Show HN: I built a Chinese learning app that teaches through sentence patterns | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: I built a Chinese learning app that teaches through sentence patterns

doudou-chinese.com

9 pointsvojd7 comments

Interesting! I've been thinking about how you'd best teach sentence patterns for a long time, happy someone is making progress on it.

I'm a bit too beginner to effectively use the app, sadly, but it's quite an interesting flow.

As an aside, a while ago, I sort of prototyped the reverse: Learn vocab to understand a natural language sentence, translate the sentence (https://infi.koljasam.com)

Happy to talk and exchange notes, if you want :)

Thanks for your feedback! You can use it as a total beginner too, set your level to hsk 1 and use pinyin. The backend should still give you valuable feedback. I would start learning to form sentences right from the start, it’s more important in Mandarin than in e.g. European languages imo.

Hi HN — I built this because most Chinese apps focus too much on isolated vocabulary and not enough on actually forming sentences.

This app teaches Chinese through the most frequently used sentence patterns. You actively build sentences and get instant AI feedback, so you’re practicing production instead of recognition.

It also uses FSRS for scheduling (for both flashcards and audio loops), and includes an AI assistant for help.

No account required to try it.

I’d especially appreciate feedback on:

- Whether the sentence-building approach feels effective

- Clarity of the UI and learning flow

- Anything confusing or unnecessary

Just wanted to say that the app is really fun to use and I love that you're immediately pushing sentences instead of contextless vocab. I have been developing something in a similar vein as I've gotten jaded by current offerings so it's genuinely encouraging to see others developing in this space!

Thanks, it’s a common pain point in language learning imo, you reach a level where you know a lot of vocabulary but can’t really form sentences. Especially in mandarin. For me patterns were kind of a game changer.

Pays to wrap any copyright dates into an actual function ;) I'll give it a go

Proved your profile name. Thanks for the hint :) I’d be happy to hear your feedback!

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