Chinese No Pain: Learn Hanzi

Chinese No Pain is a free, ad-free app for anyone who wants to start learning Chinese from scratch and gradually move from flashcards to the language they encounter in real life.

The Beginner Path, vocabulary by level and topic, smart review, practice modes, a Voice Translator, and Chinese text and speech recognition—all in one app.

Translate speech to and from Chinese

On iOS 18 or later, use the Voice Translator. Choose Russian, English, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, or Turkish, say a short phrase, and get the recognized text and an automatic translation into Simplified Chinese. Switch direction to translate spoken Chinese into your selected language.

Chinese text comes with pinyin. You can listen to it, copy it, explore it word by word, and add new words to your library. The first time you use the feature, iOS may ask you to download language models.

Start with the Beginner Path

13 sections and 105 short lessons introduce essential words, phrases, and patterns without overwhelming you. Practice follows each lesson, and your progress is saved so you can continue from the right step.

Beginner Path lesson content is currently available in English and Russian.

Understand words, not just their translations

Every card includes Chinese characters, pinyin with tone marks, a translation, and pronunciation audio.

Many words also include illustrations, simple explanations, breakdowns of radicals and character composition, examples, and related words. You can add personal notes to words.

Learn by level and topic

Choose HSK 1–6, the Top 100, Top 300, and Top 500 most frequent words, plus themed groups for conversation, travel, food, study, work, and everyday situations.

Add words to your library, mark favorites, and learn in manageable sets.

Turn the Chinese around you into learning material

Point your camera at a menu, sign, package, or other Chinese text. The app recognizes the writing and displays the translation directly over the image. Freeze the frame, zoom and pan, then open any block for a detailed breakdown.

Upload a photo or screenshot: the image stays on screen with the translation, and you can open each recognized block separately.

You can also record a clip of spoken Chinese for study. Chinese No Pain provides a transcript and translation and highlights words you can view or add to your library.

Save and read texts

Save recognized material to read later: tap words, view pinyin and translations, listen to the text, resume where you left off, and start a practice session.

Study for 5, 10, or 20 minutes

Choose a duration, and the app builds a session from review, weak areas, sentences, pronunciation, and writing.

You can also practice character translation and recognition, pinyin and listening, pronunciation, writing in Trace and Blank Canvas modes, matching pairs, Bubbles, Sprint, Audio Sprint, and weak or favorite words.

Review at the right time and track your progress

Words return when review is most helpful for remembering them. Track your skills, daily goal, streak, XP, levels, achievements, and statistics.

Discover something new every day

Daily Discovery is a short read about the Chinese language and culture. Tap Chinese words inside to open them as cards.

Learn at your own pace

• free and ad-free; • no registration required; • the dictionary, lessons, reviews, and most practice modes work without a constant internet connection; • sync your progress through iCloud; • backups, data restore, and local smart reminders are available.

Chinese No Pain is for complete beginners, learners who want to remember characters more effectively, build vocabulary by HSK level and topic, and understand the Chinese they encounter in real life.

Learn Chinese without overload—step by step, through meaning, context, and regular practice.