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Turn Chinese notes into flashcards you can export to Anki

Upload a PDF, slides, a text file or a phone photo of a page. DeckOwl drafts flashcards with hanzi, pinyin and meaning, then schedules reviews with spaced repetition.

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Making Chinese flashcards that stick

Chinese vocabulary piles up fast, and typing every character by hand is slow. Making Chinese flashcards for Anki works best when the cards come straight from your own lessons, so you study what your class actually covers. Upload a PDF, slides, a text file or a phone photo of a page, and DeckOwl reads the text and drafts question-and-answer cards you can review.

Put hanzi, pinyin and meaning on separate lines so you practice recognition and recall.
Add a few new characters at a time so reviews do not pile up.
Include a short example sentence on the back of word cards to see the word in use.
Export to Anki on the Plus plan if you already use Anki on another device.

Example Chinese flashcards for Anki

谢谢 (xièxie): what does it mean?Thank you. The second syllable is neutral in tone, so it is said lightly.

学生 (xuésheng): what does it mean?Student. 学 means to study, and 生 means person or life, so the word is one who studies.

In 河 (hé, river), which radical shows the meaning?The water radical 氵 on the left. The right-hand part 可 gives the sound.

你好 (nǐ hǎo): what is the literal meaning?You good. Before 好, the first 你 is pronounced with a second tone, ní.

吃 (chī): what does it mean?To eat. Pair it with 饭 (fàn) to make 吃饭, meaning to eat a meal.

Generate the full set

Reads your own material

PDFs, DOCX, PPTX, plain notes and photos of pages are all read, so the cards match what your class covers.

Spaced repetition built in

Characters you miss come back more often, and the ones you know fade into longer intervals.

Anki export on Plus

Plus exports your deck for Anki, along with PDF, DOCX and CSV. The free plan keeps you studying in the browser.

How it works

Upload your Chinese material

Add a textbook PDF, lesson slides, typed vocabulary notes or a photo of a page.

Review the generated cards

Check the hanzi, pinyin and meanings, and delete or edit any card that does not match your lesson.

Study, then export to Anki

Review in the browser with spaced repetition, or export to Anki on the Plus plan.

Good Chinese cards carry one idea each: a character with its pinyin on one side and its meaning on the other, or a sentence with the target word marked. Spaced repetition then brings back the characters you miss more often. Check the drafts before you study, since a wrong tone mark or a mismatched meaning is easier to fix now than after it has been memorized.

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Frequently asked questions

How many new characters should I add at once?

Keep new cards per day small enough that daily reviews stay manageable. A steady small batch beats a large batch you cannot keep up with.

Should I make separate cards for characters and pinyin?

You can, and it helps when you are still learning to read characters. Once recognition is solid, a single card with the hanzi on the front and pinyin and meaning on the back is usually enough.

Can I make Chinese flashcards from a photo of my textbook?

Yes. Photos of pages are read with text recognition, so you can start from a picture of a vocabulary list. Check the result for recognition errors before studying.

Do I need to pay to export flashcards to Anki?

Yes. Anki export is part of the Plus plan, which costs $39 per year or $7.99 per month. The free plan includes three generations per month and studying in the browser.

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Keep exploring the topic

Review the main ideas visually or practice recalling them.