The short answer
No, not by default. Memrise's official Chinese course is built around Simplified characters, with no Traditional-character track built into the main course and no mention of Taiwan or Taiwanese Mandarin anywhere on its own course pages. A Traditional-character option exists, but only as an unofficial, user-made deck in Memrise's Community Courses — not something Memrise itself built or maintains.
What Memrise's official Chinese course actually offers
To be fair to it, Memrise's course isn't a stripped-down flashcard app anymore. It's built around real scenarios you choose to prepare for, over 400 videos of native speakers using the words you're learning, and — genuinely notable — AI-powered conversation practice: more than 75 scenario-based conversations with an AI language partner, on top of 4,000+ words with native pronunciation. That AI-conversation direction is a real, modern feature worth crediting; it's not a token gimmick bolted onto a vocab list.
Does Memrise teach Traditional Chinese? Only unofficially
Memrise's own course pages don't specify Simplified vs. Traditional at all, which is itself a signal — Memrise's most-used Chinese-character courses are Simplified by default, and its official course URLs and community discussion consistently confirm the flagship course targets Simplified characters. A Traditional-character option does exist, but only inside Memrise's Community Courses — a library of decks made by other users, not maintained by Memrise. One such deck, "Top 1000 Traditional Chinese Characters," is exactly this kind of user-made resource, and Memrise's own community has specifically flagged it as a poor starting point for beginners. That's a meaningfully different thing from a built-in, officially maintained Traditional-character course.
The real gap: no Zhuyin, no Taiwan framing at all
Beyond the character-set question, there's no mention of Taiwan, Taiwanese Mandarin, or Zhuyin (Bopomofo) anywhere on Memrise's official course pages — see our Zhuyin vs. Pinyin breakdown for why that specifically matters if you're learning for Taiwan. The course teaches generic Mandarin vocabulary and pronunciation, with no accent or everyday-word adjustments for Taiwan the way Taiwanese Mandarin actually differs from mainland-standard Mandarin.
What this means if Taiwan is your goal
Memrise's native-speaker videos and AI conversation feature are genuinely well-built, and if your target is generic Mandarin, they're worth considering. But if Taiwan specifically is the goal, you'd be starting from a Simplified-character base with no official path to Traditional, no Zhuyin, and no Taiwan-specific vocabulary or accent — then patching the gap yourself with an unofficial community deck the app's own users don't recommend for beginners. See our complete beginner's guide to learning Chinese for a path built around Traditional characters and Taiwan's accent from the start, or our full review roundup for how other apps compare.
Frequently asked questions
Does Memrise teach Traditional Chinese?
Not by default. Memrise's official Chinese course is built around Simplified characters — there's no built-in Traditional-character track in the main course.
Is there a Traditional Chinese course on Memrise?
Only through Memrise's user-made Community Courses, such as an unofficial "Top 1000 Traditional Chinese Characters" deck. It isn't maintained by Memrise itself, and Memrise's own community has flagged it as unsuitable for beginners.
Does Memrise teach Zhuyin or Taiwan-specific vocabulary?
No. Neither Zhuyin nor Taiwan-specific accent or vocabulary appears anywhere in Memrise's official Chinese course.
Does Memrise have an AI conversation feature?
Yes — Memrise's Chinese course includes AI-powered conversation practice with dozens of scenario-based conversations, alongside hundreds of native-speaker videos. It's a genuine, modern feature, but it sits on top of the same Simplified-only, non-Taiwan-specific vocabulary base as the rest of the course.