汉 Hanzi Academy汉字学院 Try the free app →
🆓 Free · No account · Works offline

Learn Chinese by understanding it

Stop memorizing Chinese characters. Start seeing how they work — every character decoded into components, every tone visualized, every lesson a real-life situation.

Start Learning Chinese Free →
No credit card. No account required.
840 characters with stroke animation 671 real HSK words Mic data never leaves your device
好
↓
女+子
woman + child
↓
GOOD
🎧 mā · má · mǎ · mà
🎤 Speak
82% correct
Try it free →

Why Hanzi Academy?

Why not Duolingo, HelloChinese, Pleco or ChatGPT? Here's the honest difference.

Traditional appsHanzi Academy
Memorize charactersUnderstand characters — 好 = 女 + 子
FlashcardsA character system of 48 core components
Listen & repeatVisual tone training + your own voice on the curve
Fixed lessonsPersonalized daily plan that rebuilds itself
Chatbot scriptsReal situations — bubble tea, metro, bargaining
Vocabulary listsOfficial HSK + real Chinese, exam-ready

Why Chinese learners get stuck

Generic apps teach you to recognize words. Chinese demands that you decode them.

🀄

Characters aren't random

好 is a woman 女 holding her child 子 — “good”. 清 is water 氵 turning clear. We teach the 48 core components, so thousands of characters open like Lego.

🎵

Tones ARE the word

妈 mā (mom), 马 mǎ (horse). Say the wrong tone and you order a horse. See the pitch contour, train your ear, and check your own voice against the standard.

💬

Learn by surviving

Order bubble tea, rent an apartment, bargain at the market. Role-play real situations with instant feedback — not abstract drills.

🎯

Exam-ready, not just chatty

The full HSK 1–3 word lists with a spaced-repetition engine built for retention. Built from the official HSK syllabus.

What's inside

Four modules, one daily plan. 10–15 minutes a day keeps the streak alive.

Hanzi decoder: decomposition and stroke order

🌅 Daily Plan — a lesson that builds itself

Every day the app assembles one focused session: a few new words, the reviews that are due right now, one real-life situation, and a tone challenge. Finish it and earn the daily bonus.

🀄 Hanzi Decoder — watch strokes draw themselves

Every character comes with a live decomposition tree, an animated stroke-order player with a guiding pen, and the story behind the shape.

Tone coach with pitch visualization

🎵 Tone Coach — hear it, then prove it

Five tone cards draw their own pitch contours. Train with minimal pairs (mā má mǎ mà), test your ear, and use your microphone to overlay your real voice on the target curve.

💬 Situational Chinese — role-play, don't rehearse

Eight scenes from bubble tea shops to the metro. Read the dialogue, then step into it — the shopkeeper talks to you and corrects your choices on the spot.

Free to fall in love with. Paid to get results.

The core app is free forever, no account needed. Upgrade once you're hooked — one payment, lifetime access.

Free

$0/forever
  • Hanzi Decoder — all 840 characters
  • Tone Coach — full training + mic check
  • 8 situational dialogues + role-play
  • HSK 1–3 vocabulary + flashcards
  • Daily plan, XP & streaks
Start free now →
🔥 Early bird

Pro — Lifetime

$59 $29/one-time
  • 🀄 5,000+ HSK words (levels 1–6)
  • 🧠 Quizzes + weakness diagnosis
  • ⏱️ Timed mock exams with scoring
  • 📜 Tang poems, Three-Character Classic, idioms
  • 📱 Works offline · 🚫 no subscription
Get Pro — $29 →

One payment. License key instantly — paste it in the app to unlock.

🚀 Launching soon

AI Premium

$9.99/month · $59/yr
  • AI Chinese Tutor — real conversations
  • Pronunciation & grammar correction
  • Personalized study plan & reports
  • Unlimited reviews & all scenarios
Get launch discount →

Get 30% off AI Premium at launch

AI Tutor is coming: real conversations with pronunciation, grammar and tone correction. Join the list for 30% off for life and early access.

🔒 No spam. One email when we launch — you can unsubscribe anytime.

Questions, answered

Do I need to create an account?

No. The free app runs entirely in your browser — your progress is saved on your device. That's also why it works offline.

Is my microphone audio sent to a server?

Never. Voice analysis for the tone coach runs locally on your device using the browser's Web Audio API. Your voice data never leaves your computer — a privacy feature, not a promise.

Which HSK levels are covered?

The free app includes the complete official HSK 1, HSK 2 and a large part of HSK 3 word lists (671 words). The paid HSK Complete Pack extends this to HSK 6 with mock exams.

Does it work on my phone?

Yes — and you can install it like an app. On iPhone (Safari) or Android (Chrome), open the app and choose “Add to Home Screen”.