Literate Chinese vs MonChinese
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Literate Chinese
Master Chinese reading and listening with adaptive flashcards, leveled texts, and authentic audio. Learn characters in context, track your progress, and build a personalized vocabulary bank. Ideal for learners of all levels, from beginner to advanced.
- Adaptive spaced-repetition flashcards
- Leveled reading materials with instant translations
- Studio-quality audio with multiple accents
- Custom flashcard creation and import
- Progress tracking and motivation stats
- Traditional and Simplified character support
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Learn to read, hear, and actually use Chinese. Literate Chinese pairs a serious spaced-repetition flashcard system with 1,000+ graded stories, so every word you learn is reinforced by reading it in context. It works in both Mainland and Taiwan Mandarin, in Simplified or Traditional, from your very first character all the way to advanced reading. I grew up speaking Chinese without being able to read it and this app is me creating everything I ever dreamed of for learning to read Chinese effectively. READ FROM DAY ONE • Graded stories, dialogs, news, and articles matched to your personal vocabulary. The app knows which characters you know and shows you how much of each story you can already read • Tap any word for instant pinyin or zhuyin, a clear definition, and native-quality audio (in Mainland and Taiwan accents, male or female) • Read the news in easy Chinese, or paste or photograph your own Chinese text and read it the same way with custom stories • Preview a story's new words before you read, and let Up Next queue the next chapter of the series you're following • Video lessons with synced, tappable subtitles • A built-in grammar guide, with every grammar point linked to real stories that use it THE BEST CHINESE FLASHCARD APP • True spaced repetition (SRS) built on your personal vocabulary bank, not just card decks • Complete HSK 2.0 and HSK 3.0 lists, TOCFL lists, AP Chinese, and themed vocabulary • Capture new words from photos or audio and turn them into cards in seconds • Drill any list on demand, practice writing characters, and get example sentences with audio on every card • Share your custom word lists with a code or link, so a class or a friend can study the same words • An AI word helper explains usage and nuance, tells you whether a word is actually common, and gives you more example sentences REVIEW THAT FEELS LIKE PLAY • A vocabulary arcade built on the words you're actually learning - another feature I always thought would be so fun so I built it. • Speed rounds, listening sprints, sentence scrambles, falling-character battles, and write-from-memory challenges • Every round counts as real review, so playing moves your streak and your spaced repetition forward BUILT FOR TAIWAN LEARNERS TOO • Full Traditional character and zhuyin (bopomofo) support throughout the app • Taiwan Mandarin audio with authentic Taiwan pronunciations • Taiwan-specific vocabulary lists: everyday terms, slang, and words that differ from Mainland usage • Stories automatically adapt their vocabulary to Taiwan or Mainland Chinese based on your settings • AI tells you whether a word is actually used in Taiwan (and vice versa for Mainland China) EVERYTHING ELSE YOU'D EXPECT • Simplified and Traditional, pinyin and zhuyin, switch anytime • Detailed progress stats, streaks, and a reading level that grows with you • Home and lock screen widgets with your streak and a word of the day • Dark mode, offline review, no ads Start free with the core study tools and a generous set of stories. Upgrade to Premium when you're ready to unlock the full library. Whether you're on your first 50 characters or reading full stories, Literate Chinese is the graded reader and flashcard app that grows with you. Terms of use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
MonChinese
Master Mandarin spoken in Taiwan with this comprehensive learning tool. It covers characters, tones, everyday language, and exam preparation, offering features like camera translation, pronunciation practice, and offline study.
- Camera-based translation
- Voice search dictionary
- Taiwanese Mandarin pronunciation training
- TOCFL vocabulary with example sentences
- Grammar explanations and stroke-order writing
- Interactive mini-games and role-play conversations
- Offline learning capabilities
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MonChinese is a Traditional Chinese learning app built around Taiwan's TOCFL framework. Learn the words and grammar for each level, read and listen to stories written for your level, practise writing characters, and check where you stand with adaptive mock exams. VOCABULARY BY TOCFL LEVEL • Around 8,000 learning words across Foundation, Beginner (A1–A2), Intermediate (B1–B2) and Advanced (C1), plus a "Working in Taiwan" survival set • Pinyin and Zhuyin (Bopomofo) for every word, audio, example sentences and related words • Flashcards with five ways to practise: flip, learn, match, spelling and test • Decks for the textbooks 當代中文課程 and 時代華語, lesson by lesson SMART REVIEW • Spaced repetition schedules each word for the right day, so you review before you forget • Flip-and-swipe review cards, with honest progress that doesn't jump just because you practised early READING AND LISTENING • 175 original graded passages (A1–C1) with natural voice audio and word-by-word highlighting • 50 two-person dialogues with role-play and shadowing • Tap any word for its meaning; build your own word list as you read TOCFL MOCK EXAMS • Adaptive test (CAT): listening or reading, the questions adjust to your level and the result shows the level you have reliably reached • Band A, B and C papers modelled on the official exam structure, with timed listening and reading sections • Not affiliated with or endorsed by the TOCFL testing organisation WRITING • Stroke-order practice in 8 stages, from the first strokes to complex characters • Recall Grid: type each word from memory in a spreadsheet-style grid; only answers you recall unaided count towards your review schedule GRAMMAR AND EXPLORE • 462 grammar points from A1 to C1 with explanations and examples • Easily confused word pairs, measure words, collocations, antonyms, word families built on a shared character, and 300 four-character idioms • Taiwan youth slang, kept up to date LOOK-UP TOOLS • Search by characters, pinyin or meaning, or by camera, voice or handwriting • A dictionary of over 60,000 entries based on the Ministry of Education dictionary, plus place names and slang • AI translation of sentences and short passages MADE FOR YOU • Interface and explanations in English, Vietnamese and Indonesian • Progress syncs across your iPhone and iPad • Designed for iPad with a sidebar and multi-column layouts • Daily goals, streaks, quests and achievements keep you going MonChinese is free to use with ads. MonChinese Premium removes ads and unlocks all reading levels, dialogues, Explore collections and more. Premium is available as a monthly or yearly subscription, or a one-time lifetime purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period; manage or cancel them in your App Store account settings. Privacy Policy: https://monchinese.me/privacy Terms of Use: https://monchinese.me/terms
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is monetization model: Literate Chinese at free against MonChinese's freemium. Literate Chinese also leads on ratings volume (56 vs 3). MonChinese's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.8) and iOS requirement (15.5 vs 17.0). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Literate Chinese sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $8.99 per month and MonChinese sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
MonChinese holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Literate Chinese has 56 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 4, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Literate Chinese | MonChinese |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (56 ratings) | 5.0 (3 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 56 — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | Fortnightly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 15.5 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 151 MB | 228 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 9+ |
| Developer | Ray Banks | Hung Vi Van |
Customer experience
Literate Chinese
MonChinese
Bugs and requests
Literate Chinese
Requested features
2 requests- Add audio for words
- Allow creating custom flashcard decks
MonChinese
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Literate Chinese
- Literate Early User Monthly7 Days trial$8.991 Month
- Literate Monthly7 Days trial$12.991 Month
- Literate Early User Annual7 Days trial$69.991 Year
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- Literate Annual14 Days trial$99.991 Year
- Literate Premium Annual1 Year trial$99.991 Year
- Literate Lifetime$139.99
- Literate Lifetime$249.99
MonChinese
- MonChinese Premium$2.991 Month
- MonChinese Premium$9.991 Year
- Lifetime Premium$14.99
Questions
Is Literate Chinese free?
Is MonChinese free?
Which has better reviews, Literate Chinese or MonChinese?
Do Literate Chinese or MonChinese have ads?
Which is updated more often, Literate Chinese or MonChinese?
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