For Kunming speech you can mostly follow, Bubblegum is the only app we found that writes lessons in it, at your level. Graded Standard Mandarin stories in Du Chinese and The Chairman's Bao build your reading, and Pleco helps with any Chinese text you find. Free videos from Kunming give you the sound of the city. Reading and listening to things you mostly follow is what comprehensible input means.
A good place to start is about one unfamiliar word in each sentence, while you can still follow what's happening. Beginners do best with short, simple sentences, and later on, longer passages give you more context to work out a new word. For a step-by-step course and people to talk with, see our Kunming dialect app comparison.
Custom Lessons Made for You
Bubblegum
For serious learners, Bubblegum is the best app to learn Kunming dialect. You learn from Kunming dialect you can mostly understand, which is called comprehensible input.
Bubblegum gives you Kunming speech that fits what you already know. Tell Poppy, your AI tutor, what you'd like to read about, such as a new job or a weekend at home, and she writes a lesson for your level. At first you meet short questions like 你在整哪样？ ("What are you doing?"). Later, lines such as 你帮我给灯关掉嘛。 ("Turn off the light for me.") use 给 the way 把 works in Standard Mandarin.
The trade-off is that Bubblegum can't open a video or an article you found yourself. For Chinese text you picked, use Pleco's reader, and for Kunming videos, listen on YouTube.
- Read and listen to lessons written in Kunming speech for your level and interests.
- Stories and news give you more Kunming speech about the things you care about.
- Ask Poppy about a line, and she explains it in a way that fits your level.
- Grammar cards explain local forms, such as 给 before the object.
- Regenerative Review™ brings saved words back in new lessons, so you review them by reading instead of using flashcards.
- Clear, expressive AI voices read every lesson aloud, with a different voice for each speaker.
- You cannot import your own books, articles, or videos.
- 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
Read Standard Mandarin Stories at Your Level
Kunming speech shares most of its grammar with Standard Mandarin, according to Chinese Wikipedia, so graded Mandarin stories build the reading you'll use in Kunming too. Both apps below are in Standard Mandarin only.
Du Chinese
Du Chinese has graded stories with pinyin, translations, and grammar notes. Pick a story about an everyday topic, read it with the audio, and then read it once more without the translation.
- Over 3,000 readings are sorted into six levels.
- Voice actors read each story.
- See the translation of each sentence.
- Grammar notes explain the patterns.
- Flashcards
- Traditional characters
- Zhuyin
MobileWeb
The Chairman's Bao
The Chairman's Bao turns the news into short lessons at six levels, with grammar notes and a pop-up dictionary. It suits learners who like reading about what's happening in China.
- News stories are written for learners at six levels.
- People record the audio.
- Translate a whole lesson or one sentence at a time.
- Flashcards
- Traditional characters
MobileWeb
Read Chinese You Choose
Pleco
Pleco's reader lets you paste in Chinese you found and tap any word. Try it on 昆明范儿's Chinese-language guide to Kunming speech, which explains common local words with a short sample chat. Check each local word against the guide's own explanation.
- Paste in any text and tap words to see what they mean.
- Look up a word by typing it, drawing it, or pointing your camera at it.
- Flashcards
- Traditional characters
- Zhuyin
Mobile
Hear People From Kunming
Kunming has four tones like Standard Mandarin, but they sound different. The World of Chinese notes, for example, that the third tone often comes out as the fourth. That's why listening matters from the start.
The ILoveLanguages! channel's short video of a Kunming speaker runs about six minutes, which is a good length to replay. A five-minute set of old Kunming children's rhymes is short and repetitive, so you can hear the same words come back. Once you can follow longer Chinese, the half-hour 封面 episode from Yunnan's provincial broadcaster, 云南老昆明话大汇总, is full of old Kunming expressions. For the top levels, try a reading of Yu Jian's poem 尚义街六号 in Kunming speech.
Which Apps Give You Kunming Speech?
| App | Kunming Speech | What You Read or Hear |
|---|---|---|
| Bubblegum | Yes, in every lesson | Lessons, stories, and news at your level |
| Du Chinese | No, Standard Mandarin | Graded stories with audio |
| The Chairman's Bao | No, Standard Mandarin | Graded news with audio |
| Pleco | Any text you paste in | Chinese you find yourself |
Learn the Kunming Dialect in Your Language
These counts cover menu-language choices, including script variants. Other apps' counts and full lists come from their iPhone listings in the United States.
| App | Supported Display Languages | Full List |
|---|---|---|
| Bubblegum | 74 | Full list
|
| Du Chinese | 1 | Full list |
| The Chairman's Bao | 1 | Full list |
| Pleco | 1 | Full list |
Other Apps We Looked At (4)
- maayotA short Standard Mandarin lesson each day at your level, built around a story with native audio.
- HelloChineseA Standard Mandarin course with more than 1,000 graded stories to read beside the lessons.
- RADII: Learn Slang in Kunming DialectA video of less than a minute with a few Kunming slang words.
- Wiktionary dialect tablesMany Chinese entries list the word used in each dialect. The entry for 什麼 (what) gives Kunming's 哪樣, written in Traditional characters.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Kunming dialect app should a beginner choose?
If you are serious about learning Kunming dialect, start with Bubblegum. Poppy writes lessons at your level about things you like. Or start with Du Chinese if you want graded Standard Mandarin stories first, read by voice actors.
How do people write Kunming speech?
There's no single spelling. Locals often type the question word as 给, and 昆明范儿's guide writes 去 as 克 to show how it sounds. Bubblegum writes 格 for the question word and keeps 去 and 的, so the audio carries the Kunming sound and the text stays easy to look up.
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
- Chinese Wikipedia: 昆明话 (four tones; grammar mostly shared with Standard Mandarin)
- The World of Chinese: The hybrid Ming court dialect of Kunming (sounds, tones, and 整哪样)
- Du Chinese: The Du Chinese method (audio recorded in China)
- Du Chinese: Pricing
- The Chairman's Bao: Plans
- Pleco Chinese Dictionary on the App Store
- 云南广播电视台《封面》: 云南老昆明话大汇总 (YouTube, 2022)
- ILoveLanguages!: Kunming Dialect (YouTube, 2024)
- 老昆明童谣合辑 (YouTube, 2021)
- 昆明人于坚《尚义街六号》, read in Kunming speech (YouTube, 2020)
- 昆明范儿: 教学干货——如何系统学习昆明话 (Sohu, 2017)
- Wiktionary: 什麼, with a table of dialect words including Kunming
- Bubblegum
- Du Chinese
- The Chairman's Bao
Checked on October 14, 2026 against each app's own pages.
