FAQ
What is the method?
Mandarin is compositional, and Radical Mandarin teaches it that way: radicals make characters, characters make words, words make sentences, sentences make poetry. You never meet a character before you know its parts, and everything on screen carries its sound.
What do I do each day?
A placement test (about 3 minutes) finds your starting level. You set goals: how often you review, an HSK band, a reading, a group of words. Then each day is a short review built for you, with what is due to fade plus a few new things that connect to what you know. Between reviews, the Explorer lets you take apart any character in the collection.
How is this different from Duolingo or HelloChinese?
Those are courses: the order is theirs. Radical Mandarin models what you know, wherever you learned it, and follows the goals you set. Use it as your primary path, or as the companion beside a class, a tutor, or a Mandarin-speaking family.
What does it cost?
Five dollars a month, for the first 500 members from the waitlist. There is a 7-day free trial, and our intention is for the price to fall as membership grows.
What level is it for?
Today the collection covers HSK bands 1 to 4 of the 2026 syllabus: 1,508 characters and 2,746 words, with sentences and graded readings. Placement finds your start, so it fits complete beginners through intermediate learners.