Gus Learns Mandarin for Kids

★★★★★ Well produced (high quality, professional graphics) and not annoying (why are so many kids' apps annoying??). My 5-year-old spoke Chinese exclusively at home until age 2, but we slipped into English at home once he started preschool. Since then, he's been extremely resistant to learning Chinese and insists that he doesn't know it. But with this app, he took to it immediately and stopped protesting about learning Chinese. It seems pretty limited in terms of content (strictly vocabulary recognition - think matching word sounds to pictures), not actual character recognition or any grammar/pronunciation practice, but it's a good start to build up his vocabulary and warm him up to the idea of learning Chinese again!

★★★★★ Fast and fun way to learn I bought this app to help me learn Mandarin to help me prepare for our move to Taiwan. For those of you who are skeptical about how much a little app can actually teach you, you'll be pleasantly surprised when you try this one. Each level trains you by helping you associate the new words with interactive pictures in an immersion style teaching method. I love this because other languages I've tried to learn through English translation don't stick because I'm too busy translating in my head instead of learning the natural way like this app does. The level tests are great because it really puts your knowledge into practice by challenging your recognition speed through fun little games. All in all, I'm very happy with the content of this app and the way it has helped me learn basic survival vocabulary for things like transportation, food, clothing, and lots more. You can pick it up and play at any time whether you have 5 minutes or 30 minutes to kill.

★★☆☆☆ Loved it but now will not open. Loved it but now will not open.

★★☆☆☆ Very poor sound level. Too quiet even on full.