MANDARIN FOR ENGLISH SPEAKERS
Speak Mandarin.
In your
own words.
A small conversation.
A sentence that’s yours.
Find something to say, practice it out loud, and listen back. English guidance helps you take the next step.
Free recording practice in your browser.
AI feedback needs a free account.
你喜欢喝咖啡吗？
Do you like coffee?
TWO WAYS TO MAKE IT YOURS
Yes, I drink coffee every day.
I prefer tea.
Synthetic Mandarin audio. Listening only—no microphone or sign-in here.
01 / A LITTLE PRACTICE. A REAL CONVERSATION.
Don’t just know the words.
Find your way to say them.
Start with one thought. Give it your voice.
Then take it back into the conversation.
- 01
Answer as yourself.
Listen to an everyday question or respond to a photo scene. A short, honest answer is a good start.
YOUR THOUGHT → YOUR WORDS - 02
Give one sentence attention.
Get feedback in English and a suggested rewording when useful. Already-natural answers don’t need changing.
ENGLISH GUIDANCE, WHEN YOU NEED IT - 03
Hear yourself again.
Record a Before and an After. Listen to both, notice what you want to work on, then keep the conversation going.
BEFORE → PRACTICE → AFTER
AI feedback requires an account, consent and an internet connection.
Guidance, not a guarantee.
02 / LET YOUR EARS LEAD
More to hear
in a simple 你好。
Written tones are a starting point. Hear how this greeting moves when you say it as a phrase.
Listen. Compare. Get curious.
Not a tone grade.
你好。
Nǐ hǎo.
Ní hǎo.
In this two-syllable greeting, the first third tone becomes a rising second tone before the next third tone.
Pinyin and pitch curves are learning aids. Saystep does not provide validated tone grades. General pronunciation feedback is not a diagnosis of a particular tone.
03 / THE EVERYDAY IS YOUR PRACTICE GROUND
Life doesn’t come
with a script.
Try a little Mandarin in the moments you can picture.
21 scenes. 42 ways to respond.
A little everyday exchange.
AI-generated scene for practice
A question that gets you somewhere.
AI-generated scene for practice
Something new to try.
AI-generated scene for practice
Fictional, AI-generated scenes set in contemporary China. They are practice illustrations, not documentary photographs.
04 / SMALL LESSONS. ROOM TO EXPLORE.
Sound by sound.
Sentence by sentence.
Simplified characters. English guidance.
Pinyin for authored lessons and examples.
- pronunciation lessons
- 60
- conversation questions
- 20
- example replies
- 40
EXPLORE 13 LESSON CATEGORIES
- Tones in short phrases
- Light syllables
- Tones in connected speech
- More everyday tone changes
- Airflow contrasts
- Front-tongue initials
- Two initial families
- Rounded front vowel
- Final sounds
- Ordering and paying
- Finding your way
- Getting to know someone
- Keeping the conversation going
Show prepared pinyin when you need it. Hide it when you’re ready.
Edited text and AI-generated answers may not have a prepared reading.
05 / A PLACE TO BEGIN
Free to find
your voice.
Record, play it back, compare Before and After.
Lessons, pitch comparison and local history are free, too.
30uses per calendar month
Up to 5 per day, for each language.
A free account, your consent and internet access are needed for AI feedback. Keep recording and listening even after your AI allowance is used.
Start with free practice300uses per calendar month
For each language. No daily limit.
One subscription covers the supported languages. Plus is purchased in the iPhone app—not through a web checkout.
Start in your browser. We’ll link to the Mandarin-enabled iPhone release here when it’s ready.
Daily and calendar-month allowances reset based on UTC.
Is this a good place to start?
Saystep is for English-speaking adults who want to practice everyday Mandarin. A little familiarity with pinyin helps. Start with a short question or a prepared phrase, with English meanings beside the Chinese. This is speaking practice, not a complete reading or grammar course.
Which Chinese will I practice?
Standard Mandarin with simplified Chinese characters. The reference voice uses the zh-CN locale. This is not a Cantonese course.
Will it tell me whether my tones are correct?
The app does not provide validated tone grades. You can listen to reference audio, compare your own recordings and look at pitch curves. General pronunciation feedback and authored tone notes are learning aids, not proof that an automatic system has diagnosed a tone error.
Does every sentence come with pinyin?
Authored lessons and starter questions and replies have prepared pinyin that you can show or hide. Edited sentences, photo replies and AI-generated answers may not. The app looks up exact authored sentences, including punctuation; it does not guess a reading for arbitrary text.
Does this page record me?
No. This page only plays prepared synthetic Mandarin audio when you press play. It does not request microphone access, record you, create an account or send your voice for analysis. Open the practice app when you want to record yourself.
What happens to recordings in the app?
Local practice recordings and history are stored on your device. Requesting AI feedback sends the selected audio and conversation content to analysis services after consent. Account deletion on this single-language website has a different scope from deletion in the multi-language iPhone app. Contact support for questions about retained data or deletion before proceeding.
Contact supportIs this connected to Saystep Spanish and Korean?
Yes. The English-interface editions share sign-in. Saystep’s multi-language iPhone design brings Spanish, Korean and Mandarin into one app, with one Plus subscription and separate practice history. We only show an App Store link here when the Mandarin-enabled release is ready. The Japanese-interface English-learning app is separate.
ONE SENTENCE IS A START.
Your next reply.
In Mandarin.
You don’t need to say everything.
Just start with something that’s yours.