Duolingo vs Chinese Trainer for Mandarin
Duolingo vs Chinese Trainer: gamified habit versus an HSK path, SRS, and an AI tutor.
Overview
Duolingo vs Chinese Trainer is the wrong fight if you want the same game. Duolingo maximises the streak. Chinese Trainer maximises knowing which HSK level you are building, with vocabulary, readings, and an AI tutor.
What Duolingo does well
Almost no friction, reminders, and a large free tier. For many people that beats studying nothing.
For Chinese the ceiling shows up early: weak tones, little explicit HSK, and sentences that do not always look like the exam.
What Chinese Trainer does differently
HSK vocabulary, SRS, grammar, readings, mocks, and an AI tutor on the web. Less game, more plan.
We do not index the study area. The product you get after login is the one described here.
Related resources
Put it into practice
If Duolingo no longer tells you what level you are, switch to an HSK path. Start free on Chinese Trainer.