MidMando

MidMando is a free Mandarin course for iPhone and iPad. It takes you from your first character to HSK 9, with a daily plan that fits your day and a memory that never lets a word slip away.

There are no ads, no subscription, no account and nothing to unlock. It is free because the best Mandarin app should not cost anything. What we ask instead is that you tell us how to make it better.

YOUR DAILY PLAN Open the app and today is ready: the word of the day, the next class in your course, the words you bookmarked, the words you met outside the course, a review of what is slipping, and the pairs you keep mixing up. Choose a plan of five words or fifty. Miss a day and it is still there tomorrow.

ONE CARD, FIVE WAYS Every word is asked five ways: read it, give its meaning, pick its tone, hear it, write it. New words are asked by reading until you know them, then the other skills join in.

A MEMORY THAT WORKS Spaced repetition schedules every word from your answers. Words you keep getting right drift out to months. Words you miss come straight back. Your progress page shows how many words are solid, warming and shaky at every level.

THE WHOLE COURSE 11,323 words across HSK 1 to 9, in short classes of about fifteen. Each class has nine parts: learn, quiz, type, sentences, listening, tones, translation, write, and a test that unlocks the next class. The HSK Levels screen shows every character you have met, coloured by how well you know it, at whichever of three scales you want: the whole course, one level, or one class.

EVERY WORD HAS A PAGE Tap any word anywhere: the character in large serif, the reading with audio, every meaning, example sentences, words it is not the same as, tone traps, the pieces it is built from and your own history with it.

TRANSLATE ANYTHING Paste a message, a menu, a lyric or a sign. You get the Chinese, the pinyin, the English, and a list of the words you have not met, ready to add to your plan. Everything you translate is kept with the new words underlined so you can read it again.

THE LIBRARY Radicals and components: 514 pieces and 201 radicals from the national standards, with lessons in the order you need them. Every character in the app can be taken apart. Idioms and sayings: 5,187 of them, with the literal reading, the meaning, the story and an example. Pin the ones you like and they join your plan. Poems: 127 classical poems with pinyin and a plain English line beside every Chinese line. Provinces: all 34, with the number-plate character, the capital and who lives there. Slang and texting: the words people actually type, with the register explained. Songs: 66 Chinese songs ordered by how many of the words you already know, with a lyric sheet you fill in yourself and a karaoke mode. Teacher: keep your classes and students if you teach.

SEARCH EVERYTHING One search box for words, idioms, poems, songs, places and your own history, in English, pinyin or Chinese.

STREAKS AND ACHIEVEMENTS A calendar of every day you studied and 155 achievements that mark the milestones.

YOURS, EVERYWHERE Everything works offline. Your progress syncs through your own iCloud to your other iPhones and iPads; we never see it. Works in mainland China without a VPN.

I WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU There is a report-a-bug button on almost every screen and a feedback page on our site. Every message is read by the person who makes the app.