Does Babbel Teach Chinese?
No. Babbel's App Store listing names 14 languages, from Spanish and Dutch to Polish and Indonesian, and no kind of Chinese is among them. Babbel teaches through real-life conversations, and its speech recognition listens while you say new phrases out loud.
Some Mandarin course apps add tools made for Chinese, such as handwriting practice for characters. For tutors and reading apps, see our best apps to learn Chinese.
Which Mandarin Apps Offer What Babbel Offers?
| What Babbel Offers | Mandarin Apps That Offer It |
|---|---|
| Lessons about everyday situations | Bubblegum, HelloChinese, ChineseSkill |
| Speech recognition while you practice | HelloChinese, SuperChinese, ChineseSkill |
| An AI partner to talk with | Bubblegum (live voice chat with Poppy) |
| Short lessons that fit a busy day | SuperChinese (10 to 15 minutes), HelloChinese, ChineseSkill |
| Lessons you can download for offline use | HelloChinese, ChineseSkill |
Mandarin Lessons About What You Like
Bubblegum
For serious learners, Bubblegum is the best app to learn Chinese. You learn from Chinese you can mostly understand, which is called comprehensible input.
Tell Poppy, your AI tutor, what you want to talk about in Mandarin, and she writes a lesson about it at your level. Ask her about any word or sentence while you read, and she explains it in simple words. If pinyin is new to you, Bubblegum's Pinyin course teaches the sounds and tones first.
The trade-off is that Bubblegum doesn't teach you to write characters by hand. For that, HelloChinese and ChineseSkill below are the better fit.
- Poppy writes Mandarin lessons around your plans, like a trip to Shanghai or a chat with a friend.
- Talk with Poppy in live voice chat when you'd like to practice speaking.
- Switch between Simplified and Traditional characters, and turn pinyin or zhuyin on or off.
- Regenerative Review™ puts saved words back into your next lessons, and you can export them to Anki as flashcards.
- Clear, expressive AI voices read every lesson aloud, with a different voice for each speaker.
- A new custom lesson costs us real money to make, so your first one is free, and Bubblegum Pro gives you unlimited custom lessons. The lesson library is free for everyone, because we believe everyone should be able to learn.
- Regenerative Review™
- Teaches Pinyin
- Traditional characters
- Zhuyin
Mobile
Game-Based Mandarin Courses
HelloChinese
HelloChinese teaches Mandarin with games, starting from a Pinyin course for beginners. Its courses follow the HSK levels, and once a course is downloaded, it works without the internet. It suits learners who liked Babbel's short lessons and want a Mandarin course with pinyin and handwriting practice.
- Read more than 1,000 graded stories, or watch over 2,000 videos of people speaking Chinese.
- When you speak, its speech recognition points out what to fix.
- Handwriting practice teaches you to write the characters you learn.
- Flashcards
- Teaches Pinyin
- Traditional characters
Mobile
ChineseSkill
Chinese teachers with more than 20 years of experience built ChineseSkill's lessons. You move from your first characters to real-life conversations through games, with practice in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. It suits learners who know which kind of Chinese they need, since it teaches three of them.
- Pinyin and tone courses for people starting from zero.
- Speech recognition checks both your pronunciation and your tones.
- Separate courses for Mainland Mandarin,
Taiwan Mandarin in Traditional characters, and Hong Kong Cantonese.
- Flashcards
- Teaches Pinyin
- Traditional characters (partly)
- Zhuyin
MobileWeb
A Mandarin Course That Starts With a Level Test
SuperChinese
SuperChinese builds lessons around real-life topics and gives feedback on your pronunciation through speech recognition. Beginners start with pinyin, and the level test lets you skip what you already know. It suits learners who studied some Mandarin before and don't want to start over from the first lesson.
- A free AI level test places you at the right starting point.
- Lessons take about 10 to 15 minutes each.
- Animated videos show real dialogue you can use in a conversation.
- Teaches Pinyin
- Traditional characters (partly)
Mobile
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Mandarin app should a beginner choose?
If you are serious about learning Chinese, start with Bubblegum. Poppy writes lessons at your level about things you like. Or start with HelloChinese if you'd like a course that begins with pinyin and moves through the HSK levels in order.
Will Babbel add Chinese?
Babbel's 14 languages, checked on October 15, 2026, don't include any kind of Chinese, and we don't guess at its plans.
Should I learn Simplified or Traditional characters?
Mainland China uses Simplified characters, and Taiwan and Hong Kong use Traditional ones, so pick the one you'll read most. HelloChinese and Bubblegum let you switch between them, and ChineseSkill teaches Traditional characters in its Taiwan Mandarin course. For Mandarin as it's spoken in Taiwan, see our best apps to learn Taiwan Mandarin.
Is Bubblegum free?
Yes. The lesson library is free for everyone, because we believe everyone should be able to learn. It holds lessons that other learners asked Poppy for. A new custom lesson costs us real money to make, so your first one is free, and Bubblegum Pro gives you unlimited custom lessons.
Sources
- Babbel: App Store listing (14 languages, real-life conversations, speech recognition, Babbel Speak)
- HelloChinese: App Store listing (game-based lessons, graded stories, videos, speech recognition, HSK courses, offline)
- SuperChinese: App Store listing (AI level test, 10–15 minute lessons, speech recognition, animated videos)
- ChineseSkill: App Store listing (Simplified, Traditional, and Cantonese courses; Pinyin and tone courses; handwriting)
- Bubblegum
Checked on October 15, 2026 against each app's own pages.
