Two simple tools that I’ve been enjoying as a beginner student of Mandarin Chinese are 65 Words and ArchChinese.

65 Words is a super simple website for language learners to build written fluency where you’re encouraged to write (a minimum of) 65 words daily in your target language. You can see others’ texts, and even jump in and correct them if you’d like. There are some simple tracking features, and a scoring system based on how many words you write over time. It’s very simple, no bells and whistles, but as a beginner, it’s all I need!

ArchChinese.com has a whole host of Mandarin-learning resources, but the one I have used the most is the Mandarin Chinese Tone Drill. It’s also a super simple site, where it plays a recording of a word (single, double, or multi-syllabic word options), and you identify which tones you hear, and it tells you if you’re right or not! That’s it! But it’s been really great practice to develop my ear for tones.