Bóyǎ is a spaced-repetition Mandarin learning platform for families and immersion schools. It covers the HSK 1–6 vocabulary curriculum and pairs it with a live AI tutor, sibling duels, and parent dashboards. Free to start; HSK 4+ unlocks on the paid Family plan.
Every word is scheduled for the moment a learner is most likely to forget it, and the schedule re-tunes itself from actual recall rather than a fixed interval.
Tones are taught before meaning, with native-speaker audio on every card and a dedicated tone-pair drill — not treated as a footnote.
From week one every session ends with the learner producing Mandarin aloud. The tutor models the correct form rather than scolding.
Progress is measured by words a learner can retrieve unaided after weeks without review — not by time on task or cards clicked.
The full method — pacing, tone drills, the parent dashboard — is on How we teach.
Bóyǎ's method is not invented in-house. It rests on published, externally verifiable work in spaced repetition, second-language acquisition, and the HSK standard itself:
Bóyǎ started with a simple observation: kids will happily grind for hours in a video game and give up on a vocabulary worksheet in four minutes. The problem was never motivation — it was that language apps ask children to study while games ask them to play.
So we built the game first and hid the curriculum inside it: real-time duels, guardians to earn, a tutor who talks back — with the official HSK vocabulary (词汇) and a serious spaced-repetition engine underneath. Bóyǎ is open to families now — and we still build it alongside the families closest to us, which is where we earn trust first.
No testimonials or ratings appear on this site yet, for one reason: we don't publish what we can't verify. When our families and first school programs say it in their own words, you will read it here.
Bóyǎ is COPPA-aligned by default: no public profiles, no DMs to strangers, no ad networks, no third-party analytics on children, and encrypted voice/video. The parent owns the account; the AI tutor is scoped to Mandarin learning only. Full detail is on Safety & privacy.