Comparison

Chinese Stories vs 标日笔记・初级

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Chinese Stories

This app offers e-books designed for learning Mandarin Chinese at various proficiency levels. It provides interactive features like definitions, pinyin, and quizzes to enhance the learning experience.

Highlights
  • Interactive e-books for Mandarin learning
  • Definitions, pinyin, and HSK/TOP levels for words
  • Save unfamiliar words for later memorization
  • Hyperlinks for proper nouns to learn culture and history
  • Full English translation and pinyin for each story
  • Comprehension quizzes with progress tracking
  • Audio versions for listening practice
Read full description

If you are learning Mandarin Chinese, our monthly E-books will provide you with the best learning experiences. Now we have two different levels of E-book collection, which are Beginner, Elementary and Intermediate. As for Advanced level, it is coming soon in six months. You can purchase the E-book in accordance with your language proficiency. The language used is carefully selected to correspond to official levels. For texts in Simplified Chinese, the characters are chosen in accordance with New HSK (Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi) and YCT (Youth Chinese Test) levels in Mainland China. Our Beginner level corresponds to New YCT level 2&3, Elementary level to New HSK level 3, and Intermediate level to New HSK level 4. As for Traditional Chinese version, the words used are also carefully chosen on the basis of the TOP (the Test of Proficiency-Huayu) standard in Taiwan. Our Elementary level corresponds to TOP elementary level, and Intermediate level to TOP intermediate level. As for Beginner level, each E-book has 5 stories, and each story contains 150~200 Chinese characters. Elementary E-book has 12 stories, and each story contains 250~300 Chinese characters. Intermediate E-book has 12 stories, and each story contains 450~500 Chinese characters. Our Chinese learning E-books have features as followed: 1. Click on a colored words, and we will show you its English definition, pinyin, part of speech, sentences, and its HSK/TOP level. 2. Click on “More,” and you get to know different meanings of the same word. 3. You can save words you don’t know or aren’t familiar with to memorize later. 4. Click on hyperlinks of proper nouns such as place names or celebrity names, and learn more about Chinese geography, culture, and history while reading Chinese stories. 5. Every story comes with full English translation and pinyin. 6. We track your progress. After reading each article, a five-question quiz will test how well your understanding of the story is and will keep a record of your first-time test result. 7. The audio version of each story enables you to listen to standard Chinese and to train your Chinese listening skill.

About

标日笔记・初级

This app aids in learning Japanese by reinforcing previously taught concepts to combat forgetting. It visually distinguishes words by part of speech and provides detailed explanations of vocabulary, grammar, and sentence structures.

Highlights
  • Reinforces learned knowledge points
  • Color-coded vocabulary by part of speech
  • Detailed word definitions and conjugations
  • Grammar explanations with examples
  • Sentence breakdown with idioms and grammar
  • Covers all 48 lessons of beginner Japanese
Features
Read full description

最完善的新版标日学习辅助APP。 面向《新版标准日本语-初级》学习者的高效学习工具。 在学习的过程中会不断cue到前面学习过的知识点,利用艾宾浩斯记忆法彻底打败遗忘曲线。 内含所有标准日本语初级单词语法,根据词性不同将单词标注为不同颜色。让你不知不觉中记住单词词性。 核心功能: • 课文学习:基本课文/应用课文切换,支持假名标注,配套音频播放 • 语法索引:按组浏览语法,支持搜索与折叠展开 • 单词学习:词性标注、释义展示、详情查看与收藏 • 句子学习:例句查看与语音播放 • 发音纠正:AI发音评分 • 五十音:平假名/片假名切换,点击发音练习 • 收藏系统:单词/语法收藏,集中复习更高效 • 小组件:展示收藏单词,支持快速切换(内购会员可用) 适合人群: • 日语零基础入门 • 新标日初级学习者 • JLPT N5-N4 阶段复习用户 使用条款:https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ 反馈邮箱: northpolecat@163.com polarcat1991@gmail.com B站: 北极猫1991

Screenshots

Chinese Stories4 screens
标日笔记・初级4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: 标日笔记・初级 at 100% against Chinese Stories's 0%. 标日笔记・初级 also leads on rating (4.5 vs 1.8) and update cadence (every 5 weeks vs every 3 months). Chinese Stories's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and iOS requirement (6.0 vs 18.6). On price, ratings volume, ads and device support 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. 标日笔记・初级 sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Chinese Stories asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

标日笔记・初级 holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 1.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 12 and 11 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 0% of Chinese Stories's written reviews are positive against 100% of 标日笔记・初级's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Chinese Stories ships an update every 3 months, 标日笔记・初级 every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Chinese Stories versus 标日笔记・初级: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChinese Stories标日笔记・初级
PriceFreeFree
Rating1.8 (12 ratings)4.5 (11 ratings) — better
Positive reviews0.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings12 — better11
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 5 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS6.0 — better18.6
Further details — not scored
Size35 MB281 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperChinese Stories Publishing Co., Ltd.逊 刘

Customer experience

Chinese Stories

All ratings12 ratings
Positive16.7%
Neutral8.3%
Negative75.0%
Written reviews15 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral6.7%
Negative93.3%

标日笔记・初级

All ratings11 ratings
Positive90.9%
Neutral0.0%
Negative9.1%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Chinese Stories

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

标日笔记・初级

Subscriptions1
  • 标日笔记初级订阅$0.991 Month
One-time1
  • 标准日本语初级下$3.99

Questions

Is Chinese Stories free?
Chinese Stories is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is 标日笔记・初级 free?
标日笔记・初级 is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Chinese Stories or 标日笔记・初级?
标日笔记・初级 is rated higher. Chinese Stories averages 1.8 out of 5 from 12 ratings, while 标日笔记・初级 averages 4.5 from 11 ratings.
Do Chinese Stories or 标日笔记・初级 have ads?
Neither Chinese Stories nor 标日笔记・初级 shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Chinese Stories or 标日笔记・初级?
Chinese Stories ships an update every 3 months, and 标日笔记・初级 every 5 weeks. Most recently, Chinese Stories was updated on November 1, 2026 and 标日笔记・初级 on November 3, 2026.

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