iLearnChinese2026

Four tones, one syllable, four different words. Train your ear with real pitch contours, then learn 302 phrases for restaurants, shops, clinics, and work.

Mandarin has four tones. Change the pitch, change the word. 妈 is mother, 马 is horse — same syllable, different meaning. Most beginners skip tones and spend years undoing it.

iLearnChinese puts tones first.

HEAR THE SHAPE OF A TONE Every tone is drawn on the five-level pitch staff Chinese linguists actually use, and played back as a pitch that glides along that exact contour. Watch the line rise while you hear it rise. Hum along. Each tone you play leaves a fading stroke on the staff, so a practice session builds its own record.

The pitch is synthesized on your device, so the tone drills work anywhere — airplane mode, no account, no download.

TRAIN YOUR EAR Hear a tone, name it. The contour stays hidden until you answer, then draws itself in so you see exactly what your ear missed. Switch between pure pitch and real spoken syllables as you get sharper.

302 WORDS AND PHRASES, SORTED BY SITUATION Greetings · Introductions · Small talk · Eating out · Shopping · Numbers & money · Getting around · Hotel · Time & dates · Health · Nursing home · At work · Procurement

Tap any word to hear it. Guess what you heard from four meanings. Or use the say-it-back drill: listen, repeat into the gap, then hear it again to compare.

Filter to one situation and the quizzes narrow with you, so you're telling 牛肉 from 猪肉 instead of from 火车站.

A SURVIVAL CARD FOR WHEN IT MATTERS 27 phrases organized by how things actually go wrong: not understanding, asking for something, finding your way, ordering food, and emergencies. Turn on large text and hold your phone up for someone to read. Save it as an image for a trip, with China's emergency numbers at the bottom.

SIXTEEN CATS Practice earns cats. Each one has a real Chinese name, so collecting them teaches you sixteen more words — 招财 Zhāocái, the beckoning cat who means "fortune," 老板 Lǎobǎn, the boss who supervises your desk. Sixteen seal-stamp badges track the finer progress.

PRIVATE BY DEFAULT No account. No ads. No tracking. Nothing leaves your phone

Note: word audio uses your device's Mandarin voice. Most devices have one; if yours doesn't, add Chinese under Settings › Accessibility › Spoken Content › Voices. The tone drills work without it.