砚
砚台
INKSTONE
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Become a scholar in the Chinese language and its literature.

Read Chinese idioms, strange tales, Tang poems, and other stories passed down for generations. Gain timeless wisdom with everything you need to learn the language at the level you're at.

Download on the App Store Get it on Google Play
QR code that opens Inkstone in your phone's app store Scan with your phone
The Inkstone reader playing a story aloud under the story's picture, with pinyin over every character and the spoken word highlighted
Classics from Zhuangzi to the Liaozhai A native voice reads every word Every word is one tap from its meaning

A beautiful way to read.

Every story is narrated by a native voice, male or female, whichever you prefer, and each word lights up as it is spoken. Press play and listen, then tap any word for its meaning and choose how much pinyin you see.

9:41
‹
寓言谷
Fable Valley
Aa pīn yīn 拼音
Toad, a bronze from 386 to 534 CE, Cleveland Museum of Art
jǐng dǐ zhī wā
井底之蛙
The Frog at the Bottom of the Well
从前,有一只青蛙,住在一口浅浅的井里。它常常对天上的鸟说:“你看我多快乐!这口井就是我的家,天也不过井口那么大。”
The sentence
Once, long ago, there was a frog who lived in a shallow well.
Female Voice
‹ ›
1× Speed ↻ Loop

Tap any word.

Every word opens its dictionary entry: the definitions, the other readings, its own recording in both voices, and how often the rest of the library uses it. Every sentence has an English translation a glance away, so you never leave the page to look something up.

A dictionary entry opened from inside a story

Every story is explained.

Every text carries an interpretation: what it means, its most important words, and what scholars have argued about for centuries.

A story's interpretation, with the commentary opened

A curated library that grows every month.

119 hand-picked texts with more added every month: idioms, poetry, folklore, and histories. The prose is retold in clear modern Chinese, the poems keep their original words from 《唐诗三百首》 and 《全唐诗》, and every piece names the book it came from. These are the stories that lasted thousands of years, broken down for you piece by piece.

The Inkstone library, its stories on shelves by collection, with filters for level and genre

What it costs

The annual plan is $49.99 a year and opens with a 7-day free trial you can cancel any time before it ends. The monthly plan is $9.99 and starts billing straight away. There are no ads and no account, and nothing you read leaves your device.

From the maker

Conder Shou, maker of 砚台

I’m Conder. I’m a second generation Chinese-American who grew up dreading having to study Chinese. Decades later, as I’ve come to realize the beauty of its philosophies and its language, I’ve decided to begin my learning journey all anew.

However, this time I decided I would do things differently. I would build a learning experience that I would be excited to learn with every single day. This meant being guided through reading profound content I actually wanted to read and having a fun, satisfying way to collect these stories and see my progress.

This is my mission with Inkstone. To give you a digital home as a scholar of the Chinese language and literature. In other words, a home to help you learn the language, its nuances, its histories, and just as importantly, its wisdom.

If you spent the time to read all this, I sincerely thank you. Welcome to the literary world for your Chinese language learning journey. Should you want to share any question or concern or any thoughts, please reach out. I respond to all support emails personally (support@getinkstone.app).

@condershou
Conder Shou
maker of 砚台
砚
卷juàn已yǐ备bèi好hǎo,只zhǐ欠qiàn读dú者zhě。
The scrolls are ready; they only lack a reader.
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QR code that opens Inkstone in your phone's app store Scan with your phone