In an effort to clean up my site and make it more useful, this is a mega-compilation of all the Chinese apps I wrote about over the years. It is woefully out of date so YMMV. I would edit and make it prettier and more cohesive, but honestly, I don’t want to.
You’ll find that I’m always like this. Sorrynotsorry.
Part of the bilingual journey is to also teach our children how to write Chinese. You would think that if you can read, you should be able to write. But surprisingly, that is not the case. I can read far more characters than I can personally hand write (without the benefit of cheating on the iPhone international keyboard).
I’m not sure why that is the case, but it is. Mostly because reading just requires memorizing what the character looks like, but writing requires reproducing the character. And that is really A LOT HARDER. The best I can explain is that you can look at the Mona Lisa and recognize it immediately, but you likely cannot reproduce the Mona Lisa (as a painting or drawing) with any sort of accuracy. And since Chinese characters are basically codified pictures and symbols, it taps into that same root problem.
On top of that, you can’t just write Chinese characters any old way, like drawing some random picture. There is an order to the strokes (they even have separate names for the types of strokes!) and a proper way to write characters. I mean, I have a general idea of how to write them in the right stroke order (thanks to twelve years of Chinese school, you kinda get the gist of how characters are written), but truly, I am not the authority and would rather my kids not turn to me as their resource.
Thankfully, there are many apps to help with this problem!
Today’s featured app is TrainChinese Writer.
My son, Cookie Monster, LOVES the Train Chinese Writing app. He loves to practice his stroke order and beat the clock. The main thing I don’t particularly like about this app is since Cookie Monster is 5, he can’t read the pinyin so when he comes across characters he can’t read, he doesn’t learn the actual word. He can sure write it in the correct stroke order, though! (I bought the $9.99 full version for iOS after a few months because Cookie Monster got bored with the free 50 characters and wanted more.)
I believe you can also create your own word list as well as add what words you want to practice, however, I haven’t tried that because I am lazy and don’t particularly care. If you have, let me know in the comments!
Train Chinese – Mostly makes flash cards to help you learn Chinese.
Site Language: English
Physical Location: No
Type: iOS, android
Products: flash cards
Product Languages: Traditional, Simplified, English, pinyin
TrainChinese Writer
Category: Games
Updated: Sep 16, 2013
Version: 2.5
Size: 16.8 MB
Languages: English, Russian, Spanish
Seller: Molatra Limited© 2011 Molatra Limited
Rated: 4+
Compatibility: Requires iOS 5.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.
Notes: In app purchases of additional word packets for $9.99 each.
Here are a few apps for learning Chinese:
2Kids学汉字 (2 Kids Learn Chinese) – Looks like a bunch of games, stories, and activities for learning Chinese characters.
Category: Education
Updated: May 31, 2014
Version: 4.0
Size: 869 MB
Languages: English, Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese
Seller: Sheng Yi Information Technology (Shanghai) Co. Ltd© Sheng Yi Information Technology (Shanghai) Co. Ltd
Rated: 4+
Made for: Ages 5 and Under
Cost: Several In-App purchases of $1.99
Compatibility: Requires iOS 4.3 or later. Compatible with iPad. ETA 5/2/15: Seems to crash on iPhone 6 a lot with no plans to update since it’s been almost year.
Notes: Descriptions are all in Simplified.
哈利学前班：四五快读学汉字（1~7册) – The idea is that 10 minutes a day will teach the kids how to read 1,000 characters with almost 4,000 words. Uses games, textbooks, stories, and more.
Category: Education
Updated: Nov 09, 2014
Version: 2.3
Size: 56.3 MB
Languages: English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese
Seller: Rosy Zhang© CheerZ Kids! 版权所有
Rated: 4+
Made for: Ages 5 and Under
Cost: In-App purchases of $3.99
Compatibility: Requires iOS 6.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Not compatible with iPad Air 2. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.
Notes: Descriptions are all in Simplified.
Learn Chinese characters 宝宝识字（巧宝1) – Learn 1,200 characters, stroke order, through games, flash cards.
Category: Education
Updated: Feb 04, 2015
Version: 3.5
Size: 165MB
Language: English, Simplified
Seller: Three QQQ三巧学习© Three QQQ Studio 2011~2015
Rated: 4+
Compatibility: Requires iOS 6.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.
Here are a few more Chinese apps:
LinguPinguin FREE – English Chinese – The app has several scenarios (eg: toys, farm, body) and you click on different parts of the pictures and the app will say the item in either Chinese or English. All three of my children have enjoyed this app (but it is definitely geared more towards the 2 years old range). The animation is cute and fun. The Chinese used is more indicative of Mainland China vs Taiwan.
Category: Games
Updated: Dec 12, 2013
Version: 3.4
Size: 21.5 MB
Languages: English, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Swedish, Traditional Chinese, Turkish
Seller: Elevision GmbH© Elevision GmbH
Rated: 4+
Made for: Ages 5 and Under
Compatibility: Requires iOS 4.3 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.
Notes: Paid version is $1.99 and 42.6MB, last updated Nov 12, 2013
Chinese Flashcards (Mandarin & Cantonese) – This app contains over 400 commonly used Chinese words in both Mandarin and Cantonese (as well as 2nd Language support in English). Includes colors, numbers, food, drink, and animals. Illustrated and voiced by professional Chinese voice actor. The main complaint is that the spoken Cantonese is not correct.
Category: Education
Updated: Oct 18, 2012
Version: 1.1
Size: 155 MB
Languages: English, Arabic, Avestan, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Northern Sami, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Traditional Chinese, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese
Seller: INKids Pty. Ltd.© INKIDS PTY LTD
Rated: 4+
Compatibility: Requires iOS 5.0 or later. Compatible with iPad
Notes: Upgrade to full version for $0.99. The main complaint is that the spoken Cantonese is just a direct translation of Mandarin – and not how a Cantonese person would actually say it.
Chungaboo Language Series – Flash cards, games, and ebooks in multiple languages.
Category: Education
Updated: Nov 27, 2012
Version: 1.6
Size: 92.3 MB
Language: English, Chinese
Seller: Chungaboo LLC
© 2012 Chungaboo LLC
Rated 4+
Compatibility: Requires iOS 5.1 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.
Notes: Can upgrade for Travel $0.99 and Animals $0.99
Here are a bunch of apps made by Taiwan Knowledge Base Co.
This company whose site, Hua Yu School, we’ve featured before. For your convenience, I have have linked to ALL of the apps made by Taiwan Knowledge Base here. Below are a few that I found most interesting based on their descriptions alone.
Art of Chinese Characters – A unique way of learning Chinese characters: find characters in a picture; learn the character, meaning, and stroke order; practice and review.
Category: Education
Updated: Oct 04, 2014
Version: 1.5
Size: 140 MB
Language: English, Simplified, Traditional
Seller: Taiwan Knowledge Bank Co., Ltd.© 2012 Taiwan Knowledge Bank Co., Ltd. & Hanziface Culture Enterprise Co., Ltd.
Rated: 4+
Compatibility: Requires iOS 7.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.
Note: Multiple In-App purchases for $1.99
Ricki & Jacky – Fun and engaging games for children to play and learn Chinese.
Category: Education
Updated: Jul 07, 2012
Version: 1.1
Size: 39.1 MB
Language: English, Traditional, Simplified, pinyin
Seller: Taiwan Knowledge Bank Co., Ltd.© 2012 Taiwan Knowledge Bank Co., Ltd.
Rated: 4+
Compatibility: Requires iOS 4.2 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
Chinese Wonderland Level 1 (Traditional Chinese) – Exclusively designed for kids learning Chinese as a second language. Has 8 lessons that teach basic conversation, vocabulary, and sentences.
Cost: $2.99
Category: Education
Updated: Sep 26, 2013
Version: 1.3
Size: 40.9 MB
Language: English, Traditional, pinyin
Seller: Taiwan Knowledge Bank Co., Ltd. © 2012 Taiwan Knowledge Bank Co., Ltd.
Rated: 4+
Compatibility: Requires iOS 5.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.
