More than 30 million people live in Chongqing Municipality, which reaches far beyond the city itself. The city's everyday speech is part of Sichuanese, a branch of Southwestern Mandarin spoken by about 120 million people. In Chongqing, people ask 啷个 for "how" and say 没得 for "there isn't any", where Standard Mandarin says 怎么 and 没有. We found no app on the App Store or Google Play that teaches whole lessons in Chongqing speech apart from Bubblegum. Most people learning it build Standard Mandarin first, then pick up the city's speech from friends, local TV, and short videos.
Below, you'll find what each app and resource is good for, and whether it teaches Chongqing speech at all. Our Chinese app comparison covers Standard Mandarin apps in more depth, and our Chongqing dialect comprehensible input comparison has listening and reading picks.
Custom Lessons Made for You
Bubblegum
For serious learners, Bubblegum is the best app to learn Chongqing dialect. You learn from Chongqing dialect you can mostly understand, which is called comprehensible input.
Chongqing has its own journey in Bubblegum, listed as Chinese (Chongqing). Tell Poppy, your AI tutor, your level and what you like, and she writes lessons for you in the way people in Chongqing talk, from buying buns at a breakfast stall to planning a weekend with friends. Polite speech stays polite: a customer calls the woman at the stall 嬢嬢 (auntie), and agrees with 要得 (OK).
What Bubblegum can't give you is a real person to talk with, or a set course to follow. For conversation with people from Chongqing, the tutors and language partners below can help.
- Lessons, stories, and news are written in everyday Chongqing speech at six levels, in Simplified characters.
- Grammar cards explain local forms such as 迈, 遭, and 倒.
- The dictionary explains local words like 晓得 (to know) and 耍 (to hang out).
- Chat with Poppy, and she answers in Chongqing speech.
- Collect stamps of local places as you learn, from Hongyadong to Ciqikou Old Town.
- 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
Build Your Standard Mandarin
Chongqing speech uses the same characters as Standard Mandarin and shares most of its grammar, so a Mandarin course gives you a strong base. Keep in mind that HelloChinese teaches Standard Mandarin, not Chongqing speech.
HelloChinese
HelloChinese is a step-by-step course made for Chinese, with speaking and handwriting practice. It's a good choice if you'd like an app to decide what comes next while you build the basics.
- Lessons follow the HSK levels.
- A pinyin course helps you start from zero.
- Speech recognition checks your pronunciation.
- More than 1,000 graded stories let you read at your level.
- Flashcards
- Teaches Pinyin
- Traditional characters
Mobile
Look Up Characters
Pleco
Lots of Chinese learners keep Pleco on their phone as their dictionary. Point its camera at a sign or a subtitle when a character stops you, and it shows you the reading and the meaning.
- Look up a word by typing it, drawing it, or pointing your camera at it.
- Paste in any text and tap words to see what they mean.
- Flashcards
- Traditional characters
- Zhuyin
Mobile
Practice With People From Chongqing
Most learners pick up Chongqing speech by talking with people from the city. The services below make it easier to find someone from the city.
italki
On italki, look for a tutor who grew up in Chongqing, and ask for the lesson in Chongqing speech. A tutor can tell you when you sound like a textbook and which local word would fit better.
- Book one-to-one online lessons with a Chinese teacher.
- Practice with a person and get feedback on your speaking.
MobileWeb
Tandem
Each member on Tandem's Chongqing page lists the languages they're learning, so look for someone learning a language you speak. Decide together how much of each chat goes to each language.
- Tandem has a page that lists language partners who live in Chongqing.
- Practice through messages, voice notes, and calls.
- You arrange practice with a partner; it is not a guided course.
MobileWeb
HelloTalk
HelloTalk's city search, a VIP feature, helps you find someone from Chongqing. Ask your partner to write the way they talk, so you see local words like 楞个 (so, like this) in real messages.
- Meet Chinese speakers who want to practice your language.
- Paid members can look for partners by city.
Mobile
Which Apps Teach Chongqing Speech?
Bubblegum is the only app here with lessons written in Chongqing speech. The rest give you a Mandarin base, a dictionary, or a way to meet people.
| App | Lessons in Chongqing Speech | What It Helps With |
|---|---|---|
| Bubblegum | Yes | Reading and listening at your level |
| HelloChinese | No, Standard Mandarin | A step-by-step Mandarin course |
| Pleco | No, a dictionary | Looking up characters |
| italki | With a tutor from Chongqing | Speaking with feedback |
| Tandem | With a partner from Chongqing | Conversation practice |
| HelloTalk | With a partner from Chongqing | Messages and voice notes |
Watch Short Lessons on YouTube
A few free videos explain Chongqing speech in English. Serena's Mandarin Classroom teaches a handful of everyday Chongqing expressions, from greeting a stranger to asking a price. Chinese with Dani brings together friends from Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, and Yunnan, and each one shows how home speech colors their Mandarin.
For Advanced Learners, in Chinese
Once you can follow Chinese explanations, the channel 乱谈时刻 has a 重庆话教学 series that explains local words one video at a time. For longer listening, the comedy film Crazy Stone (疯狂的石头, 2006) is spoken in a mix of Chinese varieties, with a lot of Chongqing dialect. Chongqing TV's 雾都夜话, which began in 1994, tells local family stories in Chongqing speech, with ordinary residents as its actors.
Other Apps We Looked At (4)
- Sichuanese - Chinese DialectA small iPhone app of basic everyday Sichuanese words, with recorded voices and English meanings.
- 方言通 - 传承乡音A Chinese-language app with common phrases in dozens of Chinese dialects, including Sichuanese, recorded by local people, plus short audio courses.
- 四川话翻译A new Chinese-language tool that turns Standard Mandarin text into Sichuan and Chongqing speech with audio, plus a dictionary of local words with example sentences.
- 乡音 - 方言交流分享A Chinese-language community where people share recordings of their home dialects, including Sichuanese, and play a guess-the-dialect game.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Chongqing dialect app should a beginner choose?
If you are serious about learning Chongqing dialect, start with Bubblegum. Poppy writes lessons at your level about things you like. If you'd like a Standard Mandarin course that takes you step by step first, HelloChinese is the other good starting point.
Should I learn Standard Mandarin first?
Yes, for most learners. Chongqing speech uses the same Simplified characters, and most people in the city understand Standard Mandarin as well. The free Pinyin course on this site teaches the Standard Mandarin sounds and tones that most courses start from.
Is the Chongqing dialect the same as Sichuanese?
It is one of the main kinds of Sichuanese. Chongqing was part of Sichuan Province until 1997, and its speech sits in the same Chengdu–Chongqing group as Chengdu's. The two sound different to local ears, but their sound systems differ in only two main ways, according to Chinese Wikipedia's article on 重庆话.
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.
The Pinyin course and the Mandarin lessons on this site are also free and need no account.
Sources
- National Bureau of Statistics of China: Communiqué of the Seventh National Population Census (No. 3), population by province
- Wikipedia: Chongqing (a municipality with a large rural population, separated from Sichuan in 1997)
- Wikipedia: Sichuanese dialects (a branch of Southwestern Mandarin spoken by about 120 million people)
- Chinese Wikipedia: 重庆话 (the Chengdu–Chongqing group, and how Chongqing and Chengdu speech differ)
- italki: Chinese teachers
- Tandem: Language partners in Chongqing
- HelloTalk: City search is a VIP feature
- Serena's Mandarin Classroom: Useful Chongqing expressions
- Chinese with Dani: How Southwestern Dialects Influence Mandarin Chinese
- 乱谈时刻: 重庆话教学之入门篇
- Wikipedia: Crazy Stone (spoken in Chongqing and Henan dialects)
- Chinese Wikipedia: 雾都夜话 (Chongqing TV's dialect drama, on air since 1994)
- Sichuanese - Chinese Dialect on the App Store
- 方言通 - 传承乡音 on the App Store
- 四川话翻译 on the App Store
- 乡音 - 方言交流分享 on the App Store
- Bubblegum
- HelloChinese
- Pleco
- Tandem
- HelloTalk
Checked on October 14, 2026 against each app's own pages.
