A good listening app lets you hear a line, read what was said, and hear it again. Apps differ in who recorded the audio, when you see the text, how you replay a sentence, and whether you can listen offline. This page compares those parts for Mandarin. For all the ways to learn, see our Chinese apps comparison, and for reading, see our Chinese reading apps comparison.
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, your level and what you like, and she writes your Mandarin lessons. If a sentence is hard to follow, ask Poppy to explain it.
With Regenerative Review™, words you save show up again in new lessons, so you review them in new contexts without flashcards.
- Every Mandarin lesson has read-aloud audio, and the lesson text is the transcript.
- Ask Poppy to explain any sentence you heard but did not follow.
- Clear, expressive AI voices read every lesson aloud, with a different voice for each speaker.
- Learn every letter and its sound in the free Chinese Pinyin course.
- The audio is made by the read-aloud voices, and Bubblegum plays no shows or videos.
- Custom lessons cost us money to make, so you need Bubblegum Pro for unlimited custom lessons. Lessons Poppy wrote for other learners are free for everyone to read.
- Regenerative Review™
- Teaches Pinyin
- Traditional characters
- Zhuyin
Mobile
Du Chinese
Du Chinese has graded Mandarin readings, each with sentence translations. Some lessons are free, and Premium adds the audiobook mode.
- Native speakers record the stories, which are written and translated by language experts.
- Tap any word in the text to start the audio from that point, and set the speed from 0.5× to 1.5×.
- Flashcards
- Traditional characters
- Zhuyin
MobileWeb
The Chairman's Bao
The Chairman's Bao writes graded Chinese news articles, each with exercises. Pick the level closest to what you can follow when you listen.
- Human-recorded news articles at a speed that fits your level.
- The iPhone app has an offline study mode.
- Flashcards
- Traditional characters
MobileWeb
LingQ
LingQ has a Mandarin library and also lets you import your own text and audio. The free plan keeps 20 saved words and 5 imported lessons.
- Sentence Mode plays the current sentence of a lesson and lets you change the audio speed.
- Premium adds offline access.
- Flashcards
- Traditional characters
- No Zhuyin
MobileWeb
Other Apps We Looked At (2)
- SpeechlingA free Mandarin listening tool with recordings of whole sentences, English translations, and a half-speed button. You can choose a male or a female voice.
- ChinesePodTeachers discuss real dialogues, and you can replay the audio line by line. The free plan plays ads before each lesson, and Premium includes downloads.
| App | Audio From | Transcript | Replay and Speed | Offline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bubblegum | The read-aloud voices | The lesson text | – | – |
| Du Chinese | Native speakers | Text with sentence translations | Tap a word to start there, 0.5× to 1.5× | Premium |
| The Chairman's Bao | Human recordings | Graded article text | Adjustable audio speed | Offline study mode in the iPhone app |
| LingQ | Recordings, or computer speech if none | The lesson text, one sentence at a time | Sentence replay and adjustable speed in Premium | Premium |
| Speechling | Recorded sentences | Sentence with English translation | Replay button and half speed | – |
| ChinesePod | Teachers and hosts | Dialogue with English | Line by line | Premium downloads |
A dash means the app does not list that feature.
Which Mandarin listening app should a beginner choose?
If you are serious about learning Chinese, start with Bubblegum. Poppy, your AI tutor, writes lessons at your level about things you like. To hear stories with audio early, add Du Chinese, which has free basic lessons and lets you tap a word to hear from that point.
Which app lets me hear a single sentence again?
LingQ's Sentence Mode plays one sentence at a time, and Speechling has a replay button and a half-speed button. ChinesePod replays its dialogues line by line.
Who records the Mandarin audio?
Du Chinese uses native voice actors in China who must speak Standard Mandarin, and The Chairman's Bao uses human recordings. ChinesePod has teachers and hosts, and Speechling lets you choose between a male and a female voice. Bubblegum's audio comes from the read-aloud voices.
Is Bubblegum free?
Yes. Lessons Poppy wrote for other learners are free for everyone to read. Custom lessons cost us money to make, so you need Bubblegum Pro for unlimited custom lessons.
Sources
- Du Chinese: welcome and how to use it
- Du Chinese: pricing
- The Chairman's Bao: plans
- LingQ: Learn Chinese
- LingQ: Sentence Mode guide
- LingQ: Free vs Premium
- Du Chinese: the Du Chinese method (recordings)
- LingQ: speed control in sentence view
- Speechling: Chinese listening practice
- ChinesePod
- Bubblegum
- Du Chinese
- The Chairman's Bao
- LingQ
