Skritter Traditional Chinese: Does It Work for Taiwan?

The short answer

Yes, for writing — Skritter is one of the strongest options there is for learning to write Traditional characters, and it has several genuinely Taiwan-specific touches: a Taiwan Ministry of Education font setting, a free Zhuyin mini-course, and Skritter-made word lists for Taiwan's own A Course in Contemporary Chinese textbooks. There's one real caveat, which is that Skritter is built on Simplified characters underneath. And it's a writing and vocabulary tool, not a course that teaches you to speak.

Does Skritter support Traditional Chinese?

Yes, fully. You can study Simplified characters, Traditional characters, or both, and if you turn on studying both, the Traditional forms of characters you've already learned get added in. Skritter's own help docs walk through how it maps Simplified and Traditional forms — including the tricky cases where one Simplified character stands for several Traditional ones, like 台, which can correspond to 臺, 台, 檯, 枱, or 颱. That depth is rare: most apps either ignore Traditional characters or treat them as a font toggle.

Does Skritter have Taiwan-specific options?

Yes, two that matter. First, the Skritter app has a setting for fonts typical in Taiwan, based on the font published by Taiwan's Ministry of Education (MOE), so characters appear the way you'll see them in Taiwan rather than in mainland-style forms. Second, Skritter's own textbook lists include A Course in Contemporary Chinese (當代中文課程), the Traditional-character series from National Taiwan Normal University's Mandarin Training Center — useful if you're studying there or following that series (see our guide to studying Mandarin in Taiwan). One small tell in the other direction: the decks its App Store listing highlights are HSK decks, China's proficiency test, rather than Taiwan's TOCFL (here's how the two tests differ).

Does Skritter teach Zhuyin?

Yes — Skritter offers a free Zhuyin (Bopomofo) mini-course, a short video course with an accompanying deck for learning the 37 symbols and their sounds, with its downloadable course materials listed at $0 in Skritter's store. What Skritter's current help docs don't spell out is whether you can switch every reading throughout the app from Pinyin to Zhuyin, so we won't claim that either way. If you're new to the system, our guide to learning Zhuyin covers it from scratch.

The one caveat: Skritter is built on Simplified underneath

Skritter is candid about this in its own help article: its database "is based on simplified characters," many words in it are user-generated, and Traditional forms rely partly on automatic conversion, "a process that is hard to do 100% accurately" — Skritter says it fixes mistakes as soon as they're reported. The same article notes that if you switch to the Taiwan MOE font and want to practice writing those forms, you'll need to self-grade, because Skritter's automatic handwriting grading "is based on a simplified font." None of this makes Traditional study in Skritter unreliable — Hacking Chinese's independent review says Skritter covers Traditional characters better than any similar app its author had seen — but it's worth knowing before you commit.

The real gap: it teaches writing, not speaking

Skritter describes its own loop plainly: you learn a character's meaning, reading, and tone, then practice writing it, with spaced review bringing back the characters you find hard. That's exactly what it's for, and it does it well. What Skritter doesn't describe is any speaking practice at all — no conversation partner, no one to talk back. Knowing how to write 謝謝 and being able to say it naturally in a conversation are different skills, and Skritter only sets out to build the first.

How much does Skritter cost?

Skritter's own site lists three plans, each with a 7-day free trial: $14.99 for one month, $59.99 for six months, or $99.99 for a year. Guest accounts also get free access to select decks, according to its App Store listing.

What this means if Taiwan is your goal

If you want to write Traditional characters the way Taiwan writes them, Skritter deserves its reputation, and its MOE font, Zhuyin course, and Contemporary Chinese lists make it a better fit for Taiwan than most character apps. Just treat it as one half of your study: it builds character knowledge, not conversation. Pair it with something that teaches Taiwan's Mandarin as a spoken language — structured lessons plus regular speaking practice — and let Skritter handle the handwriting. Our guide to learning Chinese characters covers how writing practice fits into the bigger picture.

Frequently asked questions

Does Skritter support Traditional Chinese?

Yes. Skritter lets you study Simplified characters, Traditional characters, or both, and it handles the tricky cases where one Simplified character maps to several Traditional ones.

Does Skritter have Zhuyin?

Skritter offers a free Zhuyin (Bopomofo) mini-course with an accompanying deck. Its current help docs don't say whether every reading in the app can be switched from Pinyin to Zhuyin.

Is Skritter good for Taiwanese Mandarin?

For writing, yes. It has a Taiwan Ministry of Education font setting and Skritter-made lists for the A Course in Contemporary Chinese textbooks, but it's a writing and vocabulary tool that doesn't teach speaking.

Can Skritter grade Taiwan-style characters?

Only if you grade yourself. Skritter's help docs say its automatic handwriting grading is based on a Simplified font, so practicing the Taiwan MOE font forms means self-grading.

How much does Skritter cost?

Skritter's site lists $14.99 for one month, $59.99 for six months, or $99.99 for a year, each with a 7-day free trial.