The full course · Tone Fluent
Online Chinese course for adults, from zero to HSK4.
Live small-group classes with the Rainbow method — no Pinyin, no tone marks. Speaking, listening, reading and typing characters, starting with the tones most learners never get over.
New cohorts every month.
At a glance
What the course involves.
- Total120 live hours
- Schedule3 classes a week, 6 hours total
- LengthAbout 5 months
- FormatLive small-group classes online
- LevelZero to HSK4
How classes work
See it → hear it → say it.
See it
Read and type Chinese through 25 recurring components, not by rote memorizing thousands of strokes.
Hear it
A numbered 1–5 system tells your voice exactly how to move. No Pinyin, no tone marks to decode mid-sentence.
Say it
Rehearse whole sentences out loud until correct tones become muscle memory, with your contour checked live against the target.
Built for working adults
What you'll be able to do by HSK4.
- Hold an everyday conversation in Chinese and be understood the first time.
- Say any word with its tones correct — on purpose, not by luck.
- Read and type Chinese characters by their structure, not rote memorization.
- Walk into HSK4 — including the new speaking section — genuinely ready.
Price and guarantee
Founding price, with your tuition back if you do the work.
$1797list $2997
Or pay in 3 × $649.
Finish the course and meet the standards, and your tuition is fully refunded. The standards are: full attendance, homework submitted on time, Chinese typing at 30+ words a minute, passing the recitation benchmark, and meeting the handwriting standard.
Tone Fluent is a new brand, but the method has been developed and tested on real adult learners since 2003, and it exists as published textbooks, software and apps. We don't show testimonials yet: the first cohorts earn the proof.
Start free
Try the method for 3 weeks before you pay anything.
The free bootcamp is 12 live hours. You only decide about the paid course after you have seen it work on your own tones. Bootcamp details →
Questions
Straight answers.
How much time does it take?
About 5 months: three live classes a week (six hours total), plus your own daily practice. It is built for working adults — the live rhythm and the cohort are what get you to actually finish.
How does the tuition-back guarantee work?
Complete the course and meet the standards, and your full tuition is refunded. The standards are: full attendance, homework submitted on time, Chinese typing at 30+ words a minute, passing the recitation benchmark, and meeting the handwriting standard. Meet them all and you are refunded in full — the standards simply make sure the refund rewards doing the work that makes the method work. The exact milestones for your cohort are shared at the start of the course.
Is this only about tones, or full Chinese?
Tones are where we start, because they are the wall most learners never get over. But the course takes you all the way to HSK4 — speaking, listening, reading, and typing characters. Tones are the wedge; fluency to HSK4 is the destination.
What about HSK 3.0?
HSK 3.0 now includes a mandatory speaking section, and tones are exactly where speakers lose points. The course is built to put your tones and speaking on solid ground for it.