Xi'an, the capital of Shaanxi, is home to about 12 million people, and its everyday speech is the best-known form of the Guanzhong dialect, a kind of Mandarin. It shares most of its words with Standard Mandarin, but it asks and warns in its own way: 你得是西安人？ checks whether someone is from Xi'an, and 嫑急 tells a friend not to worry. We searched the App Store in English and Chinese and found no app made only for the Xi'an dialect.
Most learners study Standard Mandarin first and pick up Xi'an speech from people, local TV, and short videos. This guide gathers the apps and resources that help, and it says plainly which ones teach Xi'an speech itself. For apps that teach Standard Mandarin, see our Chinese app comparison.
Custom Lessons Made for You
Bubblegum
For serious learners, Bubblegum is the best app to learn Xi'an dialect. You learn from Xi'an dialect you can mostly understand, which is called comprehensible input.
The Xi'an dialect is its own journey in Bubblegum, written in Simplified characters. Tell Poppy, your AI tutor, your level and what you like, and she writes lessons for you in Xi'an speech, from a chat on the metro to a visit to the clinic. Neighbors, shopkeepers, and friends talk the way people in Xi'an do, while a news anchor in a story can still sound standard, just as in real life.
The trade-off is that Bubblegum is not a person to talk with. For conversation with someone from Xi'an, try the tutors and partners in Learn With People From Xi'an.
- Lessons, stories, and news are written in Xi'an speech, not Standard Mandarin with a local word dropped in.
- Nine Xi'an grammar cards explain local forms, such as 咧 at the end of a sentence and 么 in yes-or-no questions.
- Look up a local word like 寻 (to look for) to see what it means.
- Chat with Poppy follows the same Xi'an speech.
- Collect stamps of local places as you learn.
- 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
Xi'an speech and Standard Mandarin share most of their words and grammar, so a Mandarin course helps with both. These two courses teach Standard Mandarin only.
HelloChinese
HelloChinese lays out the Mandarin basics in a fixed order and mixes in speaking drills and character handwriting. It's a good match if you'd rather not plan your own path.
- Lessons follow the HSK levels.
- Speech recognition checks your pronunciation.
- Flashcards
- Teaches Pinyin
- Traditional characters
Mobile
SuperChinese
SuperChinese is a course app where native-speaking teachers write every lesson. You shadow the speaker in a dialogue and then say the lines yourself, and AI explains your mistakes.
- The main course covers HSK 1 to 5 in 8 levels.
- More than 1,000 lessons of about 10 minutes each.
- Teaches Pinyin
- Traditional characters (partly)
Mobile
Learn With People From Xi'an
Talking with people from Xi'an is how many learners pick up the local speech. Tutor and exchange apps list Chinese as one language, so you look for someone from Xi'an yourself.
italki
On italki, read Chinese teachers' profiles for 西安 or Xi'an to find someone from the city. Ask them to bring a few local words to each lesson, or to say a line both ways.
- Some Chinese teachers say in their profiles that they come from Xi'an.
- Get feedback while you speak.
MobileWeb
Preply
Preply works the same way. A tutor from Xi'an can explain a word you heard on a video and tell you who would say it.
- Some Chinese tutors say in their profiles that they come from Xi'an.
- Compare tutors by their profiles and lesson focus.
MobileWeb
HelloTalk
On HelloTalk, the city filter can turn up partners in Xi'an. Send one a short voice note in Mandarin, and ask how they would say the same thing at home.
- Meet Chinese speakers who want to practice your language.
- Paid members can look for partners by city.
Mobile
Look Up Words
Pleco
Most of the words you'll meet in Xi'an speech are ordinary Mandarin, and Pleco explains those well.
- 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
For local words, Wiktionary's Chinese entries have dialect tables, and many of them have a row for Xi'an. The entry for 嫑, for example, lists it as the Xi'an word for "don't".
Read About Xi'an Speech in English
The World of Chinese explains six Shaanxi phrases in its Fangyan Friday article, with words like 么麻达 (no problem) and 谝闲传 (to chat). It spells some words the way they sound online, such as 包 for 嫑, so you will see both spellings. To hear Xi'an speech on TV and in videos, see our Xi'an dialect comprehensible input guide.
Learn the Xi'an Dialect in Your Language
These counts cover menu-language choices, including script variants. Other apps’ counts and full lists come from their iPhone listings. Lesson explanations and other platforms may differ.
| App | Supported Display Languages | Full List |
|---|---|---|
| Bubblegum | 74 | Full list
|
| HelloChinese | 13 | Full list |
| SuperChinese | 16 | Full list |
| italki | 19 | Full list |
| Preply | 19 | Full list |
| HelloTalk | 16 | Full list |
| Pleco | 1 | Full list |
Other Apps We Looked At (3)
- 乡音 - 方言交流分享A Chinese-language app where people share recordings of their home dialects, with a game for guessing which dialect you hear.
- ChinesePod: A Tour of Xi'anAn intermediate Mandarin lesson about getting around Xi'an, from the Terracotta Warriors to the Muslim food street.
- TandemA language exchange app with Chinese partners, for practice through messages, voice notes, and calls.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Xi'an dialect app should a beginner choose?
If you are serious about learning Xi'an dialect, start with Bubblegum. Poppy writes lessons at your level about things you like. Or start with HelloChinese if you want a set course in Standard Mandarin first. Add a tutor from Xi'an on italki when you want someone to correct you.
Should I learn Standard Mandarin first?
Yes, for most learners. People in Xi'an understand Standard Mandarin, and younger people often speak it or a Xi'an-accented version of it. Start with the free Pinyin course if you cannot read pinyin yet.
How different is the Xi'an dialect from Standard Mandarin?
Most words are the same, and the grammar is close. Some everyday words are different, and some are very old: China National Radio's dialect program points out that 咥, Xi'an's word for eating a hearty meal, already appears in the Book of Changes.
How many people speak the Guanzhong dialect?
Wikipedia gives about 22 million speakers, counted in 2012, across the Guanzhong plain of central Shaanxi. Xi'an's speech is treated as its typical form.
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 Chinese lessons on this site are free too, and you can use them without signing up.
Sources
- Statistics China via City Population, Shaanxi (2020 census, Xi'an)
- Guanzhong dialect (Central Plains Mandarin, Xi'an as its typical form, speakers, younger speakers)
- 陕西省志·方言志 (Shaanxi Provincial Gazetteer, 1990), with Xi'an example sentences such as 他得是你的兄弟？
- The World of Chinese, Fangyan Friday #7: The Plains of Shaanxi (2019)
- Wiktionary, 嫑 (dialectal synonyms of 'don't', Xi'an row)
- italki: a Chinese teacher whose profile says she comes from Xi'an, Shaanxi
- Preply: a Chinese tutor whose profile says they come from Xi'an, Shaanxi
- HelloTalk FAQ: Nearby, City, and Gender search are VIP features
- 中国之声《乡音密码》: 陕西话，嫽扎咧！(2024), on 嫽 and 咥 in old Chinese texts
- 乡音 - 方言交流分享 on the App Store (China)
- ChinesePod: A Tour of Xi'an (Intermediate)
- Bubblegum
- HelloChinese
- SuperChinese
- italki
- Preply
- HelloTalk
- Pleco
Checked on October 14, 2026 against each app's own pages.
