Does Babbel Have Chinese? No. What to Use Instead

No. Babbel doesn't teach Chinese: there's no Mandarin course and no Cantonese course. At the time of writing (3 November 2026), Babbel's 14 languages are Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Danish, Dutch, Indonesian, Norwegian, Polish, Swedish and Turkish, plus English for speakers of other languages.

If you like the way Babbel teaches, with short structured lessons, dialogues and speech recognition, the closest thing for Mandarin is an app built only for Chinese: HelloChinese or SuperChinese. Both follow a levelled course from pinyin upwards and check your pronunciation. If you'd rather stay with a big multi-language app like Babbel, Busuu does have a Chinese course. And if what you liked most was speaking, Pimsleur is audio-first and built around conversation.

A word on bias: we make Mandarin Mosaic, a vocabulary app that comes up at the end of this list. We earn nothing from the other apps. Their details are from each app's own website and its UK App Store listing, checked on 3 November 2026.

Babbel's Languages: No Chinese, Mandarin or Cantonese

Babbel's help centre says it "offers a wide range of courses in 14 languages". On babbel.com, an English speaker can choose from 13 of them:

• Spanish (with a choice of Spain or Mexico), French, German, Italian and Portuguese
• Danish, Dutch, Norwegian and Swedish
• Polish, Russian, Turkish and Indonesian

The 14th is English, which Babbel teaches to speakers of other languages (its German site offers it, for example). Chinese isn't on the list in any form: not Mandarin and not Cantonese. Babbel's website and help centre don't mention a Chinese course, and we found no announcement of one.

One thing that confuses the search results: several language schools are called Babel (with one b), and some of them do teach Chinese. They have nothing to do with the Babbel app.

What Babbel Does Well, and What to Look For in a Chinese App

People who like Babbel usually like its structure. According to its app page and help centre, Babbel:

• splits each level into themed units, such as ordering food or talking about your hobbies, with lessons of 10 to 15 minutes
• teaches through real-life dialogues, with listening, speaking and writing exercises
• uses speech recognition to check your pronunciation
• explains grammar simply, with examples
• tailors each course to the language you already speak

A good Chinese app should give you the same: a clear path, short lessons, dialogues and grammar notes. But Mandarin also needs three things that none of Babbel's languages has, so check that any app you choose covers them.

• Tones. Mandarin is a tonal language, and the tone changes the word: 妈 (mā) is mother and 马 (mǎ) is horse. You want an app that teaches the four tones from the start and gives you feedback on yours, not just a pass or fail on the whole sentence. The Chunking Chinese fluency trainer, our sister app, is built for this: you answer English prompts out loud in Mandarin and it scores the tone and sound of each character.
• Pinyin. Pinyin is how Chinese is written in the Latin alphabet, with tone marks: nǐ hǎo (你好, hello). A beginner course should teach it properly before anything else, because it's how you'll read new words and type Chinese. Our guide on how to learn pinyin covers what that takes.
• Characters. You'll need to read characters, not only pinyin, so look for lessons that show them from the start and let you hide the pinyin as you improve. Check which set the app teaches too: Simplified (mainland China and Singapore) or Traditional (Taiwan and Hong Kong). Our guide to learning Traditional Chinese explains the difference.

Most Chinese courses also follow the HSK, the official Chinese proficiency test, so the levels mean the same thing from one app to the next.

The Closest Babbel-Style Apps for Chinese

These are the apps most like Babbel for Mandarin, closest first. Prices are from the UK App Store at the time of writing (3 November 2026), and they change often, so check before you subscribe.

HelloChinese: the closest all-round match

HelloChinese is a Mandarin-only course app, and of the apps here it covers the most of what Babbel fans like. Its App Store listing describes a pinyin course for beginners, courses based on HSK levels, speech recognition that corrects your pronunciation, handwriting practice for characters, more than 2,000 videos with native speakers and over 1,000 graded stories. It supports both Simplified and Traditional characters. It's free to download and start; the full course needs a subscription, with HelloChinese Premium from £9.99 on the UK App Store and a Premium+ tier above it.

Suits: beginners who want a complete, guided course on their phone. The limit: it describes itself as game-based, so it feels more like a game than Babbel does, which some people love and others find slow. Our HelloChinese vs Duolingo comparison goes through it in detail.

SuperChinese: the most structured, with pronunciation scores

SuperChinese is also built only for Mandarin. Its FAQ says the Main Course covers HSK 1 to 5 across 8 levels, and its App Store listing describes lessons of 10 to 15 minutes, a placement test, animated videos with dialogues and spaced repetition. A selection of lessons is free. The full course, with pronunciation scores for your speaking, needs PLUS (£11.99 a month on the UK App Store, with cheaper yearly plans), and a higher AI CHAO tier (£23.49 a month) adds role-play speaking practice.

Suits: learners who liked Babbel's step-by-step levels and want an HSK target. The limit: the free part is small, so you're deciding whether to pay quite soon. See our SuperChinese review for what you get at each tier.

Busuu: the multi-language app that does teach Chinese

If you'd rather use one big app for several languages, as Babbel is, Busuu is the nearest match that still teaches Chinese. Chinese is one of its 14 languages, and its course page lists more than 210 lessons in its Complete Chinese course, from A1 to B2 on the European (CEFR) scale, plus a course on reading and writing characters. Its unusual feature is feedback from native Chinese speakers in its community. Many features are free, but you need a subscription for all of them.

Suits: people who already use Busuu for another language, or who want CEFR levels like Babbel's. The limit: it's a general app, not a Chinese specialist, and its course page doesn't say whether it teaches Simplified or Traditional characters, so check in the free lessons before you pay.

Rosetta Stone: immersion instead of explanations

Rosetta Stone teaches Chinese as one of 25 languages, and one subscription (monthly or yearly) covers all of them, according to the App Store listing for its new app, Rosetta Stone Sapphire. It has a 7-day free trial and its own speech recognition, TruAccent. Its method is immersion: Rosetta Stone describes sequences of words and pictures that let you work out the meaning of each new phrase without translations.

Suits: learners who want to think in the language from day one. The limit: if Babbel's grammar notes and English explanations were what you liked, you won't get them in the same way here. Our Rosetta Stone Chinese review covers how that works for Mandarin.

Pimsleur: if speaking was what you liked

Pimsleur's Mandarin course has 5 levels of 30 lessons, each about 30 minutes, and you learn by listening and answering out loud, hands-free. It has some reading lessons, but it's an audio course first. It comes with a 7-day free trial, then a subscription. Unlike Babbel, Pimsleur also teaches Cantonese.

Suits: commuters and anyone whose main goal is to speak. The limit: you'll need something else for characters and reading. Our Pimsleur Mandarin review has the current prices and plans.

Duolingo: free, but lighter

Duolingo's Chinese course teaches Mandarin in Simplified characters, and every course is free, with an optional Super Duolingo subscription (a 14-day free trial, according to its App Store listing). It's the easiest place to try Chinese without paying anything.

Suits: trying Chinese for free, or keeping a daily habit. The limit: it's a game of short exercises with little explanation, which is the opposite of what many Babbel users prefer. Our Duolingo Chinese review covers where it falls short, and Duolingo Chinese alternatives covers what to add to it.

Mandarin Mosaic: vocabulary in sentences, once you have a base

Our app, Mandarin Mosaic, isn't a Babbel-style course: it has no grammar lessons, dialogues or speaking practice. It does one job, which is building your vocabulary once you know the basics. It tracks the words you know and teaches new ones in real sentences, one new word at a time where possible, with lifelike audio, pinyin and spaced repetition, following HSK 1 to 6 or the new HSK levels 1 to 7, in Simplified or Traditional characters. Every built-in sentence is checked by a native speaker, and a graded reader of Chinese articles lets you tap any word you don't know. It works alongside any of the courses above, especially from HSK 2 or 3 onwards, when a course alone stops giving you enough new words. There's a free plan, and Premium starts with a free first month. Our guide to sentence mining explains the method.

Babbel and the Alternatives Compared

Checked on each app's own website and UK App Store listing on 3 November 2026.

For a wider look at every kind of Chinese app, including dictionaries and readers, see our round-up of the best Mandarin learning apps.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Babbel Have Mandarin?

No. Babbel has no Mandarin course, and no other kind of Chinese course either. For a Babbel-like course in Mandarin, try HelloChinese or SuperChinese.

Does Babbel Have Cantonese?

No. For Cantonese from English, Pimsleur has an audio course. Duolingo's Cantonese course is taught from Mandarin, so it only suits people who already speak Mandarin (our page on what Duolingo's Chinese course teaches explains this).

Will Babbel Add Chinese?

We don't know. Babbel hasn't announced a Chinese course on its website or in its help centre, so it's best not to wait for one. You can start with one of the apps above and keep Babbel for your other languages.

Is There an App Like Babbel for Chinese?

HelloChinese and SuperChinese are the closest: structured, levelled courses for Mandarin with short lessons, videos and speech recognition. Busuu is the closest multi-language app that teaches Chinese.

Does Babbel Teach Japanese or Korean?

No. At the time of writing, Babbel has no Japanese, Korean or Chinese course; its only language from East or South-East Asia is Indonesian.

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