Em Casalena
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Spread the News! Here Are 4 Chinese News Apps for Android
The morning paper on your doorstep.
Televisions in the doctor’s office waiting room.
The news is everywhere you look!
It isn’t surprising—the news is important. People want to know what’s happening in the world, both politically and culturally.
There’s one more place you can find news: your Android phone.
And that’s not all! You can actually watch and read the news in Chinese to learn the language while you get your daily news fix.
We made a list of some seriously great Chinese news apps for Android that you can download now.
First, let’s look at why Chinese news apps are such a lucrative way to practice Chinese on the go.
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
How Can Chinese News Apps Help Me Learn Mandarin?
- Reading the news or watching news clips in Mandarin can improve your listening and reading skills. The best way to become more fluent in the way of listening and reading is to, quite simply, listen to and read Chinese. For instance, the FluentU program makes use of Chinese videos to teach the language, including news segments and clips.
FluentU takes authentic videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.
You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Check out the website or download the iOS app or Android app.
P.S. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)
- Chinese news apps make practicing Chinese on the go easy. You can work on practicing Chinese on the bus, at the gym and anywhere you find yourself with a bit of time, right from your Android device.
- Learning about Chinese culture is part of learning the language, and you get the best of both with Chinese news apps. Not only will you get to practice your Chinese language skills with these apps, but you’ll get some vital exposure to what life is like in China and other Mandarin-speaking nations today.
Spread the News! Here Are 4 Chinese News Apps for Android
China News | 中国新闻
China News | 中国新闻 is a great free news app to use if you’re more interested in reading newspapers than televised news broadcasts through an app. It’s also a solid resource for advanced learners to brush up on their reading skills, as the entire app (navigation included) is in Chinese.
This app has quite a few unique features, including the following:
- You have a “favorites” section
- You can remove certain newspapers from your feed
- You have the option to select a default news source
- You can block images to reduce data consumption
- Share news articles quickly and easily via SMS and social media
Dozens of Chinese and Taiwanese national newspapers are available through this app and are updated semi-regularly. There are some ads here and there, but not nearly enough to be a readability or usability issue.
TaiwanNews (台灣新聞)
Taiwan has a huge Mandarin-speaking population, so it’s only natural that a free Taiwanese newspaper app would make our list!
This app is great for learners who plan on traveling to Taiwan at some point and want to learn about current happenings in the country while also improving their Chinese.
With TaiwanNews (台灣新聞), you’ll have access to the following:
- Dozens of newspaper publications
- In-app access to Chinese-language versions of websites such as Xingbar and Yahoo Finance
- Chinese and Taiwanese news articles
- A ton of choices for genres and topics
- A “save” option for publications and individual news posts
- Clear, accurate and authentic Chinese articles
Beginners may be a bit lost since everything is exclusively in Chinese characters, but intermediate and advanced learners will appreciate the clarity and simplicity of this app’s navigation. The only downside to this app is that it tends to consume a lot of data, so if that’s not your cup of tea, we’d suggest trying something else.
CHINA DAILY – 中国日报
This news app for Android is perfect for all levels of learners, especially newbies. The navigation is in English, so you can easily find different types of content with ease.
China Daily has both news articles and video clips, plus live broadcasting feeds and worldwide news. You can choose either English or Chinese subtitles and translation for all the content, so it’s definitely customizable for your needs!
China Daily also offers:
- A rewards system for sharing, reading, liking and commenting that results in free gifts
- Chinese language-learning resources in addition to news
- A built-in Chinese-English dictionary
- Personalized recommendations for articles and videos
- Push notifications
This app is unique in that it has an “audible” function for all of its written content. This way, you can practice your listening skills while reading an article at the same time. Oh, and did we mention it’s free?
民視新聞
民視新聞 (Mín shì xīnwén) — “Folk News” from Formosa Television is a TV news application that reports on current happenings in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Reading is fun and all, but some of you out there may want to focus solely on your listening and comprehension skills. This useful app is perfect for you, as video clips make up the bulk of its content.
With 民視新聞, you get:
- 24/7 breaking news broadcasts
- Constantly revolving, changing content
- Videos from YouTube, Weibo, Twitter, Youku, etc.
- A ton of news sources for a variety of content
- Clear video and audio
- Weather forecast, along with political, lifestyle, economic and educational content
This television news app is 100% free to use and has a ton of interesting content to scroll through. Beginners may have trouble dealing with the exclusively Chinese navigation, but if you can get past that, you have the opportunity to really improve your newbie listening skills.
Some of these videos have Chinese or English subtitles, but the majority of them don’t.
It’s so easy to access Chinese news with apps!
Hopefully, a few of these Mandarin-language news apps will find a home in your smartphone for a long time.
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
And One More Thing...
If you want to continue learning Chinese with interactive and authentic Chinese content, then you'll love FluentU.
FluentU naturally eases you into learning Chinese language. Native Chinese content comes within reach, and you'll learn Chinese as it's spoken in real life.
FluentU has a wide range of contemporary videos—like dramas, TV shows, commercials and music videos.
FluentU brings these native Chinese videos within reach via interactive captions. You can tap on any word to instantly look it up. All words have carefully written definitions and examples that will help you understand how a word is used. Tap to add words you'd like to review to a vocab list.
FluentU's Learn Mode turns every video into a language learning lesson. You can always swipe left or right to see more examples for the word you're learning.
The best part is that FluentU always keeps track of your vocabulary. It customizes quizzes to focus on areas that need attention and reminds you when it’s time to review what you’ve learned. You have a 100% personalized experience.
Start using the FluentU website on your computer or tablet or, better yet, download the FluentU app from the iTunes or Google Play store. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)
