Learn Chinese for Your Grandchildren
Learning Chinese for your grandchildren is a loving, specific goal: you want to follow the words they're picking up at home or at immersion school, read a short story with them, and greet the other side of the family properly. Chenjin's Start from Zero path begins with the sounds and the first 140 words and leads into real stories you can read together.
A path that starts at zero
Module one is the sounds: pinyin and the four tones, with audio. Module two is your first 140 words as flashcards. Then come three units of HSK 1 stories with pinyin and translation always on, and after those, 小红在北京, a twelve-chapter HSK 2 book about a girl's first year with a Beijing family. Nothing is locked; the order is just the one we'd recommend.
A game to play together
In Request and Serve, a customer speaks an order in Chinese and you pick the items from the tray. The stationery shop and the tea house start at HSK 1, the pictures do half the work, and a six-year-old who hears Mandarin at school will happily be the judge.
Large characters, one tap for help
Every word in a story taps for pinyin, meaning, and audio, and every character has a page that animates the stroke order. The reader's font size is adjustable, and pinyin can sit above every character for as long as you want it there.
On the phone or tablet
The Chenjin app for iPhone and Android carries the library and your flashcards, synced to the same account, so a chapter on the couch and a review in the waiting room are the same progress.
Frequently asked questions
Is it too late to start?
No. The path assumes zero background and moves one small step at a time. Adults learn reading-based Chinese well because they can sit still with a story; the stories here are short enough for that.
What's free?
The pinyin lessons, the first word decks, the whole first unit of stories, and the games are free, plus three library articles a day. The later units and 小红在北京 are part of the Plus plan, which starts with a 7-day trial.
The family uses traditional characters.
The reader and dictionary can show either simplified or traditional, so the same stories work for a Taiwanese or Hong Kong family.
Keep exploring
Try it tonight
The free plan includes the dictionary, the free graded reader, three library articles a day, games, and flashcards. If it fits the way you learn, the Plus plan unlocks the rest with a 7-day free trial.
Create a free accountFree forever plan · no credit card required
Complete beginner? Start from zero.