Why I built CiaoSpeak

I moved to Taiwan in 2019. I worked as a project manager and as a basketball coach, focusing on social emotional learning. Like a lot of people who move here, I wanted to speak the Chinese I heard around me every day, and I struggled to learn it the old way. So I started building the app I wanted to use: one that teaches Chinese the way Taiwan speaks it, with Traditional characters, Zhuyin and a Taiwan accent, and gets you saying things out loud.

What CiaoSpeak teaches

CiaoSpeak now has three courses:

• Chinese the way Taiwan speaks it, for English speakers, from the first words up to TOCFL Band B.
• 英文課程: English for adults in Taiwan, explained in Traditional Chinese.
• 英会話コース: English for Japanese adults, explained in Japanese.

Every lesson is free, and stays free. CiaoSpeak is on Android today; the iPhone version is on its way.

How CiaoSpeak is made

CiaoSpeak is a one-person company, so I decide what the app teaches, how it works and what goes live, and I test it on real phones. AI tools help me with parts of the work, like writing code and first drafts, the way a team would. Facts in the articles are checked against official sources, such as SC-TOP for the TOCFL and Taiwan's Ministry of Education dictionary for readings. Where a page republishes official material, like the TOCFL vocabulary list, it says where it comes from.

If you spot a mistake anywhere on this site or in the app, email [email protected] and I'll fix it.

Get in touch

Email [email protected], find me on LinkedIn, or join other learners in the CiaoSpeak Discord.