Questions, answered.

CiaoSpeak has eight courses. Three are for English speakers: Chinese the way Taiwan speaks it, with Traditional characters, Latin American Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese. Five teach English, each with every explanation in the learner’s own language: for speakers of Spanish, Portuguese, Korean, Japanese and Traditional Chinese.

The app’s first screen asks “What do you want to learn?”. To learn a language in English, pick Spanish, Portuguese or Traditional Chinese under “For English speakers”. To learn English, pick the English card explained in your language under “Learn English”. If your phone is set to Spanish, Portuguese, Korean, Japanese or Traditional Chinese, that English course is already selected, and on Android a Google Play link from one of this site’s course pages selects that page’s course.

Open Settings, tap Learning and pick another course. Each course keeps its own progress, so you can switch back at any time without losing anything; a course you haven’t started asks your level first. One CiaoSpeak+ subscription covers every course.

Four parts that work together: short lessons in a set order (flashcards, multiple choice, word-bank sentences, listening and matching pairs), stories at your level with recorded audio, speaking practice where a character in a real scene asks you one question and you answer out loud or by typing, and a review that brings back what you missed until you get it right.

It's free to start: every lesson in every course stays free, along with the mistake review, the daily Quick Practice, today’s speaking questions (up to five a day) and four stories, with no hearts, energy or lesson limits. CiaoSpeak+ is optional: it adds speaking practice in every scene, the full phrasebook, every story and unlimited Quick Practice bonus rounds, in every course on one subscription. In the United States it costs US$5.99 a month or US$39.99 a year, and the yearly plan starts with a free trial (3 days on the App Store, 7 on Google Play). Nothing you can do for free today will be taken away later.

Yes. CiaoSpeak is free on the App Store for iPhone and on Google Play for Android, with the same courses and the same lessons on both.

No. You can use every course without signing up or giving an email address, and your progress stays on your phone. On Android, an optional cloud backup lets you sign in with a Google account so your progress survives a new phone.

No. Beginners start at lesson one; if you already know some of the language, a short placement quiz lets you skip the units you know.

Latin American Spanish that leans Mexican; Brazilian Portuguese, with recorded audio in a São Paulo accent; and Chinese as it’s spoken in Taiwan, with Traditional characters, pinyin or Zhuyin, and Taiwan-accent audio. For what makes Taiwan’s Chinese different, see Taiwanese vs. Mainland Chinese.

Yes — a free, informal 20-question TOCFL practice quiz gives a rough sense of your level in a few minutes. It’s not an official TOCFL exam; SC-TOP’s free official practice tests are the authoritative mock test.