Language practice
Choose a language, then practise its grammar, vocabulary, culture or writing.
WORKSPACEPick a task before a language tab. Choose the language you want to use, then work on one small task. Reading a script, learning a grammar rule and responding in conversation need different practice.
How to use this
- Need to speak today?
Choose a language and start with Survival. Practise the reply as well as the phrase you say first.
- Need to read?
Use Writing systems for recognition, Pronunciation for spelling-to-sound rules, and Kanji + Hanzi for character and word study.
- Need to build sentences?
Read a grammar rule, work through its example, then answer without looking. Check Vocabulary and Culture to see how the words are used.
Try this: Choose German. Find a survival exchange and say both parts aloud. Change one noun using the grammar explanation instead of memorizing a second whole sentence.
You should get: You can make one small variation and explain why the form changes. If you cannot, revisit that rule before adding more phrases.
Know the limit: Track depth varies. A chart is a reference, and recognizing an answer is not the same as producing it in a conversation.
Start with pronunciationMandarin Chinese / Taiwan
Bopomofo / Zhuyin
注音符號A set of phonetic symbols used to show Mandarin pronunciation. Syllables are assembled from an initial, a medial or final, and a tone.
The first version was created in 1913 and released in 1918. It remains a practical reading, dictionary, and keyboard tool in Taiwan.
- SYMBOLS
- 37
- TONES
- 5
- ALSO CALLED
- Zhuyin / Zhuyin Fuhao
Initials
21Medials
3Finals
13Tones
5Pronunciation: sounds, reading rules, stress, tone & practice →
All 47 pronunciation chapters & the IPA sound key →
All 47 pronunciation chapters & the IPA sound key →
ENGLISH / FOUNDATIONS
English
Start with the words you need.
Build your own sentences.
The words for everyday life.
Find a situation, read the phrase, or show the native text. Learn common replies as well as questions.
Pronunciation & how to use these phrases
Start with the writing charts, then listen to complete words. Device speech depends on installed voices and may use a different regional accent. Spelling and sound do not match one-to-one.
Could you…? plus please is a useful request; excessive apologies are not needed. Informal how are you often functions as a greeting. Learning path: recognise words and phrases → build simple sentences → practise questions and replies → expand tense and connected speech → read and discuss longer texts. These foundation lessons are available now; later stages will grow with the collection.
24 phrases
Basics
Communication
Bathrooms
Food & ordering
Shops & payment
Taxi & transport
Airport
Help
Listen for
Reply
Hotels
ENGLISH / GRAMMAR REFERENCE
8 chaptersForms, rules & structure
Standard contemporary English; regional differences are noted where relevant.
Grammar terminology
- Noun
- A word used to name or classify an entity: person, place, object, substance, idea.
- Adjective
- A word that describes a property; its form and position depend on the language.
- Pronoun
- A form used to refer to a participant or entity without repeating a full noun phrase.
- Determiner
- A word such as an article, demonstrative or possessive that helps specify a noun phrase.
- Verb
- A word heading a predicate, often describing an action, event or state.
- Conjugation
- A pattern of verb forms expressing grammatical distinctions such as person, tense or mood.
- Declension
- A pattern of noun, pronoun or adjective forms, often marking case, number and gender.
- Case
- A distinction marking a noun phrase’s grammatical role or its relationship to a governing word.
- Gender
- A grammatical classification of nouns; it need not match sex or have a transparent meaning.
- Agreement
- A form changes to match features of another expression, such as person, number, gender or case.
- Tense
- A grammatical way of locating a situation relative to a time of reference.
- Aspect
- How a situation is viewed: for example ongoing, habitual, completed or prior to a reference point.
- Mood
- A grammatical distinction associated with assertion, possibility, commands, wishes or other clause functions.
- Finite form
- A verb form that can serve as a clause’s main inflected verb, contrasting with infinitives and participles. The precise criteria vary by language.
- Participle
- A verb-derived form used in constructions such as modifiers, compound tenses or passives; its roles vary by language.
- Infinitive
- A nonfinite verb form in languages that have one; it is not automatically equivalent to English “to + verb”.
- Subject / object
- Grammatical relations in a clause, not universal synonyms for “doer” and “receiver”.
- Clitic
- A short grammatical form that depends phonologically on a neighboring word.
- Transitive
- Describes a verb construction that takes a direct object.
- Register
- A variety of expression associated with context, relationship or level of formality.
Nouns, articles & number
- Count nouns distinguish singular and plural. A singular count noun normally needs a determiner: a book, the book, my book.
- Use a/an for one nonspecific countable item and the when its identity is recoverable. An depends on a following vowel sound, not a vowel letter. Mass nouns such as information do not normally take a/an or a regular plural.
| Pattern | Singular / base | Plural / use |
|---|---|---|
| regular | book | books |
| sibilant ending | box | boxes |
| consonant + y | city | cities |
| irregular | child | children |
| mass noun | information | some information |
Worked examples
I bought a book. The book is useful.
First mention introduces a book; the second refers to that same book.
How it works: The noun stays singular; the determiner changes with reference.
Requests
Use could you + base verb for a polite request.
Could you repeat that?Could you repeat that?
Read the model, complete the gap, then change one word and explain what changes.
Try it yourself
1 / 1 · 0 correctComplete the model using the rule.
Could you ___ that?
All words · vocabulary quiz
1 / 20 · 0 correctChoose the English meaning.
water
waterwater
waterwater
foodfood
foodfood
milkmilk
milkmilk
breadbread
breadbread
coffeecoffee
coffeecoffee
teatea
teatea
ricerice
ricerice
bathroombathroom
bathroombathroom
airportairport
airportairport
stationstation
stationstation
ticketticket
ticketticket
exitexit
exitexit
leftleft
leftleft
rightright
rightright
todaytoday
todaytoday
tomorrowtomorrow
tomorrowtomorrow
oneone
oneone
twotwo
twotwo
threethree
threethree
helphelp
helphelp
Between the words
Bathroom/restroom are common in North America; toilet is normal in Britain and many other places. Takeaway/to go and bill/check also vary.
Hello.
A shared language, many varietiesBathroom/restroom are common in North America; toilet is normal in Britain and many other places. Takeaway/to go and bill/check also vary.
Hello.
Could you…? plus please is a useful request; excessive apologies are not needed. Informal how are you often functions as a greeting.
Read the situation
1 / 1 · 0 correctRecall the opening greeting from this collection.
Practice scores last for this visit.English audio is unavailable on this device. All exercises work without audio.