Red Bamboo Chinese

Master Mandarin tones with real-time AI feedback — the skill that unlocks everything else in Chinese.

Tones are the #1 stumbling block for Mandarin learners. Say the right sounds with the wrong tone and you'll be misunderstood every time. Red Bamboo Chinese gives you a private pronunciation coach in your pocket that listens, analyzes, and tells you exactly what you got right or wrong.

HOW IT WORKS
1. See a pinyin syllable and its character
2. Tap to hear a model pronunciation
3. Record yourself saying it
4. Get instant AI feedback — correct tone or not, and which tone you actually said

THE TECHNOLOGY
Red Bamboo Chinese uses a custom pitch-contour analyzer to detect the shape of your voice — not just whether you said something, but whether you said it with the right rising, falling, dipping, or flat tone. It then uses AI transcription to confirm you said the right word entirely.

WHAT YOU PRACTICE
• All 4 Mandarin tones (flat, rising, dipping, falling)
• 300+ syllables covering every initial and final combination
• Real Mandarin characters alongside every pinyin entry
• Native-speaker audio for every syllable

FEATURES
• Instant tone analysis with pitch contour visualization
• AI word verification — catches when you say the right tone but the wrong syllable
• Streak tracking to keep you motivated
• Hear example pronunciation before every attempt
• 10 interface languages: English, Spanish, French, Arabic, Portuguese, Russian, German, Korean, Japanese, Thai
• Privacy-first: audio is analyzed and discarded, never stored

FREE & PRO
The first 25 analyses are free. Upgrade to Red Bamboo Chinese Pro for unlimited practice with a 7-day free trial.

Built by a Mandarin learner, for Mandarin learners.

Recent changes:
What's new in 1.0.3
- Hear yourself: play your recording back next to the example to hear the difference.
- Coaching tips: when a tone is off, you get a short tip on what to change.
- Cleaner results: the tone diagram only shows when you need it.
- Clearer messages in all 10 languages, including after a purchase.
- New and optional: you can choose to share your recordings to help improve tone analysis. It stays off unless you say yes.