12+ Best Apps to Learn Chinese (Updated 2024)

Chinese is the language that is usually spoken in China and is one of the toughest languages to learn as an English speaker. If you are traveling to China, you may also want to learn the language. To do it you may also be wondering which platform is the perfect choice for you. Of course, it is very tough to decide as every app has something to offer. To ease your problem, here I will help you to find out the best apps to learn the Chinese language.

Quick Takeaways

• The following are the best apps to learn Chinese language-

1. iTalki
2. Preply
3. HelloTalk
4. Tandem
5. Memrise
6. Lingodeer
7. Drops
8. LingQ
9. Pimsleur
10. Rocket languages
11. Duolingo 
12. HelloChinese
13. Skritter
14. Pleco

However, you must read till the end so that you get a better understanding of the apps used for learning the Chinese language.

What are the best apps to learn Chinese?

When you are learning a new language whether Japanese or Chinese, you always want to know the best platforms you can use to learn the language. Thus, here we will help you to know about the best apps for learning Chinese language-

1. iTalki

iTalki is a platform where you will find a lot of online tutors who can help you in learning the Chinese language. On this platform, you will be getting two main types of tutors including professional and Community tutors. The price you will be paying on this platform will depend upon the tutor you have chosen and other factors like teaching experience and duration of the class.

This platform allows you to filter your choice on the basis of different features including your goals, learning style, and schedule. The price range on this platform can start from $5 per class. Also, there are a lot of free features like a language exchange partner program on this platform which will make your language journey better.

2. Preply

Preply is another great platform that can help you to learn the language with the help of tutors. Again like iTalki, you can choose the professor depending on various factors including teaching experience. It is a platform where you can choose between a lot of tutors in the Chinese language. A great advantage of this platform is that you will be able to take trials from various tutors which will help you to decide which is a perfect tutor for you.

3. HelloTalk

HelloTalk is a platform where you can get language exchange partners for the language you are learning. On this platform, you will have to create your account and based on the details you have filled, you will be getting a lot of people to connect with. You can choose a person for yourself and try to connect with them. If you think that the person is not right for you then you can try switching up to the other person. You can have a chat with them and send voice messages to them.

If you are interested in making them your language exchange partner for a long duration you can also have phone conversations. There are also inbuilt language tools like translation tools and correction tools which will make it easy for you to communicate with them. Although it is free you will only have having limited number of translations per day. If you want to get more translations then you will have to take the subscription plan. 

4. Tandem

Another similar platform to HelloTalk is Tandem. On Tandem, you will be getting a community of language learners where you will be able to connect with someone who can help you learn your language. This platform will help you in meeting your final goal. There are voice notes and video calls available on this platform to which you can connect with the other person. Further, you will be getting additional features like translations and auto-correction.

These features will help you to make it easy to have a conversation with the person. Although the platform is free, you will still need a subscription if you want regular translations. There are two types of subscription plans which depend on the duration you have decided.

5. Memrise

Memrise is a platform where you can ultimately revise or practice the Chinese language. Although this platform is usually considered a language learning platform it can also help you in getting information about other subjects like history and entertainment. There are flashcards available on this platform which will help you to remember the content. However, an important thing that you will need to remember is that this platform does not offer content for people who are at beginner level. It means that you will only be able to enjoy this platform if you are at an intermediate level. You will be getting a lot of flashcards in Chinese language which follows the space reputation system.

6. Lingodeer

Lingodeer is one such platform that follows a gamified approach just like Duolingo. The Chinese course available on this platform will make it easy for you to learn the writing style of this language. As this platform helps envelop writing style, it has been the best part of this platform. Unlike Duolingo, there is no guesswork and you will get lessons to learn the grammatical rules of the language. You will also be getting many study tips which are on this platform. In addition to that you will also be getting many exercises to improve your reading skills.

7. Drops

Drops is a platform that follows the 5-minute learning sprint rule. The technique is best for you if you do not have a lot of time to learn a new language. Here you will not be able to take lessons for more than 5 minutes. The main reason behind it is that this technique will help you to stay focused on a single lesson. Another interesting feature that you will be getting on this platform is that the lessons are based on a visual learning system and not on a text-based learning style.

You will also be getting interesting features which will have very interesting activities and you can also listen to audio lessons. All these exercises will help you to stay engaged with the content on this platform. You will be getting a record of the words which you have known so far. You will also be getting vocabulary for many other languages and can also create your own vocabulary list.

8. LingQ

LingQ is one of the platforms that will help you learn the Chinese language with the help of the context in the content. It means that you will not be able to learn the language only by studying grammar or vocabulary lists. This platform has a great language learning library but you are also allowed to select content from resources like YouTube, songs, videos, etc. If you are finding some content to be hard or not of use then you can also customize it according to your own needs.

You can also select topics that are more engaging. As you can now build your own classes, you will enjoy this platform much. The best part of this platform is that you can enjoy the Chinese course even if you are at any level of language. It is because the course is designed in such a way that you can start from a basic level and get advanced level knowledge.

9. Pimsleur

Another interesting platform where you can learn Chinese is Pimsleur. This platform will help to develop your pronunciation correctly which will further help in developing conversation with the native people. The best part of this platform is that you will be getting to talk in the language much faster. On this platform, you will also be able to get conversations between two native speakers that will help you to understand how they talk with each other.

The best part of this platform is that you will be able to learn the language with the help of a lord of Audio lessons. You can take up activities on both phone and computer. The price to take up a Chinese course on this platform is $14.95 each month.

10. Rocket languages

It is one of the most interesting and perfect platforms to learn the Chinese language. Here you will be getting to learn language from the beginning level in the Chinese language. The activities that you get on this platform are interactive and you can also focus on communications. Therefore we can say that you will not be able to focus on memorizing but on communicating in the targeted language. Here you will also be getting everything from basic alphabets to pronunciation of the words.

Not only this but this platform will help you to start having conversations from the very first lesson. This platform also provides flexibility due to which you can choose the lesson you want to learn. The activities on this platform are very engaging and also cover useful topics that will help you to have regular conversations. 

11. Duolingo 

Another commonly used platform to learn the Chinese language is Duolingo. If you are also interested in learning the Chinese language with Duolingo, then you must remember that the Chinese course on this platform follows a specific path which was earlier known as the Duolingo tree. In this part, you will see that there are different skills which further have different units. Each of the units further has been divided into various lessons which will help you to reach the intermediate level.

Further, there are a lot of features like Duolingo gems and Duolingo leagues that make it easy for you to remember the content. If you are using this platform on the mobile app then you must remember that there are many features that are available on the desktop and not on the mobile app and vice versa.

12. HelloChinese

If you are a beginner you will love this platform. On this platform, you will be able to learn the Chinese language with the help of a course curriculum developed in a way that all the lessons are in a gamified manner. This platform has a free basic plan and if you want to unlock new features then you will have to take the subscription plan. At present, there are 8 million downloads all over the world.

The lessons on this platform revolve around real-world conversations and other listening activities that will have English translations. There are six different levels of HSK. You can also use speech recognition tools that will help you learn the tricky pronunciations and tones of the Chinese language. You can also get features to help in writing up Chinese characters.

13. Skritter

Skritter is one of the apps that will help you to learn Chinese writing. In short, we can say that it is one of the best apps to practice the writing style of this language. With the help of this platform, you will not only be getting knowledge on how to write each of the characters but also will get to learn the correct stroke order. Here you will also be able to understand how these words are pronounced correctly. For it, you will be getting a lot of tones which you can choose to understand how to read, write,  and pronounce them.

14. Pleco

One of the uncommon but most powerful platforms where you can learn the Chinese language is Pleco. On Pleco, you will be getting a dictionary of Chinese words which will help you in having conversations with the native speaker. The best part of this platform is that you can also use it offline. Also, it helps you to understand different characters by using various methods.

The most common method is that you can type in the word or draw it with your fingers. On this platform, you can also search for the words by using characters or the combination of characters and Pinyin. This platform also has an inbuilt flashcard system which should allow you to upload your own flashcards or check for the watch in the document anytime you want.

Conclusion

If you are thinking of traveling to China, you may also be interested in learning the Chinese language. There are a lot of online platforms where you can learn the Chinese language. Starting with if you are a person who is looking for online tutors then iTalki or Preply is a perfect place for you. However, if you are learning Chinese through language exchange partners, then HelloTalk or Tandem is perfect for you. Also if you are short on time try to use Pieco. It is a platform where you will be getting a Chinese dictionary. Therefore, if you are traveling to China you can use this platform to have conversations with native speakers.

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