Making Chinese easy—one step at a time

Chinese has a formidable reputation for being difficult to learn. Indeed, according to MandarinMaster, 80% of people who take up the language ultimately abandon their studies.

But what if new approaches and technologies could help people stay the course and achieve fluency in Chinese? This question is just what Philippe Laurent, a French native and fluent Chinese speaker, asked himself.

With China becoming an increasingly important player on the global scene, Philippe Laurent set up MandarinMaster as an online learning platform designed to enable anyone to learn Chinese without becoming discouraged.

The company’s pedagogical philosophy is inspired by an old Chinese proverb, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Indeed, in the very first lesson MandarinMaster presents are two Chinese characters—一步 (Yībù)—meaning “one step.”

Philippe Laurent explains, “We propose a slow and regular rhythm of learning that is culturally very Chinese in nature. MandarinMaster starts literally with one step, and it’s like you’re stepping on board a train. If you stay on that train for three years, completing 30 minutes of study a day, you’ll speak Chinese fluently by the end of the journey.”

The key difficulty for non-native learners of Chinese is the language’s system of tones. The spoken language has four tones and mastering them is critical to making yourself understood. For example, the word “ma” can mean “mother,” “hemp,” “horse” or “to scold” depending on which tone is used. It can also be used without tone to indicate a question.

“To make MandarinMaster a success, we needed to enable the platform to validate pronunciation,” says Philippe Laurent.

MandarinMaster tried working with a Chinese company that offered speech-to-text processing, so the platform could listen to learners’ pronunciation and provide feedback. However, the cost per validation cycle was uneconomical, so Philippe Laurent took his developer’s advice to check out IBM Watson® Speech to Text technology.

“We are supported by the BPI [a French public bank supporting economic development] and the regional government, so our preference was to work with a provider like IBM with a strong presence in France,” says Philippe Laurent. “As a startup, we immediately felt very comfortable with IBM because of their genuine accompaniment and their ability to boost our visibility and credibility.”

IBM put MandarinMaster in contact with Pedab France, an IBM Business Partner that specializes in educational solutions based on IBM technology. Pedab worked with MandarinMaster to integrate IBM Watson Speech to Text technology into their platform. The solution is licensed under an IBM Embedded Solution Agreement (ESA), which enables MandarinMaster to combine IBM’s technology with their own intellectual property to create a stand-alone packaged solution.

Christopher Pajot, Sales Manager at Pedab France, comments: “IBM Watson Speech to Text is a trustworthy AI technology that we were able to seamlessly integrate into the MandarinMaster platform. We worked with IBM Innovation Studio on the project, taking just a few months from start to finish.”

“Pedab really got on board to help us make MandarinMaster a success,” adds Philippe Laurent. “Christopher’s team worked hard to get us a financial deal that made economic sense for us as a startup, and we really value the partnership we’re building with them and with IBM.”

MandarinMaster is an online platform that delivers daily 30-minute lessons to subscribers. Learners advance little by little, unlocking new content as they progress in a rhythm that keeps them engaged and encouraged. The integrated IBM Watson Speech to Text technology makes it possible for MandarinMaster to simulate the presence of a real teacher, enabling learners to check their pronunciation and get immediate feedback.

“IBM Watson Speech to Text empowers our learners to validate their use of Chinese tones, giving them added confidence as they work to master this crucially important skill,” says Philippe Laurent.

MandarinMaster is currently working with early adopters to spread the word organically through social media networks. Students who bring in other paying subscribers can receive credits toward their own tuition costs. These credits can also be used to purchase one-on-one conversation practices and reviews on video calls with real-life tutors. At the time of this writing, MandarinMaster is developing an English-to-Chinese version of its platform, which targets the much larger potential audience of global native English speakers. This version will be available at the end of September 2025.

With support from IBM and Pedab, MandarinMaster is building a community of subscribers. The community ranges from teenagers—and their parents—seeking a new skill to help them get into the best business schools and universities, to retired people who want to learn Chinese to exercise their grey matter. The platform is also ideal for businesspeople who work, or plan to work, with Chinese companies—especially existing expatriates and others who plan to live in China. Another differentiating feature of MandarinMaster is it combines a technology-driven platform with real human input; every paying student is personally welcomed and followed up by the MandarinMaster team.

“I characterize MandarinMaster in five words: easy, complete, serious, gamified, cultural,” comments Philippe Laurent. “With MandarinMaster, you’re not just getting into a language, you’re getting into a whole culture.”

MandarinMaster’s structured slow-and-steady pace, introducing two or three new Chinese characters each day, makes it easier for learners to stay committed. And after three years of daily study, the platform brings absolute beginners all the way to C1 level.

“Chinese is a difficult language, but our method is easy,” says Philippe Laurent. “After three years, you’ll have mastered 2,500 characters and more than 25,000 words. A highly educated Chinese person knows 3,000 characters, so this is an impressive level of fluency and comprehension.”

Users of MandarinMaster speak for approximately 80% of each lesson—a dramatic contrast to the vast majority of platforms and training courses that are book-based.

“Without IBM Watson Speech to Text, we could not have launched MandarinMaster,” concludes Philippe Laurent. “It helps guarantee the quality of learning, as if each user had their own private teacher to listen to their pronunciation.”

MandarinMaster (link resides outside of ibm.com) is an innovative online platform for learning the Chinese language. With a heavy emphasis on correctly pronounced spoken Chinese, the platform takes absolute beginners to C1 level in three years. Currently available for French speakers, the platform will soon be extended to English speakers.

Established in 1993, Pedab (link resides outside of ibm.com) is a family-owned company present in 11 countries across Europe. Providing tailored IT solutions and expertise, Pedab helps its clients make informed decisions, optimize resources, and accelerate growth.