HelloChinese Review 2024: Best App to Learn Chinese

What is the best app to learn a language? According to me, it is the one that is entirely created for it. When I was learning Chinese, I hardly knew of any such app. Thus, I had to rely on other language-learning platforms. But recently, I had a conversation with a friend living in China. She told me about HelloChinese, an app designed specifically to teach Chinese. This platform helped her have conversations with native speakers living there. I was also interested to learn more about it.

Despite already knowing Chinese, I decided to give it a try and see if it really lived up to its reputation. Unexpectedly, it turned out to be excellent. If you are also planning to learn Chinese, don’t miss out on this platform. However, make sure to read my HelloChinese review to make it easier for you to use.

What is HelloChinese?

HelloChinese is a platform that only teaches the Chinese language. There are so many features to help us easily learn the language. The stories and the lessons are engaging. It’s a perfect way to enjoy learning Chinese. You can learn 1000 words and 320 characters. Also, there are grammatical points that mostly lacking in most of the learning platforms. 

How to start with HelloChinese?

It is only available in the form of an app and there is no web version of it. On the app, there are two options “Start” and “Login”

When you click ‘start’, the team will ask you to choose the level you are at. Just choose it and it will take you to the course directly. 

If you already know the language, it will directly take you to the course. But if not, there will be some guidance before taking you to the course. As I already had some knowledge, I was already placed in the course itself.

Pricing 

There is a paid and free version of the HelloChinese platform. The free version has a lot of things to offer, but there are some restrictions. To access all the content, you must get a subscription to it. There are two plans – Premium and Premium Plus. The pricing of the plans is mentioned below-

Duration of the plan	Premium	Premium Plus
Months	$8.99	$15.99
3 Months	$19.33	$69.99
Yearly	$59.99	$119.99

The course overview

The whole app is about Chinese. There are four tabs on it, which are mentioned below-

1. Learn Tab

This section covers the whole course. The first thing is the introduction part. It is the guidance that you get earlier. If you have already gone through it, skip it. The course follows a particular path after going through the introductions. There are different units covering different lessons. Each unit covers a specific topic. I really thought that I was in the old Duolingo tree path. The lessons in each unit cover different types of exercises. The following are some of them-

• Matching the picture to the word mentioned.
• There is a very short video of native speakers saying a word. I had to choose it from the options on the screen.
• Matching the correct translations.
• Filling up the right translation of the sentence.
• Pronunciations

The exercises keep on getting harder as I get along with the course. There was also a shortcut option to skip the very basics of the language. The exercises were really interesting. When I make a mistake, it brings on the word again and again on the screen after some time. 

There are also daily goals and streak scores. Check them at the top of the right-hand side corner. 

2. Stories Tab

If you love reading or listening to stories, I can guarantee, you will love this section. This tab is full of different stories and is further divided into three sections – Stories, Library, and Words. 

• Stories section: It covers specific stories for each of the HSK (Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi), Mandarin Level Exam. 
• Library section: The Library is the hub of all the stories available on this platform. They are divided based on different categories like funny, cultural, daily life, etc. 
• Words: This section will be empty first. The words that you find difficult in the stories can be added to this list. You can directly review them here. Just click on the words in the stories and add them to the list. 

Remember: To unlock all the chapters of the stories, a subscription plan is important. 

3. Immerse tab

It is the tab that will get you immersed in the lessons. It is again divided into three sections-

a. Lessons

This section covers again short stories but in video form. It basically is a visual representation of how to interact with someone in different situations. I really loved this section. It’s like watching a short very short series. There are lessons based on the different situations. Although some lessons are free, a subscription is needed to unlock all of them. Each lesson is a set of different sections as mentioned below-

• Watching the lesson video
• Covering words and grammar
• Audio classes
• Learn the dialogue
• Interesting exercise

For each lesson, there is also a comment section for it. Most learners give their suggestions for the lessons. 

b. Starred

It’s very common to find a lesson engaging or hard to understand. In both cases, you may want to repeat them. This section makes the task easier. There were many lessons that I wanted to repeat. Thus, I added them in the starred section. To do it just open the story and click on the star at the top right-hand corner. 

c. Review

In each lesson, there is a grammar and word tab. Add them in the review tab, for revising them later. After each word, there is a pronunciation of it and adding option. Whereas, for grammar, there is only the add option. Click on them for later practice.

4. Me Tab

Me tab is the tab that covers the progress. If you have not signed up, make sure to do that. It will save the progress you made. 

HelloChinese Review: Should you use it?

HelloChinese is a platform developed entirely for teaching the Chinese language. I love the way it teaches the language. There are so many features that make it a perfect tool for a learner. If I were a beginner, there would be no better way to learn the language. The course structure, stories, video lessons, and grammatical explanations make it a perfect choice. Though the premium version is really helpful, if you have a tight budget, take advantage of the free content. There is a lot of free content in it. Use it to achieve the ultimate goal. However, this platform does not have anything for the advanced-level learners.

The table below compares the things I like and dislike about the platform. I hope it will make it easier for you to decide whether to choose it or not:

What I like	What I dislike
A lot of grammatical knowledge	Less advanced level content
Follows a proper path to teach from basics to	Subscription is required to complete the stories
The prices are not that costly

HelloChinese Alternatives

Though it’s a perfect platform to learn Chinese, I would love to share some alternatives that I used in my journey. Also, not everyone has the same learning style. Thus, here are some alternatives that you can check on-

1. Du Chinese – Reading app

If love the stories feature on this platform, no one can stop you from loving Du Chinese. As the name suggests it is another platform that focuses on teaching Chinese. But the main difference is the teaching style. There are a lot of stories to teach a language. It’s perfect for those who love reading.

2. Preply – Finding an online tutor

Not everyone is capable of self-learning a new language. In fact, I got stuck many times. In such a case, looking for help is always needed. Undoubtedly it is hard to find it. Thus, I am looking for online tutors. Preply is the platform that helped me to connect with the right Chinese tutors. I cleared my doubts from them and also learned new things that I didn’t know earlier. 

Suggestion: iTalki also has a lot of good tutors 

3. Tandem – Practice with language exchange partners 

Learning a language is not only enough to become fluent. Practicing it is also equally important. Tandem allows you to do that by connecting with other native speakers. Make a profile there and based on the information added, get suggestions. This platform connected me with some nice people. We not only corrected each other but also exchanged a lot of information about our cultures.

Conclusion

HelloChinese is the platform that helps teach Chinese through various exercises. The course is divided based on the level of learning. Each level is further divided into chapters, each of which has multiple lessons. These lessons help to learn the words and phrases used in the language. Additionally, the Stories tab and Immerse tab help to learn the language at a higher level. It provided me with many stories and lessons that helped improve my reading and listening skills.

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