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.
Before you start: Choose one goal: say a phrase, understand a sentence, or recognize writing. Guided lessons are the explanation-first route; the practice tabs let you drill a skill.
- Grammar
- Patterns that let words form sentences.
- Writing system
- The characters or letters used to record a language.
Start here — Need to speak today?: Choose a language and start with Survival. Practise the reply as well as the phrase you say first.
What 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.
Full steps, example and limits
- 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.
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 pronunciationBopomofo / 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
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Initials
21Medials
3Finals
13Tones
5All 47 pronunciation chapters & the IPA sound key →
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
Forms, 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.
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
foodfood
milkmilk
breadbread
coffeecoffee
teatea
ricerice
bathroombathroom
airportairport
stationstation
ticketticket
exitexit
leftleft
rightright
todaytoday
tomorrowtomorrow
oneone
twotwo
threethree
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.