KYTones 4+

KYTones (Know Your Tones) is a simple app designed to help you improve your recognition of Mandarin syllables through repetitive testing.

In order to boost your confidence and ability in Mandarin, you need to be able to distinguish syllables that sound similar. This similarity can be due to the initials (chē vs zhē), the finals (zhē vs zhī), the tones (zhē vs zhé), or any combination of the above ! You also need to be able to transcribe these sounds as above, by using the official system known as pinyin.

This app helps you achieve the above via the following core features:

- The ability to search for syllables by combining initial and final sounds and listening to the result.

- Genuine audio recordings for all syllables, made by a native speaker specifically for this app. You will hopefully find the speed and quality sufficiently good to boost your learning, but not so sanitised as to be unrealistic.

- Character and sentence examples so you can get an idea of how these syllables are used (if at all).

- A highly configurable test. You can choose to test yourself on all the syllables, or just practise distinguishing lā from lá, or anything in between ! Suitable for complete beginners and more experienced learners alike.

- Copious notes that include an overall introduction to pinyin and how it works, as well as how the app works and what decisions were made 'behind the scenes' when making it (if you really are that curious!)

- Challenges that track your progress against key benchmarks (e.g. how many times have you successfully identified the third tone?) and, we hope, keep you motivated and engaged !

- Settings that help you slightly change your experience of the app. For example, you can choose whether to type pinyin with a keyboard or press buttons according to your preferences. You can also decide if you don't want the app to protect you from providing an impossible answer to a test question (e.g. fuá, which doesn't exist), if you want the extra challenge !

The app also looks great in dark mode !

Finally, note that this app won't require you to login or otherwise provide any personal details, nor will it require you to pay further for additional features. It's as simple as downloading it and getting stuck in !