The free tone lab
TingliLab.org is the free part of the lab: Tones, Dictation and Write, with no account and no limits. It runs in your browser, and nothing you record leaves your device.
What it has
- Tone dictation on the syllable-tone combinations real words use, and four tones: any syllable played in each of its tones by the same voice.
- Repeat-back with a pitch judge: say the syllable, and the lab draws your pitch over the voice's and compares it with Mainland references.
- A pair quiz on two-syllable words, with the tone changes real speech makes.
- Dictation in pinyin or 注音 zhuyin on the HSK 1–3 words, by level, with Mainland or Taiwan readings.
- Handwriting with stroke checks: trace a character, then write it from memory.
How it works
- No account, no limits, nothing to sign up for.
- It installs to a phone from the browser's menu, and works offline once a voice is prepared (Settings → Voices → Prepare this voice, about 34 MB).
- Your practice log and settings stay in your browser; recordings are judged on your device and never uploaded; a backup is a file you download.
- The voices are Microsoft Azure neural voices, synthesised once and stored, not recordings of people.
And the full lab
The full TingliLab, at mandarin.lexlovers.com, also has Listen (clips written from your own word list), Talk (a conversation partner) and Texts, with sync across your devices and classes for teachers. Your practice log stays in this browser only; a free account at the full lab keeps it safe and on all your devices.