Are you learning Chinese? Having trouble with the Mandarin tones?

This game was born when I moved to Beijing and decided to start learning Chinese. One of the first obstacles when I started school was definitely the Mandarin tones, and correctly identifying them. So, I had the idea of building this easy to play learning game, as it will be useful for anyone learning Chinese and wishing to learn the tones, and practice in a fun way.

While trying to build the game with my own voice, I figured out quickly it would be a disaster without a real Chinese speaker's voice. So, I asked my Chinese teacher to help (and record all the possible words, more than 1500). That's her voice you hear in the game (special thanks!).

Playing the game is very simple, and you will practice the tones and will get better along the way. Listen to the sounds, and tap the tone you think is correct, using the 4 buttons at the bottom of the screen. Correct answers get more points (bottom right), and the more you advance, the more points you get per word. Wrong answers take one life (bottom left). The quicker you react, the more points you can also get. A bonus multiplier sits on top of the score, but will decrease each second after the phrase stops playing. If you want to replay a sound, just tap its word, but you will lose the bonus if you do so. You get extra lives after you pass a certain score, just check when you will get the next extra life (bottom left). The more you advance, the bigger the phrases are, having up to 4 words. Keep in mind that those are generated randomly out of all the possible pinyin sounds, so they don't need to mean anything.

Have fun and improve your Mandarin skills!