Du Chinese Review 2024: Best Chinese Reading and Listening App

The availability of Chinese learning platforms is increasing with time. When I was learning it, I got so confused in choosing the right platform. I tried to find the best apps using different social media handles, but there were no results. So, I made up my mind to check a few platforms by myself. Luckily, I landed on some amazing platforms, and Du Chinese was one of them. If you are also trying to learn it, check out this app. I know you want to know why. Thus, I will share my experience with you in this Du Chinese review guide.

Hope this works well for you.

Quick Takeaways

• Du Chinese is an app that uses various approaches to learning the language through reading and listening
• The platform’s design is so well-crafted that anyone can navigate through it.
• There are over 3000 resources to read and listen to.
• It does not have writing and speaking exercises.

What is Du Chinese?

Du in Chinese means ‘To Read’

The name itself suggests that it is a Chinese learning platform through reading. It is for anyone who wants to learn reading and listening to the language. Some topics helped me to learn about everyday life in China. 

Note: You can’t practice speaking the language.

Who is Du Chinese for?

If you want to improve your reading and listening skills in Chinese, choose it. Du Chinese is created for all level learners. Unfortunately, it is not for those who want to practice speaking the language. 

Pricing of Du Chinese

There is a free version of this platform. However, the lessons with this version are limited. In addition to that, there are three different plans that you can take. The following table shows the cost and the duration of those plans-

Duration	Pricing
1 Month	$14.99
6 Months	$79.99
12 Months	$119.99

Course Overview

I don’t think that a review is completed without giving an overview of how the course is created. Therefore, I will discuss what was there in the whole platform-

Impressive Designing

The first thing that attracts us the most while using a platform is its design. I would definitely say, the design part is amazingly done. All the features are designed in a way, that makes it easy to learn. 

Everything you read has an English translation above it. I can even hide it if I want. I really loved this feature. It’s because, when there are English translations, I use them the most. Thus, usually, I hide it. But when I am unsure about the meaning of the sentence, I use the translation to check the meaning.

The next feature that had a great design was the one that gave Pinyin character. It’s again like a help that can make us lazy. Therefore, use them only when you are in need. If you already know it, take advantage of Difficult words only. Here, the pinyin was hidden from those words. 

There is also a proficiency checker. Click the option to underline the words in different colors corresponding to the HSK level. Overall, the design is created in a way to help people of all levels. 

Not just the design, but there are a lot of interesting features, described below-

Du Chinese tabs

Here are the tabs that I get with the Du Chinese app-

There are three main tabs on the platform-

• Home
• Discover
• Flashcards

Each tab has its own set of exercises and features. I will be discussing three of them one by one-

1. Home

As the app has recently been updated, a lot of things have been added to it. In the beginning, it has the progress chart. Progress charts are basically a toolkit to keep track of the learning journey. It’s amazing to see how they keep a record of the lessons and words I completed. Even the lessons completed 6 months ago, were in the records. There is a chart, showing my progress. As a consistent learner, I love to check how many words I have encountered in the month. At the end of the screen, there are two different sections

• App Guide 
• Learning guide

The app guide gives me instructions on how to use it to find lessons, reading preferences, studying lessons, etc. On the other hand, the learning guide basically gives you tips on how to make the most of the app. 

2. Discover section

The next tab is the discover tab or we can say the reading tab. This tab is full of Chinese resources. There are articles, stories, audio, etc., in it. The advanced level has longer stories than the beginner level. Everything covered in this section is based on various aspects of Chinese. Some topics included in it are-

• Chinese culture 
• Current events
• Life

These sections are for different levels of learners. The levels are divided in the following manner

• Newbie
• Elementary
• Intermediate 
• Upper-intermediate
• Advanced
• Master

In total, it has 3000 readings, covering short stories, funny stories, work, languages, etc. Each week, 5-6 new lessons are added. 

Interesting fact: All the lessons are engaging. If you use them later, they will still be engaged.

The audio lessons are also very interesting. I just had to click on the play button. The text will be ready by the native speakers at a slower pace. If you choose the intermediate level or the upper level, the speed will go up. But thanks to the app, I could adjust the speed of it. This is not just the end. There is more to end. The text that is being spoken is highlighted in blue color.

Important: The Discover section is based on the current update of the platform. However, it has added a special feature known as grammatical explanation. The platform makes sure to provide explanations with the help of the context of the content.

3. Flashcards

Were you expecting to learn a language without a flash card? You are wrong. Language learning is incomplete without using flash cards. They make it easy to understand the meaning of the words. However, the flashcards on this platform work differently from other flashcard apps. In the other flashcard apps, one thing is common, the availability of a predetermined deck. But in Du Chinese, it works differently. To take advantage of Flashcards,  I had to save the words from the reading section. Once done, it was again divided into different categories. The following table shows how the words are classified into such categories-

Categories	The way of classifying it
Strong	Easily remembered words
Weak	Words that still need a review
Not studied	Words that are yet to be added to the SRS system
All saved words	Gives an overview of the whole vocabulary bank

Each category is a basket of the words that we select. It helps to check the progress. If there are words, difficult to memorize, take advantage of the section –  Forgotten words.

Du Chinese Review: Should you choose it?

Chinese is a difficult language to practice on. Not just the pronunciation, but the other aspects are also difficult. Reading and listening are also major parts of it. Both of them are related to the right pronunciation. This platform basically helps to practice both of them. Use the free version to check if it works for you. However, it does not correct the pronunciation. There are no such exercises. To improve it, you must look at another platform. I would say, that taking a subscription to this platform is not much worth it. Many free resources work similarly to it. 

To make things more clear, I am sharing the benefits and drawbacks of it-

Pros	Cons
It has a library of multiple Chinese resources.	Less content for advanced-level learners.
The platform is simple and easy to navigate.	Need to take the subscription to get full access.
Flashcards help to learn the words that I think are difficult.	There is no exercise to check the pronunciation and improving writing skills.
	Despite ensuring to add the new content weekly, they don’t.

How will Du Chinese improve my Chinese?

The platform follows a very basic way to learn Chinese, through the reading exercises. It gives a lot of lessons that I have to read. Of course, the language is new to me. There are some words that I don’t know. I can save them and get the meaning of it. cally, Without knowing how a native speaker talks, can you get the right pronunciation? No. This is what the platform will do. The audio lessons, help to learn the way they talk. 

Alternatives of Du Chinese

Learning Chinese needs to focus on each aspect. Thus, you can’t rely only on Du Chinese. Try to focus on some other apps to learn Chinese-

1. Skritter – Improving writing

The first step to learning Chinese is to learn the writing style. It teaches characters and strokes in order to learn it fully. Not only the writing style is covered, but also the pronunciations are corrected. 

2. Pleco – Chinese dictionary 

There are times when I am unable to understand the meanings of the words. In such a scenario, the first thing I check is Pleco. It is a dictionary of Chinese words to make conversations with the speakers. It was my travel partner in China. Whenever I get stuck somewhere, I open it, get the meaning, and get back to the ongoing conversation. 

3. Tandem – Language Exchange Program 

Learning all aspects of the language is not only required. Practicing it with others is also important. Tandem is an app where you can practice with others online. I always use this platform whether I am learning French, Spanish, Korean, or any other language. Trust me, not only I could practice it, but also could make new friends from it. In fact, Tandem gave me some partners that became my friends later on. 

4. HelloChinese – for beginners 

As a newbie, we always look for a platform that teaches us a language fully. Starting from the basic level, the course is created in a Gamified manner. The approach helped me to stay engaged with the content. It has a basic plan which is free to use. Unlocking more features required a subscription plan. All the lessons are based on real-life conversations based on 6 different levels.

Conclusion

Du Chinese app is the one that is focused on reading and listening to the Chinese language. The app has three tabs, each giving you new experiences. The first tab shows your progress, the second tab gives you content to read and listen to, and the last tab is to practice some tough words.

It allowed me to save the words I found hard to understand in the form of flashcards. Saving them helped me to learn the meaning of them. In the flashcard tab, it was easy to check which words I had completely learned and which ones I had not. However, there are no writing and speaking exercises in it. Thus, try some other alternatives to get your hands on proper language learning.

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