I’m 35 days into the 100 days of Mandarin challenge. Here is my introductory post. It is a blast, and I’m looking forward to doing a 50-day review in a fortnight.
This review is of one of the apps which has made the largest impact on my Mandarin learning thus far. It also has not been reviewed by many other people, so I hope that this review will help Mandarin learners decide whether this app is for them (or not, as the case may be!).
If you’re a Mandarin language student or merely interested in learning the language chances are you have already seen the overwhelming number of Mandarin-learning apps out there. To TCB, or not? To Skritter, or not? Many of these apps, especially the well-established ones ask for a monthly subscription fee, and it would be easy to spend a good £50 or so on subs to learning resources every month and still feel your learning needs are not being met.
This is where the Daily Chinese App comes in.
Daily Chinese is a free app that combines the best of the Spaced Repetition System with pre-made vocabulary lists and user-friendly interface. In addition to the regular HSK vocabulary lists, it also has vocabulary lists for business Mandarin such as e-mail language, and also sections for sports and the news. It even has sections about Communism and other political language!
There are around 10,000 words in total, all sorted into vocabulary packs that you can download for free and look through. If the words in that deck appeal, then go ahead and set the number of new words you would like introduced to your deck each day. The app also promises to continue to add new vocabulary packs as time goes on. This wide range of vocabulary packs means that Daily Chinese is a resource could be an invaluable learning aid on my Mandarin learning odyssey.
There is a statistics section that shows you which words from each deck have been covered, and what percentage of the deck is “complete” (ie. that you have learned). Unlike Anki there is not a detailed breakdown of how many vocabulary words or cards have been covered or details on the amount of time spent studying. As someone who is indifferent to logging my learning time, this suits me to the ground. For learners who prefer granular details this might frustrate.
The one learning aid that is present both in Anki and Skritter but not available in Daily Chinese is stroke order of a character. As yet there is no way to add this feature to DC, but I have got around this issue by using Ninchanese and Pleco for stroke order gifs and writing practice respectively. Honestly, if it were added later as a paid-for feature I would buy it just to streamline my learning routine.
Overall: The Daily Chinese app has been an asset on my Mandarin learning journey. The breadth of topics covered means that it is easy to find a vocabulary area you want to improve on and knuckle down to learning those words with no faffing about with finding or collating lists.
If you need bells and whistles, this is not the app for you but if you need help in kickstarting a flashcard habit then its easy interface is going to hook you in and get you learning!
Wild Night In 