March 19, 2024

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Learn Chinese On The Go With The Best Apps At Your Fingertips

3 min read

If you’re gearing up for your much-anticipated trip to China, you probably thought it would be a good idea to learn some basic words or phrases. I’m guessing most of you aren’t really itching to pay for a lecture just to learn the basics you’ll use for a couple of days. Like for example, taking a short cab ride home or taking a quick break at a café. I decided to search for apps that might help with that problem I found a helpful list of 10 Chinese learning apps and thought to try them out and see if I can pick out the best. Here’s the list I used as my reference.

10 Chinese Learning Apps

Without further ado, here are my picks and why.

Learn the basics with Learn Chinese Mandarin Words

I just like how this one makes it easy to memorize Chinese vocabulary! Just after a few days, thanks to the repetitive yet fun lessons, I was able to memorize some basic words. The app also has flashcards that show the Chinese characters, pinyin, English translation and an audio recording by a native speaker. When you combine all of this together, you have solid tools for actually learning something.  Finally, Learn Chinese Mandarin Words keeps track of words you have trouble with, and it continues to reinforce them in future lessons. Basically, the app does a lot for you, but at the same time motivates you to keep learning and actually feel the progress.

5-Minute lessons with Drops

Looking for short lessons you can complete on the go? Drops’ language learning approach is built around the idea that lessons need to be short, fun and effective. In fact, lessons are limited to 5-minute sessions! They offer lessons for a variety of languages including Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese, German and other languages. Lessons are completely visual, with Chinese characters and words displayed next to the images they describe. This I think is quite important, especially if you come from Europe or the US as you can learn to associate words with the meaning without the need for translation.

Speak fluently with HelloChinese

The final app is for those who are looking to bring their Chinese to a bit higher level. The interactive lessons that are aimed at developing your conversational skills, meaning, it focuses more on active, rather than passive learning. Also, I like how it doesn’t force the lessons on you. You can set the pace of the lessons and retake them as many times as you want. Lessons are fun since they are filled with award-winning games and achievements which makes the entire process feel like an actual game.

No matter why you need to learn Chinese, I think the 3 apps are good enough to create a solid foundation. Whether you only have a few minutes to spare or want to sit back and take your time, the lessons are designed to fit your lifestyle. Finally, you can practice your vocabulary and develop your conversational skills with fun and interactive lessons. So all you need is a bit of motivation and stick to the lessons. That’s it.