So You Want to Learn Mandarin...

China is not an easy country to get around if you don't speak and read the language. It can be done, of course, but it makes life here a lot better if you take the time to study some Mandarin or Cantonese, depending on where you live. If you're wondering which one to study, Mandarin is most likely your best choice, as it is the lingua franca here in China and even in some neighboring areas. Even if you make a trip into one of the Cantonese speaking areas like Guangzhou or Hong Kong, you can still get by on Mandarin.

Below are some of my favorite apps and other useful tools for learning Mandarin or just surviving in China, listed in no particular order.


Language Learning

Chinese Skill - This is currently my favorite app for studying Chinese. It organizes the main lessons topically, similar to DuoLingo, and begins with vocabulary, including a handwritten interface to practice writing characters, then builds up to sentences. Each lesson comes with grammar notes at the beginning and review games. It also has a number of other features, like games to practice tones, review vocabulary or grammar, and a set of flashcards for each level of the HSK (the Chinese language proficiency test). And best of all, it's free!

Memrise -  This is a great app for studying all kinds of things, including languages. It uses flashcard sets which you can choose from to study whatever it is you're interested, with topics ranging from Korean to Chemistry. The Mandarin set includes good quality audio and even videos of native speakers. It also includes some character writing and review games. The one thing I don't like as much about it as Chinese Skill is that it tends to choose what you will do next for you, by shuffling you from vocabulary review to a new lesson to another review, rather than letting you choose what you want to work on. But it's still a great app and you can choose to study as many languages using it as you like, which is great if you speak a few!

DuoLingo - I've been using DuoLingo ever since I moved to Chile in 2013 and it's expanded and improved a lot in the past 5 years. It is only for language learning but like Memrise you can choose to study multiple languages. It only very recently started adding Asian languages, so they are still working out some of the kinks. Mandarin in particular is not that great at the moment, with robotic sounding audio, but it's likely that in another year or so this will be another great option. Also, if you happen to study Spanish as well, DuoLingo has just started a Spanish-English bilingual podcast that I've been enjoying. 

Infinite Chinese -  Possibly my least favorite of the language learning apps I use for Mandarin, Infinite Chinese is good for reviewing vocabulary and not much else. It's a fun way to review, as it's set up like a video game with falling meteors representing vocabulary words. You have to quickly select the correct word before the meteor crashes to earth. The problem is that the free version is extremely limited, including only 6 of the 20 topics advertised, and the full version is a little pricey compared to what you can get for free using the three apps I recommended above. But I still use it now and then to review some basic vocabulary like fruits and vegetables.

Translators

Pleco - If you live in China, Pleco is an absolute godsend. It is a Mandarin-English dictionary that is available offline and includes a wonderful handwritten interface that's smart enough to read even terrible handwriting like in the example below. It also has the ability to scan over something, like a menu, and translate it instantaneously, which is unbelievably helpful. That feature doesn't work well on some fonts, but it's still a fantastic tool. I really cannot recommend it enough!

SayHi - this is a translator app that allows you to either speak into a microphone or type and will translate between any two major languages. The quality of the translation is decent if you are talking about basic things, so it's definitely useful for traveling. I've occasionally had trouble with it working very slowly or not at all, because the internet here in China is awful, but it has come in handy and is great if you plan to visit multiple countries.