How to Memorize Chinese Characters | 7 Apps and Websites That Can Help

Want to know how to memorize Chinese characters? Here are the 7 best Mandarin learning games and platforms that can enhance your Mandarin language skills and aid you in remembering stroke order.

It’s no secret that many students find themselves struggling to learn Mandarin because of the lack of an alphabet. Memorising the thousands and thousands of unfamiliar characters out there can seem impossible, and can leave some feeling like their Mandarin language skills may never progress. But we’re here to tell you that you’re wrong!

Countless years of working with the Mandarin language has allowed us to uncover numerous tips and tricks to memorising Chinese characters. And as big fans of getting a little extra help, our team of linguists have tried-and-tested just about every Mandarin platform and resource out there (seriously, test us) – but before we share our 7 favourite apps and websites to help memorize Chinese characters, we thought we’d share with you some of the neat little memorisation tricks we’ve picked up over the years.

Read on as we divulge the 3 golden rules to memorizing Chinese characters, as well as our top Mandarin learning games and apps that can help either you or your children confidently develop a Chinese memorisation system that works.

How to memorize Chinese characters

Learning Mandarin is difficult but with the right tools and mindset, fluency could be just around the corner! Here are 3 golden rules to memorizing Chinese characters that our team of language lovers swear by.

1. Focus on the components

Instead of focusing on radicals, focus on the components of the characters. By using this method, you will quickly find that – for the most part – there is a consistent pattern, making the memorisation of Chinese characters just that little bit easier. For example the character ”说“ which means “to say” and the character“话” which means “speech” both have the common factor of “讠” which means “words”. So by breaking down these characters into their components, the end result makes a lot more sense, and can stop you from accidentally making a mistake when writing them out.

2. Read Mandarin books

One of the best methods for improving your Mandarin language skills is by reading Mandarin books. Not only is it a highly effective language learning tool but one that’s also highly enjoyable. Now, this doesn’t mean that you have to read a lofty and intimidating piece of Chinese literature (unless of course that’s your thing, which hats off to you!). Instead, why not try reading books that are written in dual language, that way you can compare the English and Chinese translations side-by-side. A favourite trick for more advanced learners is to find the translated version of your favourite English book in Chinese (here’s our personal favourite, for any fellow Potterheads). After you’re feeling more confident begin reading books with characters and pinyin. Some tips:

Some tips for learning Mandarin by reading:

• Start with Children’s books
• Keep a dictionary at hand
• Take notes
• Choose texts that you enjoy and that cover topics you already find interesting
• Read parallel texts
• Read while listening to the audiobook
• Read the same text multiple times
• Make the most of online tools

Feeling confident with your memorisation of Chinese characters? Test your skills with one of these Beginner and Intermediate Chinese books! 

3. Test yourself with flashcards

The final Golden rule is to constantly test yourself. Flashcards are fantastic tools for reinforcing words and concepts and have been scientifically-proven to help with language learning. While there are plenty of digital flashcards on the market to help your hone your Mandarin language skills, you can also create your very own flashcards by jotting down the English and Pinyin on one side and the Mandarin characters on the other. With a little effort and a lot of repetition, you’ll be confidently recognizing Mandarin characters in no time.

Now that you know the 3 golden rules, here are the 7 best Mandarin apps and platforms that you can use in tandem to those rules to further enhance your Mandarin Language skills.

7 apps and websites to help memorise Chinese characters

Skritter

Looking to perfect your Mandarin writing capabilities? Consider Skritter. Its whole interface is based around helping users nail that all important stroke order and revise their Chinese vocabulary. Featuring smart flashcards, character recognition, stroke order enforcement  and real-time feedback, Skritter has lessons for every situation imaginable, allowing their users to learn situation-specific vocabulary such as ordering coffee, kitchen appliances and even office equipment from the comfort of their own homes. While Skritter is a premium service, readers will be pleased to know that they can access a limited version of the famed app for free here. Take advantage of the 7-day free trial they have on offer and try it out for yourself! We know you won’t be disappointed.

Platforms available: IOS & Android

Price: Monthly subscription USD$15

Chinese Writer

Not only is this Mandarin learning game entertaining and highly interactive but it’s also proven to help learners vastly improve their Chinese reading, listening, writing and speaking skills! The Chinese Writer game comes with over 100 different packs of Mandarin vocabulary, as well as characters based on stroke number. With a reasonably-priced in-app purchase, you can customize your very own vocabulary packs and have access to a wider range of characters, allowing you to efficiently prepare for that all important exam or specific real-life situation you previously didn’t have the lexicon for. This Mandarin learning game is suitable for all ages as the packs range in difficulty and so do the game modes. With a focus on brush strokes and Chinese writing, Chinese Writer even has game modes that will specifically help you memorize Chinese characters in a fun and engaging way, making it a great option for kids.

Platforms available: IOS & Android

Price: Free, all additional characters – USD$7

Lingbe

Need a little extra support? Lingbe’s platform helps users practice a language with a native speaker via voice call or chat. Connecting speakers and learners based on their personal interests, Lingbe is fast, low cost (you watch ads in return for credits) and anonymous – so fellow introverts needn’t panic! Users are able chat to native speakers within a minute of dialing, making it easy to practice your desired language on the go. Aside from the clear benefits of getting real-time feedback on everything from your grammar to pronunciation from a native speaker, the chat function is also worth mentioning as it can aid you in becoming more confident in associating the pinyin to the Chinese characters. So if you want to fully immerse yourself in the Mandarin language (and speaking to strangers doesn’t totally turn your stomach), then consider this instant language exchange app.

Platforms available: IOS & Android 

Price: Free, Lingbe pro – USD$92 annually

Mandarin Matrix

With so much to offer from unique Mandarin learning games to its wide range of illustrated ebooks, Mandarin Matrix is an excellent platform to use if you find yourself struggling to memorize Mandarin characters. There are numerous functions on the Mandarin Matrix website that can help you progress in your Mandarin learning journey. There’s the handwriting recognition system which helps users learn the correct stroke order, a parent portal so that mums and dads can easily track and monitor their child’s Mandarin proficiency progress, and the new audio analysis feature which allows users to practice their speaking and get immediate feedback on what aspects they need to improve. Best suited to children learning Mandarin as a foreign language, Mandarin Matrix is is a pedagogically sound, turnkey Mandarin learning solution that uses the principle of spiraled learning to support students in achieving proficiency in listening, speaking, reading and writing.

Platforms Available: Mandarin Matrix Website

Price: 3 month subscription USD$30, Annual subscription USD$99

Duolingo

One of the most well-known language apps out there is Duolingo. Boasting over 500 million total users, this high quality app can help you level up your Mandarin language skills via a variety of lessons that use listening exercises, flashcards, and multiple choice questions. Each lesson focuses on a specific topic, with the exercises getting harder as your climb up the different levels. For those having trouble memorizing Chinese grammar and sentence structure, Duolingo has numerous exercises which involve putting Mandarin characters into the correct grammar structure. The app’s speaking feature enables users to practice their Mandarin verbal skills without embarrassment or fear as it relies on AI voice recognition, rather than real people. However, users should note that have been some quibbles over the lack of pinyin on the app, which can making learning Chinese characters a lot harder – especially for those who like to learn new languages via a phonetic system.

Platforms available: IOS & Android

Price: Free, Duolingo Pro USD$6.99/month

HelloChinese

Looking for an app that covers all aspects of the Mandarin language? Then HelloChinese should definitely be on your radar. Self-described as a learning app for total beginners, HelloChinese features game-based exercises on everything from sentence structure and listening comprehension to reading and speaking. It is the perfect application for users studying HSK level 1-6 or even beginners with no Mandarin knowledge. HelloChinese strives to make the Chinese learning experience informative, engaging and enjoyable. Displayed as a Mandarin learning game where users get lives, HelloChinese is able to specifically focus on vocabulary that troubles users and ensure mistakes aren’t repeated. Due to this feature, users find themselves easily memorizing Mandarin characters and improving their Mandarin language skills as a whole. Despite HelloChinese offering a wide range of lessons for learners at different levels, we would recommend this app for those ranging from beginner to intermediate as people more advanced in the Mandarin language may not feel challenged.

Platforms available: IOS & Android

Price: Free, HelloChinese premium USD$9/month, HelloChinese premium+ USD$20/month

ChineseSkill

Applications with specialized curriculums are extremely hard to find. Luckily for us, ChineseSkill has a full team of teachers with degrees in teaching Chinese as a second language to help form their curriculum. ChineseSkill supplies their users with HD recordings of native speakers, allowing students to practice their conversational and listening comprehension skills. All of the lessons supplied are short and bite-sized making it easy to do revision on the move. On top of that, ChineseSkill deliberately doesn’t overwhelm their users with too much new information at once, instead each lesson is focused on a very specific topic to ensure that learners truly understand and remember all the targeted vocabulary. Making the experience of memorising Chinese characters easy and enjoyable via their various character drills, ChineseSkill is a good app for those who want an introduction to Mandarin but don’t really know where to start. However, we wouldn’t recommend this app to people who are already experienced in the Mandarin language as it has a fairly limited number of characters.

Platform available: IOS & Android

Price: Free, Chineseskill premium USD$13/month

These Mandarin learning games and websites will be your best friend when it comes to increasing your Mandarin language skills. Certainly, learning Chinese can be a daunting task, but with these platforms your learning journey will soon transform into a fun and interactive one!

Feature image courtesy of Shutterstock, Photo 1 courtesy of Skritter, Photo 2 courtesy of Train Chinese, Photo 3 courtesy of Lingbe, Photo 4 courtesy of Mandarin Matrix, Photo 5 courtesy of Duolingo, Photo 6 courtesy of HelloChinese, Photo 7 courtesy of Chineseskill