ChatGPT as a Chinese tutor: what it can and cannot do
ChatGPT works as a conversation partner and an explainer: it breaks down any sentence, answers "why is it like that" and holds a conversation in Chinese on any topic you like. What it does not do is run a review schedule or decide for you what to study tomorrow. Those are two different jobs, and it does not cover the second.
| ChatGPT | Tomyo | |
|---|---|---|
| Explanations | Answers any question in its own words | Only material prepared in advance |
| Conversation | Any topic, by text and by voice | Ready dialogues built from your vocabulary |
| Review schedule | None | Yes, for every word |
| What to study next | You decide | Set by your HSK level |
| Who tests whom | It answers you | It tests you |
| Progress | Not tracked | A stage for every word |
| Price | Free tier, subscriptions as in-app purchases | Free plan, Plus from 399 RUB/month |
What ChatGPT is genuinely good at
A language model answers the specific question you asked rather than an averaged one. You can ask how 了 at the end of a sentence differs from 了 after a verb, ask for five examples, and ask again if you did not follow. Neither a textbook nor Tomyo can do that: their material is written in advance.
The second thing is conversation. You can write in Chinese on any topic, ask to have your mistakes corrected, talk out loud. That is valuable practice, and no set of pre-written dialogues offers that freedom.
What it does not do
ChatGPT is an assistant, and OpenAI describes it exactly that way: a general-purpose everyday helper. It answers when it is asked. It does not come back to you three days later saying "you are about to forget this word, review it".
Spaced repetition is precisely about someone tracking the timing for you. The point of the method is that a word is shown at the moment it is about to fade, and that moment is different for every word. Keeping such a ledger by hand, by asking a model, is not realistic: you do not remember which of five hundred words are due today. That is a job for a schedule, not for a chat.
Hence the second difference: the model answers you, while the app tests you. Those are different roles, and memorising needs the second one.
Chat history is not the same as progress
ChatGPT syncs history across devices, and it may look as though that is enough. But history is a log of conversations, not the state of your knowledge. It contains no answer to "how many words do I know solidly and how many have faded", and today’s session cannot be assembled from it.
How people combine them
A sensible arrangement: the app runs the vocabulary and the reviews, ChatGPT serves as a reference desk and a conversation partner. Met a construction you do not understand — ask the model; need to build a vocabulary and not lose it — that is a job for the schedule.
When ChatGPT is the better choice
- Answers any question about the language immediately and in its own words — explains grammar, breaks down a sentence, supplies examples.
- Conversation on any topic and at any length: you can write in Chinese as much as you like rather than follow prepared scripts.
- Voice conversation — you can speak, not only type.
- Works from a photo: take a picture of some text and ask what it says.
- The free tier is enough to use it seriously.
- Not limited to Chinese, or to languages at all — one tool for everything.
When Tomyo is the better choice
- Runs a review schedule: works out what you are about to forget and shows it today.
- Remembers your vocabulary as a state rather than as a conversation: every word has a stage and a date for its next appearance.
- The material is ordered by HSK level — no deciding what to study next.
- Tests you rather than answering you: recognition, pinyin, writing, sentence building, dictation.
- Progress is visible in numbers: how many words you have covered, how many have faded.
Frequently asked questions
Can you learn Chinese with ChatGPT?
Making sense of grammar and practising conversation — yes, and that is the model’s strength. Building and holding on to a vocabulary — hardly: that needs a review schedule that works out what to show today. ChatGPT keeps no such ledger; it answers when it is asked.
Does ChatGPT replace a spaced repetition app?
No, they solve different problems. The model explains and converses, the app tracks the state of every word and brings it back at the right moment. Chat history cannot be used as progress: it is a log of conversations, not a picture of your knowledge.
Which is cheaper?
ChatGPT has a free tier that is enough for questions about the language; the paid subscriptions are in-app purchases. Tomyo’s free plan has no time limit and Plus costs from 399 RUB a month. A direct comparison is not meaningful: these are tools for different jobs.
Can ChatGPT be trusted on questions about Chinese?
For explaining grammar and breaking down sentences, language models are reliable. Small factual details — the tone of a rare character, an exact stroke count, stroke order — are worth double-checking in a dictionary: it is cheap and removes the risk of memorising something wrong.
Is there any point in using both?
Yes, and it is the most practical arrangement. The app holds the vocabulary and the regularity, ChatGPT works as a reference desk and a conversation partner — answering the questions that are bound to come up as you study.
What can be used instead of ChatGPT for learning Chinese?
Systematic grammar explanations come from the HSK Standard Course textbook; speaking practice with pronunciation checks comes from a teacher or from HelloChinese with its speech recognition. Memorising and retaining words is covered by spaced-repetition services, Tomyo or Anki. None of the tools listed here covers all of that at once.