Maia

Learn Mandarin.

普通话

Learn Mandarin with a course designed for its four tones, character system, and the grammar that's simpler than you think once you stop looking for tenses and conjugations.

Start your Mandarin course

Why Mandarin

Mandarin Chinese is spoken by over 900 million native speakers, making it the world's most spoken language. It's the language of one of the world's largest economies and oldest civilizations.

Mandarin's reputation for difficulty is partly deserved (the character system and tones are real challenges) and partly myth (the grammar is remarkably simple -- no conjugation, no articles, no gendered nouns). Maia addresses the real challenges while leveraging the genuine simplicity.

What makes Mandarin challenging — and how Maia helps

Four tones

Mandarin has four tones plus a neutral tone. The same syllable with different tones means completely different things. Maia builds tone recognition and production from lesson one, using pinyin alongside characters.

Chinese characters

There are thousands of characters, but they're built from a few hundred components. Maia teaches the most common characters in order of frequency and usefulness, with radical analysis to make new characters predictable.

Measure words

Mandarin uses classifier words between numbers and nouns -- different classifiers for different shapes and categories. Maia teaches the most common classifiers in context.

What your course includes

  • •Conversational lessons integrating pinyin, characters, and grammar
  • •AI podcast episodes mixing Mandarin and English at your level
  • •Tone drills, character practice, and grammar exercises
  • •Spaced repetition for characters and vocabulary
  • •Adaptive curriculum based on your progress

Sample lesson topics

  1. 1.Tones and pinyin: the sound system of Mandarin
  2. 2.Greetings and numbers: ni hao, xie xie, and counting
  3. 3.Your first characters: people, big, small, and radicals
  4. 4.Basic sentences: word order and the simplicity of Chinese grammar
  5. 5.At the restaurant: ordering, asking prices, and food vocabulary
  6. 6.Time and daily routines: when, how often, and everyday verbs
Start learning Mandarin

Free to start. No credit card required.