Have fun learning Chinese

Want to learn to speak Chinese and have fun doing it? You need the Manga Mandarin mobilephone application.
It’s totally free to download and use.
Chinese developer Funnybean Technology Co says the app is based on protocols used by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages and that the content is constantly expanding with input from both teachers and learners around the world.
The stories used, presented in comic-strip form, teach essential conversational vocabulary that can be handy in daily life. The grammar comes from courses used in the Chinese Proficiency Test, an international standardised test of proficiency.
You can click on any word that appears in the cartoons for a translation into English, Japanese, Korean, Thai or Russian. There’s an option to listen to any word and read the explanation, and a video clip under each story explains the grammar.

You have a choice of standard Mandarin or the more mainstream form of Chinese heard on TV series.
Once you’ve learned all the content of a story, you can record yourself as you “dub” over it. This can be shared with other learners to show how well you’re doing in learning the language.
There are six categories – Beginner, Fantasy, Advanced, Comedy, Love and Workplace.

Complete the chapters one by one and the app will display a “report card” gauging your progress.
The app is now in Version 1.8.0 with an improved interface. You log on via the home screen and select the category you want.
Up to six family members can share the same app on the same device in six different accounts.
I tested it on an iPad Pro 10.5-inch and found that it ran smoothly. The graphics are quite beautiful and the sounds have good quality.

Key Specs
- Developer: Funnybean Technology
- Size: 122.1MB
- Required: iOS 8.0 or later
- Supported devices: iPhone, iPad, iPod touch
- Languages available: Thai, Mandarin, Simplified Chinese, Russia, Japanese, Russian, English, Korean
- Age recommended: 12 and up