#least somewhat guess at what pinyin to look up for any hanzi. i do not have to look up by writing it

[rigelmejo]

really cannot emphasize enough how... chinese hanzi and grammar just... click in my head easier...

[rigelmejo]

Well I’m doing way better than expected on this app. ToT so I still am half screwed, since I can only access the free stuff and not the lessons - and I imagine this app actually has decent lessons.

I can access the evaluator tool though. The tool gives me many individual syllables, then 2 Hanzi words, and plays the correct example pronunciation then records my attempt. It also shows pinyin over each syllable so you can read it as you pronounce if you need the pinyin. It runs through 20 at a time then has me record. At the end of maybe 50-100 of these, it shows you the results. It shows you what syllables you got wrong in each section and you can click them. Then it lets you play the correct pronunciation again, record yourself again, and re-evaluates you. It also lets you play the 2 recordings and compare. It shows if you got the initial, final, or tone wrong. This tool also counts your mistakes, and keeps track! So you could use the evaluator over time to measure progress. I think there’s a way to do drills to JUST practice your mistakes for 6-15 minutes, but I’m not sure if that’s for paid users only.

Turns out, I am getting the initials and finals wrong, but my tones are solid lol. Got none of them wrong. For initials, what seems to be confusing me are c, j, q, s mostly. For finals: en, in, eng. so at least I have a nice direction for where to focus my practice.

There is also a full chart of Chinese sounds, in all tones with audio, that you can use for reference.

There’s also at the bottom some free areas - these seem limited however to one “lesson” accessible each, if you are using it free like me. These seem super cool to me because they give you SENTENCES and audio, then you record yourself and it grades you and shows you which Hanzi you messed up the pronunciation of and by how much (orange you were sort of understandable, red you were not, and it gives a yellow caution triangle if overall you were not comprehensible even if you got only yellow error marks). I find this incredibly useful because what I struggle with most is keeping my tones understandable when speaking in sentences, especially at a regular pace. I also like this section actually because it does NOT show pinyin. So I have to really listen to the sentence and pick out what tones I’m hearing OR attempt to just mimic the speaker without even thinking about what tones I’m using - both ways I am practicing getting More automatic about it. Also, these sentences use some words I DONT know so I have to pay extra attention that I hear how to pronounce them clearly, since I have no pinyin to reference. Next to each sentence it will grade you from 0-100 on how comprehensible you were. The goal is to aim for 80-100. Ideally in the 90s. For me, only sentences with no mistakes seemed to score in 90s. So any orange mistakes pushed you into 80s (mistakes that can be sort of understood). And more than 1-2 mistakes pushed me into 70s generally.

At the very bottom of the list of sentences you can practice with, you have the option to see the sentences as one long paragraph. You can listen to the example audio. And you can record yourself reading the whole thing. I found this extremely useful. 1. Every audio recorder in this app is timed - it has a bit of extra padding time at the beginning and end (I am assuming in case you need it to start or stop speaking). But overall it being under a time limit, to me, encourages me to think less and speak at a more natural speed. Which is what I desperately need (since I talk real slow when I consciously am trying to pronounce correctly - this is forcing me to focus on pronouncing correctly AND speak at a reasonable pace). Anyway back to the paragraph activity: at the end of recording yourself, it will color any mistakes in orange or red (somewhat comprehensible and NOT comprehensible) and give you an overall grade on how comprehensible you were. Again - this is made up of the sentences, so any unknown words you just have to listen and do your best to guess what the correct pronunciation is. And you are under a time limit, so some mistakes may be due to you rushing and forgetting pronunciation etc. This is an example of mine below. I know 坡 and 只, I just messed them up because I wasn���t speaking well enough/rushing/screwed them up in a sentence. The other red errors were unknown words (so I didn’t remember their pronunciations well enough). Most of the orange mistakes are Hanzi I do know the pronunciation of, so I need to work on saying them more consistently decently when speaking in sentences/paragraphs.

The app is the first result in the App Store when you search 普通话学习. I was able to register just fine with a us phone number so that’s good. But I can’t buy the full lessons since I don’t have a wechat ToT still: if I could register, that means these free portions would likely work for you too if you want to use the app. And if you DO have wechat or Alipay then you can get the full app unlike me lol. (If anyone with a wechat wants to help me register lol, please let me know ;-; )

This is what the app looks like in the App Store:

Anyway, I’ve been desperate for something just like this - where I can hear correct pronunciation and practice, and get clear feedback on what exactly I am messing up. This app definitely hits those areas lol. So it may be worth checking out.

Here’s a guide I’ve been following on how to download/use it. Keep in mind that if you haven’t registered in chinese on an app before you may want a dictionary open (if you’ve registered for Ximalaya it’s just as easy on this app, it’s pretty clear to follow the directions intuitively). The guide: https://www.dropbox.com/s/e4453cxmn8ms5hp/普通话学习%20Guide.docx?dl=0