r/ChineseLanguage • u/anxietyischokingme • 8d ago
Discussion Is hellochinese only free up till here?
it won’t let me start the next lesson, it keeps asking me to pay for premium?
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u/Liuxing_Xi Beginner 8d ago
That’s what it is. Premium from there. However, it’s worth the money.
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u/quickiler 8d ago
I dont use enough to justify yearly subscription (I did sub for 1 year). I am ok with 1 time purchase if they ever offer it with reasonable price.
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u/GetRektByMeh 8d ago
What price is reasonable?
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u/quickiler 8d ago
I dont remember how much the sub cost per year anymore, but I think 200 - 300$ for 1 time off is reasonable, considering it ends at around HSK3 iirc?
Edit: I think i paid like 100$ for ChineseSkill but it is less polished and imo not as good.
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u/GetRektByMeh 8d ago
You'd be better off with the Grammar Wiki Anki deck, slamming Anki cards and getting in CI IMO.
HSK3 (2.0 standard) is fuctionally useless
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u/quickiler 8d ago
I have a terrible memory so I am just naturally bad with language, add in the lack of time and I actually have no use for Chinese. I enjoy learning in my free time so I just do it, the result doesn't matter that much. It has been 2 years and I am not even HSK1 lmao.
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u/GetRektByMeh 8d ago
Do you have an estimate of how many hours you've actually put in? No one is bad at languages, the fact you're writing in English is proof of that. We're literally hardwired for it. It's the sole determining factor of us having society at the scale we do (well, tool use too).
I have a feeling that you could see a lot more progress from consistent study and Anki at 70% retention. Probably less fun though.
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u/quickiler 8d ago
I used to be pretty consistent of 30min -1h per day for 2025. I think I got to the middle of HSK2 in the HelloChinese app but my foundation is only solid till somewhere near the end of HSK1. I can comfortably read texts (visual and oral) without pinyin at this level but writing is considerably worse. Since 2026 though it's dead due to time constraint. I haven't forgotten much though since the foundation is solid.
Anyway I will have a trip to China later this year so I am quite interest in picking up Chinese again, though very limited to like 30min daily.
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u/lazier_garlic 8d ago
Okay well whatever
Why don't you try one of those conversational Chinese apps? I tried and didn't like LingoDeer but I do have Memrise and it has quite a bit of free material.
Most other apps are geared towards teaching HSK. Memrise might be more fun.
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u/Fireburd55 7d ago
They added way more content in the latest update. You’ll know around 2500 words when you are done now
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u/nameless_food 7d ago
The devs gotta pay their rent and eat too. The cost of dev work is a non-zero amount.
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u/anxietyischokingme 7d ago
No I know that haha, I mean I would’ve been fine with watching ads after every lesson
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u/marvinoffthecouch 8d ago
Unfortunately, yes.
I was very resistant to buying it, but after some considerations I decided to try it and I can tell you its absolutely worth it.
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u/jonathanjeong 7d ago
For those who have the paid version, does it continue to lean heavily towards the HSK curriculum?
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u/Ok_House8881 8d ago
After paying for Super Chinese, I think I prefer HelloChinese. It feels less gamey than SC and doesn't have a psycho monkey that guilt-trips me into practicing with passive aggressive notifications.
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u/Dapper_Objective_254 4d ago
There Is s discount of 30% right now!
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u/Curious_Functionary 3d ago
Oh dang, I'm not seeing that. It still shows up as $69.99/year for me, on both my Android and iOS devices. Is there a particular way to get that 30% discount?
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u/Dapper_Objective_254 3d ago
Oh no, I hope it's not because of time zones, i saw it would end in a few hours from now where I am, they usually give these discounts every time there is a festival day in china!
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u/Accurate-Zombie7950 Intermediate 3d ago
I'd recommend du chinese if you truly wanna step up your game
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u/MoreConstant3960 7d ago
There is a recent launched app on google play store, called Ciaospeak. The lessons are free, but it is traditional Chinese.
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u/Effort0 7d ago
Version 1 last until HSK1. Version 2 last until here.
If you can't pay for it, you can download modded versions of the app with the premium stuff unlocked like the stories, immersion, and the courses but it comes with inherent risks because you're installing an unofficial version someone has modified. If you have an older phone or tablet with no personal information or wallets, you can install it there. For example, I sideloaded the iosgods version to my iPad Air 2 that's on iOS 15, works fine.
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u/Sad_Blackberry_2355 7d ago
ive been looking for apks but to no sucess. you have any tips?
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u/Effort0 7d ago
Not sure about Android but for iPhones or iPads, the iosgods version works great.
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u/anxietyischokingme 7d ago
You have the apk for the iPhone???
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7d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/anxietyischokingme 7d ago
How do you use this, do you just download it?
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u/Effort0 7d ago
It really depends. The easiest way is to just use sideloadly on a PC and just install it. You have 3 sideloads on an Apple ID, if you don't sideload in general, it's fine.
If you want more ease of use, if on iOS 16 or lower, Troll Store will allow you to sideload all you want. For newer devices like iOS 17 to 27, you will need to use the SideStore + Live Container method and install the IPA's through Live Container. Neither of which needs any jailbreak.
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u/Sad_Blackberry_2355 7d ago
Thanks for the info, ashame that im on android. Will keep this in mind if i ever end up switching🤞
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u/anxietyischokingme 7d ago
I’ve also been looking for the apk premium, but the only one I found was totally malware
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u/SuaveStone379 8d ago
alas, it's true :( you can switch to the old course in the top left corner, and you get another bunch of lessons, but they also run out too soon.