YoYo Chinese Review 2024: Best Approach to Teach Chinese

Chinese is a tough language to learn. Just like any other Chinese learner, my journey was also full of obstacles. But it’s usually said that the tough journey becomes easy when you have the right partner. While learning Chinese, I tried multiple platforms, but YoYo Chinese helped me a lot. It was that partner who made my journey easier. Well, keeping that in my mind, I recommended it to my cousin, who is also learning Chinese. To my surprise, many things had changed in it.

So, I thought to use it again and find out if it’s still a perfect tool to learn Chinese. If you are also interested in knowing it, just stay with me till the end of this YoYo Chinese review guide. Hope the guide will help you in making the right decision.

Quick Takeaways

• YoYo Chinese is a platform solely designed to teach Chinese. 
• It has various courses to offer – Conversational practice, Grammatical series, Character learning, etc.
• Multiple videos and exercises make it a good choice for anyone looking to learn Chinese.
• The lesson notes help to remember the things covered in the video lessons. They are also downloadable. 

What is YoYo Chinese?

From the name itself, YoYo Chinese is the platform that teaches Chinese only. It is the one that teaches conversational Chinese with Chinese characters. The best part of it is that the host, Yangyang, is the CEO and founder of the platform. She has developed the videos so precisely and accurately that anyone can easily understand the content. I could understand how the language is used in learning life conversations. In fact, it is the best way to learn Mandarin by yourself.

Pricing of YoYo Chinese

The platform follows the freemium model. There is a lot of free content on it. However, to access the whole content, get the subscription plan. There are three types of subscription plans and the pricing is based on the duration of the plan-

• Monthly 
• Annually

The following table shows the pricing of the platform based on the duration of it-

Type of Plans	Watch	Learn	Lifetime
Monthly	$14.99	$19.99	$299
Annually	$8.99	$11.99	$299

To know more about these plans and what you will get with them, refer to this page.

Important: I would love to tell you that earlier, the pricing was based on the courses you want to study. Suppose, I am only interested in taking the conversational course, the prices were different.

Course Overview

The platform is all about teaching Chinese while sitting at home. It is divided into different sections: 

• Courses
• Mastery
• Blogs
• Resources
• Plans 

Note: Plans are the section that covers different subscription prices of the platform. I have already discussed this section above.

1. Courses

The courses section basically teaches Chinese with the help of 6 main and 2 smaller courses. It means there are a total of 8 courses-

• Beginner Conversational
• Chinese Characters 
• Intermediate Conversational
• Chinese Characters 2
• Upper-Intermediate conversational
• Chinese Character Reader
• Chinese Grammar (short course)
• Chinese Learning Tips (short course)

We will review all of them one by one. However, let me tell you that each course is divided into 6 different levels. These levels are set of various units, further divided into different lessons. All the courses have a similar style of teaching the language. As mentioned above, there are 3 conversational courses covering the following levels-

• Beginner conversational course – HSK 1 and 2
• Intermediate conversational course – HSK 3 and 4
• Upper-Intermediate conversational course – HSK 4 and 5

Note: HSK stands for Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi, which is the Chinese proficiency test. 

The lessons in all the conversational and character learning courses are created similarly. However, for short courses, it’s a little different. Let us first learn how the lessons of the main courses are created. All the lessons are the hub of various sections-

a. Videos

The lesson starts with a video explanation. These videos are about only 5 minutes. But when I reached the upper intermediate level, many videos were of 10 minutes duration. I really find these videos helpful. There is no unnecessary information added to them. They are limited to the teaching of the topics. In many videos, I also receive literal translations of words making it easy for me to remember. The videos are a mix of spoken and academic Chinese. Everything spoken is in a filtered context. It’s because there are many ways to say a specific thing. If you learn only one thing, there are high chance that you may not understand others’ statements. Let me explain with the example:

If you learn “我的名字是” (meaning: My name is…), you will get confused when someone introduces themself by saying 你好我自己 (meaning: Hi myself…). Both statements help in the introduction. But knowing only one statement will definitely confuse you.

Not only this, but it also teaches different Chinese accents. In the upper-intermediate course, there are also the family members of the host. 

Fun Fact: The videos created on this platform are none other than Yangyang, the owner of YoYo Chinese. 

b. Practice sessions 

After completing the whole video, there is a practice session. This session is divided into Flashcards and Audio. 

Flashcards

I found flashcards to be boring. There were no pictures on the screen. Me being, a visual learner, was bored with the interface of it. I think the platform can add images to the flashcards making it more interesting. However, keeping this problem aside, the flashcards were well created. I was able to listen to the pronunciation of the word on the screen. It gave me the option to slow down the audio or play it at normal speed. To check the translation I have to click on the reveal option. 

Audio review

I don’t find it to be the important thing. If you understood the video properly, just skip the audio review part. Although, if you do not have time to watch the video, plugin your earplugs and start listening to it. This is the perfect way of doing other work while keeping the learning goal in mind.

Remember: It is not available in Chinese characters courses. However, for Chinese character readers, there is a dialogue section instead of it.

c. Quiz

After these two features, there is a quiz section. If needed, you can directly skip the quiz section. The quiz basically comprises questions related to the topics covered. Each quiz generally has 10 questions. The major exercise I got in this quiz was listening and selecting the correct translation. There was also matching the pairs, how to pronounce the sounds, etc. 

d. Notes

This is an interesting feature of YoYo Chinese. It makes the platform different from others. These Yangyang, played her role quite well while teaching Chinese. She knows that it is a tough language to learn. Thus, providing notes is very useful.

e. FAQ

Whenever I try a new platform, I am sure to compare it with others. Though this platform was already giving high competition to other platforms, this section adds another advantage of using it. The FAQ section covers the queries of its users. I could literary post my doubts regarding the lessons covered.

Important: The two short courses – Grammar series and How to Say Chinese, only have video explanations, notes, and FAQ sections. 

Note: Earlier in the Chinese Character courses, there was a review section. In it, I had to type the character on the screen with the help of a keyboard. But recently, this feature was removed. Another feature that was removed is the pronunciation practice. 

2. Mastery

The next section is the Mastery section. In this section, I got the flashcards, quizzes, pinny charts, etc., all under a single section. This section is useful, once I complete the lessons. It’s because I could get everything in one place. If I want to revise the flashcards of multiple lessons. There was no need to go to those lessons. It was all available under a single section.

3. Blogs

One thing that was common in most of the platforms was the type of content covered in their blogs section. In most of their blogs, they mostly discuss the features of their platforms. In fact, they try to compare with other platforms and show why they are best. YoYo Chinese was the platform that have some unique blogs. There was a lot of important information covered in them.

4. Resources

Resources is the section that further teaches two important parts of the language – 

• Pinyin Chart
• á Tone Pairs

Learn how to write Pinyin characters and understand Tone Pairs in this section. Anyone learning Chinese needs to master these two things to become fluent.

5. Extra features 

In addition to the features covered above, some additional features are similar to Duolingo’s features-

If you have used Duolingo or checked my previous blogs, I am sure you must know about XP, Streak, and daily goals. This platform also has a similar type of features in it-

• XP: XP is the points that I received with each completed lesson. Though the basic idea is similar to Duolingo’s XP, there is a little difference. Each level gives you a different level of XP which is earned by completing the lessons in it.
• Streak score: It works similarly to the Duolingo streak score. If you complete a lesson in a day, you get a streak score. Don’t focus on this thing a lot. Remember, the goal is to learn and not just maintain the score. 
• Daily goals: Daily goals basically give the goals that I had to complete daily. Again a feature that only helps to stay motivated. It is not related to learning a new language. 

YoYo Chinese Review: Should you use it?

I would give my opinion based on all the courses separately. It will help to understand more easily-

1. Conversational courses

The courses are created superbly but can’t be described as perfect. It has a lot of English making it a perfect choice for any beginner. In the higher intermediate-level courses, there will be less English. YoYo Chinese offers a clear understanding of the language but I wanted to have more listening practice. It does not mean it is an unuseful platform. Of course not. There is no such platform that will make us fluent in a language. But these courses help in learning some important words and their pronunciation.

2. Chinese Character courses

If I were to give my review based on the previous version, these courses would be my priority. But with the removal of them, they have lost their credibility too. It’s because learning characters need practice with it. Undoubtedly, it teaches the characters commendably. But learning them without practicing them, is never possible. However, the chart in the lessons, helped me a lot in remembering the characters.

3. Chinese Character reader

This course covers stories from different books. Again there are 6 different levels, each covering a single story. It is really nice feature of YoYo Chinese. It made me understand how to read Chinese. If you love reading, this course is for you.

4. Grammar series

I always say, there is no fun of learning a language without knowing the grammar. This platform covers the grammatical aspect of Chinese also. The grammar used in the lessons is covered in the section. It’s a nice feature of the platform. 

I will share a quick comparison between the things I like and dislike about YoYo Chinese-

Things I Like	Things I Dislike
There is a lot of English along with spoken Chinese	There is no tool to practice pronunciation
Perfect for beginners	No writing practice of characters
Each lesson has short notes
It shares the Pinyin character chart
High-quality videos with great explanations
I could clarify my doubts regarding the lesson within the lessons only.

Alternatives to YoYo Chinese

As I already mentioned the current version of YoYo Chinese is not enough to get fluent in Chinese. Thus, I will mention some other alternatives to learning Chinese online-

1. Skritter – Practice writing

Skritter is an app that is specifically designed to teach Chinese writing style. As YoYo Chinese has dropped the feature of practice writing style, Skritter could help with that. It not only teaches how to write but also how to make the correct stroke. In addition to that, it develops reading skills and improves pronunciation. 

2. Du Chinese – Reading and Listening

Du Chinese is the platform that helped me improve my reading skills in the Chinese language. It helps in learning Chinese but with reading and listening exercises. Du, itself in Chinese mean to read. Thus, it’s a perfect choice for anyone who loves to read. 

3. Tandem – Community of native speakers

Tandem is a platform that has a community of learners on it. It helps to connect with other native speakers to practice the language. In the beginning, it was hard for me to connect with them. The reason behind it was the different styles of pronunciation within the languages. 

4. Pleco – Phrasebook for Chinese words

Pleco is an online dictionary of the Chinese words used in regular conversations. It’s like a phrasebook that can be used in traveling to China. In fact, it was my travel partner with YoYo Chinese. The offline usage of it was the main reason to use it while traveling. There were areas where my net was not working properly. Pleco was the platform that saved me in such situations. 

Conclusion 

YoYo Chinese is a platform that helps learners properly study Chinese. There are multiple features that helped me learn it. The platform offers different courses focusing on various aspects of the language. These courses are designed to teach conversation practice, character writing, and reading specifically. Each course has six levels covering different units. The units further include a set of lessons. Despite being a great platform, there are two major drawbacks with the current version: writing practice and pronunciation. Therefore, try to use other platforms along with YoYo Chinese.

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