I've been doing business in China for 15 years but always too busy to improve my hack Chinese, this app is perfect to help me learn all the little phrases I didn't know , like "big people" actually means "everyone".. who knew?!!? I've tried a ton of apps, podcasts, websites, and even CD's and this is the best one by far !!
Upon recommendation of Yoyo Chinese online course I downloaded this app. Having interesting articles at appropriate levels for reading and listening practice brings my Chinese learning to life. The cultural notes incorporated in the articles give my learning depth.
Users may display content as written characters only or add pinyin, and may play an audio recording of the article at different speeds. The English translation sometimes feels like more of a paraphrase and so allows for critical thinking.
It is great fun to work my way through the various articles at the various levels.
Update: after an extended hiatus due to other obligations, I’ve been using Du Chinese with some regularity for about 10 weeks. I’ve already moved up a reading level! The stories also teach me about Chinese culture and history.
$90 for a year is a great value, though it’s a large chunk of change for me. I’m looking forward to working it into my budget.
This app provides the basics in the best way. Many levels from beginner to “master;” choice of simplified or traditional characters; show or hide pinyin and translation at the tap of a button, and you can choose to show neither, either, or both. The recorded speech is natural sounding and you can adjust the speed (my only quibble: I sometime have a little initial trouble setting the desired speed, but maybe that’s because I have only used the app for a week).
But what really impressed me and led me to subscribe was that I sent in a question about a translation and got a response within a few hours from the proofreader himself! Now that’s some proactive service. After our exchange he made a helpful tweak to the translation. So I have a lot confidence in both the integrity and responsiveness of this service.
I guess I should mention what they don’t offer (as far as I know). I don’t think there is any provision for pronunciation feedback or for learning to write characters. I am considering Hello Chinese for that. But I am highly satisfied with what Du Chinese gives me for the price. Highly recommended.
The app publishes short stories that are really high quality, and often funny! They feature slang that you won't learn from other apps! You can save words to be tested on later; they use repetition-based testing to make sure you learn the words really well.
I had done most of the apps with the free Chinese lessons and was getting discouraged that I wasn’t understanding the language any better than what I already was. I knew about seven hundred words but didn’t know how to put those words into sentences and still didn’t comprehend spoken Chinese very well. This app was the bridge that I needed to cover the gap of what I was missing from my other Chinese lessons. This put the words into perspective for me, and because of that I am now able to pick them out upon hearing them spoken, much better than before. I am very pleased!!
I have been using apps to learn Chinese for several years and only just found this one. It is one of the best apps I have used. It pulls together functions from several apps I have been using to learn to read chinese. Written content, spoken content, dictionary, vocabulary list. The interface is clean, intuitive and very well thought out. When looking up a word it even has a button to link to Pleco, if you have it, so you can get even more information on the word.
If you are learning to read Chinese this is the best app I have found to date. I immediately subscribed to support the work of this developer.
Really well done!
Update 22 Nov 2018....after using this app for a few days I am finding the content to be very good. Many cover situations that I encounter in real life and therefore I find useful. Articles use simple enough language that I can understand most of it but there are always a few words that I don’t know, so I learn something new.
I am trying to improve my listening comprehension so here is how I use it.
I chose an article and I listen to the audio first. I try to understand what is said.
Next I read the article and save words that are new. Then I listen to the audio a couple more times.
I read two articles every day.
At a certain point in Chinese learning, you really need to just buckle down and learn all these characters. This app is the most natural way to learn. Reading helps in writing, speaking, and listening skills. It’s unavoidable in the end.
Suggestions for the app: maybe add like an XP system to give users points/leaderboards for studying their word lists and studying more. Maybe give more stars for word lists (percent correct, etc)
I've been looking for ways to practice my Chinese more naturally than just vocabulary memorization and writing practice. I'm at a level where I don't need direct instruction but more access to the language in use. I LOVE what this app offers, even without a subscription, I'm able to practice listening/reading at a decently high level; get vocabulary building beyond basics I already know; save words for quizzing; and control how much help I get with a lesson (just characters, characters and pinyin, or those plus word/grammar markers) and you can control the speakers speed. I also enjoy the range of topics offered for the different lessons...and 👌on the name - everyone loves some good puns.
I really enjoy DU Chinese, it’s helpful and user friendly product. However, I think this app could benefit from allowing users to save grammar points for practice the way it allows users to save words. I think another improvement would be to build readings on top of another.
As a long time Chinese learner that has looked into many ways to improve my Chinese, this is one of my favorite tools. The stories are interesting to read and very informative on relevant and compelling current events and traditional and cultural topics. Also, they have connected stories that are also entertaining and I really appreciate the creativity. The Ben and lili saga right now is so great.
The app also color codes level of difficulty of words according to the HSK which is very helpful, and you can save words as quasi flash cards to practice with. Love this app so much.
China Strewart
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Xiaomi Air
