How to Use Our Site
This guide covers how the site works, from creating an account to finishing your first lesson: where things are, how courses are organized, and how your progress is tracked.
Create an account
Click Login in the top menu, or go straight to the Login page. Switch to the Register tab, enter an email address and a password, and you have an account. It's free.
A free account gets you:
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The free lessons in every course. They're marked with a Free Lesson badge, and the Free Lessons page collects all of them in one place.
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Saved progress on every lesson, quiz, and practice you complete.
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Comments on lesson pages, where our teacher answers questions.
A subscription unlocks the rest of the lessons. Plans are on the pricing page; nothing in this guide requires one.
Set up your profile
Registering drops you into a short setup on your account page. It takes about 30 seconds:
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A note from your teacher
A short welcome from Lili Hao, who teaches every course on the site.
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Pick a display name
The name other learners see on your comments, certificates, and the leaderboard. It's pre-filled; change it to whatever you like.
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Add a profile photo
Optional. Skip it with Maybe later and add one whenever.
Your dashboard
My Account is home base. After setup it shows three shortcuts:
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Start here opens this guide.
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Pick your path opens the Learning Roadmap, covered in the next step.
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Resume Course jumps to your next unfinished step, so you never have to remember where you were.
The header also changes once you're logged in:
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The bell collects new lesson releases and site news.
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Your avatar holds quick links to Account, All Courses, and Logout.
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The My Account sidebar is where Certificates, Orders, Subscriptions, and Account details live.
Pick a path on the Learning Roadmap
The Learning Roadmap lays out our courses in the order we recommend taking them. It has three tabs; pick the one that matches where you're starting from:
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Complete Path
Foundations first: Pinyin, Tones, and Character Writing before the main courses. The most thorough route.
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Jump Right In
Start with the Day 1 Beginner course and pick up Pinyin, Tones, and Character Writing alongside it.
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Knows Some Basics Already
Skip the foundations and go straight into the structured levels.
Each path shows its courses as cards, in order. Click a card to open the course.
Find courses from the menu
Prefer to browse? The Courses menu in the top bar holds everything:
- Learning Roadmap
- The recommended course order (previous step).
- All Courses
- Every course on one page, grouped by category.
- Structured Levels
- The main sequence: Day 1 Beginner, Level 1, Level 2, Level 3. Words, grammar, speaking, listening, and writing together, aligned with HSK 3.0.
- Vocabulary Building
- 1000 Common Chinese Words and Topic Based Vocabulary.
- Skill Building
- Pinyin, Tones, and Character Writing. Focused practice on one skill at a time.
- Supplementary
- How to Say…in Chinese and Speak Chinese Like a Native. Extra speaking material for everyday situations.
Inside a course
A course page opens with an overview of what's covered. The part you'll actually use day to day is the Course Content list near the bottom of the page:
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Every lesson, in order. Click a title to open it, or Expand a row to see the quiz and practice inside.
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Rows marked Free Lesson don't need a subscription.
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The circle next to each lesson fills in as you complete it.
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Previous Level and Next Level links above the list connect the course to its neighbors on the roadmap.
Inside a lesson
Lesson pages switch to a focused layout with the course outline on the left and the lesson itself in the middle. What's where:
- Left sidebar – the full course outline, with a progress circle per item. Collapse it with the arrow button for full-width video.
- Top bar – your course progress percentage, plus a Next button that always goes to the next step.
- Breadcrumb – Course › Lesson › Quiz. Click any part to jump back up a level.
- Video – every lesson is built around one. Pause, replay, and go full screen freely.
- Vocabulary & expressions tables – each word from the video with its HSK level, pinyin, and a button for native-speaker audio.
- Grammar notes – written versions of the grammar points, useful for review without re-watching.
- Comments – ask questions directly on the lesson. Lili and the academic team answer.
Quizzes & practice
The Lesson Content box at the end of each lesson lists its steps, usually one quiz and one practice task:
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Quizzes check what the video covered. Results save automatically. Give yourself a little time to review before starting one; it sticks better.
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Practice tasks are speaking exercises: you use the lesson's Chinese in a real situation, the same way the HSK exam frames its tasks.
The Next button in the top bar moves through video → quiz → practice in order, so you don't need to keep track yourself.
Progress & certificates
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Progress circles fill in next to every lesson, quiz, and practice you finish, both in the course outline and on course pages.
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The progress bar at the top of every lesson shows how far through the course you are.
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Resume Course on your dashboard returns you to the next unfinished step. Progress syncs across devices.
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Certificates for completed courses collect under My Account → Certificates.
Tools & extras
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The Worksheet Generator (under Tools in the menu) builds printable character sheets for handwriting practice.
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The blog covers language and culture topics, including our guide to the HSK 3.0 standards.
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Want to type characters yourself? See How to Type in Chinese for setup on any device.
If you get stuck
Check the FAQ for account and billing questions, or contact us directly. For questions about the Chinese itself, the comments under each lesson are the fastest route; the teaching team reads all of them.