How to Learn Chinese with ChatGPT

Mandarin is written two ways. Mainland China uses Simplified characters, and Taiwan uses Traditional ones, so 学习 in one is 學習 in the other. Some everyday words differ too: a taxi is 出租车 in Beijing and 計程車 in Taipei. Tell ChatGPT which Mandarin you're learning, so it doesn't switch between the two.

Which ChatGPT Prompts Work for Chinese?

Read with Pinyin or Zhuyin

Ask for the reading of each new word, with its tone, so you learn the sound with the characters.

Ask About Measure Words

In Mandarin, a number needs a measure word before the noun, like 一杯咖啡 for one cup of coffee. Ask about the ones in your sentence.

Order Bubble Tea

At a drink shop, you choose a size, how sweet, and how much ice, so it's a good first role-play.

To quiz yourself on what you learned, turn on study mode, which OpenAI says works on every ChatGPT plan. Its help page says you can ask it to quiz you one question at a time and wait for your answer, which suits measure words.

Get Your Characters Checked

Ask ChatGPT to look for words that sound the same but use different characters, an easy mistake when you type with pinyin or zhuyin.

For a quiz on a text you chose, see how to learn a language with AI.

How Do You Check ChatGPT's Chinese?

Check the characters, the tone, and the meaning of each new word. OpenAI's help page suggests using ChatGPT "as a first draft, not a final source."

• 📖Use MDBGMDBG is a free Chinese-English dictionary built on the CC-CEDICT word list. You can switch its menus between Simplified and Traditional characters.
• 🇹🇼Check Taiwan WordsFor Traditional characters and Taiwan readings, Taiwan's Ministry of Education runs a free Mandarin dictionary with a zhuyin index.
• 🎵Listen for the TonesHave ChatGPT Voice say a word, then compare the tone you hear with the tone mark in MDBG.
• 🔤Check the CharactersIf ChatGPT gives you a word in Simplified characters when you asked for Traditional, ask it to rewrite the whole text, then check the new word in a dictionary.

Where Does Bubblegum Fit?

Bubblegum is a language app with Mandarin lessons for mainland China and for Taiwan. Taiwan Mandarin lessons use Traditional characters and Taiwan words, and you can show zhuyin or pinyin above them.

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.

Poppy, your AI tutor, writes each Mandarin lesson about a topic you choose, at your level.

• Show pinyin or zhuyin above the characters, or hide them.
• Practice ordering bubble tea out loud with Poppy in live voice chat.
• Send Poppy a photo of a menu, and she explains each line.
• Clear, expressive AI voices read every lesson aloud, with a different voice for each speaker.

• You can't import a web novel or a book to read in Bubblegum.
• 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

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Frequently Asked Questions