Learn Chinese from your own texts
Paste an article, a chat, or song lyrics, or photograph a page. TingWo finds the words that are new to you and turns them into a speaking-first vocabulary trainer that brings each word back right before you forget it.
No signup. The app opens right in your browser.
On Android? Get TingWo on Google Play →
我在咖啡店点了一杯拿铁。
TingWo · 聽我 · listen to me
Paste or photograph Chinese, get a vocabulary deck
Capture
Add the Chinese you are already reading. Paste text from anywhere, or photograph a page, a sign, or a screen and TingWo reads the characters out of the image.
Detect
Tell TingWo your HSK level once. It treats words at or below your level as known and highlights only the words likely new to you, color coded right in the original text.
Review
Each word becomes a rich card with meanings, example sentences, native audio, and pinyin or zhuyin. Reviews are scheduled so words come back right before you would forget them.
A Chinese vocabulary app built for speaking
Spoken-first word cards
Up to three core meanings per word, the sentence it came from plus natural colloquial examples, and native-quality audio on demand.
Record and compare
Say the sentence out loud, record yourself, then hear the native version. Speech recognition checks which characters you said correctly, and your recording is discarded immediately, never stored.
Four trainers, not one
Speaking, Listening, Reading, and Writing each keep their own schedule, so you practice saying, hearing, reading, and handwriting every word, not just recognizing it on a flashcard.
Phonetics your way
Pinyin or zhuyin, with tone marks, tone numbers, or tone colors. Simplified or traditional characters everywhere in the app.
Story mode
Play through a Taiwan folk-tale adventure
Ghost Month turns conversation practice into a cozy pixel-art RPG. Walk through temples, homestays, and night markets, talk with folk gods and neighbors in Chinese, collect useful words, and let the story pull you into real dialogue.
- Chinese-only NPC conversations with optional pinyin, zhuyin, and translation reveals.
- Words collected in the game can become review cards.
- A gentle Ghost Month story about Taiwan folk culture, never horror or gore.
Chinese spaced repetition with FSRS, the algorithm behind Anki
TingWo schedules every word with FSRS, the modern spaced repetition algorithm that also powers Anki. Each review lands right before you would forget the word, so ten focused minutes a day beat an hour of cramming.
- Only see what is due. No busywork, no endless deck.
- A daily new-word cap keeps sessions light, even after a big paste.
- Words that keep tripping you up get a simpler, more memorable example sentence automatically.
- Learn a word once and it is known everywhere, with no duplicate drilling across texts.
Free, no signup, private by design
Free to start, free to stay
TingWo is free. Open the app and start learning in one tap; signing in with Google is optional and only there to back up your progress across devices.
Photos are never stored
Pictures you take are used only to extract the text, processed in-request, and never saved.
Recordings are not kept
Speaking-practice audio is checked for which characters you said, then discarded immediately.
Frequently asked questions
Is TingWo a good Anki alternative for learning Chinese?
If you use Anki for Chinese vocabulary, TingWo covers the same spaced repetition core with the FSRS algorithm, but without the deck building. You paste or photograph real Chinese, and the word cards, example sentences, native audio, and phonetics are generated for you, ready to review in Speaking, Listening, Reading, and Writing trainers.
Can I learn Chinese just by pasting text?
Pasting is the starting point, not the whole method. TingWo picks out the words that are likely new to you from whatever you paste, builds rich word cards with audio and example sentences, and then schedules reviews with spaced repetition so the words move into long-term memory.
How much does TingWo cost?
Nothing. TingWo is free to use, and you do not need an account to start. You can sign in later if you want your progress backed up and synced across devices.
Does TingWo work with photos of Chinese text?
Yes. Photograph a book page, a menu, a sign, or a screenshot, and TingWo extracts the Chinese characters from the image. The photo is used only for that extraction and is never stored.
What level of Chinese do I need for TingWo?
Any level works. You choose your HSK level once and TingWo calibrates which words count as new for you. It is most powerful from upper beginner on, when you can start mining real articles, chats, and comics for vocabulary instead of studying generic word lists.
Does TingWo support traditional characters and zhuyin?
Yes. You can switch between simplified and traditional characters, and display pronunciation as pinyin or zhuyin with optional tone colors, so it fits learners aiming at the mainland or Taiwan.
Turn the Chinese you read into Chinese you can speak
Open TingWo in your browser, paste your first text, and review your first words in under a minute.