We make Mandarin Hero, so keep that in mind. We’ve tried to be honest about who it’s for, and who it isn’t for.
Mandarin Hero works for everyone, from your first word. But it fits best once you know the basics: you can read pinyin, you hear the tones, you know a few hundred words, and maybe you’ve finished a beginner course. That’s the point where learning Chinese gets hardest, and where most apps have the least to offer.
Here’s why that stage is so hard, and which kind of app fits which kind of learner.
Who each app is really for
We compared the popular apps in detail in the best apps to learn spoken Mandarin. Seen by who they suit best, it looks like this:
| You are… | What you need | Good fit |
|---|---|---|
| Curious, just trying it | A fun daily habit | Duolingo |
| A complete beginner | Pinyin, tones, a guided start | HelloChinese, or Mandarin Hero’s Basics and first lessons |
| Past the basics | Lots of new words that stick, and real conversations | Mandarin Hero |
| A system builder | Full control over your flashcards | Anki, with Pleco |
| Studying for the exam | Exam-style reading and practice | An HSK course or textbook |
| Ready to talk freely | Someone who answers back | A tutor or language partner |
Mandarin Hero shows up twice, and that’s on purpose. You can start from zero. But the row where it really earns its place is the third one.
Why the step after the basics is the hardest
1. The vocabulary explodes
The basics are small. In the HSK 2.0 word lists, HSK 1 is 150 words and HSK 2 is 300 in total. Then it grows fast: 600 words for HSK 3, 1,200 for HSK 4, 2,500 for HSK 5 and 5,000 for HSK 6.
So the first two levels together are about 6% of the full list. Most of the work comes after. And for an English or Dutch speaker almost no Chinese word sounds familiar, so every one of them has to be learned, kept and found again in a conversation.
That’s a memory problem first. Reading a word once doesn’t make it stick. Being asked for it again just before you’d forget does. We wrote about the research behind that in guess, struggle, remember.
2. Real conversations don’t sound like your course
Beginner courses use clear, careful sentences. Then you talk to a real person. Here’s how a chat with a friend goes in Mandarin Hero’s Chatting with a friend lesson:
在干嘛？ Zài gànmá? — What are you up to? 上班摸鱼中，哈哈。你呢？ Shàngbān mōyú zhōng, hāhā. Nǐ ne? — Slacking off at work, haha. You? 我今天又要加班，无语。 Wǒ jīntiān yòu yào jiābān, wúyǔ. — Overtime again today. Ugh. 对啊，太卷了。我想躺平。 Duì a, tài juǎn le. Wǒ xiǎng tǎngpíng. — Yep, it’s such a rat race. I want to lie flat.
None of it is hard, but hardly any of it is in a beginner course: 干嘛 instead of 做什么, 摸鱼 for slacking off, 无语 for “ugh”, 卷 and 躺平. And little words like 呢 and 啊 carry half the meaning. We wrote about those in 啊, 呢, 吧, 嘛.
3. Knowing words isn’t the same as using them
Many learners hit this wall: they know hundreds of words on flashcards and still freeze when someone talks to them. Recognising a word with time to think is one skill. Catching it in fast speech and answering right away is another. We looked at this in is Anki good for learning Chinese?, with real learners’ stories.
4. Progress feels slower
In the first weeks every lesson is a big step. After the basics, a hundred new words barely feels like progress, even though it is. That’s when a lot of people quit, or go back to the beginner app they’ve already finished.
What helps at this stage
The fix is the same for all four: lots of words, kept for good, used in real conversations, out loud. That’s what we built Mandarin Hero around.
- Lessons for real situations. 32 of them, from ordering food and taking the metro to the hospital and a WeChat group chat. Each one teaches its key words, then its handy phrases, then the conversation itself, with audio on every line.
- Skip what you know. A word you already know gets one tap, I know this already, so you spend your time on what’s new. That matters when you’re not starting from zero.
- Play your part out loud. In the role-play you say your lines, with natural alternatives for each one. Missed what they said? Ask 不好意思，再说一遍？ (Bù hǎoyìsi, zài shuō yí biàn?, “Sorry, say that again?”) and they say it another way.
- Flashcards that keep it. Every word and phrase from a lesson comes back right before you’d forget it. A word only counts as mastered once every card for it is at a 21-day interval.
- All of HSK 1 to 6 when you want more. Switch on a level in Flashcards, with Listen, Speak, Read and Write cards, so the vocabulary grows next to the conversations.
Honest limits
- It doesn’t score your pronunciation. You compare yourself with the audio. If you want a score, HelloChinese does that well.
- It isn’t exam prep. It teaches the HSK words, but not the reading and test practice the exam needs.
- It’s not a person. For free conversation, add a tutor or language partner once the lessons feel easy.
- Most of it is Hero Pro. The first four lessons and HSK 1 and 2 are free, and everything you’ve learned stays free to review. The other lessons and HSK 3 to 6 need Hero Pro, which is exactly the part that matters after the basics. You can try it free for a week.
The short version
If you’re just starting, any good beginner app will do, and Mandarin Hero is one of them. If you already know the basics and feel stuck, that’s the moment to switch to something built for the hard part: lots of new words that stay, and real conversations you can say out loud.