Websites to Learn Chinese: 46 of the Best Sites to Learn Mandarin in 2026

Websites to Learn Chinese // Your List of Paid and Free Resources

Short answer: the best websites to learn Chinese in 2026 fall into five buckets: free tools (Arch Chinese, Forvo, Loecsen, YouTube), paid platforms (ChinesePod, Yoyo Chinese, Du Chinese, Pleco), tutor marketplaces (italki, Preply, Verbling), live class platforms (Flexi Classes), and online course libraries (Coursera, Udemy, FluentU). The single most effective combination for most learners: a live class or tutor for speaking practice, a spaced-repetition tool like Anki or Pleco for characters, and a listening source such as ChinesePod or a podcast for daily input.

This guide walks through 46 of them, with honest pros and cons, so you can match a site to your level, budget, and how you actually learn.

Looking for the best websites to learn Chinese? You’re in the right place.

We’ve pulled together 46 of the most useful sites out there, free tools, paid platforms, tutor marketplaces, and full online courses, so you can find the ones that actually fit how you learn. Whether you’re a total beginner or brushing up before a trip to Beijing, there’s something here for you.

Level, budget, learning style: they all matter. That’s why this list covers a range, with honest pros and cons for each one.

Quick disclaimer: if you’re reading this list of websites to learn Chinese and you stop to think, ‘Hey, isn’t that an app?’, you’re probably right.

A few of the websites below are accessible on mobile. However, they only make the list if they also have a web-based version so you can learn Chinese on your computer.

If you want a comprehensive list of apps to learn Chinese, don’t worry, we have that! Here are some of the Best Apps To Learn Chinese.

So let’s break down the websites to learn Chinese and see if we can find the right ones for you.

Quick comparison: websites to learn Chinese at a glance

Learn Chinese Online Free

Websites to Learn Chinese // Paid

Websites to Learn Mandarin // Tutors 

Online Chinese Courses

Software to Learn Chinese

Best cities in China to learn Chinese

Mandarin or Cantonese? Simplified or traditional characters?

Online vs. in-person Chinese learning: which is right for you?

Language exchange: the free method nobody talks about enough

How long should your Chinese program be?

Why immersion speeds up your Chinese

Language schools worth knowing about

What does learning Chinese cost?

What is the most effective way to learn Chinese?

Can I learn Chinese in 3 months?

Is Duolingo good for learning Chinese?

How do you say ‘hi’ in Chinese?

How do you say ‘I love you’ in Mandarin?

Where to go from here

FAQs

Not sure how hard Chinese will be before you dive in? We break it down honestly: how hard Mandarin tones really are.

Quick comparison: websites to learn Chinese at a glance

Pricing and features change. Always check the platform directly for the latest.

Learn Chinese Online Free

Where better to start with a list of websites to learn Chinese than free ones?

Free doesn’t mean bad. In fact, some of the free tools below are genuinely impressive for what they offer at no cost.

That said, paid platforms do tend to have more resources, more structure, and more support behind them. It’s a real trade-off worth knowing about.

All the free websites below are listed in alphabetical order:

Arch Chinese

Arch Chinese is a Chinese learning system created by Chinese teachers and intended for English speakers.

Inside you find a Chinese dictionary, worksheets, flashcards, tables explaining pinyin, radicals, stroke order and even online games!

Pros: Arch Chinese provides you with plenty of materials to learn Chinese. Beginner to advanced students could use this website for learning materials.

Cons: If you’re wanting a colourful and stimulating website, Arch Chinese isn’t the site for you.

Chinese Boost

Chinese Boost is a neat and orderly website that’ll provide you with Chinese grammar and sentences.

Additionally, they have a blog with interesting articles to help you with your learning journey.

Pros: Chinese Boost has a simple website that is easy to navigate with short text-based blogs with insights from Mandarin learners to help you with your journey.

Cons: Chinese Boost doesn’t have the same volume of resources as other websites and the learning materials are all text-based.

Digital Dialects

Digital Dialects is a website to learn Chinese that has practice games, flashcards and interactive materials with audio for learning.

Digital Dialects has 80 languages to learn from.

Pros: Digital Dialects is fantastic for visual learners. Each page is stimulating and interactive, making it particularly good for kids to learn with.

Cons: Computer-generated audio files (no human recordings) is the biggest thing holding Digital Dialects from being an incredible tool.

FORVO

Forvo is a website to learn Chinese and other languages.

It works by giving you audio files of Mandarin words and sentences.

The files are grouped into several categories such as numbers, colours, body parts and more!

Pros: What’s great about Forvo is that the recordings are by native speakers, making them worthwhile to listen to. Plus, having the audio files broken down into categories is also a great way to have focused study sessions.

Cons: Forvo has an impressive 18 categories to learn from with dozens of audio files in each category. Unfortunately, that’s where Forvo ends in terms of resources to learn Chinese.

Free Chinese Lessons

Free Chinese Lessons is a website with (you guessed it) free Chinese lessons.

This title might be a bit deceptive and there’s no structured lessons, media or other resources.

Still, there are some helpful articles to support you learning the basics of Mandarin.

Pros: This website to learn Chinese breaks down the fundamentals of learning Chinese.

Cons: Very limited articles. Currently only covers the basics of learning Chinese and no media or downloadable learning materials.

L-LINGO

L-Lingo immerses you in the sights and sounds of the target language, rather than just the written word.

L-Lingo is primarily an app, but on their website you’ll find a free 7-day Mandarin course as well as flashcards and audio recordings of Chinese natives to help you learn.

Pros: We always appreciate when websites to learn Chinese include recordings of native speakers. L-Lingo has plenty of audio files with images to learn from.

Cons: L-Lingo’s website can be difficult to navigate with some functionality issues.

Live Mochas

Livemocha is a social network designed to connect language learners for free.

They also provide instructional materials in 38 languages, including Mandarin, to help support your learning of the language.

Pros: Simple dashboard that’ll give you some simple and interactive lessons with Chinese.

Cons: Live Mochas was founded in 2007 and was quite popular at the time. However, their website still has a bit of a 2007 vibe to it. There are competitors offering the same services with a more modern look and feel.

Loecsen

Loecsen is one of the best free websites to learn Chinese on this list.

It has a modern and simple-to-use interface. Loecsen will also play audio files by native speakers and breaks down sentences and vocabulary by helpful ‘daily speak’ categories.

Pros: Practical lessons to help you learn Chinese with quizzes to review, downloadable MP3s and PDFs.

Cons: While Loecsen is one of the better free websites to learn Chinese, its Mandarin lessons are limited to 17 categories. Once you’ve completed them, you’ll only be able to use this site to review rather than expand your knowledge.

Tatoeba

Tatoeba is a free open source online database of sentences in multiple languages.

Open Source means that all of the content has been contributed by the community, rather than the web developers.

The name “tatoeba” means ‘for example’ in Japanese.

Pros: Tatoeba is a neat-looking website with an easy search function. Being open-source, the content is constantly growing thanks to the users of the website.

Cons: While there are plenty of example sentences in Mandarin to search, there is a lack of Chinese-speaking contributors to the website.

Youtube

Yeah, pretty obvious one on our list of free websites to learn Chinese, but it still has to go on the list!

Here are 15 YouTube channels we think you should follow to help you learn Chinese.

Sometimes the most obvious are the most useful!

Oh, and don’t forget to go and follow our YouTube channel!

Websites to Learn Chinese // Paid

Okay, let’s talk about the big players in the world of websites to learn Chinese. We’re talking, of course, about the paid services you can use to learn Chinese online.

These are not websites where you can book 1-on-1 lessons, that’s in the next section.

These are websites with a variety of functions like videos, flashcards, audio recordings, spaced repetition systems and more!

Busuu

Busuu is a language learning platform teaching vocabulary and grammar with smart lessons and exercises.

Busuu’s platform is available on an app and their website.

In fact, check out our full review of their app for more details.

Pros: Quite a customisable learning experience in terms of setting the days and times to learn, goals and placement tests.

Cons: There are two types of payments, Premium and Premium Plus, and the prices and extra features don’t differ much.

Chinese Class 101

ChineseClass101 also falls into the category of app and websites to learn Chinese.

While ChineseClass101 is many things, at its heart it is Mandarin Lessons in the form of podcasts.

The podcasts are broken up into sessions with categories and units.

Pros: If you’re an auditory-style learner, ChineseClass101 should no doubt be on your phone for when you’re up for listening to Chinese lessons.

Cons: If you need a bit of structure and like a curriculum for your learning, you might not enjoy this so much. Yes, there are levels and topics, but no clean orderly progression through the language.

Chinese Pod

Chinese Pod is a website to learn Chinese that offers video and audio-based lessons.

Chinese Pod boasts that they have over 4000+ audio and video lessons ranging between ten and twenty minutes.

Chinese Pod now offers private tutoring services with Mandarin teachers.

Pros: Chinese Pod is one of the few websites to learn Chinese that’ll carry you through from a beginner to an advanced student. There are a lot of resources for every level of learner.

Cons: Chinese Pod is heavily focused on listening, which can be restrictive for users who are not good with auditory learning. Private lessons are not only expensive but in limited supply.

Du Chinese

Du in Chinese means Read Chinese. That’s exactly what you can expect from the Du Chinese app.

Du Chinese gives users the ability to filter topics by topic and difficulty. Then from your readings you can save characters to review as flashcards later.

See our full review of Du Chinese.

Pros: Simple and elegant design with real-world practical lessons and interesting articles to help learn Chinese.

Cons: Du Chinese doesn’t try to be anything more than what the name implies. It’s a reading app, possibly your best option to learn how to read Chinese characters, but that’s as far as it can take you.

Duolingo

Hey, look, it’s everyone’s favourite language learning owl! He ain’t no Language Learning Lion though!

Duolingo needs no introduction, being the biggest language learning app in the world, but for Mandarin learners how does it compare to the other apps?

See our full review of Duolingo.

Pros: Duolingo has the basics of Chinese (and most languages) down to an art. You can study from categories like food, colours and numbers pretty quickly and easily.

Cons: While they do have the basics down, they don’t teach you much about the characters as you learn. This can be quite cumbersome as you progress beyond a beginner-level student.

Glossika

Glossika is, at its core, a spaced repetition technology. A tried and true method for learning languages.

They offer a mobile and desktop version of their software.

See our full review of Glossika.

Pros: Big range of topics to learn from, and recordings from native speakers always get a big tick of approval from us at LTL.

Cons: Placement tests are geared from lower levels; as you move to higher levels in Glossika the content does start to thin out.

Hack Chinese

Now before we talk about Hack Chinese we have to make a disclaimer. We are big fans of it.

We love them so much so, you can get 15% off their program from our Chinese discounts page.

So here it is, Hack Chinese, a spaced repetition learning software, made by Mandarin learners for Mandarin learners.

See our full tutorial and see for yourself why we’re such big fans of what they’re up to:

Memrise

Memrise is a flashcard learning app and website to learn Chinese.

It uses spaced repetition to help you learn.

In their own words, they’re “the opposite of textbook learning”

Put that claim to the test with our full review of Memrise.

Pros: Videos of native speakers talking gets a big green tick in the pros column from us. Chinese is a tone-based language and you’ll get nowhere fast using computer-generated voices to learn.

Cons: Limited Chinese courses; Memrise can’t take you beyond a beginner level.

Mondly

Mondly made quite a name for itself when it launched, being one of the few apps with an intelligent chatbot that recognises what you say and responds in kind.

Not just that, but they provide lessons with vocabulary and sentence structure.

See our full review of Mondly.

Pros: If you can’t find a real-life speaker to practice Mandarin, Mondly’s chatbot is as close as you’re going to get!

Cons: Not much free content; you’ll have to commit to a subscription pretty quick to keep using Mondly.

Ninchanese

Ninchanese is a website to learn Chinese that offers a game-like approach to learning.

Each level is a world built around cute characters to help you on your quest to learn Mandarin.

For a creative and beautifully designed program, Ninchanese easily gets a 10/10 from us.

Pros: The gamified way of learning can be quite addictive and make some of the more boring elements of learning a language quite fun.

Cons: There is no comprehensive course, more supporting learning materials for the average learner.

Optilingo

Optilingo is a website (and app) to learn Chinese that focuses on listening and speaking.

Using Optilingo, you can study up to 100 lessons for 20 different languages.

See our full review of Optilingo.

Pros: Simple and elegant website that has useful and practical lessons for speaking Chinese Mandarin.

Cons: Beyond introductory spoken Chinese, Optilingo can’t really help you out. Once you’ve completed all 100 lessons, you’ve completed the Optilingo course.

Rocket Languages

Rocket Languages is a popular website to learn Chinese and several other languages.

On their website, you’ll find flashcards and audio lessons.

Rocket Languages uses audio, flashcards and pronunciation practice to learn several languages.

Pros: The audio lessons give you real-world examples of how you can use Chinese out and about.

Cons: Rocket Languages is great with real-world conversations, which makes them more of a survival Chinese-style course. While this is perfect for some learners, this might be limiting from intermediate to advanced learners.

Rosetta Stone

Rosetta Stone is quite a divisive website to learn Chinese amongst language learners.

Not because people argue if it’s good or bad, but rather is it worth it?

The program delivers quite a comprehensive Chinese course with lessons on reading, writing, speaking and listening (basically everything you need).

Pros: Beautiful website and learning experience for many languages.

Cons: While Rosetta Stone is undeniably impressive, for the price you could buy several other learning apps, programs and even real-life teachers. Hence the price tag does put a big question mark against its value.

The Chairman’s Bao

The Chairman’s Bao is a simplified Chinese news site, specifically aimed at Mandarin learners.

Once again you’ll have the option of using The Chairman’s Bao via their app and website.

See our full review of The Chairman’s Bao app.

Pros: Every article has the option of listening to an audio recording spoken by a native speaker.

Cons: The Chairman’s Bao is great at delivering articles for learners but falls short with other features.

Yoyo Chinese

Yoyo Chinese is a website (and app) to learn Chinese via video lessons, audio files, flashcards and reviews.

They boast an impressive 20 million lessons delivered to over 400,000 students.

Yoyo Chinese offers 6 levels broken down into smaller units. They have videos, flashcards, quizzes and downloadable materials to study with.

Pros: Yoyo Chinese provides a very comprehensive course with bite-sized (10-minute) lessons, so even people tight for time can find the time to learn.

Cons: No customisation of your course, you basically run through the pre-set content on Yoyo and can only review what you’ve learnt (no set your own path). Great for beginners with no direction but has shortcomings as you enter intermediate to advanced.

Websites to Learn Mandarin // Tutors 

Okay, let’s talk about websites to learn Mandarin with real-life native speakers to learn from.

As a language school with multiple language programs across cities in China and Taipei, we might be a bit biased in thinking learning with real speakers is the best way to approach learning Chinese.

In fact, let’s kick off this list of websites to learn Mandarin with our very own. We’re talking about flexiclasses.com, the very website you find yourself on right now.

Flexi Classes

One thing we know from years of running a Mandarin school is that small group classes can be of huge benefit to students.

Not just for splitting the costs of a teacher, but learning with others at the same level as you gives you the opportunity to get instant feedback from your peers.

Not to mention it can simply be more enjoyable with friends!

With that said, we built a platform with small group (6 persons) classes running 24/7.

Flexi Classes are broken down into 5 levels, beginner to HSK 6. Each level is comprised of several lessons that make a full and comprehensive course to take you from zero to hero.

You don’t need to take the lessons chronologically, but don’t worry, the system will track your progress and you’re able to re-take any lessons you don’t feel confident with or skip over classes you don’t want to take.

With Flexi Classes, you can choose from 3 different subscriptions depending on how many hours you want to study each month.

Changing your subscription is as easy as the click of a button with no additional costs.

Each subscription gives you a different amount of credits:

👉 1 credit = 1 Flexi Class

👉 3 credits = 1 Private 1-on-1 Lesson

There’s lots of great deals you can take advantage of right now on Flexiclasses!

Refer a friend: if you invite a friend to Flexiclasses you both get 5 free classes!

All you have to do is go to ‘refer a friend’ on Flexi, copy your personal code to send to a friend and get learning!

But that’s not all!

Here’s just some of the other benefits to Flexi Classes:

✅ We’re currently offering a 7 day free trial

✅ You can join our Flexi forum for free to connect with other language learners and ask anything China and Chinese-language related

✅ Language course certificates you can add to your resume

✅ There’s regular online meet ups with students from all over the world!

And for you polyglots out there, did you know you can learn more than 10 languages on Flexi Classes?

You can learn Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Shanghainese, Hokkien, Italian and more!

Here’s how marketing manager Max juggled three languages at once:

Cafe Talk

Cafe Talk is an online platform connecting tutors and students from all over the world.

Cafe Talk is mostly used for English teachers by Japanese students but they have expanded to include other languages as well as skills like Chess, Origami, Calligraphy and much more!

Pros: Secure payments and simple booking system to schedule your classes.

Cons: The website layout can be overwhelming with popups and links everywhere. Tutors aren’t necessarily qualified (anyone can become one), but usually by the power of reviews and filters you can find a good teacher. However, the ‘better’ teachers do charge more once they’re recognised by students as more qualified.

Only 1-on-1 tutors available, unlike flexiclasses.com which offers small group classes.

HelloTalk

HelloTalk is the Tinder of language exchange.

You can use it to meet strangers all over the world who are interested in your native language in exchange for sharing their language.

HelloTalk started as a messenger app but is now also a website to learn Chinese and has some simple Chinese lessons to get you started.

See our full review of HelloTalk.

Pros: Talking to native speakers right away for free is a wonderful way to get your brain in the language learning mode.

Cons: No structured course to learn Chinese, and being the World Wide Web, you’ll meet all sorts of people on the internet before you find the right language learning partner for you.

iTalki

iTalki is another tutor-student marketplace.

This is a language learning website (and app) that allows you to book 1-on-1 lessons with tutors and use their secure bookings and payment system to do so.

Full review of italki.

iTalki offers you options of qualified and non-qualified teachers, so you can get the right mix of price and quality when finding a language instructor.

Pros: italki is one of the bigger and more established platforms to book 1-on-1 teachers for languages, meaning there are more teachers to choose from.

Cons: Hidden fees, our pet hate. Prices are not presented to you upfront until you get to the checkout.

Only 1-on-1 tutoring available in most instances.

MandarinX

MandarinX is a website to learn Chinese with qualified Mandarin teachers.

They offer courses you can go through such as the HSK, Business Chinese and Chinese Essentials.

Pros: Qualified teachers to ensure a high standard of Mandarin lessons.

Cons: MandarinX subscriptions are quite expensive, probably due to only offering 1-on-1 lessons with their teachers.

Preply

Preply is a language learning marketplace to meet tutors from all over the world.

Preply is a reputable company with secure payments and bookings when learning with tutors on the platform.

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Pros: Good search filters to find the right teacher for you.

Cons: Anyone can join and start tutoring, so there might be some trial and error finding the right tutor for you.

Only 1-on-1 lessons available, can be expensive with this style of online learning.

Superprof

Superprof is (you guessed it) a private tutor directory to find mentors in skills you want to learn.

Superprof allows you to book 1-on-1 lessons with tutors from all over the world.

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Pros: Secure payments and a simple booking system.

Cons: If you’re just looking for a website to learn Chinese, Superprof won’t offer the same variety of teachers as other websites dedicated to just learning languages or Chinese.

Only 1-on-1 lessons available.

Tandem

Tandem is a language exchange app and website to learn Chinese.

Users are able to meet fellow language learners and help one another learn their desired language.

Recently Tandem has bridged into the world of paid tutors.

Pros: Nicely designed app and website to learn Chinese.

Cons: Tandem can get overwhelming with incoming messages, making it a bit of a draining experience talking to so many people.

No structured course, it’s like Tinder, but with language learning.

Verbling

Verbling is an online platform to find 1-on-1 tutors for languages.

Verbling is hard to compare and contrast with many of the other websites we’ve mentioned above talking about marketplaces to find tutors.

It is a popular website making it easy to find 1-on-1 Chinese tutors.

Pros: A trusted brand with an easy search and bookings system for language tutors.

Cons: Verbling has similar downfalls to other online marketplaces for online tutors. Quality control of allowing anyone onto the platform to teach, and higher prices for the 1-on-1 lessons.

Online Chinese Courses

Moving onto the next section on our list of websites to learn Mandarin, we have (drum roll please) online Chinese courses.

These are websites with pre-recorded videos and learning materials that cover lessons like basic Chinese, survival Mandarin and even more advanced lessons like business Chinese.

Each of these sites has similar product offerings. You pay and are given access to their streaming video platform with their pre-recorded lessons.

These can be great as a learning resource; however, they will always have the downside of not providing you with instant feedback to know if your tones and pronunciation are on the right track.

With that said, if you’re after a pre-recorded online Chinese course, here are your best options:

Chinese For Us

Lessons offered include structured basics to HSK 2, skills such as tones, pinyin or writing characters.

Chinese For Us uses quizzes to help them stand apart from other pre-recorded Chinese courses.

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Coursera

Coursera is a website with pre-recorded lessons on almost everything! That, of course, includes Chinese lessons.

Every class on Coursera has quite a high quality so you are guaranteed a certain level of quality. Each course is purchased individually (no subscriptions).

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FluentU

FluentU is a language learning streaming platform with a pleasant design and interactive video features.

You can access their Mandarin courses online and via their mobile app.

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Mandarin Blueprint

Mandarin Blueprint is an online course for, you guessed it, Mandarin.

They have videos and Anki Flashcards to help you with your Chinese journey.

Great for taking beginner-level students.

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Pimsleur

Pimsleur is a method of language learning developed by Dr. Paul Pimsleur.

Now his methods of language learning are available online.

The Pimsleur method focuses heavily on speaking and listening, with their course comprising mostly of audio files.

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SkillShare

SkillShare is a subscription-based video platform. Its search functionality is similar to YouTube but rather than videos you’ll find full courses.

Usually, the better courses are upvoted so a simple ‘Chinese Mandarin’ search will show you some of the better courses uploaded.

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Udemy

Udemy is an online course provider aimed at professional adults and students.

The courses are of high quality and you’ll be able to find comprehensive courses for the level of Chinese you’re at.

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Yabla

Yabla is a computer-assisted learning website to learn Chinese.

Yabla has video and audio files combined with vocabulary drills, quizzes and flashcards.

With Yabla you’ll be able to watch videos with clear breakdowns of the Chinese characters, pinyin and English translations.

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Zero to Hero

Zero to Hero are pre-recorded Chinese classes based on the HSK exam.

With each HSK course you’ll get access to videos, audio files, quizzes and more.

Zero to Hero was developed by Jon and Ken, two friends from China.

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Software to Learn Chinese

Fluenz

Fluenz is a software to learn Chinese that you can download to your Mac or Windows.

Fluenz uses a combination of videos and sentence animations to help illustrate the sentence structure. There are also fill-in-the-blank games to help improve your vocabulary.

Pros: A great survival Chinese course with practical applications to speaking Chinese out and about.

Cons: Pinyin only. As it’s a survival speaking course, there are no characters being taught.

Anki

Anki is not a Mandarin-specific learning tool but rather a DIY online flashcard tool.

With this software to learn Chinese, you can make your own notes or download the flashcards of others.

See our full review of Anki.

Pros: Anki is the grandfather of online flashcard programs, developed in 2006. For this reason, it’s perhaps the most tried and tested program, giving you a free powerful tool to learn anything you like.

Cons: There is a bit of a steep learning curve to Anki. You’ll probably need to watch a few YouTube tutorials to fully appreciate all the features. The desktop version is free, but to also use it on your phone and synchronise your flashcards, there is a bit of a hefty one-time payment of $25.

After you download Anki, here are some pre-made Mandarin decks to upload.

Spotify

Our final website to learn Chinese needs no introduction. It’s the much-beloved music and podcasting software, Spotify.

You might not know it, but this free program is packed full of podcasts to learn Chinese and Chinese music to help get your ears accustomed to Mandarin.

Here’s a link to LTL Mandarin School’s Spotify with our top recommended Chinese playlists.

Best cities in China to learn Chinese

If you want to go beyond websites and apps, studying in China itself is one of the fastest ways to progress. But the city you pick shapes the whole experience.

Beijing is the home of standard Mandarin (普通话, pǔtōnghuà). Locals speak with a clear, textbook accent, which is great for beginners. It’s a huge, buzzing capital city with history, food, and no shortage of language partners.

Shanghai suits learners who want a cosmopolitan base. The accent drifts slightly from standard Mandarin, but the city’s international mix means English is widely spoken, which is a double-edged sword: easy to get comfortable, harder to stay immersed.

Chengdu is a favourite for its relaxed pace and genuinely warm locals. The Sichuan dialect exists, but residents happily switch to Mandarin. Bonus: it’s far more affordable than Beijing or Shanghai.

Kunming in Yunnan is known for its mild climate and a dialect considered very close to standard Mandarin, popular with learners for that reason.

Guilin is a smaller city surrounded by dramatic karst scenery. Less overwhelming than the megacities, great for focused study, and a good base for exploring southern China.

Nanjing has a strong university culture, a slightly slower pace than Shanghai, and a history that runs deep. Its Mandarin is clear and the cost of living is reasonable.

Not sure how hard the language itself will be before you commit to a city? Read our honest take on how hard Mandarin tones really are.

Mandarin or Cantonese? Simplified or traditional characters?

If you’re just starting out, this question probably came up. Here’s a quick orientation.

Mandarin vs. Cantonese: Mandarin (普通话, pǔtōnghuà) is the official spoken language used across mainland Chinese cities and is the most widely spoken variety of Chinese in the world. Cantonese (广东话, Guǎngdōnghuà) is spoken primarily in Guangzhou, Hong Kong, and by many diaspora communities. The two are not mutually intelligible when spoken. If your goal is to communicate across mainland Chinese cities or in most international Chinese communities, Mandarin is the practical choice. If you have family ties to Hong Kong or the Guangdong region, Cantonese may be more personally meaningful.

Simplified vs. traditional characters: Simplified characters (简体字, jiǎntǐzì) are used in mainland Chinese cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Chengdu. Traditional characters (繁體字, fántǐzì) are used in Hong Kong and Taipei. If you’re learning Mandarin with a focus on cities like Beijing or Shanghai, learn simplified. The good news: once you know one system well, the other becomes much easier to read.

All tools and resources in this list that specify a character set use simplified unless noted otherwise.

Online vs. in-person Chinese learning: which is right for you?

Neither is universally better, they suit different situations.

Choose online if: your schedule is irregular, you’re not able to travel to a Chinese-speaking city, you want flexibility to pause and resume, or you’re in the early stages and building a foundation before committing to a program abroad.

Choose in-person (or immersion) if: you have a fixed block of time to dedicate, you learn best with structure and face-to-face accountability, or you’re aiming for a specific proficiency level fast (for work, a move, or an exam).

The hybrid that works well for many learners: live online classes with a native teacher, real-time speaking practice and correction, without the cost and logistics of relocating. It’s not a full replacement for immersion, but it’s a meaningful step up from solo app use.

A rough comparison:

Language exchange: the free method nobody talks about enough

A language exchange pairs you with a native Chinese speaker who is learning your language. You spend half the session speaking Chinese; they spend half speaking English (or whatever your language is). Both sides get free practice with a real person.

It’s not a replacement for structured classes, you’re not getting corrected pronunciation feedback the way a teacher would give it, but as a supplement, it’s extremely effective for:

• Getting comfortable with natural speech pace
• Learning informal and colloquial expressions that textbooks miss
• Building confidence to actually use the language

Where to find a language partner: HelloTalk and Tandem are the two most widely used apps for this. You can also try the language exchange boards on Reddit (r/language_exchange) or local meetup groups if you’re based in a city with a Chinese-speaking community.

How long should your Chinese program be?

This depends on your goal and how fast you want to move. A few common formats:

Standard group classes (10-15 hours per week): A sustainable pace for most learners. Combines well with self-study and a job or studies. Expect noticeable conversational progress in 3-6 months.

Intensive (20-30 hours per week): Typical of dedicated language school programs, either in China or online. Progress is fast, but it requires real mental energy, this is a full-time commitment.

One-on-one tutoring: Highly flexible. Even 5 hours per week with a good tutor, focused on your weak areas, can accelerate progress beyond a group class. Works well as a supplement or as the primary method.

Short immersion programs (2-4 weeks): Popular for a confidence boost or a foundation before a longer stay. Great for pronunciation and survival Mandarin; too short for structural language gains.

Long-term immersion (3 months or more): Where significant fluency gains happen, especially when combined with structured classes rather than unstructured living.

Why immersion speeds up your Chinese

There’s a reason ‘go live there’ keeps coming up as advice for language learners. Immersion doesn’t just add more study hours, it changes the quality of the input.

When you’re in an environment where Chinese is the default, you’re processing the language all day: menus, signs, conversations at the market, the TV in the background. Your brain starts treating it as a necessity rather than a subject.

A few things that make immersion particularly effective for Mandarin:

• Tones in context. Reading tones off a flashcard is one thing. Hearing them in fast, natural speech and needing to respond is another. Your ear calibrates much faster.
• Character recognition in the wild. Seeing 地铁 (dìtiě, subway) on an actual station sign, repeatedly, embeds it in a way no app quite replicates.
• Forced output. Ordering food, asking for directions, chatting with a host family, you produce language under gentle pressure every day. That output is where fluency is built.
• Cultural context. So much of how Chinese is actually used is tied to context, relationships, and setting. Living there makes these instinctive rather than theoretical.

Of course, immersion isn’t accessible to everyone right now. That’s exactly where a well-structured online program with live teachers, real conversations, real feedback, does the most to replicate those conditions.

Language schools worth knowing about

Websites and apps are a solid foundation, but some learners want a structured program with teachers and a community around them. Here are a few schools that come up repeatedly when people research Chinese study options:

LTL Mandarin School runs programs in Beijing and other cities, with options ranging from one-on-one intensive study to small group classes. They also offer online live classes through Flexi Classes for learners who can’t be in China right now.

Keats Chinese School is based in Kunming and is well regarded for its intensive one-on-one programs. Popular with serious learners who want fast progress.

That’s Mandarin operates in Beijing and Shanghai and is known for blending structured classes with cultural activities.

CLI (Chinese Language Institute) is based in Guilin and suits learners who want a full-immersion environment in a smaller city setting.

Silk Mandarin is a Shanghai-based school with a reputation for flexible scheduling and a friendly atmosphere.

Costs, schedules, and teaching styles vary across all of these, it’s worth contacting each school directly if you’re planning a longer stint.

What does learning Chinese cost?

The range is wide, so here’s a rough breakdown by type:

Free websites and apps: Nothing upfront, but progress depends entirely on self-discipline. Good for building vocabulary and reading; weaker for speaking and listening feedback.

Paid apps and platforms (e.g. ChinesePod, Yoyo Chinese): Typically $10-$30 per month for access to structured lesson libraries. No live interaction.

Tutor marketplaces (e.g. italki, Preply): Community tutors usually run $10-$20 per hour; professional teachers $20-$45 per hour. Flexible, pay-as-you-go.

Live group classes online: Group programs with a fixed schedule typically run $50-$150 per month depending on frequency. A good middle ground between cost and structured learning.

Intensive programs in China: Language school programs in Beijing or Shanghai can range from $300-$800 per month for tuition alone (group classes), rising to $1,000+ for intensive one-on-one. Accommodation varies significantly by city and setup.

Budget tip: Chengdu, Kunming, and Guilin are noticeably more affordable than Beijing or Shanghai for accommodation and day-to-day living costs, which can make a longer immersion stay practical on a tighter budget.

Note: all figures are approximate and in USD. Always confirm current pricing directly with providers.

What is the most effective way to learn Chinese?

The honest answer: consistency plus varied input beats any single method.

Here’s what the evidence and experience of teachers points to:

1. Live speaking practice from early on. Reading and listening build a foundation, but tones and pronunciation need a real ear to correct them. A tutor or live class makes a measurable difference.
2. Spaced-repetition for characters and vocabulary. Apps like Anki or Pleco use spaced repetition, showing you a word just before you’d forget it, which is highly efficient for building a character bank.
3. Comprehensible input. Listening and reading material that’s just slightly above your current level keeps you challenged without overwhelming you.
4. Daily contact with the language. Even 20 minutes a day beats a three-hour session once a week. The brain needs regular exposure to form durable patterns.
5. Immersion when possible. Spending time in a Chinese-speaking environment, whether in China or with a language exchange partner, compresses progress significantly.

The websites and tools in this list work best when you mix them: a structured course or live classes for speaking practice, a flashcard tool for vocabulary, and listening material for your commute.

Can I learn Chinese in 3 months?

Three months of dedicated study will get you further than most people expect, but ‘fluent in 3 months’ is an overstatement worth pushing back on.

What 3 months of consistent effort (say, 1-2 hours a day) can realistically give you: solid greetings and small talk, a working vocabulary of 300-500 words, the ability to read basic menus and signs in pinyin, and a foundation to build on fast.

The US Foreign Service Institute classifies Mandarin as a Category IV language, the hardest category for English speakers, estimating around 2,200 classroom hours to reach professional working proficiency. Three months is a strong start, not a finish line.

That said, your timeline depends a lot on how you study. Immersive environments (living in a Chinese-speaking city, taking daily live classes with a teacher) compress that curve significantly compared to solo app use. Curious about what makes Mandarin challenging? Here’s our honest take on how hard Mandarin tones really are.

Is Duolingo good for learning Chinese?

Duolingo is genuinely useful for building a daily habit and picking up basic vocabulary and short phrases, and that’s not nothing. Its gamified structure keeps a lot of beginners coming back when motivation alone wouldn’t.

The honest limitations for Chinese specifically: Duolingo’s Chinese course introduces characters, but the depth of character practice is limited compared to dedicated tools like Pleco or Anki. Tones are covered, but without a real teacher’s ear, it’s easy to develop subtle pronunciation habits that are harder to correct later.

A fair summary: Duolingo works well as a low-pressure daily habit or a warm-up tool. It’s less suited as your primary method if serious conversational progress is the goal. Pair it with something that gives you real speaking practice and you’ve got a stronger combination.

How do you say ‘hi’ in Chinese?

The most common way is 你好 (nǐ hǎo), which literally means ‘you good’ and is the standard friendly greeting you’ll hear everywhere.

For something more casual, especially with people you already know, 嗨 (hāi) is a direct borrow from the English ‘hi’ and is widely used in everyday conversation.

If you want to sound natural in a slightly more informal setting, 你好吗 (nǐ hǎo ma) adds ‘how are you?’ to the mix. And 早上好 (zǎoshang hǎo) is ‘good morning’, useful from the first day.

A quick note on tones: the ‘nǐ’ in 你好 uses a falling-rising third tone, and ‘hǎo’ also uses a third tone. When two third tones sit next to each other, the first one shifts to a rising second tone in natural speech, so it sounds more like ‘níhǎo’ than ‘nǐhǎo.’ That kind of detail is exactly why getting feedback from a real teacher early on pays off.

How do you say ‘I love you’ in Mandarin?

我爱你 (wǒ ài nǐ) is the direct translation of ‘I love you’ and is widely understood across Mandarin-speaking communities.

That said, it’s worth knowing that Chinese romantic expression often works differently in everyday use. 我爱你 carries real weight and is typically reserved for deep, committed relationships. In casual or early-stage dating, you’re more likely to hear 我喜欢你 (wǒ xǐhuān nǐ), ‘I like you’, which covers a lot of the emotional ground that ‘I love you’ handles in English.

Context and tone (of voice, not linguistic tone) matter a lot here. Getting a feel for this kind of nuance is one of the things live conversation practice does that apps can’t quite replicate.

Where to go from here

You’ve got the list. Here’s a practical way to use it:

1. Pick one free tool to build a daily vocabulary habit (Anki + Pleco is a solid combo).
2. Add one structured input source, a podcast, a YouTube channel, or a lesson library, for listening practice.
3. Get a real speaking session in early. Even one or two sessions with a live teacher in the first few weeks will set your tones and pronunciation on the right track before habits form. Flexi Classes offers a free trial class if you want to see what live online learning with a native teacher feels like, no pressure, just a session.
4. Revisit this list in a month. Your needs change as you progress. The tools that suit a beginner are different from the ones that suit an intermediate learner.

Curious about what you’re actually signing up for linguistically? Our honest breakdown of how hard Mandarin tones really are is a good read before you commit.

There we have it, a huge list of 46 websites to learn Chinese. Which is your favourite?

Tell us in the comments below!

Websites to Learn Chinese || FAQs