Hanly

I’ve tried learning Chinese by using other software and apps, and the problem I kept running into is not being able to tell the difference between some of the words. A lot of the words sound the same and have characters that are very similar in appearance, and I kept getting those words confused. I also could not look up any of the Chinese words in the dictionary. I decided it would help if I first learned the parts, or components, of each character but couldn’t find a very productive way of doing that. It was so time consuming. Until I found this app, which breaks down the characters for me. Finally! With this app I can learn to recognize the components of the characters first, then the characters themselves along with the sounds they make, and the meanings. Then I can start putting the words together into sentences (using the reader that is built into the app) and then it will make sense to me. What makes this app so much better is the approach. This gives you the foundation you need to know in order for the words and sentences to make sense later on. I wish I would have started with this app years ago. This will make learning Chinese so much easier!

I’ve been enjoying using this app to review the basic radicals and become more familiar with deciphering unknown characters. I just wanted to note that the other day my younger brother was watching over my shoulder while I was reviewing flashcards and despite having no experience with Chinese he was able to quickly separate character components (eg the various forms of 手 or 水). I think this is a testament to how the app can make learning characters possible - and fun! - even for complete beginners. It should definitely be advertised as a pathway to learning Chinese even for those new to the language because it responds to the reason many learners begin their journey with Chinese - interest in the character system. Something that I think would be neat for future features would be to include lessons or another learning mode on Chinese cursive. Given that the app already integrates bronze script I think this fits with the function of the app. It could be as simple as providing an option in the setting tab to switch to a more handwritten/script style font or as complex as adding another pathway to exploring stroke order.

Having tried to pick up on learning Chinese a few times and with various different learning apps and websites, this is by far the most useful learning tool I have come across. It teaches you how to break down characters’ meanings from the ground up, and assign useful memory tricks to remember a character’s meaning. Even if you don’t follow the little stories or tricks it has for each character, it teaches you to start coming up with your own ways of remembering them and do what works for you. This is a great tool for starting out learning how to read Chinese, since it helps you learn the definitions of each individual character and helps you grow your knowledge exponentially by introducing new characters that consist of the ones you already know. And, it tests you on them at a great pace to make sure you are retaining that knowledge. This app is not designed to get you fluent, nor is it meant for speaking or listening practice, but it is an incredible method for getting you started. Chinese is very hard to start learning because even simple introductory phrases and words are made of complex characters, and you may end up memorizing their sound or pinyin instead of their actual characters. But, Hanly starts you with simple characters first so you can work your way up to words that have simple meanings but are made of complex characters. It is a very satisfying way of learning the language, and it helps you start being able to use other learning tools to their fullest extent since you will have the necessary baseline knowledge to start learning words, phrases, and sentence structure. I can’t recommend it enough!!