# HelloChinese or Very Chinese Time in My Life?

URL: https://verychinesetimeinmylife.com/compare/hellochinese/
Updated: 2026-11-05

HelloChinese is for a full course. Very Chinese Time in My Life is for speaking in everyday situations. HelloChinese is a phone app that teaches only Chinese: pinyin, characters, grammar and vocabulary, in courses organised by HSK level. (The HSK is the official Chinese language test.) Very Chinese Time in My Life is a game for Windows PC. You spend one week in a present-day Chinese city and say the Chinese for each situation out loud.

## The short answer

Pick HelloChinese if you want a complete course. It teaches you to read and write characters, explains grammar and follows HSK levels. It runs on your phone and is free to start.

Pick Very Chinese Time in My Life if you want to practise saying everyday Chinese out loud, in the places where you will need it: a taxi, a hotel desk, a noodle shop, a pharmacy.

The two overlap only a little. HelloChinese teaches the language step by step. The game is where you use the spoken part with people who answer back.

## Side by side

| Compared | HelloChinese | Very Chinese Time in My Life |
| --- | --- | --- |
| What it is | A Chinese-learning app with short, game-like lessons, from complete beginner to conversational level. | A first-person game on PC. You spend one in-game week in a present-day Chinese city. |
| What you practise | Listening, speaking, reading and writing. Courses follow HSK levels. The course covers more than 430 grammar points and 2,500 words. | Spoken Chinese for everyday situations: the airport, a hotel, food stalls and restaurants, paying by phone, the metro, a pharmacy, a family dinner. |
| How speaking works | Speech recognition checks your pronunciation of words and sentences. More than 2,000 short videos of native speakers to listen to. | You say each word, then the whole sentence, to a person in the scene, and they react. You can click your answer instead. |
| Characters | Handwriting practice. Simplified and traditional characters. More than 1,000 graded stories for reading. | Simplified characters on every word, with pinyin above and English below. No handwriting or reading practice. |
| Pinyin | A pinyin course for beginners that teaches the sounds and tones. | Pinyin is written the way words are said, so you can read it aloud as it is. |
| Review | Words come back for review just before you would forget them. | A short review with a panda after each part of the day, and a friend who quizzes you every night. Your mistakes come first the next night. |
| Where it runs | iPhone and Android. Lessons work offline once downloaded. | Windows PC, on Steam. |
| Cost | Free to download. Premium and Premium+ subscriptions give access to the full course. This was the case at the time of writing. | Not announced yet. The game is coming to Steam. |

## Where is HelloChinese the better choice?

### Reading and writing characters

HelloChinese has handwriting practice and graded stories, so you learn to read and write. The game shows characters but teaches neither.

### Grammar and a full course

HelloChinese explains grammar step by step and follows HSK levels. The game teaches the phrases for each situation. It does not teach grammar.

### Feedback on pronunciation

HelloChinese uses speech recognition to correct your pronunciation. The game listens for the words you say and moves the scene on. It does not score each tone.

### Traditional characters

HelloChinese also has traditional characters, which are used in Taiwan and Hong Kong. The game uses simplified characters only.

### On your phone, offline

HelloChinese runs on a phone and works without internet once a course is downloaded. The game needs a Windows PC.

## What the game does differently

### Situations, not exercises

You are in the place. A driver asks if this is your first time in China. A stall owner asks how many buns you want. A pharmacist asks how many times a day. You answer out loud, in the order things happen.

### Different answers, different results

The people in the game react to what you say. Order a coffee in a noodle shop, and the owner goes out to buy one. There is no red X for a wrong answer.

### The practical side of a trip

Saying no to drivers who offer rides, checking in with a foreign passport, scanning a QR code to pay. Buying fruit by the 斤 (jīn, half a kilo), the unit Chinese markets use.

### A week that moves on

Phrases from earlier days come back in later scenes and in the nightly review. You keep using them all week.

## HelloChinese suits you if

You want to learn Chinese properly, with characters and grammar.

You are working towards an HSK exam.

You want to practise on your phone, also offline.

You need traditional characters.

## The game suits you if

You are going to China soon and need to speak more than read.

You know some words from an app and want to use them out loud.

You want to see where each phrase is used: the stall, the taxi, the hotel desk.

You prefer playing a story to doing lessons.

## Using both

A good order: first the pinyin course in HelloChinese, so the sounds and tones are familiar. Then the game, to say whole sentences in situations. The game writes pinyin the way it is said, so you also see where a tone changes in real speech.

If you are already doing HelloChinese, the game is a place to use what you know with no one listening. Answer a driver, order noodles without chili, ask where the metro is.

## Sources

- [HelloChinese on the App Store](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hellochinese-learn-chinese/id1001507516)
- [HelloChinese on Google Play](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hellochinese)
- [HelloChinese website](https://www.hellochinese.cc/)

## Questions

### Is HelloChinese better than Very Chinese Time in My Life?

HelloChinese is better for a full course: characters, grammar, HSK levels and pronunciation feedback, on a phone. Very Chinese Time in My Life is better for practising spoken Chinese in everyday situations before a trip. They do different jobs and can be used together.

### Does Very Chinese Time in My Life prepare you for the HSK?

Very Chinese Time in My Life does not prepare you for the HSK, the official Chinese language test. The game teaches spoken Chinese for everyday situations and does not follow the HSK word lists. For the HSK, an app with HSK courses such as HelloChinese is the better choice.

### Can I learn to read Chinese with Very Chinese Time in My Life?

Very Chinese Time in My Life does not teach reading or writing. It shows simplified characters with pinyin and English on every word, so you see characters all the time. HelloChinese has handwriting practice and graded stories for reading.

### Should I use HelloChinese or the game first?

Either order works. Many learners do the HelloChinese pinyin course first, so the sounds are familiar. Then they practise whole spoken sentences in Very Chinese Time in My Life.

### Is HelloChinese free?

HelloChinese is free to download, at the time of writing. Premium and Premium+ subscriptions give access to the full course. Prices change and differ by country, so check the App Store or Google Play.

### Does Very Chinese Time in My Life check my tones?

Very Chinese Time in My Life does not score each tone. It listens for the words you say and moves the scene on when it hears them. The pinyin shows the tones as people say them, so you can copy it.

## Related pages

- [How it compares](https://verychinesetimeinmylife.com/compare/): Honest comparisons with Duolingo, HelloChinese, Pimsleur and other games for learning Chinese: what each does better, who it suits, and how to use them together.
- [Duolingo or Very Chinese Time in My Life for learning Chinese?](https://verychinesetimeinmylife.com/compare/duolingo-chinese/): Duolingo is a daily habit on your phone for months. The game is one week of spoken Chinese in everyday situations. What each does better, and how to use both.
- [How you learn in the game](https://verychinesetimeinmylife.com/how-you-learn/): How a conversation in the game works, why it starts with speaking, why the pinyin matches what people say, and how review is spread over the week.
- [50 Chinese phrases for your first week in China](https://verychinesetimeinmylife.com/phrases/first-week-in-china/): 50 everyday Mandarin phrases, grouped by situation. Each has pinyin as it is said, English, and when to use it. Free CSV download.