How it works
From "I just learned this" to practiced — before you forget it.
You finish a lesson and write the characters in your notebook. Then you never look at them again. Kezi closes that loop in under 10 minutes.
1
Paste
① PASTE CHINESE TEXT
今天我们去外滩散步，然后吃小笼包。
Extract Words →
Drop in lesson notes, a menu, a sign — anything Chinese.
2
Auto-fill
✓外滩wài tānthe Bund
✓散步sàn bùto take a walk
✓小笼包xiǎo lóng bāosoup dumpling
Kezi splits the words and fills in pinyin & meaning offline.
3
Practice
Swipe what you know, hear tones, mark what stuck. Repeat tomorrow.
Who it's for
Built for people who encounter Chinese day to day.
For learners who already meet new words in the wild — and want to keep them.
Why Kezi
Not a dictionary. Not a course. Not a card-making chore.
Most Chinese learning tools help you discover, translate, or study words. Kezi helps you practice and remember the Chinese you encountered today.
Different tools for different jobs
| Feature | Kezi | Google Lens / Translate | Pleco | Anki | Duolingo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Turning today's Chinese into lasting vocabulary | Translating Chinese instantly | Looking up & exploring words | Building a long-term memory system | Guided lessons from scratch |
| Practice what you just learned | ✓ Capture, paste & practice | Translate only | Lookup & review | Build cards yourself | App-decided |
| Text → practice session | ✓ Automatic | — | Multi-step | Manual | — |
| Auto-generates pinyin & meaning | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Manual | N/A |
| Time to first practice | ~10 sec | Not for practice | Minutes | 15–30 min | Fixed lessons |
| Works fully offline | ✓ | — | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| No account required | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | For sync | Required |
| Practice reminders | Optional | — | Optional | Optional | Many + streak |
What's New
Always improving.
The latest updates shipping to Kezi — pulled straight from the app's changelog.
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FAQ
Common questions.
About Kezi
Kezi turns Chinese you come across — a menu, a street sign, your tutor's notes — into flashcard lessons you can practise in minutes. Paste or share the text and Kezi fills in pinyin and meaning automatically, then you swipe to practise what you actually encountered.
Anyone learning Mandarin while living in or around it — expats, students, and serious learners who read "in the wild" and want to practise real text, not a generic course deck.
Yes. The web app is free and always will be. There may be paid extras later (for tutors and schools), but practising your own words stays free.
No account, no sign-up. Your lessons live on your own device.
Yes. After it loads once, Kezi works with no connection — useful on the go.
Capturing text
A few ways:
- Share: point your phone camera at the text, tap to select it, choose Share, and pick Kezi. The words drop into a new lesson.
- Copy & paste: copy the text from anywhere and paste it into Kezi's New Lesson box. Most phones show the copied text right above the keyboard when you tap the field.
- Type or paste any Chinese you already have.
This varies a lot by phone brand, Android version, and region — don't worry. Reliable fallback that works on almost any phone:
- Take a normal photo of the text.
- Open it in an app that can copy text from images (Google Photos or the Google Lens app on most phones; your usual scanning or translate app in mainland China).
- Copy the characters, return to Kezi, and paste.
Yes. AI Select on Samsung, Google Lens or Circle to Search on many Android phones, and similar tools all work. One thing to watch: copy the original Chinese characters, not a translation — Kezi needs the Chinese to build your deck.
That's fine — Kezi doesn't rely on Google. Any app you already use that lets you copy Chinese characters from an image (a scanner or translate app) works. Copy the text, paste it into Kezi. Or type it in.
No — that's exactly what Kezi removes. You can't easily type a word you don't know yet, so Kezi takes the text you paste or share and fills in the pinyin and meaning for you.
Using Kezi
No. Kezi automatically picks out the Chinese characters and ignores numbers, punctuation, and non-Chinese words. Just paste. On the review screen you can untick any words you don't want before saving.
The dictionary picks the most common meaning, which isn't always right in context. Tap edit on the card, fix it, and Kezi remembers your version next time that word appears.
Tap a card once for pinyin, again for the meaning, then swipe: right for "I know it" (it stops coming back), left for "keep learning" (it returns later). Words you've mastered are skipped across all your lessons automatically.
They're saved on your device. To be safe — or to move to a new phone — use Export in Settings to save a backup file, and Import to restore it.
Android app
Yes. The Android version adds pronunciation, a real home-screen app, and full offline. It's now in open testing on Google Play — install it directly from the store, no sign-up.
Open Kezi in Chrome, tap the browser menu, and choose "Add to Home screen." It then opens full-screen like an app and works offline.
Privacy
On your phone. No account, nothing uploaded. You control it, and you can export or delete it any time. Full privacy policy →
Put Kezi on your phone.
The web app is free and always will be. But on Android you get pronunciation that actually speaks, a proper home-screen icon, and full offline — no browser needed. It's now in open testing on Google Play — install it directly, no sign-up.