Register for an account

To use HanziHero, you need to register for an account. Anyone can create an account, it is completely free of charge. HanziHero has an extensive free tier with no time limit, allowing you to learn hundreds of characters, components, and words to get a feel for how the application works. When you create an account, you are automatically on the free tier.

Register your account

First, navigate to the account registration page. Next, fill in your email, username, and password, then click Create an account to create your account.

Verify your email address

After you create your account, we’ll send you an email to verify your email address. Look for an email with the subject line “Verify your HanziHero email address”. Click that link to confirm your email address.

If you can’t access the email, click on Change your email within user settings or click here to access your settings. Here are some instructions on how to change your email.

Select your course

Chinese characters use two different scripts, simplified and traditional. So before you start learning Chinese characters, you will first have to select which character script you would like to learn.

It is recommended, by ourselves and most Chinese teachers, to focus on a single script when learning characters. The script you choose lies in your own interests and motivations for learning Chinese.

If you are interested in Mainland China and its media, or otherwise are learning Chinese for the sake of perhaps one day interacting with and understanding those from China, then we recommend selecting the simplified course. Another reason for choosing to study simplified characters is that it’s used daily by over a billion people!

If you are interested in Taiwan and its media, or are otherwise learning Chinese for the sake of perhaps one day interacting with those from Taiwan, we recommend selecting the traditional course. Another reason for choosing to study traditional characters is that they are more useful if you have an interest in historical Chinese texts (anything pre-1950, when simplified characters were introduced) or Classical Chinese.

If you are unsure which to choose, we recommend selecting the traditional course. This is because it is a bit easier to switch from traditional to simplified later than it is in reverse.

Select your HSK Level

Whether you’ve selected the simplified or traditional course, both will use the HSK ordering. The HSK is the standardized Chinese proficiency test of China.

If you aren’t really sure where you would place within the HSK, we recommend starting from the beginning.

Otherwise you can use the list of example characters to gauge whether you know the HSK Level enough to skip over it.

Once you’ve chosen where you want to start with respect to HSK levels, you will be ready to do your first lessons.