Chinese IME Trainer
Type Chinese the way everyone does: pinyin in, characters out. Pick the right word from the candidate bar before the clock runs out — on any keyboard, nothing to install.
Choose where the ladder starts
Ten words a round, three lives, and a clock that tightens every round. The level decides how much of each word you are shown.
You see the characters and their pinyin. Type the pinyin and pick the word.
Loading the input method's dictionary…
Run complete
What typing Chinese actually involves
Nobody types Chinese with a keyboard of thousands of characters. You type the pinyin on an ordinary keyboard and an input method (IME) offers the words that are spelled that way, most common first. The hard part is not the letters. Pinyin input carries no tones, so one spelling can stand for a dozen words, and picking the right one quickly is a reading skill.
That is the skill this game grades. Typing shi fills the candidate bar
with 是, 事, 十 and 时, and only one of them is the word you meant. Pick with a number
key, turn the page with - and =, convert half a word and keep
typing, and when you are fast try the initials alone: nh for 你好.
How the levels work
Beginner shows the characters and their pinyin: it is copy-typing, and it teaches the keys. Intermediate hides the pinyin, so you have to know how the word is read. Advanced hides the characters instead, which is how typing really feels: you know the word and its meaning, and you have to recognise it among its homophones. Expert drops the tone marks as well.
Every round the clock gets shorter and the words come from a higher HSK level, so a run ends on skill rather than stamina. Longer words get more time. Pressing ? shows the keys for the current word and keeps your lives, but that word scores nothing and breaks your combo.
Questions
Do I need to install a Chinese keyboard to play?
No. The page is the input method: you type pinyin on the keyboard you already have and pick the characters from the candidate bar, exactly as you would with the pinyin IME built into Windows, macOS, iOS or Android. If your own Chinese IME is switched on, switch it to English for this page.
How do I type ü?
Press v. Every mainstream pinyin input method does the same: 女 is nv and 绿 is lv. After j, q, x and y pinyin already writes a plain u, so 去 is qu.
What is 简拼 (initials-only) typing?
Typing just the first letter of each syllable — nh for 你好, zg for 中国. Real input methods accept it for common words, and so does this one. It saves keystrokes, but the candidate bar gets more crowded, so you have to recognise the right word faster.
Why was a word I typed correctly marked wrong?
Pinyin input has no tones, so one spelling can mean several words — shi alone brings up 是, 事, 十, 时 and more. Choosing the wrong one of those is the mistake this game trains you out of. When the prompt shows only pinyin and a meaning, any word with the same pinyin and the same meaning is accepted.
Where do the words come from?
From this site's own dictionary index, in its frequency order — the same order the candidate bar uses — split into syllables against the pinyin chart. Meanings marked † are from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Ready to type on your own device? Set up the Chinese input method on Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android, then measure your speed on the Chinese typing test.