The Sound System: all 10 lessons free
No sign-up needed, but nothing is saved. Sign up free and your progress and mistake book are kept — carry on from any phone or computer.
This practice works best alongside a lesson: to get your sounds right, book one and your teacher listens and corrects you one-on-one.
Market Survival: Tones or Your Money
市场生存战：声调不对，钱包遭罪
Count to fifty, ask two magic sentences, and discover what things really cost in China.
Sign up free — just an email. Your wrong answers go into your mistake book, and you can carry on on another device.
Sign up / sign inWatch first — the four tones, one movement each
9 minWarm up: the four tones
Play the teacher's recording
Watch the tiles — each one lights up as the teacher says it.
Teacher Jane's tone demo, twice through. Tap any tile — today every one of these tones is worth money.
Count your money: one to ten
Ten numbers, ten tones — listen for the melody of each. These ten words unlock every price in China.
Tap any line to hear it
Memory hook
Free upgrade: you can already count to fifty
The dangerous pairs
Same sounds, opposite order, very different bills. Train your ear until these can't fool you.
Tap any line to hear it
Two sentences to rule the market
Tap the row to hear the teacher say it slowly. Tap 快 for natural speed — the way you will actually hear it at the stall.
Tap any line to hear it
What things really cost in China
All words you already know — now with their real price tags. Read each price out loud: number + 块. Some of these surprise every foreigner.
Tap any line to hear it
钱包保卫战 · Defend your wallet随堂小练
No pressure — just making it stick.
The vendor names the price. How much do you owe?
Another stall, another price. This one is…
这个___钱？
Zhège ___ qián?
How much is this?
You hear the price and nearly faint. What do you say next?
After class: the arena
Level: Numbers & Time
Eight tone-pick rounds on numbers — exactly today's battlefield. Earn XP, keep your streak, and make 四十/十四 physically unable to fool you again.
Say it out loud — the microphone is listening随堂小练
No pressure — just making it stick.
Your turn — say it
这个多少钱？
How much is this?
Your turn — say it
可以便宜一点吗？
Could you make it a bit cheaper?
Before you go课后回顾
- Real mission: next time you buy anything, say the price in Chinese in your head before you pay.
- Practice 可以便宜一点吗？ three times in the mirror — with the smile. The smile is half the sentence.
- Guess before you look it up: how much is a metro ride in Chengdu? (Hint: less than your coffee. Much less.)