Learn Mandarin by
speaking it.
The first Mandarin learning platform built around real-time AI conversation — not flashcards. Pronunciation scoring, grammar correction, and adaptive exercises that respond to how you actually speak.
"You can memorize 300 HSK words and still not order food at a restaurant."
Existing apps drill vocabulary in isolation. Mingdao flips the model: the conversation IS the assessment.
How it works
Conversations, not flashcards.
Pick a scenario
Each scenario is a real situation — ordering food, buying train tickets, meeting a friend. You practice the vocabulary and grammar you actually need.
Speak naturally
Talk to the AI tutor like a real person. Speech recognition captures every syllable. Per-character pronunciation scoring catches your tone errors.
Get real-time corrections
Grammar corrections with explanations. Pronunciation scores per character. The system tracks your gaps and generates targeted exercises.
The Full Platform
Conversation is the entry point.
Not the ceiling.
The AI tutor is what you see today. Behind it is a complete adaptive learning system — five exercise types, spaced repetition, and AI that generates content based on what you actually struggle with.
AI Conversation Engine
6 real-life scenarios with an AI tutor. Per-character pronunciation scoring, grammar correction, and vocabulary extraction.
powers everything else
↓ ↓ ↓Study Feed
Swipe through bite-sized exercises: word recall, sentence scramble, audio transcription, HSK exam questions. SRS engine decides what you see and when.
Personalized Exercises
Analyzes your conversation gaps and generates targeted drills. Content built from your actual mistakes.
Teacher Dashboard
Per-student pronunciation analytics, vocabulary gap tracking, and session reports. Real skill visibility, not just test scores.
Traction
Built from inside the classroom.
Confucius Institute Access
I'm a Confucius Institute student. I showed the working demo to my teachers and institute director — they see real pedagogical value and want to run a pilot study with their students.
That's a warm door into institutional distribution that no outside founder can open.
CCCM Macau Conference
Presenting to institutional decision-makers across the global Chinese education network. First public demo of the conversation engine.
View conferenceClassroom Pilots
Real students and teachers using the app in a Confucius Institute setting. First institutional validation of the conversation-first approach.
The Market Window
Ground floor of the Mandarin boom.
The same economic gravity that drove English learning across Asia in the 1980s is now driving Mandarin learning globally — but faster. China is the largest trading partner of over 150 countries. 85 nations have added Chinese to their school curricula. The infrastructure hasn't caught up to the demand.
Government mandates are accelerating demand.
Saudi Arabia
Mandarin mandatory in secondary schools since 2019.
UAE
158 schools teaching Chinese, targeting 200 by 2030.
Nigeria
Added Mandarin to secondary curriculum in 2025.
United States
Bipartisan Congressional push to scale Mandarin programs as strategic priority (2025).
The Competitive Gap
The dominant tools were built before generative AI. HelloChinese and Super Chinese are flashcard-first apps from 2015. Duolingo's Mandarin course is a European framework with Chinese characters pasted over it. None were built around real-time AI conversation as the core learning loop.
Mandarin is the fastest-growing language learning market globally — and the incumbents are a generation behind.
Roadmap
What's next.
The AI conversation tutor is live today. Here's where we're going.
Classroom Pilot
Pilot programs with CI students and teachers. Real usage data and feedback.
Full Platform
Five exercise types, spaced repetition, graded reading, AI-generated exercises.
Teacher Tools
Student dashboards, pronunciation analytics, vocabulary gap tracking.
B2B Distribution
Per-seat licensing to Confucius Institutes and language schools globally.
Tonal Languages
Cantonese, Vietnamese, Thai — same architecture, new markets.
Orbit + Mingdao
The accelerator whose distribution matches our market.
The Mandarin learning wave is here and the incumbents are asleep. Orbit's infrastructure maps directly onto the countries where demand is growing fastest.
The ELSA Playbook
ELSA Speak went through Orbit. It used the MOX network to scale to 40 million users — becoming Google Gradient's first investment in Asia.
But this is a bigger opening than ELSA had. ELSA went after English — the most crowded language learning market on earth. We're going after Mandarin in emerging markets where there is no incumbent. Same playbook, less competition.
MOX Platform
Algorithmically matched cross-promotion across Orbit's portfolio — zero upfront cost, performance-based revenue sharing, with conversion tracking and retargeting built in. A user acquisition engine across SEA, South Asia, and MENA with no budget required.
Corporate Partner Pipeline
212 corporate partners — Pfizer, Siemens, HSBC, DBS, P&G — multinationals operating across Asia with Mandarin learning budgets. A B2B enterprise training pipeline built into the accelerator.
Demand is highest where Orbit's distribution is deepest.
Saudi Arabia
102K students now mandated to learn Mandarin annually. Orbit's Sanabil partnership gives direct access to the fastest-growing government-mandated Mandarin market in the world.
Indonesia
11.2M ethnic Chinese. Largest potential Mandarin learning market in Southeast Asia.
Thailand
16 Confucius Institutes — the most in Asia. Deepest CI integration into a national education system.
Malaysia
34% ethnically Chinese. Heritage language retention is a massive demand driver.
UAE
54K students across 158 schools, aiming for 200 by 2030.
And the distribution channel ELSA never had.
The CI Distribution Gap
496 Confucius Institutes and 757 Classrooms across 160 countries run language programs, administer HSK exams, and train teachers — creating millions of Mandarin learners every year. No digital product has been adopted through this network.
We have insider access to this network — a CI director who wants to pilot, a conference slot in front of institutional decision-makers, and a product built by someone who actually sits in the classroom.
Institutional access no outside founder can replicate, and Orbit's MOX network to scale it across borders. No Mandarin app has ever had both.
In 18-24 months, a well-funded Chinese edtech company or Duolingo itself will fill this gap. The first mover with real distribution wins. With Orbit, we can be that first mover.
Founder-Market Fit
Frederico Luz
AI-native developer · CI student · Portugal
Dogfooding the product — studies Mandarin daily, classmates are beta testers, teachers provide pedagogy feedback
Studying AI at ISCTE — University Institute of Lisbon
Solo technical founder — AI-native development, conversation pipeline built end-to-end
Product-market fit takes time to find. Founder-market fit is here from day one.
Let's talk.
The conversation engine is live — one feature of a full platform we're building. The market is moving and the distribution thesis is clear. I'd love to discuss what Mingdao + Orbit looks like.
[email protected]