🇨🇳 Mandarin Chinese conversation practice
Speak Mandarin out loud — with Lin Wei from Chengdu
Spoken Mandarin practice with a game designer from Chengdu who loves hotpot, sci-fi and mahjong with her aunties. Every sentence comes with pinyin and an English translation.
Free to start · Works in your browser · Captions in 中文 and English
What you’ll talk about
- Food — especially spicy Sichuan food
- Work, games and technology
- Travel around China
- Tea houses, mahjong and family
- Chinese sci-fi and films
The Mandarin Chinese you’ll hear
Standard Mainland Mandarin (Putonghua) in simplified characters, with pinyin captions including tone marks.
Pick your level
Beginner — Lin Wei says one or two short sentences at a time, slowly. Intermediate — natural everyday Mandarin Chinese at a moderate pace. Expert — full native speed, idioms and humor.
Mandarin Chinese phrases to try with Lin Wei
| 你好，很高兴认识你。 | Nǐ hǎo, hěn gāoxìng rènshi nǐ. — Hello, nice to meet you. |
| 你是哪里人？ | Nǐ shì nǎlǐ rén? — Where are you from? |
| 请你说慢一点。 | Qǐng nǐ shuō màn yìdiǎn. — Please speak a little slower. |
| 这个用中文怎么说？ | Zhège yòng Zhōngwén zěnme shuō? — How do you say this in Chinese? |
| 太好吃了！ | Tài hǎochī le! — So delicious! |
Say any of these out loud at the table — Lin Wei will take it from there.
How a conversation works
Turn to Lin Wei
The table rotates and Lin Wei greets you in Mandarin Chinese.
Speak Mandarin Chinese — or English
Answer out loud. Stuck? Switch to English for a moment; Lin Wei keeps replying in Mandarin Chinese.
Read along
Two captions: Lin Wei’s exact words with pinyin, and the English translation.
Mandarin Chinese practice — questions
Will I see pinyin?
Yes. Lin Wei’s speech is captioned in characters with pinyin (tone marks) underneath and a separate English translation, sentence by sentence.
Does it help with tones?
You hear natural pronunciation of every sentence, and you can replay it slowly. The captions show what the mic understood, so you can see when a word didn’t land and try it again.
Do I need to type?
No. Chit-Chat is hands-free: just talk. It hears when you finish speaking, and you can interrupt whoever you’re talking to, just like a real conversation. A text box is there if you prefer to type.
How much does it cost?
Your first 5 minutes of conversation are free, with no card needed. After that, Pro is $25/month to talk as much as you like with everyone at the table, within a daily fair-use limit. Cancel any time.