP will help you to make a good choice and download those that are right for you.
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HelloChinese
We started on that app because it is 1) awesome 2) free. You can also get Premium account for 6$ per month (extremely cheap). It will give you access to all training games, but they can be unlocked gradually, by learning gold coins. HelloChinese – is ChinesePod creators’ second startup. Which is also a famous platform for learning the Chinese language with a million users. The app has everything you expect from a gaming environment: earning points, tracking progress and bonuses. There are many micro-lessons which describe the whole material. Each lesson you can finish in 10 minutes. During this 10 minutes, you will learn a lot of new words and expressions. The speech recognition system will compare your pronunciation with reference. You can also download all material and prepare offline.
Links for downloading: iOS / Android
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ChineseSkill
One more gaming app, similar to HelloChinese in terms of learning flow, rewards, competition and progress tracking, so they complement each other perfectly. The best app for beginners. It has many technologies as a speech evaluation system, calligraphy practice and words remembering system. Also can boasts a large interactive pinyin table, examples of word pronunciation recorded by a native speaker. During the whole studying process, charming pandas will assist you. For each lesson, you will have 4 pandas and can lose one for the mistake. In total, you will have 42 lessons, which is divided into 3-6 parts. Alerts from the app attract attention using the idiom 熟能生巧 – “repetition is the mother of learning“.
Links for downloading: iOS / Android
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Skritter
During the using of mobile phones and automatic conversion of pinyin to hieroglyphics, the need to memorize the order of writing the strokes disappeared. However, Skitter was created for people who disagreed with this position and want to master the Chinese calligraphy. It allows you to use your finger as a paintbrush and a display of your phone as a parchment. Thus, you can easily practice writing hieroglyphs on your phone screen. You can choose both simplified and traditional characters. The application will point the right order of writing strokes. Also, you can find many examples of using each character and its pronunciation. Skitter will help you master your Chinese calligraphy skills. But you have to pay for such a wonderful application. Since the free trial period is given for a week, and then you need to subscribe for a month, or for a whole year.
Links for downloading: iOS / Android
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Chinese Writer
Another app to practice correct and quick writing of Chinese characters. Chinese Writer is a gaming application. You need to catch hieroglyph which is parachuting and in few seconds write the correct order of strokes before it disappears. In arsenal, you will have more than 5.000 hieroglyphs. All hieroglyphs are divided into several groups depending on their difficulty level by HSK standards.
Links for downloading: iOS / Android
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Brainscape
Brainscape is the best Chinese flashcard memory app with interval memorization. The main goal of the application is to “recover in your memory as many forgotten cards as possible”. In the application, you can search for the cards with words you need, memorize them and repeat. There are 5.500 cards in total, some of them are free, while others have to be paid for. The feature of the application is the automatic estimation of the time for study and repetition, which is based on your grade from 1 to 5 of the difficulty of the word. It is unique when evaluating the complexity of a word, you should be honest with yourself in order to give the correct grade.
Links for downloading: iOS / Android
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Hello HSK 1-6
Hello HSK is your best assistant to prepare for HSK examination. The application covers all aspects of passing the exam. Preparation goes in several directions: listening, reading, grammar and vocabulary. There is also a base of tests, which are very similar to official examination. All material is divided into corresponding groups by thematic categories.
The app will send you alerts to continue learning. Just 5 minutes a day will help you achieve a high level of Chinese proficiency in a year. There are 6 applications in the series, you should install them one at a time for maximum efficiency in the preparation.
Links for downloading: iOS/ Android
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Du Chinese
If you have a problem with reading Chinese language, then Du Chinese is the best application for you. In a huge database of material, which is updated every week, you will find the text for all tastes. Texts about culture, news, everyday life in China are intended to all levels of Chinese language proficiency. The pearl of this app is the translation of each word in the text depending on the context. You can also listen to the article and carefully follow the text. If you come across an unfamiliar word, you can add it to the collection and then repeat it from time to time. And on top of that, you can turn on pinyin above the text, which greatly simplifies the reading process for beginners.
Links for downloading: iOS/ Android
Of course, the best way to learn Chinese is to go to China for a language course. To do this, contact our consultants or leave application on our website. Read more about the Chinese language courses.
